ABC renewes everything
     Remember back before the start of the season when people said ABC has a weak looking line-up? Well, the were obviously wrong. ABC has given a full season to all of its new series, all except for "Karen Sisco" which debuted laster than the rest. But ina  vote of confidence, the net did order additional scripts of the series. 
     The biggest vote on confidence goes to "Threat Matrix." While there are no fireworks in its Thursday slot, the show is basically drawing what it drew in its premiere, which means it's holding its audience. A good sign, especially when you consider duds like "Coupling." (October 31)

Fox comes back online Wednesday
     Since it no longer has baseball  to cover the holes in its schedule, Fox now has to air new series. It's done that on Monday with no results, Tuesday with mixed results, and now on Wednesday, where the preliminary numbers are looking okay. "That 70s Show" premiered to a solid 10.5mil viewers and a first place finisg in adults 18-49, while "The OC" re-opened to its highest numbers to date- 9.7mil viewers. In the middle there was "A Minute With Stan Hooper." Norm MacDonald's second turn at a new series turned up just 7.5mil viewers, making it the obvious weak-link on the night for Fox. But does the network care? Seeing as how it will air "American Idol" here in January anyway, it might just let "Stan Hooper" on until then.
     The only other network with noteable ratings news was CBS, which miraculously turned a second place finish on the night. "60 Minutes II" (12.0mil) had its best outing in a long time, while "The King Of Queens" (12.5mil) is clicking away on the night, finally giving CBS something to work with. The decision to bring "Becker" back early was also a good one- the show notched 11.1mil viewers, leading into a 10mil viewer outing for "48 Hours." At 8pm, CBS was first over ABC's "My Wife & Kids" (10.3mil) and "It's All Relative" (9.4mil), NBC's "Ed" (9.1mil), Fox, "Smallville" (6.5mil) and "Enterprise" (3.8mil). At 9pm, CBS fell to third opposite "The Bachelor" (13.8mil) and "The West Wing" (13.1mil), but beat out Fox, "Angel" (4.7mil) and "Jake 2.0" (2.5mil). At 10pm, even a softening "Law & Order" (16.6mil) was enough to win the hour over CBS and "Karen Sisco" (8.0mil). (October 30)

"Whoppi" and "Happy Family" get theirs
     It's official- NBC had renewed both of its new Tuesday series for a full season. That makes them the first new NBC Tuesday comedies to get a full season order in....I don't even know. "Happy Family" is doing a great job holding onto its lead-in, but it's "Whoppi" that's really making a splash. if NBC can handle this one right, it could turn out to be the net's first stand-along hit sitcom in 6 years since "Will & Grace" came to life. (October 30)

"24" falls off in premiere
     As with a number of other series this season, "24" took a big tumble from last season's premiere. The show drew a solid 11.7mil viewers at 9pm, winning the hour, but by a very thin margin. "The Guardian" (11.3mil) was second, with "Frasier" winning third at 9pm (11.4mil) over "According To Jim" (10.5mil), but "Less Than Perfect" (10.1mil) took third place from the fading "Good Morning Miami" (9.0mil) on NBC. On the WB, "One Tree Hill" (4.0mil) continues to grow after a horrible start, while the UPN's 'Rock Me Baby" (2.5mil) is inching ever closer to cancellation.
     Backing up an hour earlier, Fox has decided to repeat "Joe Millionaire." And guess what? The Tuesday repeat actually outscored the original Monday episode at 7.0mil vs. 6.0mil. Go figure. But that was still a deep fourth in the hour. "NCIS" finally saw some ratings growth at 13.5mil, while ABC's "The Great Pumpkin" was second at 8pm (11.5mil), beating out the surprizingly strong "Whoppi" (10.4mil), which could end up on Thursdays. At 8:30pm, both nets took a hit as "I'm With Her" (8.5mil) lost out second place to another strong comedy "Happy Family" (9.0mil). "Gilmore Girls" (5.5mil) is still having an off season, while "All Of Us" (4.0mil) continues to be the stand-out for the UPN.
     At 10pm, it's not the rout I expected it to be. While "SVU" (12.5mil) is winning, "Judging Amy" (11.7mil) and "NYPD Blue" (11.0mil) are still holding strong. (October 29)

