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No winners on Tuesday (sigh)
    Just like last Thursday, Tuesday night provided no real winners as most series were off their season averages, some by a wide margin. CBS won every half hour though, but was last every half hour in adults (as usual), except at 10:30pm. CBS won at 8pm, though "JAG" (13.6mil) hit a season low. ABC was second with series low numbers for "8 Simple Rules" (11.4mil, 4.1/10), though "According To Jim" (12.5mil, 5.0/13) shot up a bit. NBC was third in the hour with "SNL's Holiday Special" (10.2mil from 8 to 9:30pm), while Fox was a typical fourth with the declining "That 70s Show" (8.7mil) and "Andy Richter" (6.8mil). The WB with "Gilmore Girls" (4.0mil, for a repeat) still beat an original "Buffy" (4.0mil), which fell to a season low. 
     At 9pm, "The Guardian" won with a season low 11.7mil viewers, leaving SNL and "Frasier" (10.7mil) to picked up second. ABC's "Life With Bonnie" drew 10.5mil, its highest numbers in quite some time, though "Less Than Perfect" fell to 9.1mil opposite "Frasier." "24" was at a season low 9.4mil, though it won the hour in adults. On the WB, "Smallville" stayed stable at 4.0mil, while a special repeat of "The Twilight Zone" fell to just 2.1mil.
     In the late hour, "Judging Amy" was the night's top rated show at 14.3mil, while "Dateline" (9.6mil) and a repeat "Blue" (9.1mil) were down and out. (December 18)

UPN almost hits season highs on Monday
     The UPN's Monday night line-up, the only thing on its line-up that seems to have any momentum, hit near season highs on Monday while two series came close to record hits. "The Parkers" started out the night with a strong 4.2mil, while "One On One" used that as a springboard to 5.1mil viewers. "Girlfriends" followed that with a near season high of 5.3mil viewers, coming in fourth in the half hour. "Half & Half" dropped somewhat to 4.4mil viewers, but it seems to be an excellent fit for the line-up. Comparatively, the UPN beat the WB ("7th Heaven" (4.7mil); "Everwood" (4.1mil)), though the line-up was in repeats.
      Other than that, it was an unspectacular night all around. CBS won at 8pm with "Queens" (13.0mil) and "Dear" (12.5mil) continuing their downward trend on the season. "Fear Factor" (10.1mil) was second in a repeat, while "Boston Public" (8.7mil) was a season-low third. "Monk" (8.0mil) was fourth. "Raymond" (in a repeat- 17.3mil) and "Still Standing" (15.0mil) won at 9pm, with football close behind (16.5mil overall). "Third Watch" (8.4mil) was a weak repeat in third, while Fox's special "The Greatest Christmas Moments Ever" came in at a very weak 5.4mil. At 10pm, "CSI Miami" hit 18.0mil, not spectacular, while "Crossing Jordan" in a repeat drew 8.8mil. (December 17)

"Dinotopia" gone
     After last week's 4.2mil, you knew it was going. The last episode will air on December 26th, where it'll probably draw about 2.0mil viewers. That's my prediction. (December 17)

No Thursday winners
     I'm going to be bold today and declare that there were no winners on Thursday. Yes, there was all original programming, but not one series drew numbers that could be considered winning. At 8pm, a "Friends" clip show started the night with an okay 23.4mil, followed by "Scrubs" at 17.5mil. Retention for the series was an okay 75%, down from recent weeks. That led into below average 9pm results for "Will & Grace" (17.2mil) and "Good Morning Miami" (13.7mil), while "ER" hit a near first run low at just 22.7mil. Over on CBS, "Survivor" (20.0mil) was below average, as was "CSI" (27.4mil), though it was far and away the top rated show on the night. "Without A Trace" ended the night with an average 15.4mil.
     On the rest of the nets, "Smackdown" drew an average 5.6mil, while ABC was fourth with the soon-to-be-canned "Dinotopia" (4.9mil) and the repeat "Best Commercials You've Never Seen" (4.3mil). "PrimeTime Thursday" finished the night with only 6.6mil. Fox aired the hilarious movie "Drop Dead Gorgeous" to a not so funny 4.5mil, while the WB actually got some good results with the special "Grandma Got Run Over By A Reindeer" (3.9mil). Unfortunately, "JKX" slid to an average of 2.5mil at 9pm. (December 13)

"MDs" canned
    What more is there to say?

