WB gets "Union" boost
    While four of the other nets stayed with their commitment to air the State of the Union address, the WB ran away with the Tuesday who with new episodes of it signature Tuesday series. "Gilmore Girls" started off the night with a high 6.0mil, and "Smallville" ended the night with and even better 7.0mil. "Gilmore" was still fifth in its slot though, only beating out "Buffy" (4.7mil), but it came close to reaching Fox, which had an average night with "That 70s Show" (9.1mil) and "Undeclared" (6.5mil). "Smallville" was actually fourth in its slot, beating out Fox's address coverage (4.3mil). NBC won the address with 13.1mil, followed closely by ABC with 13.0mil. CBS lagged with 10.3mil.
     The fates of "Dharma & Greg" and "Spin City" got a little bit dimmer on the night- "The Chair" rebounded to 10.6mil viewers, about 2mil more than the older duo averaged in the slot. It may have been helped by mostly repeat competition- "JAG" won with 11.8mil, followed by "Frasier" with 10.8mil. "Three Sisters" had its best outing of the season (9.5mil) thanks to the stronger lead-in, giving hope that if "Watching Ellie" does okay, "Sisters" might be back next season in the 8:30pm timeslot. (January 31)

"That's Life" latest to be cut
     CBS has officially put "That's Life" on the ropes, cutting its season order from 22 to 17 episodes, five of which haven't yet been aired. This is the seventh series so far this season to have its season order cut, and like most of the rest of them, the outlook for next season is dim. The second year drama was a surprise renewal last season, but has averaged slightly more than 7 million viewers on Fridays and Saturdays this season.
      Also on the eye, the second edition of "The Amazing Race" will start earlier than scheduled. It will premiere in a little over a month, Monday, March 11th, at 10pm. But it shouldn't get too comfy, it's moving back to Wednesdays the following week. It will get a boost from a special episode of "Survivor" that will air Wednesday at 8pm sometime in May. Speaking of that series, its three hour finale will not air on Thursday, but rather on Sunday. Instead of facing what might be the "Friends" series finale and Anthony Edwards' departure from "ER" (what a night that would be in the ratings- 30 ratings al around, at least), it will go Sunday, May 19th, at 8pm. (January 31)

Another "Rose"y night for ABC
     The second part of the Steven King mini "Red Rose" didn't pull the numbers it did on Sunday, but it was still more than enough for the net to win the night. The movie drew 18.7mil viewers for part 2, down from 20.0mil on Sunday, a small loss of about 6.5%. In adults, the movie declined to an 8.3/19, a loss of about 13%. But understandable, given the competiton on the night. "Millionaire" gave it a decent lead-in with 12.3mil.
     CBS actually won at 9pm, with "Raymond" (20.7mil) reaching fewer eyeballs than usual. "Becker" followed ith a strong 17.1mil. A repeat "King of Queens" drew a nice 12.5mil at 8pm, second in its slot, followed by a new "Yes, Dear" (12.3mil). "48 Hours" did an okay 12.3mil at 10pm, but was third in its slot.
     The peacock was also strong on the night, with "Fear Factor" (13.8mil) drawing its best numbers since it returned tot he schedule. "Third Watch" (11.1mil) was a distant third at 9pm, while "Crossing Jordan" (13.2mil) took second at 10pm. Fox didn't have as much luck though. "Boston Public" started out with a strong 11.8mil, but repeats of "That 70s Show" (6.6mil) and "Malcolm In The Middle" (6.2mil) dropped off significantly at 9pm. "7th Heaven" (5.6mil) was a strong repeat at 8pm, beating out the UPN's "The Hughleys" (3.4mil) & "One On One" (3.9mil), while "The Parkers" (3.7mil) & "Girlfriends" (3.3mil) outdrew "Smallville" (2.8mil) at 9pm. All were repeat broadcasts.
     Compared to last season, it was actually a very good night. The WB was down the most, 39%, but that was because it aired new episodes last season versus repeats this year. CBS was down 7%. The UPN was flat, Fox was up 18%, NBC 26%, and ABC increased by half. In total, the nets were up 10% to 60.9mil viewers. (Janaury 29)

CBS renews a wack of shows, "Roswell" canned
     As usual, CBS has gone ahead and renewed a wack of series for next season, and not one of them was a surprise. The entire Monday slate, excluding "Family Law," was picked it, as well as the Tuesday schedule, "CSI" and "The District."
Since "60 Minutes" and its derivative as likely to be picked up, the net's fall schedule is quickly falling into place.
     But on the flipside, thefutoncritic.com is reporting that "Roswell" has been canned. Its season order had previous been reduced from 22 episodes to 20, but it has now been reduced to 18. The site also says production has been shut down, and a cancellation announcement will be made presently. But it doesn't really come as a surprise. The show averages less than 3.0mil viewers, while lead-in "Buffy" draws in excess of 4mil.
     Fox has also went ahead and cancelled the three episode gammer "The Chamber." Ratings were anemic on Sundays when it premiered, but crashed when it moved to Fridays last week. The remaining episodes will air sometime in the spring. (January 29)

