The Question, Thursday 1/31/13: Will NBC Do Even More Harm to Thursday?

Nothing invites historical ratings comparisons and "death of TV" memes quite like NBC Thursday. And tonight, NBC gets back into the medical drama business in the timeslot occupied for a decade and a half by ER. Since ER left Thursday 10/9c, NBC's tried really hard ("next great cop shows" like Southland and Prime Suspect), tried not at all (The Jay Leno Show, Rock Center) and tried just about everything else, including a third comedy hour. Nothing has stuck, and I don't see much reason to believe critically-reviled Do No Harm will buck the trend. Will NBC do even more harm to Thursday? That's The Question for Thursday, January 31, 2013.

Spotted Ratings, Wednesday 1/30/13

WHAT MATTERS:

• NBC Wednesday finally went original against American Idol, and it wasn't pretty. Whitney tied its low (excluding Thanksgiving Eve), Guys with Kids tied its low (INCLUDING Thanksgiving Eve) and once-surging Law and Order: SVU reverted to its typical level for most of the fall. Chicago Fire, the one that didn't face Idol, held up best against ABC/CBS repeats.

• Most of the usual Wednesday leaders sat out the last day before sweeps, so American Idol continued to hold on nicely. (It made it into negative single-digits territory year-to-year, though this was another of the dreaded two-hour vs. one-hour comparisons.) ABC mixed low-rated originals of The Neighbors and Suburgatory in with repeats of their anchor shows, while CBS was repeat in the last two hours but even year-to-year at 8/7c with their annual Super Bowl's Greatest Commercials special. The CW had a somewhat worrying drop from Arrow (0.9).

• Proving my ratings predictions are at their best when I use the "shot in the dark" approach, The Americans (3.22 million viewers and a 1.2) had a solid premiere for FX. They've done better in recent years (Justified (1.5) and American Horror Story (1.6)) but they've also done much, much worse (Lights Out (0.6) and Terriers (0.5)). This is definitely a very workable start.

War of 18-49 Update, Jersey Shore (Fall 2012)

Let's take a look at the fall 2012 season (the sixth and final overall) of Jersey Shore on MTV.

The Question, Wednesday 1/30/13: How Many Americans Will Watch FX's New Drama?

Tonight, FX premieres new drama The Americans, about two KGB spies living in Washington D.C. in the 1980s. The network is back in the new drama game after not premiering a single one in 2012. And the critical acclaim has been considerable so far. How many Americans will watch FX's new drama? That's The Question for Wednesday, January 30, 2013.

Spotted Ratings, Tuesday 1/29/13

WHAT MATTERS:

• The pulling of Ben and Kate helped boost Fox's Tuesday, even if the extra Raising Hope at 8:30 was a bit disappointing itself. (Hope did its usual 1.7 at 8:00.) New Girl and The Mindy Project were both up double digits in the 9:00 hour to their best numbers since October. The size of the boost isn't that shocking in a vacuum, but I'm a little surprised it happened even with Hope doing just four tenths better than Ben and Kate.

• New Girl beat the combined comedy competition at 9/8c, with Go On tying last week's horrible low point. While ABC's Happy Endings double-pump improved 9:30 relative to the usual Apartment 23 numbers, they had bad news at 8:00 with The Taste crashing by nearly 25% in week two.

• Another development of possible interest was the surge of presumed-dead Vegas, free of all its usual broadcast drama competition at 10/9c. We'll see if it can keep it up when ABC/NBC bring their winter dramas into the mix in the coming weeks. NBC's special Dateline edged a rebroadcast of ABC's much-praised Matt Damon hijacking of Jimmy Kimmel Live.

Spotted Ratings, Monday 1/28/13: Follow-Up

WHAT MATTERS:

• It was a big-time showing for Fox Monday as newbie The Following became the first broadcast series this season to grow in week two. It's up a tick from last week's already very solid premiere. And Bones at 8/7c had its second straight multi-tick upswing to a new season high. This is its best number since returning to Monday last April. Surely CBS' comedy lineup going into repeats helped somewhat, but these numbers buck the trend enough that we can still call it a big win for now.

• ABC and NBC didn't really benefit from the repeat CBS, with Deception dropping another tenth despite both competing dramas going into repeats. The CDub dropped a tenth in each successive half-hour (0.6 -> 0.5 -> 0.4 -> 0.3), but The Carrie Diaries swung back up a touch in viewers in week three.

• TNT had the two-hour return of Dallas (0.8), which was more or less at the show's level for most of the season one stretch run. That's got to be considered quite disappointing considering the show's big finale spike at the end of last summer (to 1.3) and the hopes that Larry Hagman's death might pull some people in. We'll see if there's any benefit when the character's death is mourned later in the season.

War of 18-49 Update, Leverage (2012)

Let's take a look at the 2012 season (the fifth and final overall) of Leverage on TNT.

The True Top 25, Week Ending 1/27/13 (2012-13 Week 18)

American Idol had its first week atop the True Top 25, though it likely owes something to another The Big Bang Theory repeat and one of the weakest events of event season (the Pro Bowl finished 4th). Modern Family was the top scripted program by a decent margin, though I will give a shoutout to a season high in True2 from Criminal Minds, which tied its raw numbers high with a bad lead-in and having to face Idol and Modern.

With the other strong newbies sitting out the week, the premiere of The Following was the only representative for that crowd. If this Monday's week two numbers are any indication, it may stay on this list for awhile. Fox's UFC coverage was the only Friday/Saturday show thanks to repeats from the usual Friday candidates.

Spotted Ratings, Sunday 1/27/13

WHAT MATTERS:

• A relatively uncompetitive Sunday was led by NBC's coverage of the Pro Bowl, which ended up 7% below last year's game. As last year with the Pro Bowl, it peaked at the beginning of the game (4.5 at 8:00, 4.3 at 8:30) and then saw people dribble away.

• ABC aired another Hallmark Hall of Fame movie. The Makeover was easily the franchise's weakest entrant in over a year and down 28% from the same night last year (though that one had an original Once Upon a Time leading in).

• Despite what should've been pretty favorable competition, the originals on CBS and Fox were generally below average. The Good Wife and The Cleveland Show were particular ugly spots, each hitting series lows.

Spotted Ratings, Saturday 1/26/13

WHAT MATTERS:

• Fox had a strong Saturday thanks to what's been its best Saturday sports option, UFC. It was even with the last UFC night in early December but down a few ticks from the same night last year. The US Figure Skating Championships were also down from last year.