Renewal news 
     It's that time of the year again- the time when the new shows start to get a better outlook on their respective futures. The outlook is great for alot of CBS's new shows- many of them got renewal. "Joan Of Arcadia," "Two & A Half Men," "The Handler," "Cold Case" and "Navy NCIS" all got full season orders, and baring a catostrophe, all could be back next season. "Arcadia" has saved the 8pm hour for the net, "Men" is looking to be a big hit, "Cold Case" has brought viewers back to Sunday, "NCIS" has lost some of "JAG"s aud, but not much, while "The Handler" is starting to increase after a sharp fall-off. 
Over on ABC, additional scripts have been ordered for all of its sitcoms, the strong of which are "Hope & Faith" and "It's All Relative." Add that to NBC"s already renewed "Las Vegas," and you have a not bad number of shows looking strong. "Whoppi" and "Happy Family" also got additional script orders, a good sign for a pick up. In the case of the surprisingly strong "Whoppi," a full season order is an afterthought- it's just a matter of time. (October 29)

Cancellation news
     If you've been following the ratings for "Luis," you can stop now. If you actually know what "Luis" is, give yourself a bonus point. No matter- Fox has just canned the show. The ratings were among the worst Fox has ever seen with original in-season episodes on Friday- the show averaged only 3.3mil viewers over four episodes. Ditto for "The Brotherhood," which CBS has places on hiatus and has shut down production. In other words, it's gone. "Coupling" is in the same boat over on NBC. (October 29)

"ER" hits series low
      It may have been the World Series, or it may be that viewers just don't care anymore. Either way, "ER" hit an series low last night, months before it hit a series low last season. At 18.0mil viewers, it was only the fifth highest rated show on the night. It was a bad night overall for NBC. "Friends" drew just 18.5mil, "Srubs" and "W&G" tied at 14.0mil, while the all-but cancelled "Coupling" drew only 10.0mil. NBC won only the 8pm timeslot on the night and actually lost the night in adults to CBS, the first time that's ever happened with both nets airing their regularly scheduled line-ups. Yes, NBC is going to be in alot of trouble next season.
      CBS was first over with "Survivor" (18.7mil), "CSI" (25.2mil) and "Trace" (15.1mil) seeing their numbers only minimally impacted by the World Series (18.6mil). Even though the World Series is drawing fewer viewers than the divisional playoffs did, it's still a gold mine for Fox. The Yanks will likely take it to seven games, meaning that Fox will likely profit from baseball for the first time in years.
      ABC was a distant fourth on the night. "Threat Matrix" (7.0mil) contines to underperform, but at least its not purging viewers. It debuted a month ago to 7.5mil. "Extreme Makeover" (7.7mil) aired a repeat and lost a few viewers, while "PrimeTime" (8.8mil) is still up over last season's dismal performance. "Smackdown" (5.4mil) held strong opposite baseball, while the WB was dead in the water. (October 25)

BoSox curse good for Fox
     The curse of Babe Ruth certainly didn't inflict Fox on Thursday- the heart-breaking game 7 of the ALCS drew 24.4mil viewers, winning every single timeslot on the night even though there was some competition. A repeat of "CSI" held up well with 21.1mil viewers at 9pm while "Survivor" (19.2mil) wasn't off by much. A repeat of "Without A Trace" hit 14.4mil viewers at 10pm, bot far off its recent marks.
      That wasn't the case for NBC, which decided at the last minute to go with all repeats on the night. "Friends" (13.9mil), two episode of "Will & Grace" (11.3mil, 10.7mil), "Whoppi" (8.8mil) and "ER" (11.6mil) were a deep third on the night while "Whoppi" actually lost out to the second half of "Extreme Makeover" on ABC. That show drew an average of 8.6mil viewers overall, compared to 8.4mil for "Primetime" and 6.5mil for "Threat Matrix," which is officially on cancellation watch.
      The UPN was fifth on the night "Smackdown" (4.7mil) taking a hit, while the WB was dead in the water, as usual. (October 17)

