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SMASHWatch demands to know why “Bombshell” didn’t get any Tony nominations today. NBC: Last night’s SMASH encapsulated its season. The episode began with high promise (a buoyant “Another Opening, Another Show” on the soundtrack as the cast members made their way to Boston for out-of-town tryouts), devolved into unconvincing, uninvolving soap, and culminated in a final scene that strongly suggested the series’ most desperate and idiotic plot twist was on the horizon. Also, the ratings fell to a new low 1.8, far behind the other networks for 3rd place in its hour. That doesn’t mean NBC was wrong to renew Smash: its ratings are essentially the same as CBS gets for the renewed Good Wife, and the series probably has a similarly female-skewing, upscale audience that can be sold to advertisers at a premium. But the network will have to decide whether it should continue giving the strongest lead-in on its schedule to a show that has little potential for growth in Season 2. That lead-in, meanwhile, has its own problems, as THE VOICE hit its own season low 3.5, falling behind CBS in the 8-10PM hours for the first time this season.
CBS: Thanks to NBC’s faltering shows, the Eye took the night. Its line-up, though, is hardly robust: HOW I MET YOUR MOTHER, 2 BROKE GIRLS and 2 1/2 MEN were all narrowly above their season lows, with MIKE & MOLLY a couple of ticks higher. Despite all the promos for the HAWAII 5-0/NCIS LA Sweeps crossover, Hawaii tied its season low, which was still (barely) enough to take the 10PM hour.
ABC: DANCING WITH THE STARS crashed half a ratings point to a series low 2.7, as both of the night’s supposed reality powerhouses stagger to the finish line. CASTLE, though, perked up nicely to a 2.4 that was almost enough to take its hour.
FOX: Another blah Monday for the network, as BONES hit a season low 1.9, and HOUSE dropped to a 2.1 as it nears its series finale.
CW: GOSSIP GIRL (perhaps finally done with the who-are-Chuck’s-parents? storyline) and HART OF DIXIE, both bubble shows, fought for their renewals with twin 0.6 numbers that were slightly–indeed, meaninglessly–up from last week.
All is new tonight except the 9:30 rerun of NEW GIRL that follows a new episode. CW will hope THE LA COMPLEX can at least manage a rating less embarrassing than last week’s 0.3 debut.
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