Spotted Ratings, Friday 1/25/13

WHAT MATTERS:

• On the last pre-sweeps Friday, the nets were mostly in repeats. Probably the one of most interest was the pilot encore of The Following, which tied last week's Fringe finale (was a little higher in the 9:00 hour) and edged the competing CSI: NY repeat. Its Kitchen Nightmares lead-in hit a season high against the least competition it's faced all season.

• Also benefiting from the uncompetitive landscape was the CW's Nikita, which rounded out a fairly solid week for the CDub with a new season high of its own.

The Question, Tuesday 1/29/13: Will Scheduling Changes Be Raising New Girl's Ratings?

Perhaps the ugliest story of the 2012-13 season in entertainment programming has been the Fox Tuesday disaster, with centerpiece New Girl taking a "sophomore bounce" of negative 36 percent. How much of that is on the dud newbies with which New Girl is surrounded, and how much of it is on the "niche-ness" of New Girl itself? Opinions vary. But we'll get some potential insight tonight, as the yanking of Ben and Kate (replacing it with a second Raising Hope original) means the show could well have its best lead-in since premiere week. Will scheduling changes be "raising" New Girl's ratings? That's The Question for Tuesday, January 29, 2013.

War of 18-49 Update, Private Practice (2012-13)

Let's take a look at the 2012-13 season (the sixth and final overall) of Private Practice on ABC.

First Two Weeks, The Carrie Diaries

WEEK ONE
The CW's Sex and the City prequel The Carrie Diaries got off to a disappointing start, opening its run on January 14 with 1.61 million viewers and a 0.6 demo rating. That was better than what 90210 averaged in the slot during the fall (0.48), but not by all that much. It faced a full-fledged slate of winter-time broadcast competition: The Bachelor, How I Met Your Mother and a high-rated The Big Bang Theory repeat, The Biggest Loser and Bones.

The Question, Monday 1/28/13: Will The Following Follow It Up In Week Two?

Last week, Fox finally ended its season-long streak of underwhelming premieres with a solid start from The Following. Only The Voice-fueled Revolution had a better start among dramas this season. But a good premiere is only half the battle, as last year's timeslot occupant Alcatraz can attest. The quest to hold onto that audience begins tonight, and with timeslot leader CBS sitting out the last pre-sweeps Monday, it should have pretty much the best possible opportunity. Will The Following follow it up in week two? That's The Question for Monday, January 28, 2013.

The War of 18-49, Parenthood

PARENTHOOD (NBC)

Scheduling history: The first four seasons of Parenthood aired in the Tuesday 10/9c timeslot. Though the timeslot didn't changed, the premiere and finale dates have been pretty variable. It began as a midseason replacement March 2010 and aired its finale on the last Tuesday of the season in May. The next three seasons, it premiered in the first half of September, but the seasons got progressively shorter, ending in April 2011, February 2012 and January 2013. In 2013-14, Parenthood got a full season and finally moved (to Thursday 10/9c). It was back there for the short sixth and final season.

SpotVault - The Taste (ABC) - 2012-13 Ratings

The Taste

Tuesdays, 8/7c, ABC

SpotVault - The Following (Fox) - 2012-13 Ratings

The Following

Mondays, 9/8c, Fox

Spotted Ratings, Thursday 1/24/13

WHAT MATTERS:

•  American Idol had another pretty good outing, dropping by less than 10% from last week's Thursday premiere despite airing for just one hour. But the return of The Big Bang Theory looms next week. A nice hold by Idol helped Glee to its best numbers since early October, though it still lost handily to Grey's Anatomy and took a large drop at the half (2.9 -> 2.4 in prelims).

• Parks and Recreation came back to earth a bit following its surprising 8:30 debut last week, but it still pretty comfortably looks like NBC's best in-contention comedy option. Beauty and the Beast made its return to the CW sked with one of its better outings.

• On cable, the FX divergence continues, with another new high for Archer (1.1) and another new low for Anger Management (0.6).

The Climate, Week 17

The War of 18-49 returns on Monday, so I'm "burning off" a quickie Climate post today to reduce the clutter next week.

The Question, Thursday 1/24/13: How Much Glee Will a Better Lead-in Bring?

The last time American Idol and Glee were regularly paired together was the spring of 2010, when Glee was a promising new show launched to superstardom by the pairing. Fox planned on pairing them again in the second half of Glee's second season, but the show did so well on its own that it ultimately wasn't needed. Tonight, they reunite, with Glee in a very different place: fading fast. Now, the Idol boost is more about stopping the bleeding than creating a big hit. How much Glee will a better lead-in bring? That's The Question for Thursday, January 24, 2013.

Spotted Ratings, Wednesday 1/23/13

WHAT MATTERS:

• Week two of American Idol began with an 8% week-to-week decline, which was a bit smaller than last year's week two decline. This number was 15% below last year's second Wednesday.

• ABC had a rather mixed evening with The Middle and The Neighbors picking up some steam, and Nashville taking a significant hit to halt its recent momentum. CBS was up multiple ticks with both dramas to tie season highs, an impressive feat considering they're still in the between-Survivor period.

Spotted Ratings, Tuesday 1/22/13

WHAT MATTERS:

• Has ABC found shows on both nights that do better than their longtime Monday/Tuesday tentpole Dancing with the Stars? If night one is any indication, it looks like a possibility. The two-hour premiere of The Taste did pretty strong business (by ABC Tuesday standards) and sprung its network to a rare winter Tuesday win. It massively outrated ABC's recent comedy strategy. And it no doubt helped out the series finale of Private Practice (1.5), which ended its six-year run by bouncing up to its biggest numbers since the opening few weeks of the season when it aired after Dancing.

• Then there's NBC, which had to have felt at least a tad hopeful last week when Go On recovered a bit in its second week of Voice-lessness. So much for that. Week three of that run was a real goon, dropping nearly 25% to a 1.3 and two ticks below its winter premiere. And Parenthood, a show that has bounced up nicely on finale night in years past, adjusted up after finals but was still down a tick week-to-week and slightly below its season average. (But I'm pretty sure it's still OK!)

• Maybe Fox's comedies finally bottomed out last week, as they made a minor recovery to mirror the January 8 results across the board (though New Girl upticked after finals to a tick above that level). It wasn't enough for Ben and Kate, pulled from the schedule after this airing. And the CW's Hart of Dixie and Emily Owens M.D. each dropped after finals to more normal recent levels, meaning they were probably inflated in the prelims because of basketball pre-emptions.