ABC's Sunday "Rosy," NBC takes week-end
     It was shaping out to be a record low week for ABC, that is until it pulled Steven King out of its ass. His movie "Red Rose" drew 20.0mil viewers on Sunday, and a huge 9.6/22 in adults. ABC has to be very happy: part one and two air this week, giving the net a shot at coming in second (Fox, with the Super Bowl, will undoubtably win). The mini will also rank as the highest rated movie in two seasons, and the highest mini in years. It's also the highest rated premiere of a King mini in 6 years. The net did a solid 10.7mil earlier in the night for the Disney movie "Mouse Hunt."
     But the other nets didn't roll over and die on the night. Fox actually won in adults and viewers thanks to the NFL. An overrun drew 34.3mil until 7:30pm, the post-game dfrew 22.0mil, leading into the highest rated "The Simpsons" (18.0mil) and "Malcolm In The Middle" (17.6mil) of the season. But "The X-Files" (9.0mil) was a tired 4th at 9pm. CBS started weakly with "60 Minutes" (13.1mil), leading into an okay "Education Of Max Bickford" (11.8mil). But the movie "My Sister's Keeper" (14.5mil) will likely go down as CBS' highest rated movie of the season, even despite the stiff competition.
     NBC was third with "Dateline" (7.6mil), "The Weakest Link" (11.0mil), "Law & Order: CI" (12.6mil) and "Third Watch" (8.5mil), while the WB peaked with "The Jamie Kennedy Experiment" (3.4mil).
     Over the week-end, it was all "Law & Order," all the time. NBC man handled the competition on Saturday with "Law & Order" (6.6mil), "CI" (9.2mil) and "SVU" (11.2mil), all repeats. Fox was second with "Cops" (7.1mil) at 8pm, 8.4mil at 8:30pm, and "Americas Most Wanted" (8.3mil), while CBS experienced a down night with "Touched By An Angel" (8.4mil), "That's Life" (7.1mil) and the worst rated new "The District" (9.6mil) ever. ABC was out of the loop with the movie "Dr. No" (7.3mil).
     The "Law & Order" fest kicked off on Friday, where "SVU" continued its strong run with 16.7mil. It's lead-in, "Dateline" (10.3mil) wasn't great, and "Providence" (11.4mil) aired its weakest episode of the season. ABC was a very close second at 8pm with "Americas Funniest Home Vidoes" (10.6mil), though it slipped off with "Best Commercials" (9.0mil) and "20/20" (8.8mil). CBS was third, but won at 9pm with "First Monday" (10.5mil), though "JAG" (7.5mil) and "48 Hours" (6.5mil) where weak in the sandwich hours. Fox was a very distant fifth with "The Chamber" (5.5mil) and an extremely weak "24" (3.8mil), which was actually 6th in its slot. The WB had a strong night with "Sabrina" (3.8mil); "Raising Dad" (3.2mil), "Reba" (4.7mil) and "Jamie Kennedy Experiment" (3.3mil), while the UPN had an average night with a movie (3.4mil). (January 28)

"Ellen," goodbye
     CBS says it's only a financial decision, but it doesn't look good: it's cut the season order for "The Ellen Show" down from 22 to 18 episode, which have already been taped. The series is averaging slightly less than 6mil viewers this season, despite 5 tries in plum Monday slots. The show was going to be on hiatus for most of February as it was, with movies airing againstt he Olympics. The remaining 5 episodes will air starting in March.
     But CBS insists that the show is a strong contender for the fall schedule. Really.... (January 28)

WB now on 5 hours on Sunday
     The WB is adding two hours to its Sunday schedule, brining the total up t a network leading five hour.This to make way for more shows that people won't watch. What the network will do is airing repeats from 5-7pm, repeats of series that have already aired through the week.
     It may turn out to be a shrewd business decision. If the repeats only draw 2mil viewers, they will still bring in some advertising dollars, to help the net turn a profit. It has not been decided what will air, though it would be a smart idea to ket viewers vote on their website...  hint, hint. (January 28)

Repeats draw big on Thursday
      In a showing of just how big the current seasons of "CSI" and "Friends" now are, repeat of both series drew just slightly below their season averages on Thursday night. In the 8pm hour, "Friends" started off with 22.9mil who wanted to watch the same episode all over all, followed by a good 17.3mil who wanted to do the same for "Will & Grace." But there was some serious competition in the hour. Which came from "CSI." A special 8pm airing drew a big 17.6mil, beating out several episodes of "Survivor: Africa" that aired in the slot until two weeks ago. The rest of the hour was a washout. ABC came a very distant third with "Whose Line?" (7.5mil average), UPN was a strong 4th with "Smackdown" (7.2mil), which drew its highest numbers of the season, Fox zoned out with "The Family Guy" (5.5mil) and "The Tick" (4.5mil), while the WB's "Glory Days" (2.2mil) will rank as one of the lowest rated shows of the week. That is if anything from the WB's Sunday night line-up doesn't beat it out.
      At 9pm, another repeat "CSI" drew 20.5mil, only 2mil off the series season average. This further cements it position at the top of this season's drama charts- a repeat "ER" drew 15.6mil at 10pm."Will & Grace" (14.0mil) and "Just Shoot Me" (12.0mil) were second in the hour, followed byt he steadily descending list of "Millionaire" (9.8mil); "Temptation Island" (5.8mil) and "Charmed" (4.8mil). In the last hour, "ER" won, though "The Agency" (11.7mil) was strong, followed by "PrimeTime Thursday" (10.6mil)
      Compared to last season, it wasn't as bad as it could have been, even though 3 nets has steep declines. ABC plunged 38%, Fox was down a third and the WB followed with 32%. The UPN was down 10%, while NBC was flat. But CBS jumped-alot- 133%, more than doubling its last season result. That brought the nets up to an average of 57.9mil viewers on the night still down 1.7%. (January 25)

Fox sets premiere dates
     Fox has got to be banking its hopes of salvaging the season on "Greg The Bunny" and "Andy Richter Controls The Universe," and it's finally set premiere dates for both series. "Greg" will debut Wednesday, March 27th on Wednesday at 9:30pm. taking the place of the might-be-cancelled "Titus" (sorry, I refuse to say on-the-bubble. What the hell is the bubble, and why are the shows on it?). "Andy" will go on Tuesday, March 19th at 8:30pm, which like spells the end of "Undeclared."
Fox might have a tough go of it though. Even though "That 80s Show" got off to a very strong start this week (11.7mil), the net will likely get knocked down into oblivion against the Olympics in February. And how's this for luck? "Malcolm In The Middle," possibly tv's best comedy, got the plum Super Bowl slot on February 3rd. What does it air against the very next week? The Olympic games, as it does for the two following weeks. Can we say wasted promotional push? (Janaury 25)