Guess who won Wednesday?
     The Cubs may not be going to the series, but Fox isn't complaining (at least not until the ratings for the series come in). Game 7 of the NLCS drew a whopping 25.3mil viewers on Wednesday night, outranking many World Series games that have aired on Fox in the past few years. The game, which was close until the end, was the best case scenario for Fox who might just make some donations to the Cubs payroll next season in hopes they can do it again. Game 7 of the ALCS between Boston & New York goes tonight- if Boston manages to get through, expect a very high rated series. If its the Yanks, don't expect much.
    Everybody seemed to take a hit opposite baseball, save ABC. With "My Wife & Kids" (11.0mil), "It's all Relative" (10.3mil), "The Bachelor" (12.6mil) and "Karen Sisco" (8.5mil), the ratings were virtually the same as last week. Over on NBC, "Ed" (7.2mil) took a big dive at 8pm, while repeats of "Criminal Intent" (12.3mil) and the original "Law" (13.7mil) ranked at or near second in their timeslots.
    CBS was a deep fourth. "King of Queens" led the night with 10.1mil viewers, while "The Brotherhood" (6.5mil) sunk some more at 10pm. Over on the WB, "Smallville" (5.9mil) and "Angel" (4.6mil) were off from recent numbers, while "Enterprise" (3.2mil) hit a series low for the UPN. "Jake 2.0" was even worse than that (2.2mil). Hey, UPN, considering that your Monday night comedy block is now considerable out-rating your Wednesday night drama block, how about another night of sitcoms?
Just a thought.... (October 16)

Baseball hurts vets on Tuesday
    Fox is continuing to reap the benefits from baseball as the game hit 18.8mil viewers on Tuesday, the highest ratings of the playoffs so far. But what did that mean for the verteran series? Trouble, especially for ABC. Granted, "8 Rules" (10.0mil) was in repeats, but "I'm With Her" (8.3mil), "Jim" (10.2mil) and "Perfect" (9.0mil) all hit season lows, while "NYPD Blue" (10.2mil) tied its low water mark. "Navy NCIS" hit a low 11.0mil viewers to open the night for CBS, while "Frasier" (11.0mil) and "Miami" (8.3mil) are sinking towards series lows. On the UPN, "Rock Me Baby" (2.2mil) and "The Mullets" (1.8mil) are all but dead.
     But the was some good news shinning through the crap, namely on NBC. "SVU" (12.0mil) was tops at 10pm, while "Whoppi" actuially increased to a promising 10.2mil at 8pm, its best results in a month. It was only 800,000 viewers away from out rating "Frasier" at 9pm, so don't count this one out yet- especially with the extra showings it will be getting on Thursdays. With "Rules" on hiatus, now is the time to make your move, Whoppi. The news wasn't so good for "Happy Family" (9.1mil) which lost from its lead-in for the first time in weeks.
    Elsewhere on the night, "Gilmore Girls" (5.5mil) and "One Tree Hill" (4.0mil) both hit season highs, while the UPN's "One On One" (3.6mil) and "All Of Us" (4.2mil) continue to be solid. CBS's "The Guardian," meanwhile, is using the lack of competition at 9pm to rack up viewers- at 11.9mil, it was CBS's top rated show on the night, outrating lead-out "Amy" (11.5mil) (October 15).

