NBC's The Apprentice - 10/27

Too bad the ratings are so low. After a slow start, the non-celebrity Apprentice has picked up and is reminding me why the earlier seasons were successful. It has many potential winners with a handful of obnoxious candidates there to spice it up.

This week, the men were on a high after they not only beat the women, but crushed them in the last task. Granted, Clint called out David as a "plague" and a "virus" but the men won, so he gets to stick around. The women, meanwhile, need to pull together after rifts were further exposed under the now-fired Kelly.

Next challenge was theater-based. When Trump explains the challenge and asks the women who the project manager will be, no one says anything for three seconds, and then Lizza, the current low-woman on the totem pole, volunteers. Even though we learn she's never seen a musical play before. Steuart steps up for the men. (By the way, have you ever seen a worse way to spell Steuart?)

Priceless it was when Don Jr. came to check on the women's team, and Lizza let Brandy do the talking. She's already looking like toast. Meanwhile Stephanie boasts of having 30 years of music experience, and Poppy points out that Stephanie always claims to have the most experience of whatever the task is.

David, meanwhile, finally has a chance to shine. He comes through on the creative end and his teammates find newfound respect for them. He's still going to be a disaster next week, but...

The women's team loses, and primarily because they put no contact information in their materials for the judges. Now it looks like project manager Lizza is going to be the lamb before the slaughter, particularly since Mahsa and Stephanie have spent the entire task thinking about the pits they've been digging for Lizza. But then, the board room is an unpredictable place. While casually talking about last week's task, it comes out that Mahsa told the men before the board room how much they'd sold. Trump views that as very disloyal. Mahsa tries to defend herself by saying that Clint had told their sales amount first.

The men are already safely back at the suite, enjoying their success, watching events unfold on the TV. When Clint hears this, he storms back to the board room to call Mahsa a liar. Trump believes Clint more than Mahsa, and Mahsa the Abrasive One is fired.

Next week they mix up the teams. Currently I think Clint is the favorite to win this.

The final Saw

SAW 3D
aka SAW VII: THE FINAL CHAPTER

*1/2

Starring Costas Mandylor, Betsy Russell, Sean Patrick Flanery, Tobin Bell, Chad Donella, Dean Armstrong, Gina Holden and Cary Elwes.
Directed by Kevin Greutert.

If you've seen the first six, you've seen the seventh. There's no real underlying mystery anymore, no hidden meaning, no fake-outs. Where the first one had a great surprise ending, each subsequent movie has been less successful in conveying the same final punch.

This was the same movie as Saw VI. One guy has to go through a series of rooms, given tasks he must complete or someone he knows will die in one of those contraptions. Most of the time he barely fails. Meanwhile Hoffman, who has twisted Jigsaw's mission far beyond what it originally was supposed to be, is keeping just ahead of the cops as he tried to hunt down Jill, Jigsaw's widow who almost killed him at the end of Saw VI.

The last few minutes has this wrap-up where yeah, it feels like the end, but it felt more like another episode where they threw a better conclusion on there to make it the real end.

The 3D didn’t hurt or enhance. Most of the time I forgot it was in 3D until a limb or a weapon came flying at the screen.

I appreciated Cary Elwes’s cameo to make it full circle, but it also made me realize how much weight he’s put on recently.

Wednesday's TV Ratings

From yesterday.

Channel - Title - Viewers (million) / 18-49 Demo

8/7
ABC - The Middle - 9.43 / 2.8
- - - - Better with You - 7.76 / 2.5
CBS - Survivor: Nicaragua - 12.13 / 3.6
NBC - Undercovers - 5.46 / 1.3
FOX - 2010 World Series Hr 1 - 15.63 / 4.7
CW - America's Next Top Model - 2.94 / 1.4

9/8
ABC - Modern Family - 13.07 / 5.1
- - - - Cougar Town - 8.26 / 3.3
CBS - Criminal Minds - 13.93 / 3.4
NBC - Law & Order: SVU (r) - 5.27 / 1.4
FOX - 2010 World Series Hr 2 - 13.63 / 4.5
CW - Hellcats - 2.17 / 1.0

10/9
ABC - The Whole Truth - 4.90 / 1.4
CBS - The Defenders - 10.02 / 2.2
NBC - Law & Order: LA (r) - 4.52 / 1.2

The 2010 World Series won the night in total viewers, and Modern Family won the night in the 18-49 demo. Undercovers is sinking fast. Any show that loses in the demo to a CW show should be nervous.