"80s" alot like "70s"
     In what is either an incouraging sign or an ironic twist of fate, "That 80s Show" debuted to exacted what "That 70s Show" drew on Tuesday night- 11.3mil viewers. It didn't win it's half hour, in fact, it came third. But it led Fox skyward on the night, giving it its second best Wednesday performance of the season. "Grounded For Life" followed with 9.7mil, excellent for that series, "Bernie Mack" topped out with 11.5mil, while "Titus" (9.5mil) continued to pick up the pace at 9:30pm.
     NBC won the night rather easily though, with "The Bush White House" drawing a time slot season high 14.2mil at 8pm. Repeats of "The West Wing" (15.0mil) and "Law & Order" (15.6mil) were first in their slots for the rest of the night. CBS was second with the movie "A Perfect Murder" (11.7mil). even though "60 Minutes II" (9.0mil) put up inconsistantly low number at 8pm. Still, that's way above what they net drew last season in the slot with "Bette" and "Welcome To New York."
The UPN topped out with "Enterprise" (6.5mil). which continues to slowly slip in the ratings, beating out "Dawsons Creek" (4.3mil) on the WB. And the decision to can "Special Unit 2" is starting to look like a good one- the show managed a season low 2.9mil at 9pm, 56% off its lead-in, miring it in a tie with a disappointing "Glory Days" on the WB. But there's good new for "Felicity" fans- with "Glory" not doing so well, it ups the likelyhood that that series will make it back for a fifth season.
     The only net not doing anything on the net was ABC. It started out well enough with "My Wife & Kids" (10.7mil) and "According To Jim" (10.2mil), but "Drew Carey" (9.0mil) fell off the wagon at 9pm, and "The Job" (7.0mil) plummetted at 9:30pm. "20/20 Downtown" (8.3mil) couldn't even do anything at 10pm, sad considering it was up against all repeat competition. 
      Compared to last season, some nets went through hell. But first the good. CBS jumped 50%, the WB 16% and the UPN 11%. NBC was only off 8%, despite last year being an all-new line-up. Now for the ugly. Fox lost a quater, thanks to "Tempataion Island" (which was actually a hit this time last season), and ABC lost a third of its audience. For those inteterested, ABC is averging just 8.5mil viewers so far this week, and things are looking even bleaker. Last week, Thursday averaged only 7.9mil for the net, Friday a little over 9mil, Saturday 8pm and Sunday 10.5mil. Add those all together, (assuming ABC does similar number this week), and the alphabet will be made into a soup. A sour, cruddy, record low soup.
(January 24)

"Chair" a flop of sorts, "24" up slightly
     With all the bad luck ABC has had so far this season, I hope they didn't get their hopes up too much over the strong premiere of "The Chair"- it came crashing back to earth on Tuesday night, bringing in a not-to-promising 10.0mil viewers. While that was a strong second in the hour, it was off 20% from it's premiere of 12.5mil, not a good sign to say the least. This does bode well for the hiatus-ees "Spin City" and "Dharma & Greg"- ABC may have nothing else that works in the slot, even if their ratings suck. the two shows return mid February, just in time to get creamed by the Olympics.
      "24" was another disappointment on the night. It's 9.0mil was its third strong performance of the season, but it was only up about 800,000 viewers from last week, not good considering its star won an awards for best actor in from fo 23.5mil viewers only two days earlier. Disappointing still, it was almost fourth in its slot. That honour went to a strong repeat of "NYPD Blue" (8.9mil). "Frasier" (15.0mil) was the highest rated show in the hour, doing tis best numbers in over a month. "Scrubs" followed with weak-ish 11.1mil. "The Guardian" (14.0mil) took the hour overall.
      "Gilmore Girls" was one of the few definite winners on the night. It attracted 6.1mil viewers at 8pm, its best numbers since November, partly thanks to a repeat "Buffy" (2.6mil) on the UPN. "JAG" won with 16.1mil, "That 70s Show" (11.3mil) did its second best numbers of the season, while "Undeclared" (7.7mil) also accomplished that feat. NBC's "Instyle: Weddings" (8.8mil) was third behind "The Chair."
      In the late hour, "Judging Amy" (15.1mil) had no problems throwing off "Dateline" (10.3mil) and a repeat "Philly" (8.3mil). (January 23)

"Nikki" a goner: surprise, "Roswell" next
      The WB as much as cancelled its sophmore series "Nikki" on Tuesday. It scaled back the series season order from 22 episodes to 17, one of which has not yet been produced. That is generally not a very good sign, and has become an increasingly common move (Fox did it to three series, UPN to two). The series is the second lowest rated on network television (not including PAX), and it (and tis says alot) drags down the Sunday night line-up. This is the second series star Nikki Cox has had cancelled that has aired on the WB's Sunday night line-up. Who's for a third? BTW- the other was "Unhappily Ever After"- assuming you actually remember what that was.
     The UPN announced on Tuesday that "Roswell" will be on hiatus during a part of the spring to test the new comedies "As If" and "The Random Years" (hey, enough with naming series after colloquial sayings- first "Imagine That," now "As If" ?). The net has already reduced the order for "Roswell" from 22 episodes to 20, again, not a good sign. And it's been preempted so many times that half of its fan have no clue where it airs. Not to mention, its the third lowest rated show on network tv.... do we see a pattern here? (January 23)

Caroline Rhea screwed by Wayne Bardy
      Okay, so that headline was a bit vulgar. Caroline Rhea's new talk show (isn't she just supposed to be taking over Rosie's spot?) has already been cleared in the majority of the country, but its not going to have an easy go of it. Instead of getting Rosie's prime daytime spots, in many markets, "Rhea" will be airing late night, not a great sign of confidence. The culprit? "The Wayne Brady Show"- a show that the same studios (Warner Bros) is making. The hour long talk/variety series will take over Rosie's slots in many key markets. 
      So, you're probably not asking to yourself, how are these two connection? (à a six degrees of separation)- Wayne Brady is a performer on the Drew Carey hosted series "Whose Line." Drew Carey has his own tv show called "The Drew Carey Show." Way back in season two (five years ago), Rhea guested as a city inspector who falls for Drew, but forces him to close the Buzz Beer brewery. Drew also guested on Rhea's series "Sabrina" a few years back. Just though you might want to know... (January 23)

"Fear Factor" spurs NBC Monday
     NBC's Monday night line-up is getting s huge boost from "Fear Factor" as that show continues to pick up steam. The show drew 13.6mil viewers on Monday and a 6.2 rating in adults, it best performance since coming back to the night. It won the hour in both ratings aspects. The lead "Third Watch" (11.9mil) to its best performance of the season, which in turn brought "Crossing Jordan" to its betst numbers since its premiere in September.
     But there was lots left for the other networks, some of them anyway. CBS won the night with "King of Queens" (14.0mil) and "Yes, Dear" (13.1mil) both putting up strong performances for repeat performances, "Everybody Loves Raymond" (19.2mil) gave its best repeat performance to date, and "Becker" (15.2mil) was solid at 9:30pm. "48 Hours" (12.5mil) brought up its slot at 10pm, giving the net an average of 14.4mil viewers on the night.
     Fox did okay on the night. "Boston Public" (11.1mil) did okay at 9pm, leading into the 100th episode of "Ally McBeal," which drew its best performance of the season with 10.9mil. ABC started off the night weakly with "Millionaire" (10.7mil), fourth in its slot, 5th in adults. But that gave way to a god aweful performance by the movie "Alien Insurection," which could only manage a paltry 5.7mil, way back in all demo aspects. The WB performed solidly with "7th Heaven" (7.8mil) and "Angel"
(4.0mil), while the UPN did no better with its Martin Luther King Jr. themed-night than it has done recently with reruns. It averaged 3.8mil viewers on the night.
      For most of the nets, it was a blockbuster night with similar line-ups to what ran last year, at least where repeats were concerned. NBC jumped a third, CBS was up quarter, the UPN was up 12% and the WB increased 7%. But Fox slid 19% and ABC plummetted 31%. In total, the nets were up 2% over last season. (January 22)