"Vegas" for a season
    NBC likes it new drama "Las Vegas" so much, it's giving it a full season. Actually, it was a no-brainer considering that the show is the top rated new drama in adults 18-49. Not so lucky is "Coupling," NBC's newest Thursday disaster which will be pulled for sweeps in favour of Super-episodes. (October 15)

Baseball soars as others take hit
     Baseball is only getting hotter for Fox, and the other networks are really starting to show it. Fox drew about 17.2mil viewers for its Monday game between Boston and New York, leaving the rest in its tracks. The worst hit was football on ABC, which fell to what might just be its lowest ratngs ever, 11.5mil viewers. Considering that ABC pays about 30mil a game for the rights, it's obviously not working out. "Threat Matrix" opened the night for ABc with only 5.8mil viewers.
     CBS was second on the night with all of its series on the low end of their ratings ranges, save "CSI Miami" (17.8mil), which won at 10pm. The comedies (11.5mil, 12.4mil, 17.8mil, 14.4mil) were all off, while the ratings drops for "Raymond" are looking more and more similar to those for "Friends." NBC was atually third on the night, ahead of ABC. "Fear Factor" (11.4mil), "Las Vegas" (10.6mil) and "Third Watch" were off only slightly from last week.
     Finally, on the little nets, the UPN is starting to make some inroads. While the WB went with a "7th Heaven" clip show (6.6mil) and "Everwood" (5.7mil), the UPN aired its sitcoms to an average of 5mil viewers. (October 14)

UPN gives sitcoms full season
     Speaking of the UPN, it announced yesterday that it's giving "All Of Us" and "Eve" full season orders yesterday. "Eve" has blended seemlessly into the Monday night line-up, while "All Of Us" is the net's top rated show on Tuesday. My suggestion? Dumo that Wednesday night line-up and air sitcoms with black headliners. It's what you do best, UPN. (October 14)

Fox soars with baseball
     Over the last few years, the appropriate headline would have been "Fox sours with baseball." But that's just not happening this year as the right mix of teams is giving the network the ratings it's paying for. 16.3mil tuned in on Wednesday,.making it far and away the highest rated program on the night. Best case scenario? Chicago and Boston in the World Series. Worst case? Florida and New York, the latter of which's domination is ruining the game.
     There were a few highlights on the other networks, but not too many. At 8pm, ABC's sitcoms were second (11.6mil, 10.7mil), making ABC a perfect 1.000 this season with its new sitcoms, so far. "60 Minutes II" (9.7mil) was third, followed by "Ed" (8.1mil), which is looking like a shoe-in for cancellation this season. "Smallville" (6.8mil) is still failing to hit those old highs on Wednesdays, but at least its not "Enterprise" (4.1mil).
      At 9pm, "The West Wing" (13.4mil) saw a huge drop, but at least it's starting to look like last season again.  It tied for second with "The Bachelor." fourth went to CBS with the surprizingly potent combo of "King of Queens" (11.6mil) and "Becker" (10.2mil), while "Angel" (5.7mil) continues to fly high for the WB. Not so much for "Jake 2.0" (2.7mil).
     Finally, "Law & Order" (16.7mil) continues to dip, while "Karen Sisco" (8.8mil) held most of its premiere audience. "The Brotherhood," however, is looking like a very long shot at just 7.0mil viewers. (October 9)

Fox wins Tuesday with baseball
     The trend of the season on network tv has been audience erosion, even moreso than the erosion seen in the past few years. That was exactely the case on Tuesday as audiences failed to show up for one-time hit series. 
      "Frasier" (12.0mil) and "Law & Order: SVU" (11.5mil) proved the case on NBC, both down drastically over last season. Over on CBS, "Navy NCIS" (12.5mil), "The Guardian" (11.5mil) and "Judging Amy" (11.8mil) are all down significantly over last season. The same is true on the WB, with "Gilmore Girls" (5.0mil) struggling to reach previous highs and "One Tree Hill" (3.8mil) slowly picking up steam.
      The only network not showing loses is ABC, which was boosted by the final John Ritter episode of "8 Simple Rules" (17.1mil). "I'm With Her" (12.0mil), "According To Jim" (11.4mil) and "Less Than Perfect" (10.0mil) are all up in their timeslots over last season, while "NYPD Blue" (10.2mil) has not fallen as far as some would have predicted.
       Left over on Tuesdays are the youngins. "Good Morning Miami" (10.0mil) was actually up over last week at 9:30pm, while "One On One" (3.5mil) and "All Of Us" (4.3mil) on the UPN are showing life, even though "The Mullets" (2.0mil) and "Rock Me Baby" (2.4mil) are not. Over on NBC, "Whoppi" (9.0mil) and "Happy Family" (9.1mil) have finally settled into okay numbers, but they're nothing to write home about.
      And then there was Fox's baseball coverage. The net won the night with an average of 15.2mil viewers. (October 8)