Spotted Ratings, Monday 1/21/13

WHAT MATTERS:

• Fox got off to a pretty solid start with The Following. It adjusted up in finals to nestle right between Fox's fall 2011 debut of Terra Nova (3.1) and Alcatraz (3.3), which premiered at roughly the same part of last season on Monday. It built significantly out of Bones. The good news looking forward is that while Alcatraz had to deal with a mammoth The Voice starting in week three, The Following will go about two months without having competition any tougher than it was tonight. In fact, it'll be easier next week as the CBS comedies go into repeats.

• The other Monday newbies remain underwhelming, with Deception taking what looks like a fatal drop in week three. And the CW's The Carrie Diaries dropped a tick in its second outing, but it was ahead of the 9/8c premiere of 90210.

The True Top 25, Week Ending 1/20/13 (2012-13 Week 17)

American Idol's back, and (at least while The Big Bang Theory is in reruns) it's well ahead of the rest of the entertainment programming field. But it lost out big-time to CBS' AFC Championship Game on this week's True Top 25.

A season high Undercover Boss represented for Friday night while Shark Tank was in repeats, and Nashville made a rare appearance to give the new shows a spot.

Spotted Ratings, Sunday 1/20/13

WHAT MATTERS:

• CBS of course had mammoth ratings with the AFC Championship Game, but they were the worst ratings for the game since 2009, and down nearly three full points from the last time the game was in primetime two years ago. They were hurt somewhat (though not a lot) by the blowout nature of the game; it peaked at an 18.5 demo at 9:00 and then was clearly on the decline by the 9:30 half-hour (17.7). The post-game averaged a 9.1, including an 8.1 for the last 16 minutes which led into Hawaii Five-0, which was miles below what led into Five-0 in this spot two years ago. So H5-0 ended up with a 3.5 demo, a point above anything else this season but down almost 40% from its showing two years ago.

• ABC continues to struggle with its originals against the big event portion of the year, with Once Upon a Time and Revenge each dropping about 15% more. The ABC dramas held up much better in this spot last year, nearly mirroring their numbers from against the Golden Globes. And they're off next Sunday, probably the least competitive of the January event Sundays (highlighted by the relatively modest-rated Pro Bowl). The only consolation was that a repeat of Shark Tank improved the 10:00 hour vs. the comedy experiment of the last two weeks.

• Fox did pretty decent work with animation repeats, and the 7:00 Bob's Burgers did much better than usual early-evening fare on Fox; that means they likely got buoyed somewhat by the lead-in from their late-afternoon NFC Championship Game.

Spotted Ratings, Saturday 1/19/13

WHAT MATTERS:

• After a long string of college football, burn-offs and then some NFL, Saturday is back to being a total snoozefest. Only Saturday staples Cops and 48 Hours broke a 1.0 in the demo.

Spotted Ratings, Friday 1/18/13

WHAT MATTERS:

• A low-rated final season of Fringe ended in typically disappointing fashion ratings-wise, though the two-hour finale did adjust up in finals to tie the season high point. It was up a notch from last season's finale, and the final season as a whole was down 13% from season four.

• ABC centerpiece Shark Tank went back into in repeats (but was still strong at 1.5), and the schizophrenic 8:00 comedies each took big drops. Last Man Standing and Malibu Country were at new lows in prelims, but Malibu Country merely tied its low after finals.

• A much steadier and fully original CBS easily won the evening as Undercover Boss and CSI: NY each tied their season high points.

First Two Weeks, 1600 Penn

WEEK ONE
White House comedy 1600 Penn began its regular timeslot run on January 10 with a 1.6 demo, dropping from the 2.2 of its The Office lead-in. That's one of the season's lowest-rated premieres, and it was below the average of previous timeslot occupant Parks and Recreation in its post-Office stints. The competition wasn't exactly full strength; Fox had a repeat of Glee. Considering Parks and Rec was not exactly a slam-dunk show in its 9:30 run, to start below its average on premiere night is not good.

The Question, Tuesday 1/22/13: Can ABC Finally Taste Tuesday Success?

Not that we didn't see it coming at the upfront, but ABC Tuesday has been one of the biggest disasters of any night on any network this season. They'll try to reverse that starting tonight with the two-hour premiere of new cooking competition The Taste. I don't have particularly high hopes, but there is very little competition tonight; CBS' NCIS pair is in repeats and Fox and NBC are... well, Fox and NBC. Can ABC finally Taste Tuesday success?

The Taste Over/Under: 1.55.

The Climate, Week 16: How Dire Is This Year's New Class?

One of my favorite uses of the A18-49+ number was comparing the classes of new scripted shows each year. It doesn't take a lot of numbers to know that this has been one brutal season in that department. But just how brutal? We're only about halfway through the season, but here's a preview.

The Question, Monday 1/21/13: Can Fox Develop a Drama with a Large Following?

Tonight, the network with by far the worst recent drama development will take its last best stab at the space until next fall. Reviews for Kevin Bacon's The Following have been mixed but generally leaning positive. Fox is hoping this show will do well enough that they can use it as a schedule tentpole in the winter/spring months as they did for years with 24. As few solid scripted options as Fox has these days, it probably won't take much. Can Fox develop a drama with a large Following? That's The Question for Monday, January 21, 2013.

First Two Weeks, Deception

WEEK ONE
NBC's drama Deception got off to a not-good, not-awful start, hitting a 2.0 demo in its series premiere on January 7. Its The Biggest Loser lead-in averaged a 2.4 demo, including a 2.6 in the 9:30 hour. The show had to face an original Castle on broadcast and the high-rated BCS National Championship on ESPN. (It averaged a 9.2 overall, but if this viewership chart across the telecast is to believed, it was likely lower than that by the time Deception got going in the Eastern/Central time zones.)

SpotVault - American Idol (Fox) - 2012-13 Ratings

American Idol

Wednesdays and Thursdays on Fox

SpotVault - The Carrie Diaries (CW) - 2012-13 Ratings

The Carrie Diaries

Mondays, 8/7c, The CW

The Question, Sunday 1/20/13: Will Hawaii Five-0 Ride the NFL Wave?

The timeslot after the primetime NFL conference championship game gets much less scrutiny than the post-Super Bowl slot. But the NFL is so monstrous that the hour provides an extremely significant boost. So, you know, why not give it to a third-year drama that's already had the slot and doesn't have much growth potential? Sunday, CBS will put Hawaii Five-0 back into the post-AFC Championship slot and then air another original the next night. Will Hawaii Five-0 ride the NFL wave? That's The Question for Sunday, January 20, 2013.