"Golden Globes" continues decline
    The 59th Golden Globe Awards were the big winners on Sunday, drawing 21.4mil viewers. But that was down from last year, a decline of about 1 million viewers, That, in turn, was down about 1.5mil viewers from the year before that. But for an
awards show that was drawing only 4 million viewers on cable as late as 1994, this is blockbuster territory.
     What was left for the other networks? A whole lot of nothing. CBS came in second, but with disappointing results. "60 Minutes" (14.0mil) lead into an aweful "Education Of Max Bickford" (9.6mil). That, in turn, lead into a decent performance for the movie "A President's Man" (12.7mil), which was a slid second from 9-10pm.
      Fox was third, though it was nothing but disappointing. A huge football overrun (21.0mil) led into a weak "King of The Hill" (10.1mil), which led the night downward. "The Simpsons" peaked with 11.2mil, but "Malcolm In the Middle" fell to its worst first run ever, 10.1mil, and "The Chamber" fell to a lowly 7.4mil a 9pm, a drop of 25% from last week. The show moves to Fridays this week. ABC meanwhile, did even worse. "101 Dalmations" took in only 7.6mil from 7-9pm, "Alias" increased slightly to 8.0mil at 9pm, and a repeat "The Practice" slipped again to 7.4mil at 10pm.. (January 21)

Nets hope Globe wins mean ratings gains
       For the rookie drama "24," Keifer Sutherland's Golden Globe win for best actor couldn't have come at a better time. the show is "on the bubble"- performing well below what last year's Tuesday at 9pm occupant did last season. It's averging about abuot 8.9mil viewers so far this season, down about 2 mil viewers from last season. But with the Golden Globe win, viewers will probably sample the show once again, and that might just spell ratings gains in the tough slot. But even if it doesn't pick up significantly, would Fox really cancel a series whose actor just won a Golden Globe? Me thinks not.
       And Jennifer Garner's win for "Alias" will back up ABC's shaky decision to renew the series for next season. The show is averaging slightly more than 10 million viewers so far this season, a shap decline int he slot from last season. The show drew 8.0mil for a new episode opposite the Golden Globes. ABC is no doubt hoping that take a jump next week. (January 21)

Football give another big Saturday performance
     Just one week after ABC drew 22.0mil viewers to Saturday with the football playoffs, CBS trumphed that, bringing in 23.4mil viewers. Those two figures represent the highest Saturday ratings for any network in years, quite amazing considering the wall to wall declines seen this past year, especially in the football genre. Final number are subject to change, however, and they could swing in either direction by a fair amount.
     What was left for the other network on Saturday? The scraps. Fox took second with "Cops" (7.8mil at 8pm, 9.0mil at 8:30pm) and "Americas Most Wanted" (9.0mil). ABC found solace in the almost 40 year old movie "Mary Poppins" (7.6mil), while nobody gave a damn about Jennifer Lopez and her movie "Anaconda" (5.8mil) on NBC. But the net really took a hit in the 10pm hour. The special "All Star Olympic Salute" drew a measly 4.5mil. Let's hope this isn't a harbinger of things to come... 
     Week to date, CBS leads overwhealmingly with 15.2mil viewers, and will probably win the week. Assuming the net draws an average of 11.6mil viewers on Sunday (it's weakest result of the season), the eye would still come off with 14.6mil on the week, its best showing of the season. NBC, which looked early on to win the week, is sitting at 12.3mil viewers to Saturday. 
If the Golden Globes bring in 24.0mil viewers, a very liberal estimate (last year threw drew 22.5mil), the peacock would wind up with 14.4mil viewers on the week, just losing out, but still its best results of the season.
     But the real story is the race for third. Fox, now at 7.8mil, could very well take it. It has a football overrun leading into "King/Simpsons/Malcolm/Chamber" Assuming the net averages a very healthy 14.5mil on the night, it would end the week with 9.2mil viewers. That leaves ABC. Now sitting at 8.8mil (its worst ever in season result), if it averages about 11.0mil on Sunday (not low considering the stiff competition on the night- it may get caught in a downdraft), it would end the week with 9.1mil viewers, winding up in fourth. But there's a whole lot fo speculation in there. Tune in tomorrow to find out. (January 20)

"First Monday" give CBS a win on Friday
     Despite being maligned by critics, CBS's "First Monday" debuted to 11.7mil viewers in its new Friday timeslot, a dip of about 20% from its Tuesday premiere. Which is understandable, considering that this is Friday night. "Monday" also increased "That's Life"s timeslot performance by about 67%, taking advantage of a very strong "JAG" (11.0mil) lead-in. "48 Hours" (9.0mil) drew its best ratings of the season at 10pm.
     NBC was second on the night, but it had to be disappointed with the performance of "Roots 25th Anniversary Special."
It drew only 6.8mil viewers, leading many to wonder why. The original mini series drew about 20 times that audience, but that was 25 years ago. Fittingly, ABC, which declined to air the special, was second in the hour with "Americas Funniest Home Videos" (10.2mil), behind CBS, while Fox's "Dark Angel" (6.4mil) continued to languish. "Law & Order: SVU" (16.3mil) was the top rated show on the night, slamming the Friday return of "20/20" (8.4mil). Meanwhile, a repeat of ABC's "The Chair" did okay with 7.0mil, one of ABC's best results of the season in the slot. How pathetic is that? (January 19)

