Articles

February 1, 2013
 

THE SKED’S THURSDAY NETWORK SCORECARD – 1/31/13

NBC looks to its past–and faces its present.

NBC:  30 ROCK had a nice send-off, a 1.9 that was up half a point from last week as old fans gathered to watch the gang one last time.  But “catastrophic” doesn’t do justice to the debut of DO NO HARM, which at 0.9 is reportedly the lowest regular season launch of a scripted show in the history of NBC, ABC, CBS or FOX–and that was with a doubleheader lead-in of THE OFFICE at 2.1/1.9.  Next week, Harm will have to follow the almost-as-disastrous 1600 Penn.  Counting the seconds until The Voice comes back…

ABC:  With the departure of Last Resort, ABC started the night with a 1.1 for a SHARK TANK rerun. GREY’S ANATOMY fell 0.2 to a 2.8, one of its lowest ratings ever, and well below CBS in the hour.  However, there was very good news at 10PM, as SCANDAL continued its recent white-hot pace, rising 0.1 to 2.7 and winning its hour by half a ratings point.

CBS:  This was the first week that a new BIG BANG THEORY squared off against American Idol, and Bang was definitely dented, down an ugly 1.1 from its last airing.  But its 5.3 was still enough to handily win the half-hour.  2 1/2 MEN was down 0.3 to 3.9.  PERSON OF INTEREST was down just a tick to 3.2, even with stronger competition than usual from NBC at 9:30PM.  ELEMENTARY, though, is headed in the wrong direction, down 0.2 to 2.2, and it will hope to get a bump from the anticipated huge number from its special post-Super Bowl episode on Sunday.

FOX:  Facing original shows on CBS, AMERICAN IDOL was down 0.7 to 4.5, and GLEE was correspondingly down 0.5 to 2.1, only able to tie NBC for 3rd place in the hour.

CW:  THE VAMPIRE DIARIES and BEAUTY AND THE BEAST were steady at 1.3/0.7.

Most networks have fresh programming tonight (NBC airs the NAACP IMAGE AWARDS), except that FOX and CW are double-pumping this week’s episodes of THE FOLLOWING and THE CARRIE DIARIES at 9PM.



About the Author

Mitch Salem
MITCH SALEM has worked on the business side of the entertainment industry for 20 years, as a senior business affairs executive and attorney for such companies as NBC, ABC, USA, Syfy, Bravo, and BermanBraun Productions, and before that, at the NY law firm of Weil, Gotshal & Manges. During all that, he has more or less constantly been going to the movies and watching TV, and writing about both since the 1980s. His film reviews also currently appear on screened.com and the-burg.com. In addition, he is co-writer of an episode of the television series "Felicity."