Midseason Matchups 2011, Friday

8/7c

Winter: Supernanny (ABC) vs. The Defenders (CBS, 2/4) vs. Who Do You Think You Are? (NBC, 2/4) vs. Kitchen Nightmares (Fox, 1/21) vs. Smallville (The CW)

Spring: Supernanny (ABC) vs. Chaos (CBS, 4/1) vs. Who Do You Think You Are? (NBC) vs. Kitchen Nightmares (Fox) vs. Smallville (The CW)

Cable: WWE Smackdown! (Syfy)

Notes: Nightmares has aired on Friday before and figures to do decent business by the standards of the night, probably even better than lead-out Fringe. The ABC and NBC reality shows won't do much, and maybe Smallville will build as it nears the end of its decade-long run. The question mark is whether The Defenders can make the Friday transition respectably. It's tough to feel good about it.

Midseason Matchups 2011, Thursday

8/7c

Winter: Wipeout (ABC, 1/6) vs. The Big Bang Theory/$#*! My Dad Says (CBS) vs. Community/PERFECT COUPLES (NBC, 1/20) vs. American Idol (Fox, 1/20) vs. The Vampire Diaries (The CW)

Spring: TBA (ABC) vs. The Big Bang Theory/Rules of Engagement (CBS, 2/24) vs. Community/Perfect Couples (NBC) vs. American Idol (Fox) vs. The Vampire Diaries (The CW)

Notes: Idol will sort of take over the role that Survivor had for so long in this hour, the reality show that dominates a field of (mostly) scripted TV. It'll be a real test for The Big Bang Theory, but I feel it should hold up as well as Modern Family did last year. (Modern became the first regularly-scheduled show in years to frequently break a 4.0 demo against Idol competition.)

The Top 10 TV Ratings Moments of 2010, 5 to 1

Back with the top half of the top 10 TV ratings moments of 2010. The first half went up yesterday.

Let the controversy begin...! If there's any particularly notable ratings result I missed, let me know. I'm open to there being a truly cataclysmic event that I forgot about. Maybe if I do this next year, I'll have a nice archive of Five-Spots to look back on so I won't miss anything big. Here goes:

5. The Walking Dead premiere (October 31) - I talked about shattering the network's glass ceiling with Hot in Cleveland yesterday, and The Walking Dead did it in an even bigger way for AMC. Its 2.7 A18-49 premiere on Halloween night was triple the highest rating ever for either of AMC's Emmy-laden originals Mad Men and Breaking Bad. Perhaps even more amazing was that it held almost all of that number in subsequent weeks, then actually grew as high as a 3.0 for the finale.

Midseason Matchups 2011, Wednesday

8/7c

Winter: The Middle/Better with You (ABC) vs. LIVE TO DANCE (CBS, 1/5) vs. Minute to Win It  (NBC, 1/5) vs. American Idol (Fox, 1/19) vs. America's Next Top Model (The CW, 2/23)

Spring: The Middle/Better with You (ABC) vs. Survivor (CBS, 2/16) vs. Minute to Win It (NBC) vs. American Idol (Fox) vs. America's Next Top Model (The CW)

Notes: Three years ago, there was a Drew Carey game show called Power of 10 that I really liked and that served as Carey's audition for the Price is Right job. It had an OK run in summer 2007, then CBS scheduled it in this hour in midseason 2008, where it got absolutely crushed against a reality gauntlet of Idol, Deal or No Deal, Wife Swap, and Top Model and was never seen again. If I were a fan of NBC's Minute to Win It, I think I'd be similarly worried. That show is a bit more established than Power of 10 was, but it's still one reality-heavy hour.

The Top 10 TV Ratings Moments of 2010, 10 to 6

I don't really like the practice of making top 10 best TV lists at the end of the calendar year, since most broadcast shows are still in the middle of their seasons. So I'll hold off on the creative side till the summer (and perhaps just post my 2009-10 top ten post, which is missing a lot of commentary, at some point in the future).