"CSI" overtakes "ER"
     When I updated the season to date ratings for the first time in over a month (sorry about that...), I found out a few shocking things. 1) TV ratings are at record lows (only 16 shows are averging more than 15 mil viewers, the top 30 sits at 12.1mil), 2) The two editions of "The Weakest Link" are within 10,000 viewers of each other, and 3) "CSI" is now tv's top ratings drama. The show is averaging 22.5mil viewers on the season, compared to "ER"s 21.95mil. While the NBC drama does draw higher for new episodes, it dies when it comes to repeats, where "CSI" excels. So, for the first time in its run, another drama is the top one in the genre on tv. Isn't this a sign of the apocolypse? (January 18)

"Friends" zooms sans "Survivor"
     "Friends: beat "Survivor" every week they aired against each other this season, but after last night'sm episode, it became apparent that the two shows did share an audience. With the special "Survivor: Back From Africa" (14.3mil) airing to weak to numbers, "Friends" drew 29.1mil viewers, its third best marks of the season. In fact, "Friends" nearly outdrew the other five nets- combined. The other five drew 34.1mil to "Friends" 29.1mil. "Will & Grace" slipped to 20.3mil at 8:30, and a new episode of the series fell to 17.7mil at 9pm. "Just Shoot Me" (15.7mil) slipped again at 9:30pm, while "ER" brought the mountain range up to 26.1mil at 10pm. The night's two other winners were "CSI" (24.1mil), which proved that it doesn't need "Survivor," and "WWF Smackdown!" (6.4mil), which for the first time this season was up of last year's marks.
      The losers list was long and varied. Topping out was "Millionaire" (9.1mil), which fell to its lowest first-run marks of the season, and some of its lowest ever. And for the first time, the two weekly episode of "Millionaire" combined will not reach the 20 million viewers mark (19.3mil), sad for a show that was drawing that many viewers three times a week just last season. Another loser was "Temptation Island," which fell to a season low 5.6mil. A year and a night earlier, the show premiered to 17.4mil viewers. How the flash-in-the-pan has fallen. But sadly, it ws the highest rated show on Fox on the night. Both "Family Guy" (4.2mil) and "The Tick" (3.9mil) went to great lengths to prove why they were cancelled, and overwhealmingly succeeded. Also losing out were ABC's "Whose Line?" (6.8mil at 8pm, 7.8mil at 8:30pm), and the WB's "Angel" (2.6mil). (January 18)

"Imagine," "Special Unit 2" next to go
      NBC has cancelled the series :"Imagine That" after only two airings, tying it with CBS's "Danny" for the shortest lived series of the season. The series averaged only 6.4mil viewers over its two week run, making it the lowest rated series of (likely) the season for the peacock. NBC will air repeats of some of its better performing sitcoms in the slot until the ned of the Olympics in Feburary, when "Watching Ellie" will take over at 8:30pm, supporting by repeats of "Frasier" at 8pm.
     In a bit of a surprise, the UPN has cancelled "Special Unit 2," according to thefutoncritic.com. The network had earlier given the series full season order, but is apparently recinding that. It is the nets third higest rated series, but drops about half of "Enterprise"s audience, thenets highest rated series.

cancelled,"X-Files," "Felicity (?)" gone
    "The X-Files" will end in May, thanks to creator Chirs Carter, saving Fox the grief of cancelling the series. The announcement was made Wednesday, partly thanks to steadily decreasing ratings. The show will end in May, bringing its total to 201 episodes. The show is averaging just under 9.0mil viewer this season, its lowest ratings ever, dropping it out of the top 50.
     E! Online is also reporting that "Felicity" will come to an end at the end of this season. The show is currently on hiatus to make way for "Glory Days," but will return in April. There are 11 episodes of the serie sleft to air, so it will most likely run into the summer. But ratings have been disappointing so far this season, and if "Glory" clicks, "Felicity"s hair could be shorn for good. The WB says it has no made a decision, but will not say that the show is coming back.
    Over on ABC, "Once & Again" is on on the blocks, again. The show is on hiatus until March, when it will return to Mondays nights- its third slot this season and 7th overall. The show did air on Mondays in tis first season, regularly beating the competition. But the competition, "Crossing Jordan" is a very strong show, "Once" has no buzz left, so it could be gone by the end of the season. Start sending those books to ABC... (January 17)

"The Job," "Ali" disappoint: surprise...
     ABC's "The Job" came back to schedule, and was basically fired, coming up with only 8.4mil viewers and winding up almost fourth in its slot. It did beat out "Titus" (8.2mil), but came in behind  CBS's "Muhammad Ali" birthday special (8.6mil) (a disappointment in itself) and NBC's huge "West Wing" (19.4mil). It did keep a fair amount of its weak "Drew Carey" lead-in (10.0mil), which was in turn third behind Fox's "Bernie Mack" (10.4mil). All in all, a pretty lame performance.
    But "The Job" didn't have on that title on the night. NBC's "Ed" (11.0mil) paled in comparison to "Wing" and an almost record "Law & Order" (21.4mil), while ABC's "20/20 Downtown" premiere to a plain old bad 7.0mil, losing from "The Job," and also plaing in comparison to the 8pm hour, which shined with "My Wife & Kids" (11.2mil) and "According To Jim" (10.1mil). But then again, everything pales in comparison to something on ABC's weak line-up.
    Other ratings on the night- "Glory Days" started off with a weak 3.6mil, off from "Dawsons Creek" (4.2mil). "60 Minutes II" (11.3mil) won the 8pm hour, and UPN's "Enterprise" (7.0mil) was a soluid alternative, giving "Special Unit 2" (3.3mil) a lead-in that it couldn't hold on to. (January 17)
 

New shows do well on Tuesday, well some of them
     Two new series premieres one Tuesday night, adding to the six already airing on the night. And some of them actually did rather well. Starting with  the biggest surprise, ABC's "The Chair" came online with 12.5mil viewers, ABC's best performance in the slot all season. The show also proved the slot is not dead to the net, and that the game show genre has some life left yet.
The night's other premiere, CBS's "First Monday," did even better, coming up with 14.5mil viewers, boding well for its move to Fridays this week. The show also helped "JAG" to a record 18.1mil viewers, even if "Judging Amy" slipped to a near season low 15.2mil at 10pm.
    Some of the other new series on the night we're as lucky. While the WB's "Smallville" continues to outshine "Gilmore Girls" (5.8mil to 4.8mil), NBC's "Imagine That" (6.0mil) continues to undershine everything, even lead-out "Three Sisters" (7.0mil). At 9:30pm, "Scrubs" (11.0mil) is solid, but is not as solid at "Frasier" (14.0mil). "Dateline" (10.4mil) ended the night on a mediocre note. Over on ABC, while "Chair" did well at 8pm, "Philly" (10.0mil) couldn't hold onto a weakening "NYPD Blue" (12.5mil).On Fox, "Undeclared" continued to be unwatched, coming up with only 6.3mil coming off a repeat of "That 70s Show" (9.2mil). "24" didn't recover at 9pm, drawing a season low 7.6mil.
    So, if you add it all up, 8 new series are now airing on Tuesday night for a total of 46% of total air time. And they wonder why most networks are flailing on the night? (January 17)

