Since I am a huge fan of Two ...
Question: Since I am a huge fan of
Two and a Half Men, I keep watching CBS after it ends every week. I have been watching
Out of Practice these first weeks, and although it isn't the best comedy ever (not even close), it gets me through the hour.
Practice's first episode was watched by 13 million viewers, and its second broadcast was enjoyed by 11 million viewers. On the other hand,
How I Met Your Mother (which is better) reached only 10 million viewers in the first two weeks of the season. However, a lot of experts are calling
Mother a keeper and
Practice a possible casualty of the season. I don't get it. How can
Practice be in more danger than
Mother if it has better ratings? Also
Out of Practice is not that bad. I'd rather watch
Stockard Channing than
Still Standing's pathetic cast and stories any day of the week.
Answer: I'd rather watch a clip reel of
Elisabeth Rohm's scenes from
Law & Order than
Still Standing, so that's a pretty low bar, don't you think? But here's the deal with ratings like this. By airing later at night, in the protected and high-profile hammock between
Men and
CSI: Miami, there are higher expectations for
Practice than for a show that airs earlier in the evening like
Mother, which doesn't have such a big hit as a lead-in. Ratings analysts also put a lot of emphasis on how well a show holds on to the audience of its lead-in. So those factors, plus a general coolness in the critical media toward
Practice (a show that has yet to live up to the potential of its brilliant cast), are why the analysts are less forgiving of
Practice than they might be toward
Mother (which I agree is the funnier and fresher show).