The Question Results Through 1/17/13

Here are the results and individual standings through January 17 for the ratings prediction game The Question. Added some random tidbits about the standings at the bottom.

Spotted Ratings, Thursday 1/17/13

WHAT MATTERS:

• Day two saw the prospects brighten somewhat for American Idol, down just 7% from the previous night's Wednesday premiere and just a tick below the year-ago Thursday premiere. Two obvious caveats: its most powerful competition, the CBS lineup, was in repeats this year and not last year (when The Big Bang Theory beat Idol head-to-head in the 8:00 half-hour in the 4th biggest TV ratings moment of 2012). Also, this was a two-hour telecast vs. just one last year. But the 8:00 hour comparison (5.4 vs. last year's 5.7) is not that much worse.

•  ABC was most affected by the return of Idol, with Grey's Anatomy down a couple notches and Scandal retreating a bit from last week's series high.

• NBC had a surprisingly strong night from a cameo-tatstic Parks and Recreation, which tied a season high in its return to 8:30. Week two of 1600 Penn, down 25% to well below anything Parks ever got at 9:30? Not so much.

• The highlights of a busy cable night:

The Question, Thursday 1/17/13: Will ABC Thursday Be Defined By Scandal?

Tonight has a lot of interesting stuff going on, but one thing I'm watching is the continued ascent of Scandal. The show had its best-yet retention of Grey's Anatomy last week, and it feels like it's getting an even better situation this week (while Grey's gets a worse one). Could get interesting. Will ABC Thursday be defined by Scandal? That's The Question for Thursday, January 17, 2013.

Spotted Ratings, Wednesday 1/16/13

WHAT MATTERS:

• The preliminary numbers are in for arguably the most important data point of the season. American Idol finished 19% below last season's premiere and a few ticks behind the May 2012 finale. Almost nailed it. So while it may have done basically as expected, that doesn't necessarily mean it's "good." The show is clearly still on a fairly steep downward trajectory, even if it's a bit less steep than last year. For one last piece of big-picture perspective: Idol, even on premiere night, couldn't pull the biggest entertainment number of 2013 to date; that'd be last week's The Big Bang Theory. Next up: seeing the verdict on all these new judges in subsequent weeks.

• As last year, Idol's "Death Star" capabilities are on the wane. A couple of the ABC comedies dropped in finals, meaning around a 10% average decline from the results against not that much competition last Wednesday. And Idol may have served as something of a de facto lead-in for the 10:00 occupants; Nashville rose again to another best-since-premiere number, and CSI was also up a tick.

The Question, Wednesday 1/16/13: The Idol Slide'll Be How Big?

Tonight, we get one of the most important data points of the season in TV ratings: the American Idol premiere. It may also be the most important Idol premiere ever, because there's a lot of uncertainty about where this show is headed. Will it hold up well and remain a megahit "Death Star"? Or will it take another nearly one-third step down, the way it did last year? With another 50+ hours on tap, the answer to this question is hugely important for Fox. The Idol slide'll be how big? That's The Question for Wednesday, January 16, 2013.

Spotted Ratings, Tuesday 1/15/13

WHAT MATTERS:

• NBC had at least a bit of a sigh of relief as Go On recovered somewhat from its nightmarish without-Voice debut a week ago, ending up more in line with what I'd have expected coming into midseason. But that recovery was offset in their overall average by a week two drop from Off Their Rockers (down a tick in each half-hour).

• Most of the already struggling Fox lineup downticked, including the first ever sub-2 result from New Girl. On CBS, NCIS had a best-since-premiere night, while NCIS: Los Angeles had one of its worst results. Shrug.

• Another busy cable Tuessday was highlighted by a huge debut from an hour of originals on BET, Real Husbands of Hollywood (2.1) and Second Generation Wayans (1.7). Big week-ago premieres were followed up with big post-premiere drops from Pretty Little Liars (1.1) and Justified (0.9), but Cougar Town (1.0) held pretty close to even in its second TBS outing.

Spotted Ratings, Monday 1/14/13

WHAT MATTERS:

• If this was the most important data point of the CW's midseason, it's gonna be a long midseason. The Carrie Diaries began with just 1.6 million viewers and a 0.6 demo rating. That's just a tick better than the fall's DOA premiere of Emily Owens M.D., and only about a tick better than 90210's average in the slot this fall. On the CW, it'll still be in the mix if it can settle at a 0.5, but I'm pretty sure most would agree this is a disappointing beginning.

• The other scripted newbie also had a tough time. NBC's Deception dropped 20%, which is on the high end of typical week two declines. It'd have a shot if it stabilized here, but the odds are not in favor of that happening.

• CBS triumphantly brought its comedy block into the between-Voice Monday landscape with an outright season high from How I Met Your Mother and a tie-for-high from 2 Broke Girls. They again got a big assist from an 8:30 repeat of The Big Bang Theory, which posted the best repeat number for anything this season.

• Week two of The Bachelor vs. The Biggest Loser saw The Bachelor get adjusted up in finals to a narrow win head-to-head, and it was up two ticks from last week's premiere. Both shows are now on the year-to-year upside.

The True Top 25, Week Ending 1/13/13 (2012-13 Week 16)

Week 16 was somewhat close to full-strength for the broadcasters, as 22 of the True Top 25 spots went to entertainment originals. But a big NFL game on Saturday and the Golden Globes on Sunday each made the top three. The Big Bang Theory hit another new high and blew away the rest of the entertainment field, and second-place Modern Family had a resounding lead over #3.

The big winner of the week was Scandal, which returned well above previous results in raw numbers and cracked the top 10 in True2 for the first time. Shark Tank was the lone Friday representative, and Chicago Fire joined Elementary once again on the New Show Watch. (So did the Deception premiere, which did OK and got a large boost from facing the BCS National Championship, but I expect it'll be off the list starting next week.)

Spotted Ratings, Sunday 1/13/13

WHAT MATTERS:

• NBC should end up way on top of the Sunday rankings with the Golden Globe Awards, which posted a 6.4 demo and 19.7 million viewers. That's up a whooping 28% in 18-49 from last year, a very positive sign for new hosts Tina Fey and Amy Poehler. (If only that many people would watch their NBC sitcoms!)

• They held off a football-fueled CBS, which was in the double-digits in the 7:00 hour with NFL overrun but saw little benefit to the rest of the lineup. 60 Minutes had a huge drop at the half, and then The Good Wife and The Mentalist had relatively normal (though season high-tying) numbers.