Welcome to the post-season, ABC
     ABC rang in the end of the regular football season with a thud on Monday, sliding over 10 million viewers from last week's results. "Millionaire" started the night off with a very weak 10.1mil, which was only drug down by the 9pm movie "Forces of Nature" (7.1mil). Now, ABC. With the number of series you have in limbo- "One & Again," "The Mole," "Dharma," "Spin City," you have three hours of programming right there. You could run "The Mole," "Dharma," "Spin" and then "Again." Didn't you do that on Tuesdays just one season ago? Didn't you come up with not-too-shabby results? Just asking.
     But nobody else was spectacular on Monday's either, so maybe the weather was good and everybody was outside, or something. "Raymond" (21.6mil) was the highest rated series (as usual), followed by "Becker" (17.5mil). Net-mates "King of Queens" (14.7mil) and "Yes, Dear" (14.3mil) rounded out the eye's dominance of the night. If only "Family Law" (11.3mil) hadn't lost out to "Crossing Jordan" (13.2mil) at 10pm... maybe "First Monday," due next week, will put an end to that.
    "Fear Factor" (11.5mil) lost some steam in its second week, coming in second, in from of "Boston Public." (11.0mil). But the show seems to be doing it's job- "Third Watch" (10.6mil) beat out "Ally McBeal" (10.0mil) once again at 9pm. Once again... that reminds me of something.... oh yeah, "Once & Again" - a series that's better than these two combined.
    Sorry, maybe I'm a little bitter today. Reason? Read the next story. (January 15)

ABC renews with one hand, cancels with other
    ABC came right up behind NBC and renewed three of its almost sophmore (well, almost) series, bringing the total to 5 new series newed for next season. ABC gave the go ahead to "According To Jim," not a huge surprise, and to "Alias"- somewhat of a surprise considering its low ratings. But then again, this is one of ABC's most critically acclaimed series this side of "Once & Again," which I dare not mention.
    Why? Because the entire subject makes me angry. The show got basically cancelled by ABC in the same breath. The net cut its season order from 23 episodes to 17, which is a good indication that it's as good as gone. Unless ABC tries it in another slot- or alot of female viewers in its Friday at 9pm slot feel the void elft by the gone-to-Saturdays "That's Life," it doesn't stand a chance.
     Oh, and "My Wife & Kids" has been given the go ahead, not surprising considering its ABC's third highest rated entertainment seires (behind "Practice" and "NYPD Blue.") Considering it only draws 11.5mil viewers on average, how pathetic is that? (January 15)

"Survivor" goes out with a bang
     The finale of "Survivor: Africa" may not have drawn what the first two did, but the finale did draw the highest rating of this series. 27.3mil viewers tuned in from 8-10pm, making it the highest rated program of the night and mostly likely the week. It increased to 31mil in the last half-hour. "Africa" hasn't accomplished that feat so far this season, at least in the respect of being tops on the week. The final was down about 9 million viewers from "The Outback" finale, which was in turn down 16 million from the first "Survivor." Going on the logic of deminishing returns, the fourth "Survivor" finally could draw 23 million, still very good from CBS's standpoint. The reunion at 10pm draw a very solid 18.7mil, CBS's best 10pm results of the season.
     But NBC didn't roll over and die on the night, but rather drew some above average results. "ER" drew 25.5mil, "Will & Grace" 18.3mil and "Just Shoot Me" (16.7mil), all above their season averages. A repeat of "Will & Grace" at 8:30pm drew 18.3mil, well above that timeslot average. The only show not drawing above its season average was "Friends." But at 25.5mil it didn't undergo a significant drop, and actually drew above what it was drawing for original episodes in December.
    Elsewhere on the night, the competition was depressed, with ABC taking third for figure skating (7.9mil). Fox's marathon of "The Family Guy" drew only 4.3mil, below the UPN's "Smackdown" (5.9mil). The WB was a distant fifth with repeats of "Angel" (2.3mil) and "Charmed" (3.2mil). (January 11)

Renewal notices for... 2002/2003?
     NBC became the first network to renew some of its rookie series for next season, giving three shows orders and leaving one in limbo. "Crossing Jordan" and "Law & Order: CI" were obvious choices for renewal, but "Scrubs" may have been jumping the gun. It draws solid ratings Tuesdat at 9:30pm, though nothing spectacular. Then again, it is NBC's first funny sitcom in years, so that may have led to the decision. Nothing was said about "UC: Undercover," but most likely it's as good as gone. NBC also picked up "Passions" for a fourth season, some what of a surprise considering its recent drop in ratings. Not so lucky was Julia-Louis Dreyfuss' new series. It's not getting a Thursday slot as widely suspected, but instead the Tuesday at 8:30pm slot, where NBC has had so much luck this season. The move may come as a repsonse to "Imagine That"s weak premiere on Tuesday, and the equally weak lead-out it got in "Three Sisters." Gettin the Thursday at 8:30pm slot will be a new comedy from the creator of "Sex And The City." These changes take effect at the end of February, once NBC wins sweeps thanks to the Olympics. NBC also announced that getting "Friends" back for a ninth was a top priority, and that Rosie O'Donnell will try to cute-en the comedy on "Will & Grace" come next month.
      Fox, meanwhile announced that it will not be ordering any new episodes of "The Tick," which, in other words, means it's cancelled. The same goes for slot-mate "The Family Guy." But with how many lives that show has already had, don't be surprised if it's back somewhere, somehow. Wednesday will switch around a bit- "That 80s Show" will debut at 8pm, while the new series "Greg The Bunny" will moves into the 9:30pm slot. What happens to "Titus" is not clear, but a safe bet is a move back to its Tuesday at 8:30pm slot, which "Undeclared" is currently destroying. The new game show "The Chamber" will debut this Sunday at 8pm, going to Fridays the very same week. Also, "Pasadena" fans take heart- the show is coming back, but on a new night. Which night and when is still a mystery, but common belief is Thursdays, where Fox currently has an empty slate.
      Over on ABC, a few changed are afoot. "Dharma & Greg" and "Spin City" are on hiatus effectively immediately, to be replaced by the new gammer "The Chair." If this show hits any notes at all, look for the two veteran series to go through a "Survivor" of their own- on will likely move to Wednesdays, the other cancelled. And since ABC has already picked up "Dharma" for another season, "City" may be the one to go. Or ABC could set out to make a whole new night of sitcoms. The only logical night would be Mondays, where comeptition from CBS is tough, but not impossible. Besides, ABC has nothing else to air there. 
     CBS meanwhile, is debuting "Survivor 4" at the end of February sweeps, just in time for the end of the Olyimpics. Les Moonves also said that the weak "Education of Max Bickford" is a likely candidate for renewal, and could wind up back in the Sunday slot once again. Some things are just inexplicable. (January 10)

