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Fox and its The X Factor (3.3/9 in adults 18-49, down 6% from last week’s fast nationals) won the first Wednesday of the season, which featured a slew of returning series opening lower than last fall, a respectable premiere for ABC’s The Neighbors and disappointing launch of NBC’s new Wednesday comedy block.
ABC’s Wednesday comedy lineup returned with an hourlong season premiere of The Middle (2.8/9), down 10% from last season’s hourlong opener, followed by the season premiere of Modern Family (5.5/15). The comedy, coming off another dominating performance at the Emmys on Sunday, was down 8% from last year’s debut. At 9:30 PM, the series premiere of new alien comedy The Neighbors (3.3/9) was actually up a tenth from the season premiere in the time slot of Happy Endings last fall with a so-so 60% retention of its Modern Family lead-in, up from 57% for Happy Ending‘s premiere last September. It was a good sampling opportunity for Neighbors, which is moving to its permanent 8:30 PM slot next week. ABC aired a Revenge recap at 10 PM.
NBC’s Wednesday comedy block of newbies Animal Practice (1.4/4) and Guys With Kids (1.6/5) got off to a slow start, with both series down sharply from their previews. The number is especially disappointing for Animal Practice given the show’s high-profile exposure — the entire pilot aired during the closing ceremony of the London Olympics. (Those Who fans angered by NBC’s decision to put on Animal Practice before the band’s closing ceremony performance must feel vindicated.) From 9-11 PM, the 14th-season premiere of Law & Order: SVU (2.1/6) was down 13% from the veteran’s season premiere at 10 PM last fall. (The number still represents NBC’s best demo rating in the 9-11 slot in a year and a half.)
CBS’ Survivor: Philippines (3.0/9) was down 6% from last week to finish within at tenth of X Factor in the 8 PM hour. Criminal Minds (3.1/8) was down a steep 24% from its season premiere last fall, while CSI (2.5/7) was down 22% from last season’s opener, which introduced new leading man Ted Danson. Still, the 13th-season premiere of the veteran crime drama easily won the 10 PM hour last night and tied the heavily promoted Tuesday premiere of new 10 PM CBS drama Vegas. CBS won the night in total viewers.
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I was terribly confused by the show THE NEIGHBORS. I watched it in a complete state of disarray. I’m thinking “Folgleman, ok…decent writer……it’s on ABC….done by ABC studios…it has Jami Gertz….who is always dependable…..Chris Koch directed it, whom I like…. the cast is unusual…the plot is straight out of Screen Gems Television circa 1963…..the message is old fashioned….”
and then it was over… and then ABC announced they moved it (smartly) BEFORE Modern Family as to not waste such a valuable lead-in…..
and then I thought to myself… “how did this get so far as to not only get a pilot shot, but an episode order? I thought networks test and test and test and test… (Did CBS test PARTNERS? after watching it, probably not)”
and then I thought to myself “oh…that’s right…what was that line that William Goldman said…’nobody knows anything’ and even though he was referring to film, we can now include television”
I need to hear from you guys and what the Deadline community thought of this show…
I am deeply concerned this is on the air.
-RnsW
Have to agree. My wife and I were unable to even reach for the remote, having found ourselves paralyzed by the awfulness of this program. Was this ABC’s plan?
I also watched in total shock. I couldn’t grasp the idea that ABC not only picked it up, but then put it alongside “Modern Family.” I would be fine with it if the show mustered a single laugh. It failed miserably.
“the plot is straight out of Screen Gems Television circa 1963…..the message is old fashioned….”
I get it, Robert. You’re flabbergasted. But what you’re saying by your utter bafflement is that there is really only room for ONE KIND OF 1/2 HOUR COMEDY on a major U.S. network in 2012, and that is the edgy, realistic (or faux-realistic), relationship or workplace comedy, and that’s it.
I’m sure you’d acknowledge that there is comedic diversity at the multiplex (low-brow comedy, romantic comedy, action-comedy, high-brow indie comedy, etc) but by gum it shouldn’t exist on American network TV.
MAYBE on Comedy Central or Adult Swim but never on the Big Four.
So yeah, I guess I’m a bit baffled that you’re baffled, Robert, that you don’t believe that out of 12 hours of prime time programming per night … translating to 72 hours of prime time programming per week (Sun-Friday)… that there might possibly be an appetite for not ten or five or even three but one — ONE — old-school high-concept 1/2 hour comedy on the airwaves.
