The Question, Tuesday 12/4/12: Will Shark Tank Nail Its Tuesday Pitch?

The "home-grown" Friday night success is rather rare these days. When it happens, there's a natural temptation to test whether it can work in a higher-viewed, higher-pressure situation. If we define passing that test as "permanent weeknight timeslot," then the last two (Blue Bloods and Grimm) failed. Blue Bloods got a boost, but it seemed less about a "better night" and more about the size of the Criminal Minds lead-in. And Grimm really didn't get any boost at all. Next up: tonight's Tuesday 8/7c tryout for Friday's surging unscripted program Shark Tank. Will Shark Tank nail its Tuesday pitch? That's The Question for Tuesday, December 4, 2012.

Shark Tank This Season	Friday Success Tryouts
1.86 average on Friday this season 2.3 -> 2.1 -> 1.9 in three Friday 9/8c eps	2.0 -> 2.1 -> 1.6 -> 2.1 -- Blue Bloods, 1/19/11 thru 2/9/11 (lead-ins: 2.9 -> 3.2 -> 2.3 -> 3.6) (had averaged ~1.7 in recent Friday eps) 1.6 -- Grimm, 12/8/11 (had averaged ~1.6)

One-off special episodes always seem to disappoint, but one might think a disposable unscripted show could benefit more from casual viewers in a better situation than a Blue Bloods or a Grimm; after all, unscripted shows always do much better after the Super Bowl. But I have to wonder: how much of a better situation is this, really? It faces the top unscripted show on TV, The Voice, along with the stoutest of the holiday specials, Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer, which should actually do even better than CBS' strong usual occupant NCIS. And it's not like any of ABC's other Tuesday shows are bringing viewers to the night. I'm rooting for a breakthrough, but I'm guessing this will merely fall about in line with the last couple Friday 9:00 episodes.

Over/Under: 1.95.

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