Music Awards strong, but don't win
     The 2002 American Music Awards were strong on Wednesday night, drawing 16.6mil viewers, and they did take the night in most of the "important" demos, but they just couldn't overpower NBC on the night. That net was powered by the first original episodes of "The West Wing" (18.4mil) and "Law & Order" (18.4mil) in almost a month. "Ed," however, returned to 11.2mil viewers at 8pm, winning the hour with its some of its strongest numbers of the season, but a black mark for the peacock nonetheless.
     Outside of the winners realm, there were a few surprises on the night. CBS's repeat of the "30th Anniversary of Michael Jackson," which partially competed with the gloved one accepting an award on the AMA's, drew a strong 13.0mil. While that is half of what the special drew last November, it was CBS's best Wednesday delievery of the season, even if "60 Minutes II" (10.8mil) started the night on a mediocre note. Fox aired a night of repeats, and got according ratings, highlights by "That 70s Show" and "Bernie Mack" (8.0mil), even if an original "Titus" (7.0mil) flunked out at 9:30pm. The WB was a tight fifth with the movie "the Mask" (4.5mil), while the UPN trailed with the repeat premiere of "Enterprise" (3.7mil). (January 10)

"Imagine That" DOA: imagine that
     "Imagine That" came onto NBC's schedule like a lamb, registering only 6.8mil viewers. Dead fourth in its slot, it got beaten by almost everything. Beaten big by "JAG" (16.8mil), Fox's "That 70s Show" (9.0mil), ABC's disappointing "Dharma & Greg" (8.4mil), and even byt timeslot partner "Three Sisters" (7.0mil). In the overnight ratings, the show drew a 5.2 rating, coming close to fifth place "Buffy" (5.1mil- 4.4 rating) and not to far ahead of a sixth placed repeat of "Gilmore Girls" (4.2mil- 3.8 rating). But it's not alone in its loserdom in the hour. The aformentioned "Dharma" is just plain ugly, "Spin City" (8.0mil) is no prize, and Fox's "Undeclared" (6.5mil) needs to be declared cancelled.
     The nine pm slot got a bit sweeter for NBC as "Frasier" (14.1mil) was the highest rated show in the hour. But even that's not great, considering the show averaged 15.8mil viewers last season and is somewhat below that this season. But the fact that it's drawing anything at all is amazing, considering what airs before it, and what airs after it- "Scrubs" (10.8mil). "The Guardian" (13.5mil) was took the hour in viewers, beating a surprisingly weak "NYPD Blue" (12.0mil). Fox's "24" (7.6mil) drew almost three times its name in viewers, not a good thing if you're not sure, while the WB's "Smallville," in a repeat, took home 4.5mil viewers, what "Angel" was drawing in the slot last season for new installements. Over on the UPN, the "Hughleys/One On One" experiment paid off- repeats of the series drew 3.5 and 3.3mil viewers, respectively, beating almost every first run "Roswell" so far this season, and not too far off their repeat Monday marks.
     10pm was, as usual, "Judging Amy"s (15.8mil), while "Dateline" (10.0mil) was second. "Philly" dropped to 9.6mil thanks to a weakened "Blue." (January 9)

NBC still has Monday fears
     "Fear Factor" came back to NBC's monday schedule, but the results didn't take away any of NBC's Monday fears. The show did draw 12.2mil, good enough for third in the slot, but a far cry from the 16.6mil the show drew for a special last November. It also failed to draw much higher than what it averaged during it's summer run. It did, however, improve "The Weakest Link"s last original Monday run by almost 4 million viewers, which will make NBC happy. CBS won the hour convincingly with "King of Queens" (16.0mil) and "Yes, Dear" (15.0mil) continuing their strong run. ABC was second with "Millionaire" (13.5mil) coming up with strong results for a special Olympic edition, while Fox's "Boston Public" (11.5mil) was a close fifth, winning the hour in some younger demos.
     Fox didn't have as much luck at 9pm, though, as an "Ally McBeal" fueled by Mariah Carey drew only 10.1mil. Though better than what the show left off with in December, it is disappointing that, when guest staring the real-life equivalent of Ally, a loopy Carey, this is all the show could do. Perhaps it was the competition. "Everybody Loves Raymond" (22.7mil) came up with its third best results of the season, ABC's football coverage (18.7mil) its second best, and "Third Watch" (10.6mil) its third best. "Becker" (17.7mil) was also strong at 9:30pm, though it is dropping an increasingly portion of "Raymond"s audience.
     10pm was a kind of close race, with ABC taking it. "Crossing Jordan" (12.7mil) was second, with "Family Law" (11.7mil) only a tick back. (January 8)