• ABC Sunday began its plunge into the event-filled part of the year with Once Upon a Time down three tenths, close to the same percentage drop week-to-week as it took last year against the Globes. Revenge was hurt a bit more. Fox's animation held up somewhat better overall, though The Cleveland Show and The Simpsons seemed nicked by the end of CBS' football. Bob's Burgers, Family Guy and American Dad! had higher-end outings considering there was no football lead-in.

Spotted Ratings, Saturday 1/12/13

WHAT MATTERS:

• As last week, the Saturday primetime playoff game ran away with #1 for the week, this time on Fox. But it was down in the 10% vicinity from last year's game on the corresponding night (you can probably tell from the Ty2y numbers that it was on CBS last year).

• ABC had decent counterprogramming with the Miss America Pageant, but it dropped by the same amount year-to-year as the NFL game.

Spotted Ratings, Friday 1/11/13

WHAT MATTERS:

• A week after averaging a 3.5 with the Cotton Bowl, Fox dropped sub-1 on this evening with a Kitchen Nightmares repeat and the penultimate Fringe.

• And it seems almost everybody else benefited from the Fox invisibility. CBS had the biggest relative night, as CSI: NY and Blue Bloods both hit outright season highs and Undercover Boss also grew significantly. ABC followed up last week's softness by seeing Last Man Standing, Malibu Country and night-topping Shark Tank return to more typical levels.

The Climate, Weeks 14/15: The Idol Boost

Now that I'm out of midseason preview hell, I hope to be able to revive the "column" aspect of these posts somewhat regularly. Today brings a short-ish one about the effect American Idol has had on some of the climate numbers in past seasons.

The Question, Monday 1/14/13: Will Tonight Carrie the CW Back Into Teen Soaps?

In the last couple years, the Mark Pedowitz regime has been phasing out the heavily female-skewing soaps for which previous head Dawn Ostroff became infamous. And yet, here we are again, with the CDub kicking off its midseason with Sex and the City prequel The Carrie Diaries. Beyond the SatC packaging, it sounds like there's another reason they picked it up: it's actually good. Will tonight "Carrie" the CW back into the teen soap game? That's The Question for Monday, January 14, 2013.

2012-13 Best Case/Worst Case Show Index

Best Case/Worst Case is this site's critically-acclaimed season preview. Here's a list of every single show previewed over the course of the 2012-13 season.

Winter 2013 Best Case/Worst Case, Friday/Saturday/Sunday

Introductory stuff now at the bottom.

Other Winter 2013 BC/WC: Monday | Tuesday | Wednesday | Thursday | Fri/Sat/Sun

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The Basics:

	bc	Rank	y2y	Rank	TPUT	Rank	bc/TPUT	Rank
Friday	5.0	6	-4%	2	29.0	6	17%	6
Saturday	4.2	7	-15%	7	28.9	7	15%	7
Sunday	13.2	1	-4%	1	38.1	1	35%	1

Friday and Sunday are both down a little less than 4% from last year, making them the two healthiest nights of the week. In Sunday's case, the number is largely wrapped up in one departing program, Sunday Night Football, since it usually beats the other broadcasters combined. It finished the season at -2%, while the other networks were each down in the very general vicinity of 10%.

Friday actually had some genuinely good stories in Shark Tank and Grimm, while some other shows like Undercover Boss and ABC's new comedies have done well at least compared to the fall 2011 occupants.

Saturday took the biggest year-to-year drop of any night by a mile. ABC's Saturday Night Football actually ended up finishing pretty close to even (-4%), but Fox's dip into college football provided no real improvement on last year's Cops and reruns, and it seems like much of this -15% comes from repeats and random Saturday night events that were way down from last year (most notably CBS' LSU/Alabama game, down from 7.2 to 4.0).

Spotted Ratings, Thursday 1/10/13: 1.600 Penn

WHAT MATTERS:

• The two hottest Thursday shows in recent weeks found heights anew on the last pre-American Idol Thursday. The Big Bang Theory hit yet another highest number in both series history and for all entertainment programming in the 2012-13 season. And ABC's Scandal returned from its month-long hiatus at three tenths above its already impressive high point in early December.

• The loser on Thursday, as usual, was NBC, where 1600 Penn began its Thursday run at just below the Parks and Recreation average in the slot this fall, and 27% below its post-Voice preview number in December. The repeat of the pilot at 8:30 was probably more impressive. The consolation prize for NBC is that 30 Rock and The Office were both on the high end.

• Despite the new high from TBBT, the rest of the CBS lineup came down a notch against the return of some competition. But Two and a Half Men, Person of Interest and Elementary still had relatively upper-echelon outings. It looks like PoI will finally edge Grey's Anatomy head-to-head, though the latter also rose a bit from its last couple 2012 airings.

SpotVault - Cops (Fox) - 2012-13 Ratings

Cops

Saturdays, 8/7c, Fox

SpotVault - 1600 Penn (NBC) - 2012-13 Ratings

1600 Penn

Thursdays, 9:30/8:30c, NBC

SpotVault - Off Their Rockers (NBC) - 2012-13 Ratings

Betty White's Off Their Rockers

Tuesdays, 8/7c, NBC

SpotVault - Deception (NBC) - 2012-13 Ratings

Deception

Mondays, 10/9c, NBC

SpotVault - The Biggest Loser (NBC) - Winter 2013 Ratings

The Biggest Loser

Mondays, 8/7c, NBC

SpotVault - The Bachelor (ABC) - Winter 2013 Ratings

The Bachelor

Mondays, 8/7c, ABC

The Question, Thursday 1/10/13: Is the Penn Mightier on Thursday?

On December 17, NBC previewed its new White House comedy 1600 Penn to rather mediocre results after The Voice. Since a 2.2 was all it could manage in that spot, hopes have been rather deflated for the show in its normal timeslot as part of the disaster area that is NBC Thursday. One-off previews can be deceiving; The New Normal got a 2.5 after The Voice and then a 2.5 the next night with a much smaller Go On lead-in. But the lead-in difference will be even more pronounced here, so don't expect that kind of carry-over. Is the Penn mightier on Thursday? That's The Question for Monday, January 10, 2013.

Spotted Ratings, Wednesday 1/9/13

WHAT MATTERS:

• A week after NBC Wednesday's surge against no competition, it came somewhat back to earth against some (but not that much) competition. With each competing network stronger than last week, Whitney and Guys with Kids each shed nearly a quarter of their week-ago demo audiences. That's a pretty soft level considering American Idol isn't even back yet. But Law and Order: SVU and Chicago Fire held up much better in yet another week against no CBS procedural competition.