Sex & the City 2 - DVD Review

*

Starring Sarah Jessica Parker, Kim Cattrall, Kristin Davis, Cynthia Nixon, Chris Noth, John Corbett, Evan Handler, Jason Lewis, Alice Eve and Liza Minelli.
Directed by Michael Patrick King.

Jeez.

I have seen maybe two episodes of the series, and every once in a while I'll see a list on a magazine or website that calls S&TC one of the greatest comedies or Carrie Bradshaw one of the greatest TV characters or something. The first movie wasn't too bad; it played like five episodes in a row.

This movie too plays like five episodes in a row. Seriously, why do they keep making these almost 2-1/2 hours long? These five episodes are much worse than the previous five. Whatever appeal these characters had has been scrubbed away.

The movie spends the first hour - yes, hour - establishing what's been going on for two years and sets up for the four girls to get back to together for a luxurious trip to Abu Dhabi. Miranda's quit her job at a high-priced law firm, Charlotte's worried her husband might be a little too attracted to their new nanny, Samantha's still playing the Mighty Cougar role in her 50's, and Carrie's adjusting to married life with Mr. Big.

Trouble is, Carrie is the least likeable heroine on film in a while. I'd take any Katherine Heigl character over what Carrie has become. She's spoiled, self-centered, and whines about everything her husband does, even as every gesture he makes is one where he thinks it'll make her happy. When he suggests they take a couple days a week to "do their own thing" she asks: "Is this because I'm a b---- wife who nags you?" I'm sure several audience members yelled at the screen "Yes!"

There's a slo-mo shot of the four of them walking through the desert in their fabulous new clothes, and I thought to myself, "Where are they coming from?" This Abu Dhabi looks like Disneyland, and these four women are too shallow to see anything beyond the Arab-chic fashion they can wear. There's one scene where the four of them are singing "I Am Woman" at a luxurious karaoke bar and I remember going "Wait, how did they get here?" They've become four Marie Antoinettes.

This movie is about indulgence, expensive jewelry, and the latest shoes. It's the female equivalent of Transformers 2. Big, shiny, empty and dumb. I read one review that said it was like watching gay men playing with Barbie dolls for over two hours. That's apt.

NBC's The Event - TV Review

I had six episodes stacked up on my DVR before I decided to hunker down and watch it. The first episode was okay, I figured I'd give it a chance. Likeable enough cast with Jason Ritter, Laura Innes, Blair Underwood and Zjelko Ivanic. By the end of the second episode, where it became clear this was going to be a hybrid of Lost, FlashForward, V, and The 4400, I just deleted the rest of the episodes. The quickly sinking ratings tell me it'll be lucky to get a second season. Eh, who are we kidding? If it can stay above 5 million viewers NBC will renew it.

Side note: NBC's ratings in the 10/9 hour aren't much better now than they were when they put The Jay Leno Show there every night, but it is much more expensive for the channel. it'll take them a while to dig out of the hole they've dug. If NBC had just decided to do it two nights a week instead of five, it might have worked.

The Oxford Murders - DVD Review

**1/4

Starring Elijah Wood, John Hurt, Leonor Watling, Jim Carter, Julie Cox, Alex Cox and Dominique Pinon.
Directed by Alex de la Iglesia.

Originally made in early 2007, this movie dribbled across European screens in 2008, got thrown onto one screen for one week in the US this August, and now it's arrived on DVD.

What is it? It's about an American math student (Elijah Wood) trying to make a name for himself at Oxford, and he quickly butts heads with a less literally-minded professor (John Hurt), but when the two of them stumble upon a dead body, they try to use their reasoning and logic to deduce who killed her.

Elijah Wood, who'll have that babyface deep into his 40's, does okay, as does John Hurt, a ham at heart. The whole movie is those two, and some of their conversations get into lofty theory where I had to suspend my disbelief that these guys really knew what they were saying. For a good hour of it, it plays out like an episode of Numb3rs. So it's fine; it actually probably works better on the small screen. Why can't I ultimately recommend it? Because when we get the big explanation at the end of the movie on who the killer is and how they did it and why, I did not care. It was almost irrelevant.