Since I'm mostly about ratings around here, I thought I'd take the year-end top 10 idea in a different direction: what were the ten most memorable/interesting/game-changing moments in the world of TV ratings? OK, all ten moments don't fit all three of those adjectives... but I think they all fit at least one really well! 10 thru 6 right now, the rest tomorrow!

10. Big Bang's Thursday debut (September 23) - The ballsiest move of upfront week 2010 was CBS moving TV's #1 scripted show of 2009-10 by placing The Big Bang Theory in the Thursday leadoff slot. On premiere night, it looked like the show may not miss a beat, as its 4.9 demo was actually up year-to-year from its 2009 premiere in the "cushier" Monday slot. Though Big Bang has dropped into the low 4s since then, that still makes the move a resounding success. Next step: rejuvenating the rest of Thursday.

Midseason Matchups 2011, Tuesday

8/7c

Winter: No Ordinary Family (ABC) vs. NCIS (CBS) vs. The Biggest Loser (NBC) vs. Glee (Fox) vs. One Tree Hill (The CW)

Spring: (projected) No Ordinary Family (ABC) vs. NCIS (CBS) vs. The Biggest Loser (NBC) vs. Glee (Fox) vs. One Tree Hill (The CW)

Notes: This hour will look a lot like it did in the fall, but an important note for both this and the 9:00 hour is that we don't know for sure where ABC will put the DWTS results show. If anything, the move of American Idol to Wednesday/Thursday might give the net even more incentive to lead off the night with the results show. Then again, giving the best possible lead-in to Body of Proof might take top priority. For now, I'm lining it up the way they had it in the fall, but it's in pencil.

Midseason Matchups 2011, Monday

8/7c

Winter: The Bachelor (ABC, 1/3) vs. How I Met Your Mother/Rules of Engagement (CBS) vs. Chuck (NBC) vs. House (Fox) vs. 90210 (CW)

Spring: Dancing with the Stars (ABC, 3/21) vs. How I Met Your Mother/MAD LOVE (CBS, 2/21) vs. Chuck (NBC) vs. House (Fox) vs. 90210 (CW)

Cable: Pretty Little Liars (ABC Family, 1/3)

Notes: This is one of primetime's most stable hours, but keep an eye on 90210. Not that it's had a particularly strong ratings season anyway (0.95 A18-49, 1.85 W18-34 averages to date), but in the winter it gets hit with the women 18-34 double-whammie of The Bachelor and Pretty Little Liars (which, by the second half of its initial run, was usually doing slightly better than 90210 has this season). Could get even uglier.

Scheduling Five-Spot, WE 12/26/10 - CBS Midseason: Mad Love, Criminal Minds: Suspect Behavior, The Defenders, Chaos, Blue Bloods

I decided to make this whole Five-Spot all about the only really significant news of the last week, CBS' midseason announcement. The only other notable developments were FX skedding the return of Justified for Wednesday, February 9 and a snowstorm moving NBC's Sunday Night Football game to Tuesday, making it the first Tuesday NFL game since 1946. It will be nationally televised.

Not sure about how the Five-Spots will be going down the next couple weeks with such a dearth of interesting TV and TV ratings running around this time of year. I might do a couple "extra" things this week and then take the week ending January 2 off completely. We'll see.

Here's your Scheduling Five-Spot for the week ending December 26, 2010:

Mad Love - Many had pegged CBS' new midseason comedy as bound for Thursday night at 8:30 to relieve the could-be-better $#*! My Dad Says, but instead it goes to Monday at 8:30 for what seems like a more natural thematic pairing with How I Met Your Mother. Even if it's a pairing that makes sense, we may not have seen this particular piece of scheduling if not for the fact that Fox moved American Idol into that Thursday 8:00 hour, making it much more precarious to try to launch a new comedy.

The War of 18-49, 2010-11 Battlegrounds

2010-11

The War of 18-49, 2009-10 Battlegrounds

2009-10