ABC's Sunday fortunes rise
      ABC seems to have finally stuck a sound note with its Sunday line-up, in particular in the 9pm hour. "Alias," which debuted strong but has since slipped, drew 11.1mil at 9pm, one of it's best performances of the season. That led "The Practice" to a near season high at 16.5mil, helped by a strong showing from the Disney Movie "Dr. Dolittle" (12.2mil).
     But despite the strong overall showing, ABC won only one timeslot convincingly, at 10pm. It lost 7pm to "60 Minutes" (17.4mil), but did beat out "Dateline" (9.6mil) and Fox's combo of "Futurama" (8.0mil) and "King Of The Hill" (9.0mil). The net barely won 8pm thanks to a building "Dolittle." The sliding "Simpsons" (13.0mil) and a weak-ish "Malcolm" (12.0mil) were second, followed by "Max Bickford" (11.6mil) and a very weak "Weakest Link" (8.5mil).
     The middle of the night went to "Law & Oder: CI" quite convincingly. The show came up with 12.6mil, beating "Alias," CBS's movie "Entrapment" (10.5mil) and an all-but-dead "The X-Files" (8.8mil). "UC: Undercover" (7.4mil) threw up all over the cancellation line at 10pm.
    A non- factor on the night was the WB. Back to back episodes of "Steve Harvey" (2.5mil & 2.7mil), "Nikki" (2.3mil & 2.5mil) and "Off Centre" (2.4mil & 2.5mil) will rank among the lowest rated programs of the weak. Oops, I meant week. (January 7)

Once & Again, Ellen sink on Friday
     ABC's "Once & Again" and CBS's "The Ellen Show" rang in the new year with sinking ratings and networks wishing they hadn't renewed the series. "Ellen" came back to Fridays with a paltry 5.5mil, off slightly from it's "King of Queens" (6.5mil) lead-in. How bad was it? Friday's new episode came in under Monday's repeat, which drew 6.0mil, on a night when viewing levels hit record lows. Barely being outdone, "Once & Again" dropped to 5.8mil in it's new 9pm home, one of it's lowest results on record. And doubly bad consider that "Millionaire" drew three times that in the slot last season.
      But there were some high notes on Friday, aminly on NBC. "SVU" hit yet another series high at 17.3mil, on week after it cracked the top 10 for the very first time. And if no Saturday nor Sunday series top that mark, which could very well happen, "SVU" could wind up in 4th on the week. Left in the hour were CBS's "48 Hours" (7.2mil), while ABC's "Vanished" (5.6mil) did just that. 
     At 8pm, "Providence" (12.3mil) won, with ABC's "Funniest Videos" (9.7mil) doing very well, leaving Fox's movie "Happy Gilmore" (8.1mil) behind. 9pm belonged to "Dateline" (12.9mil), with "That's Life" (5.4mil) bringing up the rear. (January 6)

Repeat "CSI" gangbusters
    A repeat "CSI" (at least we think it was a repeat, if it wasn't we'll let you know) zoomed to the top of the ratings on Thursday, drawing up 21.5mil viewers. First in its slot, it barely overcame ABC's "Rose Bowl" (20.5mil) coverage, was far ahead of "Will & Grace" (12.3mil) & "Just Shoot Me" (11.3mil), while Fox's "Mrs. Doubtfire" (8.5mil) wasn't even a factor.
      "CSI" must have taken advantage of it's "Survivor" lead-in (20.2mil), which come up with its third best results of the "Africa" series. "Friends" (16.8mil) almost overcame the penultimate installement at 8pm, but the series raced to 22.7mil at 8:30, squashing the last episode of "Inside Schwartz" (10.8mil). Also in the "who cares?" department, "Popstars 2" limped off the WB's line-up with an anemic 3.0mil, matching it's "Charmed" lead-in.
       In the late hour, "The Agency" (11.7mil) finally beat "ER" (11.6mil), albeit a repeat. (January 6)

Fox sitcoms Wednesday winners
      Fox may have had some Wednesday troubles so far this season, but this Wednesday everything seemed fine. "That 70s Show" (8.9mil) started off the 8pm hour very strong, leading into an even stronger "Grounded For Life" (9.5mil), which pulled its best numbers since last spring. They had to settle for fourth in the hour, however, as ABC took it with the "Orange Bowl" (15.3mil), CBS was second with "60 Minutes II" (13.0mil), and a special "West Wing" (10.5mil) was third for NBC.
     Nine pm brought more winning for Fox as "The Bernie Mack Show" (11.7mil) pulled its second best numbers to date, even if "Titus" dropped to a weak 8.5mil at 9:30pm. It still settled for third in the hour, being beat out by 'The West Wing" (15.0mil) and ABC, beating CBS's repeat special "50th Anniversary of I Love Lucy" (10.9mil). Sadly, that represented CBS's best Wednesday performance of the season. "Law & Order" (17.0mil) was the big winner at 10pm. (January 6)

"Frasier" tops sitcoms on Tuesday
     It's been brought to my attention that more often than not, I've used derogatory terms to discus ratings for "Frasier." So from now on, I'm going to try to find the silver lining in the pysciatric cloud. And on Tuesday it was that "Frasier" was the top rated sitcom on a night when most sitcoms put viewers to sleep. The show drew 10.0mil at 9pm, topping (by far) 9:30pm mate "Scrubs" (7.5mil), as well as Fox's foursome of "That 70s Show" (9.0mil), "Malcolm" (8.8mil), "Bernie Mack" (8.6mil) and the out of sight "Grounded For Life" (6.6mil). "Frasier" held onto all but a tiny portion of it's "Fear Factor" (10.1mil) lead-in, pretty good for a show in its 9th season. Wait a minute... "Factor" helping "Frasier?" Was it not Kelsey Grammer who, only two years ago (at the height of "Millionaire" mania)  who said that he hoped the who "reality" thing would just go away? Hmmm....
    Other nets also had some good news on Tuesday, especially CBS and the WB. "JAG" (14.0mil) won it's slot, "The Guardian"  (12.3mil) was second in its thanks to no competition from "NYPD Blue," while "Judging Amy" (10.8mil) outdid the overdone "Dateline" (10.5mil). The WB drew 3.7mil and 4.4mil for back-to-back episodes of
"Gilmore Girls."
    The clear loser was ABC. It did win the night with 15.0mil tuning into "The Sugar Bowl," but that's over 12mil fewer than who tuned in last season. Ouch. (January 6)

McBeal in a sad, sad state
    Yes, it was New Year's Eve. And yes, the show was in repeats. But can things get any worse for "Ally McBeal?"
The show drew a miserable, pathetic (sorry, too much "Weakest Link")  2.4mil on Monday night, dead last in its timeslot, and likely one of the five lowest rated series of the week- including the WB and UPN. How pathetic is McBeal? This telecast will go down at one of Fox's lowest rated ever, including the summer period, holidays, "Freakylinks" and "Pasadena."
    It's not like the show got any timeslot support: "Boston Public" drew only 3.4mil. Yes, it is true that all the other shows on Monday didn't do well, either. But come on. This is plain sad. (January 6)

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