Please Give - DVD Review

**
Starring Catherine Keener, Amanda Peet, Oliver Platt, Rebecca Hall, Sarah Steele, Lois Smith and Thomas Ian Nicholas.
Directed by Nicole Holofcener.
I feel like I'm on to Nicole Holofcener. Once the credits started abruptly rolling, I sat back and wondered "Haven't I seen this movie two or three times before?" Then I see what else she's done, and hey, there's Walking & Talking, Lovely & Amazing, and Friends with Money. I have seen this before.

This time around, I really didn't feel the need to see it again. We get another movie about self-obsessed well-off women who deal with their own struggles. If one of them is married, there will be adultery. Unpleasant characters can be interesting, but that's not an automatic given. Sometimes unpleasant characters wear out their welcome and we don't want to keep their company anymore.

Not to say they're all bad. I liked Rebecca Hall (The Town) as the good sister trying out a romance with a young man much shorter than her. The cast actually is uniformly solid at what they're asked to do, but when everything gets wrapped at the end with a neat little bow, with some storylines barely mined, and the credits suddenly roll, I did a double-take. "That's it?"

Felt more like the first two episodes of some cable dramedy.

Friday's Box Office

For October 22.

1. Paranormal Activity 2 - $20.1 million - 1 day
2. Jackass 3-D - $7.57 ($73.12) - 8 days
3. RED - $4.53 ($33.02) - 8 days
4. Hereafter - $4.14 ($4.45) - 8 days
5. The Social Network - $2.28 ($67.91) - 22 days
6. Life As We Know It - $2 ($33.47) - 15 days
7. Secretariat - $2 ($32.45) - 15 days
8. The Town - $.82 ($82.75) - 36 days
9. Legend of the Guardians - $.78 ($47.77) - 29 days
10. Easy A - $.57 ($53.6) - 36 days

Paranormal Activity 2 will be just as big a hit as Jackass 3-D. Perhaps we can expect Paranormal Activity 3 and Jackass 4-D in October 2012?

Clint Eastwood's Hereafter opened on a handful of screens in hopes of building buzz, but reviews have been mixed.

AMC's Mad Men Season 4 finale

This finale didn't quite have the bang last year's did. I was a little disturbed that Burt Cooper quit the agency and no one took it seriously. Are they really getting rid of Robert Morse just like that? Then again, they did dump Sal (Bryan Batt) and Kinsey (Michael Gladis) rather unceremoniously last season. Meanwhile Don's engaged, Peggy's proved herself once more, Joanie is still carrying Roger's baby but will pretend it's her husband's, Betty's still a bad mother, and Pete had his portfolio saved by Don. That final look out the window by Don... does that mean when we pick up next season, he'll already be thinking of cheating on his new wife?

5 Bad Movies I'm Looking Forward To

1. SEASON OF THE WITCH (TBA 2011) - Nicolas Cage in medieval times. The epic terribleness has unlimited potential. Did I mention it has Ron Perlman? His presense never guarantees a good movie, lest we forget about Outlander and The Mutant Chronicles, but it does guaranteee there will be ham on hand.

2. THE GREEN HORNET (Jan. 14) - The central casting of Seth Rogen is a bad idea. I'll say that now, and I've liked him in other stuff, but it was just wrong-headed to put him here. That said, he's going to be surrounded by talented people (Christoph Waltz, Tom Wilkinson) trying to dignify the material, and it's very rare when the female love interest (Cameron Diaz) is older than the male-- wait, did I type Cameron Diaz? Yes, I did. Gwyneth Paltrow gets Robert Downey Jr. in Iron Man, and Diaz gets Rogen in The Green Hornet. Huh.

3. SAW 3-D (Oct. 29) - Because they don't want to call it Part 7. None of the sequels have been good per se, but the final chapter is bringing back Cary Elwes, whose delirious over-acting was transcendant by the time he sawed off his foot to free himself. So even if it's on ClearPlay DVD, I have to see how this ends. I mean, Jigsaw's been dead for four movies now; what else could be up his sleeve? (It might be worth seeing the first one again, just for the pre-Lost Michael Emerson).

4. SMURFS (Aug. 4) - The preview made my teeth hurt. But it is going the Enchanted route with real-life Neil Patrick Harris at the center of the little blue guys entering our dimension. It'll be bad, but it'll be ...wait for it... still worth it.