"MDs" hits a record low
     ABC's little series that couldn't, "MDs" apparently really cant. After being boosted artificially for quite a while by "The Bachelor," viewers made a definitive decision on the series Wednesday night, sending it spiralling down to only 4.9mil viewers and a tiny 2.2/6 rating in adults. That despite its very strong lead-in, ABC's special "Extreme Makeover" (13.7mil; 5.8/15). In viewers, it lost a jaw dropping 64% and 62% in adults. The decision on cancellation will probably come down within the next few days, seeing as how the Wednesday at 10pm slot will become home to "Celebrity Mole" come January. "Law & Order" was the winner at 10pm with 19.5mil viewers, while CBS's "48 Hours Investigates" drew a solid 9.1mil.
     Overall, it was a mixed bag on the night with no network really sticking out. Of course, NBC won, but "The West Wing" (15.5mil) and "Ed" (10.8mil) were less than impressive. As for "Ed," the momentum that the series built in November, eventually reaching 13.4mil viewers, appears to be gone. See NBC, shows what you get for preempting a show for two weeks right after it's peaked. ABC started off with repeats at 8pm, and they won. "My Wife & Kids" (12.0mil; 4.8/14) and "The George Lopez Show" (10.8mil; 4.6/13) still beat new episodes of Fox's "Bernie Mack" (7.8mil; 3.6/11) and "Cedric" (7.8mil; 3.4/9). At 9pm, "Makeover" beat "West Wing" in adults, if not in viewers, while Fox's "Fastlane" (7.4mil; 3.5/9) hit its highest rating in a number of weeks. Unfortunately for CBS, "The Amazing Race," despite being THE BEST HOUR OF REALITY TV, had to settle for a weak 9.5mil and a 4.0/11 in adults for its penultimate episode.
     Then there were the micro nets. "Enterprise" (5.0mil) beat "Dawsons Creek" (4.3mil) at 8pm, though at 9pm, it was a draw between the "why did they renew that" "The Twilight Zone" (2.7mil) and a repeat of the WB's cancelled "Birds of Prey" (2.8mil) (December 12)

"Jim" sets records... again
     ABC's "According To Jim," which is starting to look like the net's real sitcom savior, set a whole new slew of series records on Tuesday, which it's already done various times this season. The show was first on the night in viewers (14.6mil) as well as adults (6.1/16), its highest totals ever in both those demos. It also increased off "8 Simple Rules" (13.5mil, 4.9/14) by its best margins yet. Why? It certainly helped that over on Fox, "Andy Richter" (5.7mil, 3.1/7) had a pathetic Tuesday outing, losing a chunk of "That 70s Show"s (9.0mil, 4.9/14) fading aud. "JAG" (10.2mil) was also a repeat, and the only real competition was NBC's special "An Evening With The Dixie Chicks" (11.1mil, 3.8/11). Over on the WB, "Gilmore Girls" scored a solid 5.0mil for a rerun, while "Buffy" slipped to 2.7mil.
     An hour later, ABC's fortunes continued to rise as both "Life With Bonnie" (10.4mil, 4.5/11) and "Less Than Perfect" (10.1mil, 4.3/11) put up their best numbers in almost two months. "Frasier" on NBC (13.7mil; 5.1/13) continued its softening while "Hidden Hills" (9.6mil; 4.2/11) fell behind "Less" in both viewer measured for the very first time. "24," though drawing only 10.0mil viewers, was first in adults (4.8/12), while "The Guardian" (12.4mil) took total viewers, though at a 2.7/6 in adults, it was clearly not a threat. "Smallville" put up an okay 4.7mil in the hour, while the UPN's make-shift combo of "The Parkers" (1.9mil) and "One On One" (2.0mil) was left behind.
     At 10pm, "Amy" (13.0mil) won, though on season low numbers. "NYPD Blue" was second in viewers (12.3mil), but first in adults, while "Dateline" (9.6mil) was third in all counts. (December 11)

"The Practice" moving?
     Remember how David E Kelley has had a two hour block on Monday night for the past three seasons, that is until "girls club" was quickly killed? Well, ABC would like to help out with that. Variety is reporting that the net will move the vunerable drama to 9pm on Monday after football season gets out, preceded by "Veritas" and followed by "Miracles." "Dragnet" will get the Sunday at 10pm slot.
     So why? You may be asking. Well, this is the reason. ABC has decided to air "Alias" post-Super Bowl as was widely expected. The net expects that the airing will give the show a huge boost. Hopefully its the kind of boost that "Friends" saw, not the one that "The Family Guy" and "3rd Rock" got. Lately, the Super Bowl hasn't even been affecting a show's future performance. "Malcolm" aired there last year, but saw no gains in the ratings. Nor did "The Practice" in 2000. So good luck, ABC. (December 11)

