This Wednesday in the wild world of ratings:— NBC's 30 Rock (5.85 million total viewers) lost 29 percent of its premiere audience. Lead-out Twenty Good Years (5.1 mil) was also down two million.— CBS' Criminal Minds finally edged past Lost, 16.103 million viewers to 16.072 mil (a margin of victory about equal to the number of guys Lindsay Lohan has fooled around with). Desmond, Nikki, Paolo and the gang still rule the 18-49 demo, however. UPDATE: The final ratings are in, and hanging chad and behold, Lost actually bested Minds in total viewers. At final count, the CBS drama had 16.203 million, 103,000 fewer than Lost.— One Tree Hill (2.95 million) hit a season low, now down 700,000 from its Sept. 27 premiere.— ABC's The Nine (8.59 million) held its ground versus last week, but is still down 2 million-plus from its premiere and continues to suffer from serious second-half tune-out. (1.7 mil changed channels at 10:30.)The moral of the above stories: don't put a num...
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Here's some exclusive prattle with a few random thoughts tossed in for added flavor:* The West Wing's Josh Malina is joining the cast of Numbers as a whip-smart, crusading federal prosecutor known for his persistence in going after tough cases. He'll debut in Episode 9 and will likely recur. * CBS has picked Jericho up for a full season. Thanks Kim Jong II! * NBC, encouraged by Law & Order: Criminal Intent's ratings on Tuesday night, has ordered a full 22 episodes, up from 18. * Do we want to live in a world where Criminal Minds beats Lost in the ratings? From a just-released CBS press bulletin: "Criminal Minds beat Lost in households for the first time ever and finished in a near dead heat with Lost in viewers in the 9-10 pm hour and attracted more viewers than Lost from 9:30-10 pm." That Tasti D-Lite shop is starting to look really good right about now. * Everything you've read about the Grey's Anatomy kerfuffle is 100 percent true.* Kidnapped is shooting across the street fr...
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Paget Brewster, last seen on the small screen playing beleaguered wife to Hank Azaria's shaky shrink on Showtime's Huff, has joined the cast of CBS' Criminal Minds as a series regular, playing a new profiler on the elite FBI team headed up by Mandy Patinkin. Quick, someone check to see if she has six fingers on her right hand.
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Wednesday's Dancing results show was (yawn) the 8 pm winner, with an audience of 15.6 million, while CBS' Jericho held steady with another week of 11.4 mil viewers. Bones placed third with 7.7 mil.At 9, Criminal Minds surged 800,000 heads from a week prior to claim an audience of 16.45 million, followed by Lost's neat li'l clip show (9.9 mil) and Justice, which enjoyed a solid upswing to 7.1 mil. The return of One Tree Hill was welcomed by 3.65 mil, a tick higher than the show's previous season-opener.CSI: NY ruled the 10 pm slot with 16 million to 20/20's 13.3 and Kidnapped's 6.3 (down 1.2 mil from its already disappointing premiere).
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Question: Any scoop on Criminal Minds?
Answer:
That new series-regular role — the one initially offered to Portia de Rossi — has been tweaked a bit. Now the character is described as a "no-nonsense" woman in her early thirties who's the daughter of high-powered diplomats. She's an expert profiler whose transfer to the BAU catches Hotch off guard. With Portia not interested, I'm hearing producers are looking at an actress who knows a thing or two about being a prime-time profiler: Jamie Luner.
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Wednesday's Dancing with the Stars results show won the 8 o'clock hour with an audience of 14.9 million, followed by the debut of CBS' Jericho (11.4 mil), Bones (7.4 mil), and the season premieres of The Biggest Loser (6.4 mil in its first hour) and America's Next Top Model (christening the CW with 4.9 mil). At 9 pm Criminal Minds led with 15.6 million viewers, followed by the first of two Grey's Anatomy repeats (10.6 mil) and Loser's back end (7.9 mil). In fifth, behind Top Model's second hour, Justice drew 5.6 million, down almost two mil from the previous week.CSI: NY premiered at 10 pm to 15.9 million viewers, trailed by no, not the debut of NBC's Kidnapped, but the second Grey's encore (10.5 mil). With a sampling audience of 7.5 million, Kidnapped bowed in third.
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Question: Why are you always criticizing CSI: Miami? Granted, it isn't as good as the original (which actually had a down year last year). And Caruso's acting is something you have to learn to tolerate. (I wonder if the script actually says, "Put hands on hips.") But on the whole, the show is quite entertaining. One of its strong suits is the backup players. I love Callie and Delko. If you want to bash a CSI show, try the horrid NY version. I can't even stand to watch it, and I'm a huge Gary Sinise fan; that tells you how bad it is. The exaggerated New York accents and the stilted acting are unbearable. I predict it will be the first incarnation of CSI to get canceled.
Answer: Tell that to the original Law & Order, which had to move to Fridays to get away from the CSI juggernaut, even the subpar NY edition. The reason I criticize the Miami version from time to time is because it's such a big target. And while I also like some of the supporting players, I have grown weary of the
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Jenna Elfman still believes in Dharma.
Hi-larious. That's the word coming out of Jenna Elfman's mouth, midconversation, as she picks up the phone for this TVGuide.com Q&A. What is the gifted comedienne in the midst of describing? That was the first topic at hand as we used the occasion of the DVD release of Dharma & Greg: Season One to chat up Elfman — fresh from Courting Alex's abbreviated run — about her sitcom hits, misses and lessons learned, the Dharma-
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Hugh Laurie, House
Put a fork in the recent TV season — it officially ended on May 24, so now it's time to tally the results. For the fourth straight year, CBS was crowned the most-watched network, with an average of 12.6 million viewers per week. While the network didn't score any smash hits, new shows such as Criminal Minds, The Unit and Ghost Whisperer were solid ratings performers.
Fox was able to crow as well: for the second year in a row it was No. 1 among viewers aged 18 to 49, the group most coveted by advertisers. But this year the network won the demo race wi
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The big news (and the worst kept secret in the TV biz) is that Without a Trace is headed to Sunday night. The complete release is below.CBS ANNOUNCES 2006-2007 PRIMETIME SCHEDULECBS announced today the addition of four new series to its 2006-2007 primetime line-up, enhancing a line-up that will return 18 shows from last year's schedule, including six from last season's freshman class. The line-up, which includes three new dramas and one new comedy, was unveiled this morning by CBS Entertainment President Nina Tassler. The four new shows feature a roster of award-winning actors and executive producers and a unique mix of concepts and genres. The freshman series include a young and sexy ensemble comedy, THE CLASS, from "Friends" co-creator David Crane; SMITH, a high octane heist thriller from "ER's" John Wells starring Ray Liotta and Virginia Madsen; the apocalyptic drama JERICHO, from the producer of "National Treasure," Jon Turteltaub, starring Skeet Ulrich ("Scream"); and SHARK, a ...
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