5. CASE 39 (Already out) - The reviews were bad, the movie was filmed four years ago and just came out weeks ago, but I'll still want to catch it on DVD. I'm a sucker for ghost stories, especially with spooky children, and also if I get to see Ian McShane participate.

Jonah Hex - DVD Review

*

Starring Josh Brolin, John Malkovich, Megan Fox, Matthew Fassbender, Will Arnett, Michael Shannon, Wes Bentley, Aidan Quinn, Tom Wopat and Lance Reddick.
Directed by Jimmy Hayward.

Its best quality? The closing credits start at 73 minutes.

I knew it would be bad, and on some level in certain scenes, it was enjoyably bad, but this made Wild Wild West look like a modern classic by comparison.

No real fault of Josh Brolin. He grunts through the movie fine as the deformed Jonah Hex, but sometimes that grizzled attitude sounded like he was doing a Sling Blade impression. Jonah's a Confederate soldier whose wife and son were killed by an evil soldier Turnbull (John Malkovich, in one of his sleepwalking roles). Jonah now has an ability to talk to the dead, and this comes to his advantage when it comes to seeking revenge against Turnbull.

Pres. Grant himself requests Jonah hunt him down. At first I had a "what is he doing here?" moment when I saw Aidan Quinn as Grant. That turned into a "what is HE doing here??" when I saw this his weaselly right-hand man was being played by Will Arnett. I had a few more of those moments when Tom "Luke Duke" Wopat and then Wes Bentley showed up (in a worse role in a worse movie than Ghost Rider. Oh Hollywood, have you no pity for the teenagers from American Beauty?)

Megan Fox is just there as one of them saloon prosty-toots.

I would have been furious if I'd paid theater prices to see this.

Mel Gibson dropped from The Hangover 2

Apparently director Todd Phillips was going to put in a Mel Gibson cameo and the studio was okay with it, but some of the "cast and crew" hadenough of a problem with it that Phillips dropped the idea.

(How many of them had a problem with the extended cameo from convicted rapist Mike Tyson in the first film?)

Gibson's been engaging in some pretty indefensible behavior lately. I'd like to see the guy find redemption. Gibson making fun of himself in Hangover 2 sounded like a good idea. Oh well.

RED - Movie Review

***

Starring Bruce Willis, Morgan Freeman, John Malkovich, Helen Mirren, Mary-Louise Parker, Karl Urban, Richard Dreyfuss, Brian Cox, Ernest Borgnine, Julian McMahon, James Remar and Rebecca Pidgeon.
Directed by Robert Schwentke.

I had fun. What can I say?

Bruce Willis plays a retired CIA assassin, forced to go on the run when a hit-squad shows up at his house and guns the thing apart. From there, he finds other retired assassins, semi-friends of his who agree to help him, mostly for the one-last-time thrill of it.

It's one of those movies where the plot doesn't matter much, like The Losers or The A-Team, but I foudn this one to be better than both of those. I think the characters were more interesting, and the deep-bench cast helps. Malkovich probably comes away with the gold as Frank, where it can truly be said that just because you're paranoid doesn't mean they aren't trying to get you. Mirren seems to be having a ball firing heavy artillery on-screen, and Parker's great as an analyst forced to come along.

Of the group, I wish they'd given Freeman more to do.

A Nightmare on Elm Street - DVD Review

*

Starring Jackie Earle Haley, Rooney Mara, Kyle Gallner, Katie Cassidy, Thomas Dekker, Connie Britton and Clancy Brown.
Directed by Samuel Bayer.

I've seen worse horror movies, but if you're going to remake a classic - any genre of classic - you should at least bring something to the table, some reason to justify the remake's existence beyond cynical brand recognition.

This is worse than the remake of Friday the 13th not because that remake was great, but because there's not much of a bar there. The Friday the 13th movies sucked. There were a couple sequels that were enjoyable on their own level, but really, they were just silly.

Wes Craven's A Nightmare on Elm Street is a legitimately scary movie. Good atmosphere, build-up, he really pulled you into the nightmare. This movie ignores whatever made that movie good. This one can't wait to get wise-cracking Freddy on-screen.

There's no real creative flair to the dreams. I remember the haunting of that big house from the original, with the girls jumping rope and chanting "1, 2, Freddy's coming for you..." This one, we get a bunch of poorly-lit rooms and halls where I never forgot the kids were on a set.

