CBS - Holy crap! There was much debate over how Two And A Half Men (28.74m/10.7) would do now that Ashton Kutcher has replaced Charlie Sheen. Some thought better. Some thought worse. Nobody thought it would premiere with numbers that eclipsed even the NFL. That is nearly double the viewers from the 2010 premiere, and more than double the demo. Again. Holy crap! Now we’re left to ponder how long this will last. Was it just the curiosity of seeing how Charlie was done in, and how they explained Walden’s presence? Do the numbers come back to earth in week two? It will be very interesting to see.
The Men hubub made for good results for the rest of the Monday comedy lineup. How I Met Your Mother (11m/4.7 – 12.22m/5.2) was also up, and 2 Broke Girls (19.37m/7.1) got a sampling that shows only dream of. Hawaii Five-O finished off Monday by kicking off another back and forth battle with Castle, taking the hour in the demo. The news was also very good on Tuesday, with NCIS (19.96m/4.3) and NCIS LA (16.71m/3.6) both picking up where they left off. They were joined by the first outing of Unforgettable (14.09m/2.9), which looks to fit in well with the crime-time night.
Survivor (10.46m/3.2) slipped a bit against the premiere of X Factor, but Criminal Minds (14.14m/4.1) scored very well faced with X Factor and Modern Family. The newly relocated CSI (12.74m/3.2) didn’t get much of a boost with the arrival of Ted Danson, but did pick up where the show left off last season and should be solid in that spot. Thursday also started well, with Big Bang Theory (14.3m/4.9 – 14.94m/5.1) getting out of the blocks just fine. If there is an early flaw in the CBS armor, it might be Person Of Interest (13.33m/3.1). On the face of it, that’s not a bad number, but I don’t think the network moved CSI because it was looking for not a bad number. They could have had that result leaving CSI in place, and if Person Of Interest drops in the coming weeks, adjustments to the schedule may be in the offing.
The Mentalist (13.56m/2.8) was a bit off the pace in its premiere. The week finished with the latest version of the CBS Friday, led off by the show nobody knew existed, A Gifted Man (9.31m/1.4). Not a great start, but not really surprising considering the lack of promotion. CSI NY (10.67m/1.8) and Blue Bloods (11.85m/2) were at expected levels.
FOX - After Two And A Half Men, the second biggest question in ratings was how would X Factor (12.49m/4.4 – 12.51m/4.3) do. Given the cast, and the promotion, comparisons to Idol are an obvious leap. Unfortunately for FOX, week one would suggest that X Factor is no Idol. That’s not horrible. Every network could use four more hours of 12 million viewers and 4s in the demo. But it has to be less that what was expected. Not only was X Factor not the number one show on TV, it wasn’t even number one on the network.
Out of nowhere, New Girl (10.28m/4.8) had an amazing premiere. The fact that it actually built on the Glee (9.21m/4) premiere is a good sign. People were there to watch New Girl specifically. After years of trying, FOX might have found their live-action comedy hit. New Girl made for a solid premiere to season two of Raising Hope (6.73m/3.1) as well. Earlier in the week, Hell’s Kitchen (6.04m/2.6 – 5.94m/2.6) wrapped up its latest season. Finally, there’s Fringe (3.53m/1.5). That was well below the season three premiere (5.73m/2.1), but on the positive side, it was also above the season three finale (3.3m/1.2). And I have really given up on trying to figure out what the measure of success is where Fringe is concerned. It’s the Community of parallel universe based sci-fi drama.
ABC - Fresh off a big pile of Emmy wins, Modern Family (14.53m/6.1) gave ABC plenty to cheer about. And perhaps more importantly, it brought a solid audience to the premiere of Revenge (10.02m/3.3). Things are going to look a lot different with Happy Endings at 9:30, but they did get a lot of people to try the show. Earlier in the night, The Middle (9.74m/3.1) also had a good start to the new season.
The bad news, that is still pretty good news, was that Dancing With The Stars (19.03m/4) had it’s worst premiere ever. Again though, 19 million viewers… The results show (14.79m/2.9) looks to have taken a hit from X Factor, but the show is still a solid part of the schedule. Those 19 million viewers made for a good debut for Castle (13.28m/3.2), which split the hour with Five-O. Body Of Proof (9.41m/2.2) wasn’t quite as lucky.