"RHD" gone
     CBS's "Robbery Homicide Division" has been given the boot, and rather not surprizingly. The cancellation takes effect immediately. The show will be replaced in December with specials and repeats of "CSI Miami." The new drama "Queens Supreme" will air in the slot in January. Also effected is the future of "Presidio Med," which will air again Wednesday at 10pm, but also Friday at 8pm in January once "Providence" leaves the air. (December 11)

ABC's dramatic Monday
     ABC, which hasn't had any luck on Mondays (save "The Bachelor") since the high days of "Millionaire." But its going to try again. The net will premiere "Veritas: The Quest," "Dragnet" and then "Miracles," all on January 27th, the day after the Super Bowl.
      Which begs the question, what will ABC air after the Super Bowl? "Alias" is said to be a strong contender, but wouln't that be wasting the slot. Dramas haven't performed well post "Bowl" lately. What do you think? Vote in the new poll. (December 10)

"Raymond" on the slide
     CBS's once invinsible "Everybody Loves Raymond" hit is lowest ratings for a first run fall episode in almost two seasons as it drew a solid, but still disappointing 19.1mil viewers on Monday night. It did win the hour over football (15.7mil overall) and NBC's surging "Third Watch" (13.4mil), but this week saw its season average slide below 20mil viewers. Thus far, the show is down only 3% from last season, but for a show that's built every single season since it first aired, its somewhat disheartening. Part of the reason could be what's surrounding it. Both "King of Queens" (12.3mil) and "Yes, Dear" (12.1mil) are off from last season, while "Still Standing" (14.5mil) is no "Becker." "CSI Miami" (12.0mil) has lit the 10pm timeslot on fire, but that hasn't seemed to help. BTW- all CBS series but "Raymond" and "Standing" were repeats.
     NBC gained on the night as "Fear Factor" (14.1mil) hit a season high, while "Crossing Jordan" (11.6mil) was a close third at 10pm. Fox's "Billboard Music Awards" (9.2mil) were unimpressive, and down a quarter from last season. "Monk" started ABC's night at a solid 9.1mil. 
     On the mini nets, the WB took 8pm with "7th Heaven" (5.0mil) over "The Parkers" (3.8mil) and "One On One" (4.3mil), while "Everwood" (4.0mil) lost out to "Girlfriends" (4.3mil) and "Half & Half" (3.9mil) at 9pm. All were repeats. (December 10)

Only one show breaks 12mil on Tuesday
     On a night where the only original episodes were had by "Just Shoot Me," "The In Laws," and Fox, is it really no wonder? But the reality of Tuesday night was that all repeats performed poorly, save those that aired on ABC. The net won the 8pm hour handily with "8 Simple Rules" (12.5mil) and "Jim" (11.6mil) backing off only slightly from original numbers. CBS was a pathetic second with "JAG" (10.2mil), while Fox got third with "That 70s Show" (10.0mil) and "Grounded For Life" (8.0mil). NBC was fourth, though both "Just Shoot Me" (7.3mil) and "The In Laws" (8.8mil) were up significantly over recent weeks. Over on the WB, "Gilmore" (4.9mil) beat "Buffy" (2.5mil) by almost 100%.
     At 9pm, there were even more repeats, though "Frasier" (11.8mil) and "The In Laws" (10.5mil) managed to take it. Hey, "Laws": did quite well in the slot.... how about moving it there, NBC? I know you've got a whole season of "Hidden Hills" to try and burn off somehow, but come on. That show'll never be a hit. "24" (10.7mil) took advantage of the weak competition and posting its best numbers in three weeks. "The Guardian" (9.4mil) was third, while "Bonnie" (9.0ml) and "Perfect" (8.0mil) were fourth, though both drew number comparable to original episodes. Why are you watching "Less Than Perfect" ? It may be formulaic, but it's as funny as hell. Catch it once and you'll be hooked.... On the WB, "Smallville" (5.0mil) beat out "Girlfriends" 
(2.1mil) and "The Parkers" (2.2mil). 
     At 10pm, "Dateline" (11.0mil) won for the very first time this season, though "NYPD Blue" (10.2mil) repeat better than usual, while "Judging Amy" did not. (December 4)
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