I just imagine what I and any random screenwriter friend of mine would do if a studio says "We want you to reboot Nightmare on Elm Street." I know we could do a better job than this. And that's part of what makes it a frustrating experience to watch.

ABC's Better with You - TV Review

I can still enjoy a sitcom with a laughtrack. Big Bang Theory, for instance. Sometimes it hurts, like in a show like Big Lake, where none of the jokes are funny. Then it feels like the audience, live-studio or not, is being puncihed to have to come up with convincing laughs every few seconds to support the banality in front of them. When the show is pleasant enough, then it's okay.

Here, the premise is that the older sister has had her live-in boyfriend for nine years and keeps asserting the "valid life choice" of keeping it that way. Her younger sister, though, has decided on a whim (and a pregnancy) to marry her boyfriend of seven weeks. Their parents are just thrilled their first grandchild is on the way.

It fits in okay with the ABC Wednesday line-up, so if one is watching The Middle and Modern Family, no harm in watching this between the two. If it was on its own, ehh, probably not.

The Karate Kid - DVD Review

***

Starring Jaden Smith, Jackie Chan and Taraji P. Henson.
Directed by Harold Zwart.

I resisted this movie. And yet, my biggest complaint is that it should have been called The Kung Fu Kid. Yes, it's a remake of The Karate Kid, but this time his mentor is Chinese, not Japanese, and he learns kung fu, not karate...

Jaden Smith, effective in The Pursuit of Happyness and annoying in The Day the Earth Stood Still, is just fine here as Dre. He and his mother (Benjamin Button's Taraji P. Henson) have moved to China, and while Dre tries to cope with his new surroundings, including befriending a local girl, he gets into trouble with the local bullies, who happen to study kung fu, which happens to be taught by a master telling them to have no mercy...

The bullying isn't as bad as it was in the original, but it's also a lot more difficult to watch a kid as young as Smith get beat up. But Dre gets his mentor in the local janitor, Mr. Han (Jackie Chan). I call it now a genius move to hire Chan for this. He was the big name to put next to Jaden on the poster, and it's the most range he's been able to show in a US film. I really liked him in this.

At 135 minutes running time, it could have benefitted from trimming 20 minutes here or there.

Also on DVD

BABIES (***1/2) - Just 80 minutes of watching four babies from four different areas of the world (San Francisco, Tokyo, Mongola and Namibia) live and laugh and cry. It winds up being a very captivating experience.

----

ONDINE (**1/2) - Colin Farrell, Alicja Bachleda. - Colin Farrell, atoning for blockbuster success following by binge drinking and Alexander, has come back to do some small movies, and here's one where he's an Irish fisherman who pulls a young woman out of the sea. For the first two acts, it's as though we're getting a dramatic Splash, but then the final third, it becomes more intense, and the movie never really justifies the dark turn.

----

THE ECLIPSE (**1/2) - Ciaran Hinds, Iben Hjejle. - A melancholy tale. I like Ciaran Hinds, and I was glad to see him get a lead role. He usually injects life into anything he does (Munich, Amazing Grace, HBO's Rome...), but here he's more subdued. He's a bit of a sadsack, a man struggling to cope with his wife's death. He becomes interested in an author (Aidan Quinn) doing a book tour who claims the ability to talk to those who've died. The author, we learn soon, is a con-man, and a bit of a jerk.

There's a love story in here too, and all of this would be fine, but there's also a few horror-movie moments thrown in. Maybe the low-budget restrained them from doing more, but I question why they did it at all. It seemed very out of place to have a jump-scare moment after thirty minutes of quiet dialogue and mournful drives.

The Social Network - Movie Review

****

Starring Jesse Eisenberg, Andrew Garfield, Justin Timberlake, Armie Hammer, Max Minghella, Rashida Jones, John Getz and Rooney Mara.
Directed by David Fincher.

Coming out this movie, I had certain feelings toward the players involved. As such, I decided to do a quick check on just how accurate it was, and it does look like it took a lot of liberties. Not as egregious as, say, A Beautiful Mind ignoring that John Nash and his wife got divorced, but enough liberties where I had to remind myself that the movie was protraying characters, not real people, even if most of the events are how it happened.