Thursday continues to disappoint
     Last week's Thursday premieres were unspectacular, and the trend continued this week. CBS did win the night, although "Survivor" (20.2mil), "CSI" (25.6mil) and "Without A Trace" (15.7mil) were nothing spectacular. Of note for CBS- their Thursday series are skewing increasingly urban. "CSI" did a series high 20.2 rating in the overnights, while "WAT" hit a 12.5, but their viewer totoals told a different story. Over on NBC, all of its series were down. "Friends" (22.8mil), "Scrubs" (17.8mil) and "Will & Grace" (17.6mil) didn't do too badly, but "Coupling" (14.0mil) will not be long for this world, and "ER" (20.7mil) is now at its worst opening ever, and I suspect it will be flirting with series lows come October.
     After all of that, Fox was third with baseball playoffs (9.6mil), up dramatically over last year. ABC was actually a very solid fourth. "Threat Matrix" (7.6mil) may not be a threat in the slot, but it hasn't lost any audience since its premiere three weeks ago, a very solid sign. "Extreme Makeover" (8.8mil) is ABC's ray of hope on the night, while "PrimeTime Thursday" (7.8mil) was out of it at 10pm.
     "Smackdown" flirted with a series low at just 4.4mil viewers, while nothing on the WB clicked at all. (October 3)

"Smallville" flounders on new night
     This time last season, almost everything on the WB seemed to be clicking. A year later, not so much. After perhaps too many timeslot shifts, the network is starting to buckle. Case in point- although "Smallville" drew a good looking 6.7mil viewers for its premiere, that was way down from the 9 million the show drew last year, although up from the 6mil that the premiere of "Dawsons Creek" drew last year. So what are you gonna do? "Angel" came back online with 5.7mil viewers, one of its best premieres yet. It also held much of "Smallville"s audience, a good sign. Unfortunately, last year the WB got off to a huge Wednesday bang with "Birds of Prey," so comparisons will be weak.
     The other big news on Wednesday was "The King of Queens." On its new night, the season premiere drew a big 13.4mil viewers, ranking second in its timeslot by a big margin. Though the true litmus test will be next week. it weas way up over "60 Minutes II" (10.2mil) and also outdrew "Yes, Dear" and "Still Standing" on Monday. Could this shot in the dark by CBS actually work? Not working at 10pm was "Brotherhood," which sunk to 7.4mil viewers, behind "Presidio Med" at this time last year.
     At 8pm, ABC is really getting some mileage out of its comedies this year. "MW&K" won at 8pm with 11.4mil, while "It's All Relative" won at 8:30pm with 11.0mil. Though that is down considerably over last year, its not bad news at all. Welcome ABC, the success story of the year. And they didn't even have to ride a fad to the top this time. "Ed" dropped to third with 8.5mil viewers, its worst Wednesday performance with a new episode ever. Fox was fourth with the finale of "Paradise Hotel" (8.1mil overall). "Enterprise" (3.8mil) was last.
    At 9pm, "The West Wing" (16.0mil) continues to surprise, while "The Bachelor" (10.4mil) is surprisingly weak. "Jake 2.0" brought up the rear, and edged closer to cancellation with just 2.4mil. At 10pm, "Law" won as usual with 18.1mil, while the debut of the very promising "Karen Sisco" came up with 9.5mil, not entirely bad. (October 2)

                               September 2003 News