Today, my fall preview looks at Sunday 8/7c. Much like 7, Sunday at 8 is filled with staples that have been around for awhile, with The Amazing Race and NBC's football franchise actually the young guns in the 8:00 half-hour this fall, having been there for four years each.
ABC
The staple here for more than half a decade has been Extreme Makeover: Home Edition which returns again this fall. It has lost a lot of potency and may not be in this timeslot a whole lot longer. It averaged a 2.71 in originals last season.
CBS
After a rocky Tuesday cycle during spring of 2006, CBS moved The Amazing Race to Sunday nights at 8:00 where it's managed to carve out a home for itself. It returns in 2010-11, coming off of 2009-10 cycles that averaged a 3.38 and 3.11.
NBC
Football Night in America and Sunday Night Football will fill this slot in the fall as they have for the last three years. Sunday Night Football averaged a 7.88 demo last season (for the full night). The spring is a bigger question mark. Thanks to the strike in '08 it was two-hour Datelines and repeats, first of USA Network drama Monk and then of comedy The Office. In '09 there was more Dateline along with an attempt to launch a scripted drama in Kings. But Kings was DOA and shipped to Saturday within a few weeks. The midseason entry in 2010 was game show Minute to Win It which did OK and has actually improved in its airings this summer, meaning there's a decent chance it'll return to this slot next spring.
FOX
The Simpsons has been the longtime animation anchor for Fox at 8:00 and will be no exception in fall 2010. It posted a 3.46 average in 2009-10. Its lead-out last season, replacing long-running King of the Hill, was new Family Guy spinoff The Cleveland Show. It'll return as well for the 2010-11 season, coming off a 3.16 average in its rookie season.
PREDICTIONS
Sunday Night Football - 7.80 average (-1% from last year)
The Simpsons - 3.19 average (-8%), 3.9 premiere (-9%)
The Amazing Race (fall) - 3.14 average (-7%), 3.3 premiere (-3%)
The Cleveland Show - 2.96 average (-8%), 3.6 premiere (-27%)
The Amazing Race (spring) - 2.95 average (-5%), 2.9 premiere (+4%)
Extreme Makeover: Home Edition - 2.31 average (-15%), 2.7 premiere (-13%) - Another year of declines will finally convince ABC to move this program.
WHAT I'M WATCHING
Maybe the NFL game. You?
For more, see my 2009 post on the hour.
