19 Timeslots, Monday 10PM

Now we get into the 10:00 hour. Just three nets for these articles, but many of them are pretty full of upheaval since this hour often consists of struggling lead-outs for high-rated 9:00 shows.

ABC: For '06-'07 ABC renewed What About Brian, a drama that was coming off the heels of a mini-season after Desperate Housewives in spring of '06. Brian didn't rate very well but it got the back nine and ran in the slot until the end of March, when the net brought in a rather disappointing edition of The Bachelor. The show returned for fall and spring of '07 but took a rest at midseason for another show coming off a mini-season that got a decent sampling because of a big lead-in, October Road. Three different shows aired in the slot in '08-'09, first the final season of law drama Boston Legal, then reality sleeper success True Beauty, then crime newbie Castle, which had OK results especially out of two-hour Dancings and returns to the slot in fall '09. It averaged a 2.4 in its ten airings. True Beauty should return to this slot in midseason. Its Monday originals averaged a 3.0.

CBS: There hasn't been any problem for CBS in this slot since they plugged CSI: Miami here in September of 2002. They've gotten seven straight seasons in the top 15 in total viewers out of the show. A pretty consistent show wire-to-wire, it averaged a 4.0 in originals last season and actually hit the 4.0 plateau as late as the third-to-last episode of the season in a climate where spring declines are the norm. Its improved lead-in Rules of Engagement helped it late in the season, and it could get even more good news as The Big Bang Theory takes over at 9:30 this year.

NBC: For NBC it's been a substantially rougher ride in the timeslot, as has been the case in many of its 10:00 hours. The first lead-out of breakout hit Heroes was heavily hyped drama Studio 60 on the Sunset Strip, but it got bumped to the summer after 16 episodes and in filled family crime drama The Black Donnellys. It got through only six of its 13 filmed episodes before being replaced by Ashton Kutcher reality effort The Real Wedding Crashers and finally some higher-profile airings for Law & Order: CI just days before its move to USA Network was announced. For fall '07 they aired sci-fi out of sci-fi with time travel drama Journeyman and it probably only got through its filmed episodes because of the strike. The net plugged in Medium, a former tentpole in the timeslot, and got pretty good business out of the show during the writer's strike. They went back to another newbie in fall '08 in My Own Worst Enemy but it failed as well so in stepped reality dud Momma's Boys and then Medium again, this time to diminished results so it got the axe. NBC's woes in the 10:00 hour have led to them giving up on scripted in the hour and going with The Jay Leno Show.

Cable Notables: Of course, ESPN's Monday Night Football.