• The return of ABC comedy Wednesday went pretty decently, with pretty much everything right around its season-to-date average and The Neighbors growing most of all after a finals uptick. Nashville lost the head-to-head with Chicago Fire for the first time under "normal" circumstances, but its upward adjustment after finals meant it had its best number since the pilot.

• Fox had one last low-rated Wednesday this season with special Stars in Danger: The High Dive. It did only a little better than last week's Mobbed. It lost out to CBS' night of specials, though the return of I Get That a Lot was down somewhat from last year's edition. But as Kaley Cuoco's sitcom grows, so does the awards show she hosts. The People's Choice Awards were up a tick from last year.

Winter 2013 Best Case/Worst Case, Thursday

Introductory stuff now at the bottom.

Other Winter 2013 BC/WC: Monday | Tuesday | Wednesday | Thursday | Fri/Sat/Sun

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The Basics:

	bc	Rank	y2y	Rank	TPUT	Rank	bc/TPUT	Rank
Thursday	9.1	4	-4%	3	33.2	5	28%	3

At -4% year-to-year, Thursday is in a virtual tie with Friday and Sunday for the healthiest night on broadcast this season. The X Factor and NBC's comedies have really struggled, but ABC has been reasonably healthy and CBS has actually grown noticeably with The Big Bang Theory and Person of Interest on the upswing and Two and a Half Men now on the night.

Winter 2013 Best Case/Worst Case, Wednesday

Introductory stuff now at the bottom.

Other Winter 2013 BC/WC: Monday | Tuesday | Wednesday | Thursday | Fri/Sat/Sun

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The Basics:

	bc	Rank	y2y	Rank	TPUT	Rank	bc/TPUT	Rank
Wednesday	9.4	3	-6%	5	33.4	4	28%	2

Wednesday has not been as big a problem for broadcast as Tuesday, but nothing has really emerged as a clear success story. (Stay tuned on Chicago Fire, though.) The 8:00 hour is down 8% with The Neighbors well below last year's Suburgatory, NBC's Animal Practice/Whitney well below last year's Up All Night and Survivor and The X Factor each down double digits. (It's that rare slot where the CW actually made a meaningful difference thanks to its breakout hit Arrow.) 9:00 is healthier mostly because Harry's Law is gone, but 10:00 is down 10% with Nashville dropping well below last year's Revenge.

Spotted Ratings, Tuesday 1/8/13

WHAT MATTERS:

• Hate to drop the "TOLDJA" bomb, but I've been saying it all season... even "modest success" is too generous a description for The Voice-fueled Go On. And that was on display to frankly an even greater extent than I expected in Go On's first episode without that lead-in. It dropped by nearly a full point from what it pulled in its last couple post-Voice episodes. 9:30's The New Normal also took a noticeable hit.

• NBC got a decent from Betty White's Off Their Rockers, though it didn't necessarily live up to the promise of last week's repeat marathon. (The 8:00 episodes were only up about a quarter from the week-ago repeats.) The network's real winner on its first real post-Voice Tuesday was a growing Parenthood at 10/9c. And that's the show that's leaving the sked in a few weeks...

• NCIS, free of The Voice at 8/7c, was up multiple ticks. The low-rated lineups on Fox and ABC had fairly typical evenings. Happy Endings was on the high end, relatively speaking, but it still dropped from its The Middle repeat lead-in.

• It was a very busy night in cable. The program of greatest interest may have been the most disappointing, as Cougar Town (1.1) made its TBS debut at right about where it left off in its ABC run. Usually that'd be a very good thing in a cable transition, but the show had about as massive a lead-in as cable can provide: a Big Bang Theory repeat (1.8). On the other hand, Justified (1.3) had a big premiere for FX, up significantly from last year's 1.0 premiere, and the far-and-away signature show of ABC Family, Pretty Little Liars (1.4), also picked up a tick year-to-year.

Spotted Ratings, Monday 1/7/13

WHAT MATTERS:

• From 8:00 to 10:00, the two winter reality shows squared off for the first time with The Biggest Loser coming somewhat back to earth from its Sunday preview numbers (but still a few ticks better than I'd have expected coming into the season). It edged The Bachelor head-to-head, but I'd say the latter also had a good day. It was just a tick down from last year's premiere, and if it behaves the way most Bachelor seasons do, it should have a great shot to pull ahead of TBL moving forward.

• NBC then had an expectedly mediocre start out of Deception. Realistically, it's not that terrible a number by recent NBC drama standards, but with the way the NBC drama stable is shaping up lately, it can't drop all that far from here before being in trouble.

• Now that The Bachelor is apparently no weaker than Dancing with the Stars, Castle got what was a fairly typical post-DWTS number.

• The good news for the broadcasters in the bigger picture was that the much-ballyhooed BCS National Championship Game on ESPN (9.2) was practically over by the end of the first quarter. That number was still up 6% year-to-year, but the viewership chart across the telecast should help illustrate the true ratings potential (and the game quality reality) of this matchup. It certainly did not end up being the beast it could've been.

The True Top 25, Week Ending 1/6/13 (2012-13 Week 15)

We rang in 2013 with a rather odd week in which the most competitive nights were typically also the least-viewed. Four of the top six True Top 25 entrants came on New Year's Eve, Friday and Saturday, and several other programs from those nights show up farther down the list (Shark Tank, Dateline, Undercover Boss and Carson Daly's special).

Among entertainment programs, The Big Bang Theory dominated with a series-high 18-49 performance on Thursday. However, it was not a True2 high for the show because of how little broadcast competition it dealt with. The big winner of the week was Chicago Fire, which went well above all previous True2 scores. It had little competition from ABC and CBS, but the bonus it got from adding in the Sugar Bowl on ESPN made it look like a pretty normal situation for the show.

Spotted Ratings, Sunday 1/6/13

WHAT MATTERS:

• On the season's first Sunday without the NFL in primetime, NBC still had something good to report. The Biggest Loser welcomed back Jillian Michaels at over a half point above any result from the last winter season and at its highest level since May 2011. Looks like, for now, she's still a big enough deal to get the show back on track.

• Fox's animation led out of the NFL playoffs, and that meant season highs across the board: The Simpsons (4.2), Bob's Burgers (3.1), Family Guy (3.6) and American Dad! (2.8).

