Midseason Matchups 2011, Friday

8/7c

Winter: Supernanny (ABC) vs. The Defenders (CBS, 2/4) vs. Who Do You Think You Are? (NBC, 2/4) vs. Kitchen Nightmares (Fox, 1/21) vs. Smallville (The CW)

Spring: Supernanny (ABC) vs. Chaos (CBS, 4/1) vs. Who Do You Think You Are? (NBC) vs. Kitchen Nightmares (Fox) vs. Smallville (The CW)

Cable: WWE Smackdown! (Syfy)

Notes: Nightmares has aired on Friday before and figures to do decent business by the standards of the night, probably even better than lead-out Fringe. The ABC and NBC reality shows won't do much, and maybe Smallville will build as it nears the end of its decade-long run. The question mark is whether The Defenders can make the Friday transition respectably. It's tough to feel good about it.

9/8c

Winter: Primetime: What Would You Do? (ABC) vs. CSI: NY (CBS) vs. Dateline (NBC) vs. Fringe (Fox, 1/21) vs. Supernatural (The CW)

Spring: Same

Cable: WWE Smackdown! (Syfy)

Notes: CSI: NY will probably ultimately edge out Primetime: WWYD, which has declined a bit from its stellar first few weeks in the hour. The real development of interest will be the arrival of Fringe; I've talked at length about my pessimism about the move, but again, I hope I'm wrong.

10/9c

Winter: 20/20 (ABC) vs. Blue Bloods (CBS) vs. Dateline (NBC)

Spring: Same

Cable: Merlin (Syfy, 1/7)

Notes: During January, Blue Bloods gets a tryout on Wednesday nights, so presumably CBS will be running repeats (of BB or other shows?) here. And it really says something that that's by far the most interesting thing of note about this hour.

Bold indicates timeslot changes; ALL CAPS indicate this midseason's series premieres

All my other Midseason Matchups posts: Monday | Tuesday | Wednesday | Thursday | Sunday