
Dancing With The Stars by Kelsey McNeal/ABC
Monday's highlights (as it were):8 pm/ETDancing with the Stars was the night's most watched show (17 million total viewers), but stumbled to the tune of a 12-percent week-to-week drop. (Too uneven a competition this season? Discuss.) Bones placed second in the hour, returning to an audience of 8.5 mil (down 1.12 mil from its last fresh eppy). Big Bang (7.69 mil, down a mil) and Mother (7.99 mil, down 17 percent) both took hits.9 pmCBS' combo of Men (13.84 mil, slipping 600K) and Rules of Engagement (welcomed back by 10.32 mil, down 15 percent) topped the hour. Samantha Who? made a date with 10 mil, losing a mil from last week. The season finale of New Amsterdam dipped 700 thou to 6.77 mil. One Tree Hill scored 2.72 mil on its new night, giving The CW its best ever Monday-at-9 numbers in the 18-34 demo.10 pmTrailing a CSI: Miami repeat, Medium delivered 9.58 mil (sliding 1.1 mil), while The Bachelor held steady at about seven mil.In other ratings news: The Memory Keeper's Daughter on...
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Returns Monday April 14 at 930 pmET CBSNumber of new episodes 6Where we left off Audrey Megyn Price and Jeff Patrick Warburton found the source of their fertility problems Adam Oliver Hudson introduced Jennifer Bianca Kajlich to his mom Russell David Spade stayed single of courseWhats next Jeff and Audrey turn to a fertility idol to conceive Bump watch Russell may have a preg173nancy scare hints executive producer Tom Hertz Spades dealing with some things in his personal life and its always good when the real-life stuff finds its way onto TV Playmate Jillian Grace has claimed shes carrying Spades child
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Ahhhhhhh, it's another beautiful day here on Stage 28. This week on Rules of Engagement (Mondays at 9:30 pm/ET, CBS), we've got our lovely guest star, Heather Locklear, back for another episode as Audrey's sister, Barbara. I don't want to embarrass her, but I'm dying to ask her the question that's on everyone's mind What is Adrian Zmed like in person?So, Heather and I are working on our scene today, and, all of a sudden, we realize we've actually met before. Holy cow! It was sometime in the early '90s. I was a sophomore in college, working in L.A. for the summer, and she was on Melrose Place. We met at a party for her show, where I sat with her and her then husband, Tommy Lee, drinking tequila and playing "Would you rather." (For the uninitiated, this game involves posing two horrifying, repulsive and/or sexual scenarios to someone, and then forcing them to choose which one they would rather experience.) I learned several things that night:1) Heather Locklear is about the swe...
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Julianne Hough by Carol Kaelson/ABC
There's a lot to cover for this Monday, so let's rip into the ratings: Dancing with the Stars topped the evening, averaging 21.2 million total viewers over its 90-minute run. (That's on par with its previous season-opener.) Lead-out The Bachelor, however, dropped its partner, managing just 9.56 mil (a 500K dip from Officer and a Gentlemen's debut). CBS' comedy lineup did as follows: Mother, 8.27 mil, down 2.2 mil from last year's launch; newcomer The Big Bang Theory, 9.58 mil, a marked increase on HIMYM's lead-in; Men, 13.45 mil; and Rules of Engagement, 12.09 mil. On NBC, Chuck got his geek on to the tune of 9.3 million. That led into Heroes, which with 14.12 mil nearly matched its series premiere, and certainly improved on last May's season-ender. Journeyman (9.5 mil) then let slip nearly a third of its lead-in. Fox's Prison Break (7.27 mil) slipped a bit from its premiere, while 31 percent fewer people decided to return to K-Ville (6.16 mil). Monday'...
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Rules of Engagement by Cliff Lipson/CBS
Straight from the Eye:"Heather Locklear (Spin City) will guest-star in two episodes of the comedy Rules of Engagement later this season on the CBS television network. In the episodes, Locklear will play Barbara, the sister of Audrey (Megyn Price) who comes to town to visit. During her stay, Barbara announces that her marriage, which Audrey has always idealized, may be over. While Audrey has a difficult time dealing with the news, she is even more surprised to learn that her sister has agreed to go on a date with Russell (played by David Spade)."The likes of Locklear hooking up with Spade? Only on TV, folks.