• ABC's Once Upon a Time and Revenge came back exactly where they left off, and the grand Sunday 10/9c experiment proved yet another bust for Happy Endings and Apartment 23.

• On CBS, The Mentalist appeared to benefit the most from no NFL in the primetime mix, as it tied a season high.

Spotted Ratings, Saturday 1/5/13

WHAT MATTERS:

• Saturday was all about NBC's primetime coverage of the Wild Card Round of the NFL Playoffs. Though it won the primetime week with ease, it was 7% below the game on the same night last year.

The Question, Tuesday 1/8/13: Will Cougar Go To Town on TBS?

Though ABC treated Cougar Town about as well as humanly possible in its first two seasons (airing it after Modern Family), they made up for it in spades in season three, throwing it to Tuesdays with hugely incompatible Last Man Standing. And Cougar Town, never much of a performer in its post-Modern days, was decidedly not up to the challenge on Tuesday. So ABC did away with it, and now Cougar Town finds a whole new kind of situation: cable network TBS. Will Cougar go to town on TBS? That's The Question for Tuesday, January 8, 2013.

Winter 2013 Best Case/Worst Case, Tuesday

Introductory stuff now at the bottom.

Other Winter 2013 BC/WC: Monday | Tuesday | Wednesday | Thursday | Fri/Sat/Sun

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The Basics:

	bc	Rank	y2y	Rank	TPUT	Rank	bc/TPUT	Rank
Tuesday	10.8	5	-9%	6	34.7	3	26%	5

Tuesday was one of the weakest nights on broadcast last season, and things have only continued to sour this fall, even with NBC massively growing in the 8:00 hour with The Voice. The other networks have continued to disappoint in a big way: ABC's comedy hour and Private Practice flopped, CBS' Vegas has not even come close to year-ago marginal occupant Unforgettable, and Fox's four-comedy night has been a disaster. The night remains more overall-viewed than Wednesday or Thursday, but the broadcasters are doing worse than on those two nights.

The Question, Monday 1/7/13: Is NBC's Midseason Drama Deceptively Strong?

Tonight NBC dives into the heart of its three months of Voice-lessness with the regular timeslot premiere of The Biggest Loser and, at 10/9c, new drama Deception. It's a little bit Revenge, a little bit Dirty Sexy Money, and NBC hopes its likely female skew will match up well with The Biggest Loser. Reviews thus far are merely OK, and I don't think anyone really expects a big out-of-the-box smash. Is NBC's midseason drama deceptively strong? That's The Question for Monday, January 7, 2013.

Winter 2013 Best Case/Worst Case, Monday

My extensive Best Case/Worst Case previews from the fall are BACK for the midseason. For the most part, these posts are the same as in the fall. You can refer to the Intro post from last summer to explain most of what you'll see below.

The main difference is that the timeslot info in "The Basics" and in the timeslot portion of each show card now cover the fall 2012 numbers, from September 24 through December 23. (In the Fall Best Case/Worst Case, they covered all of the 2011-12 regular season.) So the slot averages are all across that three-month fall span, and the "Occupants" are things the network aired in the slot this fall.

To avoid covering stuff that's too far down the road, I'm just hitting the January and February premieres here. I tried to figure out how to break these up with a similar number of shows in each post but couldn't really crack it. So I'm just doing one post for each day of the week until Friday, which will cover Friday/Saturday/Sunday.

Other Winter 2013 BC/WC: Monday | Tuesday | Wednesday | Thursday | Fri/Sat/Sun

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The Basics:

	bc	Rank	y2y	Rank	TPUT	Rank	bc/TPUT	Rank
Monday	9.6	2	-5%	4	36.7	2	26%	4

Monday's broadcast numbers have been a clash of inflationary and deflationary events. Though The Voice and Revolution have lifted NBC by triple digits, that's been more than cancelled out by significant declines across the board on all the other networks, resulting in a fairly typical 5% average decline. The decline is biggest in the 9:00 half-hour (-13%), where hyper-inflated Two and a Half Men departed in favor of an often underwhelming 2 Broke Girls. Broadcast has had something of a revolution (get it?!) in the 10:00 hour: +12% at 10:00 and +9% at 10:30.

Though the bc/TPUT number suggests Monday is not all that competitive, it doesn't include ESPN's Monday Night Football. With ESPN and NBC both much weaker this winter, the landscape should become more manageable for the other networks.

Spotted Ratings, Friday 1/4/13

WHAT MATTERS:

• We began 2013 with three uncompetitive weekdays. Suddenly, now that the weekend's here, things get hyper-competitive! The big game-changer on the night was Fox's Cotton Bowl, which was up a massive 40% year-to-year. It's not part of the more prestigious Bowl Championship Series, but the matchup (Oklahoma vs. Texas A&M and its Heisman Trophy-winning quarterback) was better than most of the BCS games, so it got nearly BCS-esque ratings.

• The largely original lineups on the rest of the big four almost uniformly fell in the one- to two-tenths range from their last pre-holiday airings. The exception was Malibu Country, down a more brutal three tenths. 

The Question, Sunday 1/6/13: Will This Season Be the Biggest Year-to-Year Loser?

The first five days of 2013 were merely a midseason appetizer: a lot of football, and a lot of stray originals ringing up big numbers against no real competition. On Sunday night, we've finally got something with real stakes, and it's the return of The Biggest Loser on NBC. The peacock hopes this longtime schedule staple can make a successful transition into a new role getting NBC through The Voice hiatuses. But it's no given that'll happen, as the show was trending down fast last season. Will this season be the Biggest year-to-year Loser? That's The Question for Sunday, December 6, 2013.

Spotted Ratings, Thursday 1/3/13: The Six Bang Theory

WHAT MATTERS:

• Thursday marked the second straight night for what I call the One-Network Showcase, with a single network airing originals against basically no competition. The difference between last night and Wednesday was that this lineup was high-rated to begin with. So what we got from CBS Thursday was some genuine enormity. The Big Bang Theory adjusted up in finals to a new series high, eclipsing the previous 6.0 from about three years ago when it was a Monday 9:30 show. And it may very well adjust up to a new one. And Two and a Half Men and Person of Interest were at least as far ahead of previous results this season. Elementary may not have gotten the kind of bump CBS hoped for, but it was still the show's highest rating since the premiere.

• Fox had two more hours of Mobbed at about the same level as the previous night, and the networks in repeats never cracked a 1.0 with lineups that don't encore well.