Jesse Eisenberg plays Mark Zuckerberg, and Eisenberg up till now has been interchangeable with Michael Cera. Eisenberg's been in some good movies (Adventureland, Zombieland, Solitary Man), but this is the movie where he makes the leap. His Mark is cocky, insecure, intelligent, a guy we can root for him to succeed and yet root for him to fail, depending on which peer he's screwing over. With the help of his best friend Eduardo (Andrew Garfield), he invents Facebook.

The narrative shows us first that mark is in the middle of two lawsuits, one by the Windlevoss twins (both played by Armie Hammer, flawless performance and CG insertion) and one by Eduardo. As we watch, his defense against the "Windlevii" is funny, and his defense against Eduardo, we know, is going to be an ultimate betrayal.

Much, much credit needs to go to screenwriter Aaron Sorkin, he of A Few Good Men and West Wing fame. His dialogue is vibrant as ever, and one of the main reasons I want to see it a second time is to relive all the good one-liners I can't bring to mind now.

Director David Fincher (Fight Club, Benjamin Button) oversees with a sneaky-good hand, and the soundtrack, co-done by Trent Reznor, was well done. Eisenberg manages to be hero and villain and is great at both. Garfield's the heart of the movie, and I think there'll be a lot less outcry over him taking over Peter Parker now. Justin Timberlake, as Napster founder Sean Parker, does a good job as the devil on Mark's shoulder, too.

I'd heard before hand that this would be a favorite to get nominations for Picture, Actor, Director, Screenplay, etc., and having seen it, I have no problem with any of those.

The Back-Up Plan - DVD Review

**

Starring Jennifer Lopez, Alex O'Loughlin, Michaela Watkins, Robert Klein, Eric Christian Olsen, Anthony Anderson, Linda Lavin, Melissa McCarthy and Tom Bosley.
Directed by Alan Poul.

What I liked: seeing 1970's icons Alice (Linda Lavin) and Mr. Cunningham (Tom Bosley) as an elderly engaged couple. The over-the-top hippie home-birth scene. Robert Klein as Lopez's doctor.

What I didn't like: the plot. The lack of actual laughs. They need to stop calling these "romantic comedies" and more accurately label them something like "romantic occasional-smiles". The painful, mandatory end-of-Act 2 scene where they break up, so that can be apart only to come back together at the end.

Casino Jack & the United States of Money - DVD Review

***

Directed by Alex Gibney.

Slick, well-put-together documentary that traces how Jack Abramoff went from middle-class college Republican to the big moneyshaker in DC. It's a tale about the ease of seduction in politics, and how some politicians who might have had morals tend to rationalize more and more when they see green.

For one thing, I didn't realize Jack Abramoff produced Red Scorpion, that awful Dolph Lundgren movie, so there's another reason to dislike the guy.

This movie demonstrates how corrupting money is, but it doesn't offer any solutions. Nor do many of the players seem that penitent. Tom DeLay still finds money the ultimate in free speech, and the more money you have, the "freer" your speech. What's the average American supposed to do in a system when it costs $100 million to run for senator and $1 billion to run for president, in a country where the median income is, what, $36,000 a year?

Zack Snyder directing Superman

Zack Snyder, he of 300 and Legend of the Guardians, is going to direct the next Superman movie. I think what really got him the job was Watchmen, and with Christopher Nolan producing, I think it has great potential.

My main problems with the Bryan Singer movie was Lois Lane, not only the actress but the entire dynamic of her having a kid and a fiance. It made the whole thing too mopey. Brandon Routh and Kevin Spacey were good, I thought, but I don't want to see Superman brood.

So where will this new one go? Sure, maybe he'll fly shirtless with exceptional abs and slo-mo hover here and there. I trust Nolan, and I've liked Snyder's previous stuff. I just hope they don't make the mistake of making it too dark.