Another of the very curious premieres came Thursday with the arrival of the new Charlie’s Angels (8.76m/2.1). That probably doesn’t bode well. For comparison, last season FlashForward (10.73m/3.7) got off to a much better start. A down Thursday was the order of the day though, as Grey’s Anatomy (10.38m/4.1) also suffered a sizable year-to-year drop.
NBC - Oh… NBC… There was still some hope on Sunday, when Sunday Night Football (23.4m/10) brought in another huge crowd. But then the premieres started… The Sing Off (5.3m/1.9) set the unfortunate tone for the week, and was followed up by a disappointing debut for The Playboy Club (5.02m/1.6). Possibly the worst news came Tuesday, with the premiere of Biggest Loser (6.17m/2.3). Over the last few years, as shot-through with holes as the schedule was, Biggest Loser and The Office were always a constant. Now, it would seem, that one of those is going away. Parenthood (5.28m/2.1) continued down its now familiar path.
That less than stellar start made week two of Up All Night (6.05m/2.4) seem like a bright spot. It did take a big drop from the premiere, but that number was inflated by AGT anyway. A 2.4 demo and a last place finish is becoming the new measure of success at NBC. It’s a measure that Free Agents (3.87m/1.3) and the relocated Harry’s Law (7.53m/1.2) weren’t up to. Free Agents should be making its way to the top of your first canceled picks at this point. SVU (7.63m/2.4), like Up All Night, also hit 2.4 and finished in last place. The difference is that SVU has a chance to go up, and pass Revenge, while this is probably as good as things get for Up All Night.
And then there’s Thursday. On the positive side, The Office (7.64m/3.9) got off to a good start in the post-Michael season. And that made for a good start to Whitney (6.84m/3.3). Although, if you prefer your glass half-full, that means Whitney is starting below Outsourced (7.49m/3.6). At 10, despite casting Mrs. Smith, it was a rough start for Prime Suspect (6.05m/1.8). As for the 8 o’clock hour, it remains the bit of scheduling that completely flummoxes me.
We’ve seen two years of viewers actively not watching Community (3.93m/1.7) at 8 on Thursday. So, the obvious question is, ‘What the hell did they think was going to happen?’ If someone at the network believes that the show is so good that they just have to be in the Community business, fine. I can get on board with that. But why not at least try moving it? We’ve all seen this movie twice, and we know how it ends. At least with Community on Wednesday there was a chance something would be different. On Thursday, this is what you’re going to get. Working off the Greendale ratings scale, Parks & Rec (4.11m/2.1) was a success. By any rational measure, it looks like another long season for residents of Pawnee.
CW - If NBC has one thing to grab on to, it’s that it isn’t the CW. Good grief. The ratings have been awfully iffy for years now, and they’re just getting iffier. Thursday, with Vampire Diaries (3.1m/1.5) and Secret Circle (3.05m/1.3) remains the most successful night, and the only night where the network can break 1 in the demo. Week two of Ringer (1.94m/.9) brought a big drop, although it did leave it just ahead of 90210 (1.47m/.7) on the night. H8R (1.03m/.4) remained exactly what everyone thought it would be. And Next Top Model (1.6m/.7) continues to slide toward obscurity. Finally, without Smallville, the CW Friday has also taken a turn for the worse. Nikita (1.88m/.6) and Supernatural (1.95m/.8) were both well off the 2010 pace.
CABLE - While Charlie Sheen was shown up by the numbers for Kutcher’s debut on Two And A Half Men, the week wasn’t a total loss. The Charlie show headed to cable, and Comedy Central’s Roast of Charlie Sheen (6.43m/3.8) managed to do something nobody else on cable has figured out how to do. It beat Jersey Shore (6.49m/3.5). So, he’s got that going for him, which is nice.
Clacked by Brett Love 
on Sep 26, 2011 @ 10:00 EST5EDT
I hope Community can continue to survive despite poor ratings. It really is my favorite show currently on TV, and I want to be able to continue saying that for some time to come.