CW True Power Rankings, January 2013

It's time for another edition of the True Power Rankings! I line up every entertainment program in broadcast primetime by network/category using my timeslot metric True2, offering my take on the ratings strength of the shows. This week, I'll offer a few thoughts on individual shows as part of the preview of midseason.

As on the Weekly True Power Rankings, these True2 and A18-49 numbers are averages of the last third of the season's episodes to date, rounded up. The number of episodes in the average is listed under "Counted Eps." Due to Nielsen holiday delays, we don't have everything from last week, so these numbers are all through December 23. But since almost nothing aired in originals last week, that mostly doesn't make a difference.

Other January True Power Rankings: ABC | CBS | NBC | Fox | CW

The True Top 25, Week Ending 12/30/12 (2012-13 Week 14)

Ah, the last week of the year. Only four programs broke a 2.0 A18-49 rating, only five broke a 2.00 True2 score, and only two original programs (football and 60 Minutes) made it into the True Top 25. I could utter some platitude about how this week is interesting in its own way, that it allows us to once again pick out TV's elite repeat options, but I will spare you this time.

Fox True Power Rankings, January 2013

It's time for another edition of the True Power Rankings! I line up every entertainment program in broadcast primetime by network/category using my timeslot metric True2, offering my take on the ratings strength of the shows. This week, I'll offer a few thoughts on individual shows as part of the preview of midseason.

As on the Weekly True Power Rankings, these True2 and A18-49 numbers are averages of the last third of the season's episodes to date, rounded up. The number of episodes in the average is listed under "Counted Eps." Due to Nielsen holiday delays, we don't have everything from last week, so these numbers are all through December 23. But since almost nothing aired in originals last week, that mostly doesn't make a difference.

Other January True Power Rankings: ABC | CBS | NBC | Fox | CW

Spotted Ratings, Wednesday 1/2/13

WHAT MATTERS:

• This whole "NBC is the only network airing originals" thing is working out very well for them. Whitney, Guys with Kids, Law and Order: SVU and Chicago Fire all hit timeslot season highs, with Fire even beating the post-Voice airing that had previously been its zenith. To be a Gloomy Gus, I should point out that NBC Wednesday looked almost as promising in its pre-Idol airing last year before dropping considerably. It'll probably get lower for NBC once someone, anyone, returns their regular lineup. But credit to them for taking care of business on this evening. Should be interesting to see how CBS Thursday does in a similar situation tonight.

• On the other hand, there was Fox, which somehow still has some episodes of Mobbed (1.0 at 8:00, 1.1 at 9:00) lying around. It'll be back tonight and then again next Thursday, and that should be it.

NBC True Power Rankings, January 2013

It's time for another edition of the True Power Rankings! I line up every entertainment program in broadcast primetime by network/category using my timeslot metric True2, offering my take on the ratings strength of the shows. This week, I'll offer a few thoughts on individual shows as part of the preview of midseason.

As on the Weekly True Power Rankings, these True2 and A18-49 numbers are averages of the last third of the season's episodes to date, rounded up. The number of episodes in the average is listed under "Counted Eps." Due to Nielsen holiday delays, we don't have everything from last week, so these numbers are all through December 23. But since almost nothing aired in originals last week, that mostly doesn't make a difference.

Other January True Power Rankings: ABC | CBS | NBC | Fox | CW

CBS True Power Rankings, January 2013

It's time for another edition of the True Power Rankings! I line up every entertainment program in broadcast primetime by network/category using my timeslot metric True2, offering my take on the ratings strength of the shows. This week, I'll offer a few thoughts on individual shows as part of the preview of midseason.

As on the Weekly True Power Rankings, these True2 and A18-49 numbers are averages of the last third of the season's episodes to date, rounded up. The number of episodes in the average is listed under "Counted Eps." Due to Nielsen holiday delays, we don't have everything from last week, so these numbers are all through December 23. But since almost nothing aired in originals last week, that mostly doesn't make a difference.

Other January True Power Rankings: ABC | CBS | NBC | Fox | CW

Spotted Ratings, Tuesday 1/1/13

WHAT MATTERS:

• Maybe the NBC collapse is coming, but they began 2013 right back on top. A four-episode repeat marathon of Off Their Rockers (1.3 at 8:00, 1.5 at 8:30, 1.6 at 9:00, 1.8 at 9:30) tied or beat the CBS repeats in every half hour and ended up averaging a hair better than the show's original average on Wednesday last spring. Perhaps this bodes well for the show's original return next week. That marathon led into the first big-four original of the year, Parenthood, which was on the low end even though Off Their Rockers ended up being a fairly decent-sized lead-in.

• The rest of the big four was in repeats, with Shark Tank winning the 8:00 hour for ABC. ESPN's Orange Bowl (3.5) won the night, but it was much weaker than the primetime post-Rose Bowl game last year (4.7). The Rose Bowl Game itself (4.7) was down 15% from last year.

ABC True Power Rankings, January 2013

It's time for another edition of the True Power Rankings! I line up every entertainment program in broadcast primetime by network/category using my timeslot metric True2, offering my take on the ratings strength of the shows. This week, I'll offer a few thoughts on individual shows as part of the preview of midseason.

As on the Weekly True Power Rankings, these True2 and A18-49 numbers are averages of the last third of the season's episodes to date, rounded up. The number of episodes in the average is listed under "Counted Eps." Due to Nielsen holiday delays, we don't have everything from last week, so these numbers are all through December 23. But since almost nothing aired in originals last week, that mostly doesn't make a difference.

Other January True Power Rankings: ABC | CBS | NBC | Fox | CW

Spotted Ratings, Weekend Roundup 12/28-12/31/12

WHAT MATTERS:

•  Not much of interest on Friday/Saturday except of course for the Made in Jersey vs. The Mob Doctor showdown we've all been waiting for. It narrowly went to Mob Doc, though you could argue that was largely because of the Cops lead-in.

• Sunday saw an incredibly high rating from the season's last Sunday Night Football, a Cowboys/Redskins clash for the NFC East title. It was NBC's second-biggest SNF of the season, up from last year's finale (also an NFC East Championship), and it was the biggest they've ever had late in the season. (It was also the biggest NBC SNF ever in total viewers.)

• On Monday, ABC for the second straight year expanded their Dick Clark's New Year's Rockin' Eve coverage to all three hours of primetime with fabulous results. Both the 8-10pm portion and the 10-11pm one were up a tick from last year, and keep in mind that the numbers last year had exploded relative to the special's previous performance. And the primetime portion of NBC's coverage grew noticeably from last year.