Wednesday TV Ratings

Channel - Title - Viewers in million / 18-49 demo

=WEDNESDAY=

8/7
CBS - Survivor: Nicaragua - 12.63 / 3.6
ABC - The Middle - 8.33 / 2.4
- - - - Better with You - 7.06 / 2.1
NBC - Undercovers - 7.19 / 1.7
FOX - Hell's Kitchen Hr 1 - 6.28 / 3.0
CW - America's Next Top Model - 3.13 / 1.4

9/8
CBS - Criminal Minds - 14.66 / 3.6
ABC - Modern Family - 11.87 / 4.5
- - - - Cougar Town - 7.08 / 2.9
NBC - Law & Order: SVU - 9.91 / 2.9
FOX - Hell's Kitchen Hr 2 - 6.67 / 3.1
CW - Hellcats - 2.25 / 0.9

10/9
NBC - Law & Order: LA - 10.92 / 3.2
CBS - The Defenders - 10.65 / 2.5
ABC - The Whole Truth - 5.07 / 1.5

CBS has the total viewers crown for the night, but for the demo, everyone has something to celebrate. And mourn. Survivor's still great for CBS all around, and the new night paid off. Fox has respectable numbers for the two-hour Hell's Kitchen. NBC's Undercovers fell from its premiere last week, but had good numbers for the Law & Order franchise. ABC's The Whole Truth will be lucky to last to Thanksgiving.

Tuesday TV Ratings

Channel - Title - Viewers in million / 18-49 demo

=TUESDAY=

8/7
CBS - NCIS - 19.63 / 4.2
FOX - Glee - 13.37 / 5.8
ABC - No Ordinary Family - 11.01 / 3.3
NBC - The Biggest Loser Hr 1 - 6.91 / 2.5
CW - One Tree Hill - 1.85 / 0.9

9/8
ABC - Dancing with the Stars results - 17.73 / 3.9
CBS - NCIS: LA - 16.64 / 3.8
NBC - The Biggest Loser Hr 2 - 7.63 / 3.0
FOX - Raising Hope - 7.48 / 3.2
- - - - Running Wilde - 4.74 / 2.1
CW - Life Unexpected - 1.63 / 0.8

10/9
CBS - The Good Wife - 13.29 / 2.6
ABC - Detroit 1-8-7 - 10.14 / 2.4
NBC - Parenthood - 5.04 / 2.1

Plenty of success for the night, primarily with the amazing-these-days 5.8 rating for the demo with Fox's Glee. I think that's the highest non-football number out there. (Also these days, the demo rating usually matters more than the total-viewers numbers). Raising Hope might not have great audience retentuion, but it's certainly better than Running Wilde, which may not last too much longer. Depends what midseason sitcoms Fox has in development that are ready to go.

ABC's No Ordinary Family and Detroit 1-8-7 have decent bookend numbers for Dancing with the Stars results show. CBS just has a solid line-up all-around. NBC's hanging in there. Hopefully Parenthood doesn't cost too much to make. For the CW, they might do better with America's Next Top Model reruns in Life Unexpected's spot.

Weekend Box Office Estimates

For the weekend of October 1-3.

1. The Social Network - $23 million - 1 wk (Sony)
. . . 2771 screens / $8300 per screen
2. Legend of the Guardians - $10.86 ($30.05) - 2 wks (WB) -32.6%
. . . 3575 / $3036
3. Wall Street 2 - $10.1 ($35.88) - 2 wks (Fox) -46.9%
. . . 3597 / $2808
4. The Town - $10 ($64.31) - 3 wks (WB) -35.9%
. . . 2935 / $3407
5. Easy A - $7 ($42.43) - 3 wks (SG) -34%
. . . 2974 / $2354
6. You Again - $5.55 ($16.44) - 2 wks (BV) -34%
. . . 2548 / $2179
7. Case 39 - $5.35 - 1 wk (Par)
. . . 2211 / $2420
8. Let Me In - $5.3 - 1 wk (Ove)
. . . 2020 / $2624
9. Devil - $3.67 ($27.4) - 3 wks (U) -44.4%
. . . 2392 / $1535
10. Alpha & Omega - $3 ($19.03) - 3 wks (LG) -36.6%
. . . 2303 / $1303

No surprise on The Social Network winning the weekend, but I am surprised Let Me In did so poorly. It got beat by a derivative horror flick filmed almost four years ago.

Fox's Raising Hope - TV Review

Greg Garcia of My Name Is Earl is behind this show, and it has the same lower-class humor. Kinda nice to see poor people represented, not that they're glorified in any way, shape or form. Martha Plimpton (The Goonies, Parenthood) is the 39-year-old grandmother and the comedic MVP of the show. Cloris Leachman is only listed as Special Guest Star, which makes me wonder if they're planning on killing her off in the first season.