NBC’s comedy chief just tweeted this –
“@TalRabinowitz: Some days are like a steep hike in thick smoggy air.”
Presuming she is talking about the ratings of her pet projects that she championed. Both shows are ok and nothing special. NBC should move Whitney to 8pm on Wednesdays and pair it with a compatible show like Guys with Kids. Whitney performed much better then Animal Practice and performed better in the spring time, when HUT levels are lower, especially at 8PM.
And go to The Middle! Solid opening 8pm show. Classic ABC comedy.
I don’t understand why anyone at NBC thought it was a good idea to go with four 1-hour comedy blocks this season. Maybe it makes it easier to block things together after the cancellations start coming in, but you’d think it would be easier to just do two 2-hour blocks of comedy where the shows can feed off each other. They should at least have put the multi-cam sitcoms together as you said. Go On and New Normal are a decent pairing but I see Go On fitting better with Up All Night even if in the death-spot of Thursday 8PM.
Tal’s line is better written than anything that was on NBC from 8-9 Wednesday night. Guys With Kids was excruciating. My heart broke for the laugh track guy because he had to know those moments weren’t even slightly funny. “Really? You want a laugh here?” But just as you can’t judge a show’s ratings on its premiere, you can’t judge it’s quality either. Maybe it will be get better. Or there’ll be many more smoggy hikes ahead.
I still like CSI, but don’t watch it when it airs. When season’s DVD set drops in price, then I watch it. Just bought season 11
You know the folks in the ANIMAL PRACTICE offices are cursing NBC for preempting the Olympics with their show — but that preemption and the anger it conjured has nothing to do with the fact that the show is tanking.
The series sucks. NBC should cancel it and fire the executive who bought it.
Looks like Tracey Pakosta and Andy Weil are having a disastrous debut of their development slate. Something tells me they will never get in trouble, though…
Neighbors was a really well written pilot. It just needs a bit of time to find itself creatively. Could be a keeper.
I was skeptical of Animal Practice after the Olympics fiasco, but watched last night and found it really funny. Laughed the whole way through. Think it’s an uphill battle for these freshmen shows as they have no lead in. Go On has the voice ahead of it. I can’t get through it every time I try to watch. I hope AP and GWK find an audience as the season builds.
CBS failed to crack a 3.0 overall Monday and Wednesday. Hopefully the beginning of the end of the turgid procedural genre? One can only hope and dream
Monday night was mostly comedies on CBS. Tuesday night was procedural night with NCIS, still TV’s highest rated drama, NCIS: LA and the new show Vegas and CBS won Tuesday night. With the ratings that NCIS is getting in its 10th season, I don’t see CBS getting rid of it anytime soon.
Great for The Middle. Pretty fun episode and used it’s one hour runtime perfectly. Eden Sher is a star.
I don’t understand why ABC moved Happy Endings from that slot, the whole night was perfect, even ending with Revenge.
Simple: there’s better stuff on cable which continues to make inroads post summer. We need a rating system that reflects this. NFL football will rule tonight, especially with real refs back, and will effect all else.
Though I agree with those saying “The Neighbors” is terrible (and not likely to improve), I don’t agree it’s this season’s worst. That honor goes to NBC’s execrable “Guys with Kids,” quite possibly the worst show on a major network since “Whitney” (I never saw ABC’s “Work It,” another candidate according to those who had the misfortune of seeing it).
What good does it do to be a top show for NBC? Harry’s Law was one of it’s best rated shows and they axed it anyway…seems it only appealed to baby boomers who don’t ‘compulsive spend’ like the people who watch those stupid reality shows do.
Don’t these nitwit suits realize the boomers have more money to spend than the unemployed youth they think they so desire.
ABC’s sitcoms premiered really strong. I am shocked. A 2.9 and 9 million viewers for The Middle at 8pm (just shy of beating X-Factor by the way)is YOWZA good. We could see The Middle beat X-Factor at least once this fall. Of course Modern Family blitzed it and everybody else with that gaudy 5.5 demo and 15 million viewers. But I am most pleasantly surprised by The Neighbors 9 million viewers and 3.3 demo rating and Revenge’s strong sampling for its recap show. Revenge is showing early signs that it will open big behind Once Upon A Time on Sunday and ABC could have another strong night of ratings for its scripted dramas on Sunday to go along with the big numbers that could possibly come in for its Thursday night dramas. On the flip side of that coin, CBS could be headed for a disaster if their procedurals, Criminal Minds and CSI continue to drop so harshly.