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Question: I happened to see the pilot for CBS' The Big Bang Theory in Las Vegas last week, and I absolutely loved it. I have not laughed that much during a new sitcom pilot in a long time. Do you think this show has a chance to stick? I hope it lasts, because it is really funny.
Answer: The good news is that it's on the right network (CBS, which specializes in multi-camera laugh-track sitcoms), and with Two and a Half Men's Chuck Lorre behind it, CBS may be inclined to show some patience if it doesn't take off right away. But I don't see why it wouldn't. It's a classic ugly-duckling buddy sitcom about two geeky geniuses (Roseanne's Johnny Galecki and terrific new find Jim Parsons as, respectively, Leonard and Sheldon, an homage to legendary TV producer Sheldon Leonard) and the pretty young thing (8 Simple Rules' Kaley Cuoco) who moves in next door. The guys are funny, especially the deadpan fussbudget played by Parsons, and their nerdy friends in the supporting cast score laughs as
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Heroes hot property Hayden Panettiere has signed with the William Morris Agency.... Frasier alum David Hyde Pierce is fronting the Alzheimer's Association's Champions campaign, which aims to recruit one supporter for each of the more than five million people living with the disease.... A September 4 DVD release date has been set for both I Dream of Jeannie: The Complete Fourth Season and Rules of Engagement: The Complete First Season (yes, all seven episodes).
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It seems smart to put The Amazing Race on the back burner for mid-season. With the gimmicky Family and All-Stars cycles, this most-honored of all reality-competition shows was beginning to look a bit played out. Less is more. CBS should make this show feel like an event, and the best way to do that is not to schedule it season-round. Leave us wanting more, and maybe more will come.Moving Without a Trace back to its old Thursday slot: Good idea. This season, it helped establish CBS' new Sunday strategy of a crime block to counter ABC's popular soaps. Now it can go back where it truly belongs, restoring some luster and stability to the toughest, most competitive night of the week. (And selfishly, I've had nothing to enjoy watching Thursdays at 10 pm since ABC yanked Men in Trees from its lineup. It'll be good to have Trace once again behind CSI.)And a big whew for CBS' mid-season renewal of The New Adventures of Old Christine. I love that show, and was worried that the mystifying succ...
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Question: After reading all the speculations regarding the current CBS Monday night sitcoms, I just had to write. First, why would a network pull the plug on a good show just to fill it in with a new sitcom in the fall? Ever heard of "If it ain't broke, don't fix it"? I was shocked to hear that How I Met Your Mother could even be remotely considered to be taken off the air. It's bad enough that The Class was sent packing too soon and will likely not return because Rules of Engagement had a following. How does eliminating a really great sitcom (Mother) for a more mediocre one (Rules) benefit the network? It surely would not benefit us viewers. Second, since CBS seems to have more sitcoms than time slots, did the powers-that-be ever stop to consider rotating the shows? I would vote yes to more new episodes (not just during sweeps months) of any sitcom they have than to suffer the loss of any of them. Why not alternate The Class with Rules instead of bumping one for the other? I am quite ...
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For months, the thing about Heroes that bothered me most was Milo Ventimiglias hair: specifically, that dreaded dangling forelock Peter Petrelli kept playing with, as if in thrall to a fetish. Ive long wanted the boy to get a haircut. But not like this!Quite the horrifying climax to the March cliff-hanger (no new episodes until April 23), as Sylar pinned that dupe Mohinder to the ceiling while slicing into Peter Petrellis skull to see why Peter ticks like Sylar, only less murderously. Blood drops from Peters forehead onto the floor, followed by that hank of hair. I cringed, then I cheered. Well done.The episode was a crackerjack thrill ride with one reversal after another. Simone rising from the dead? Shut up! Its really Candice, the slinky shape-shifter! Mrs. Bennet betraying her hubby, in cahoots with The Company? Shut up! Its really Candice, the slinky shape-shifter! What fun.By the way, I love how the writers have evolved HRG from sinister man...
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