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Not so happily ever after?
ABC: ONCE UPON A TIME has been on a series-low track since Daylight Savings Time began, and last night it hit a new low 2.7, despite a highly-promoted episode that answered the question of just why the evil Queen hates Snow White. Once still won its hour, but this isn’t the way ABC wanted the show to go on hiatus until April 22. DESPERATE HOUSEWIVES was steady at 2.6 (it won’t be back until April 29, when it returns with the final 3 episodes of the series), then GCB took a hit to a series low 1.9, albeit against atypical competition from CBS. Again, not great timing, with GCB trying its luck next week in the Housewives 9PM slot.FOX: Although last week’s SIMPSONS repeat didn’t do too much damage to BOB’S BURGERS, two in a row was one too many, and last night both Simpsons and Bob slipped, with Bob hitting a season low 1.6. FAMILY GUY was also at a season low 2.5, although AMERICAN DAD was steady with last week’s 2.0. (Note: FOX may have been affected to some extent by being off the air on Tribune stations carried by DirecTV, which is in a license fee squabble with the station group. If the fight isn’t settled by tonight, CW stations in cities like Los Angeles will also be unavailable to DirecTV subscribers.)
NBC: Who would have guessed: it turned out that pre-empting the horribly low-rated HARRY’S LAW was a good idea. A third hour of CELEBRITY APPRENTICE just about doubled Harry’s usual number, and that raised the night for NBC, although the full 3 hours of Apprentice was only up 0.1 from last week to 1.8.
CBS: The ACADEMY OF COUNTRY MUSIC AWARDS telecast was down 0.2 from last year to 3.1, but that was still substantially better than what The Good Wife and CSI Miami normally do, and gave the network an easy win for the night.
Tonight will be about the NCAA CHAMPIONSHIP GAME on CBS. However, the game doesn’t start until 9PM eastern time, so BONES will try to do some business for FOX at 8PM with its first Monday episode, which features the long-awaited birth of Brennan and Booth’s baby. GOSSIP GIRL also returns with its first new episode in several weeks, although as noted the DirecTV/Tribune dispute may affect CW’s ratings.
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