On a night when a pulse-pounding hour of HOMELAND conclusively answered the question “Can this season be as good as the first?” (the answer is Yes), the broadcast networks continued their fall in more ways than one.
ABC: 666 PARK AVENUE now has to be considered officially in trouble, with a 1.7 that’s well below last season’s average for the late, not-so-great Pan Am. That was still good enough for a sliver of a win over CBS and its football-delayed shows in the hour, but 666 can’t afford to go any lower. In the show’s defense, the rest of the ABC line-up was unimpressive as well. ONCE UPON A TIME fell 0.6 from its season premiere, and was only slightly above FOX in the 8PM half-hour. REVENGE, too, was down 0.6, to a mediocre 2.6 that was well behind Family Guy and could only tie American Dad. The potentially good news for ABC is that with the baseball playoffs kicking off, next Sunday ABC will only face scripted competition on one network, which could stop the bleeding for now.
FOX: THE SIMPSONS aired its yearly “Treehouse of Horror” episode, the show’s one regular special event. However, this year’s “Treehouse” 3.1 was way down from last season’s 4.0 (which ran on Halloween night). Also, the half-hour was down from last week, when FOX had the national late NFL game, which boosted the show to 3.8. BOB’S BURGERS was down a bit from last week to 2.3, then FAMILY GUY was up a tick to 3.4 (beating Revenge in the half-hour), with AMERICAN DAD also slightly up to 2.6.
CBS: The network’s schedule slid due to the late NFL game, more than doubling 60 MINUTES to 3.8 (a number likely to come down when final results are released). THE AMAZING RACE and THE GOOD WIFE were steady, the former even with last week at 2.5 and the latter barely down to 1.7. THE MENTALIST took a hit, though, down half a ratings point to 1.6.
NBC: NFL FOOTBALL gave the Peacock its customary win with a preliminary 6.2.
Everything is new tonight, including, finally, at the CW, which premieres 90210 and the final shortened season of GOSSIP GIRL. Numbers to watch for: THE MOB DOCTOR attempting to justify its continued existence, and REVOLUTION trying to stretch its initial strong numbers into a genuine hit.
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