A newsmagazine took the crown on a mostly down night. NBC:  There must have been some reason why DATELINE zoomed 0.6 from last week, increasing its rating by more than 50% and topping the night with a 1.7.  Whatever it was, the show should consider trying it again.  The evening started with a decent 1.5 […]

Good news for ABC’s sitcoms. ABC:  LAST MAN STANDING and MALIBU COUNTRY, newly gifted with 5-episode backorders, justified their continued life by rising to 1.6/1.5, a tick or two up from recent weeks.  A rerun SHARK TANK and a new 20/20 won their hours with 1.6 and 1.7, respectively. CBS:  UNDERCOVER BOSS held steady at […]

A low-rated night with little relevance to network regular schedules. ABC:  The only network to take a chance with regular scripted programming last night, airing new episodes of LAST MAN STANDING and MALIBU COUNTRY presumably on the theory that these family-aimed shows could find a holiday audience.  The attempt was neither success nor failure, as […]

Suddenly those ABC sitcoms aren’t such sure things. ABC:  For the third consecutive week, LAST MAN STANDING and MALIBU COUNTRY fell, to 1.4 and 1.3 respectively.  That’s particularly worrisome for Malibu, which dropped a big 0.4.  Both shows are still probably fine as long as they hold at their current levels (they continued to hold […]

That didn’t take long. ABC:  At twin 1.6s, LAST MAN STANDING and MALIBU COUNTRY are still “hits” by Friday standards.  (Just ask NBC, which has been calling Grimm a hit for a year and a half with ratings at that level.)  But they’re way down from last week’s 2.0 and 2.3, and that’s with NBC […]