Weekly TV Ratings Oct 10-16

For the week of October 10-16. (not counting Saturdays)
ABC/CBS/NBC/Fox

Title (Network) Day - viewers in million / 18-49 demo rating

HITS
1. NFL Football (NBC) Sun - 22.07 million / 8.4
2. The Big Bang Theory (CBS) Thu - 17.64 / 5.1
3. The OT Live (Fox) Sun - 14.11 / 5.1
4. The Voice (NBC) Mon - 13.87 / 4.5
5. Football Night in America (NBC) Sun - 11.77 / 4.5
6. Modern Family (ABC) Wed - 10.85 / 4.0
7. The Voice (NBC) Tue - 12.69 / 3.9
8. Scandal (ABC) Thu - 9.01 / 3.1
9. How I Met Your Mother (CBS) Mon - 7.98 / 3.1
10. NCIS (CBS) Tue - 18.43 / 3.0
11. The Millers (CBS) Thu - 11.73 / 3.0
12. The Blacklist (NBC) Mon - 10.93 / 3.0
13. Toy Story of Terror (ABC) Wed (special) - 10.29 / 3.0

SUCCESSFUL
14. Glee (Fox) Thu - 7.39 / 2.9
15. Grey's Anatomy (ABC) Thu - 8.79 / 2.8
16. Criminal Minds (CBS) Wed - 10.95 / 2.7
17. Marvel's Agents of SHIELD (ABC) Tue - 7.68 / 2.7
18. Sleepy Hollow (Fox) Mon - 7.59 / 2.7
19. NCIS: Los Angeles (CBS) 14.68 / 2.6
20. Survivor (CBS) Wed - 9.89 / 2.5
21. The Crazy Ones (CBS) Thu - 9.69 / 2.4
22. MLB Baseball (Fox) Sun - 8.35 / 2.4
23. Chicago Fire (NBC) Tue - 8.25 / 2.4
24. MLB Baseball (Fox) Wed - 8.06 / 2.4
25. Once Upon A Time (ABC) Sun - 7.53 / 2.4

WON'T GET CANCELLED
26. Two and a Half Men (CBS) Thu - 9.14 / 2.3
27. Castle (ABC) Mon - 11.11 / 2.2
28. The Biggest Loser (NBC) Tue - 7.00 / 2.2
29. Dancing with the Stars (ABC) Mon - 12.99 / 2.1
30. Person of Interest (CBS) Tue - 12.42 / 2.1
31. Super Fun Night (ABC) Wed - 6.02 / 2.1
32. CSI (CBS) Wed - 9.43 / 2.0
33. Mom (CBS) Mon - 7.44 / 2.0
34. Bones (Fox) Mon - 7.30 / 2.0
35. The X Factor (Fox) Thu - 6.49 / 2.0
36. Elementary (CBS) Thu - 9.06 / 1.9
37. The Amazing Race (CBS) Sun - 8.08 / 1.9
38. Back in the Game (ABC) Wed - 6.24 / 1.8
39. New Girl (Fox) Tue - 3.48 / 1.8

THE REST
40. Shark Tank (ABC) Fri - 6.53 / 1.7
41. Once Upon a Time in Wonderland (ABC) Thu - 5.82 / 1.7
42. Nashville (ABC) Wed - 5.75 / 1.7
43. Law & Order: SVU (NBC) Wed - 5.39 / 1.7
44. Revenge (ABC) Sun - 6.00 / 1.6
45. The Goldbergs (ABC) Tue - 5.08 / 1.6
46. 60 Minutes (CBS) Sun - 10.62 / 1.5
47. Hawaii Five-0 (CBS) Fri - 9.24 / 1.5
48. Brooklyn Nine-Nine (Fox) Tue - 3.41 / 1.5
49. Blue Bloods (CBS) Fri - 10.56 / 1.4
50. Revolution (NBC) Wed - 5.39 / 1.4
51. MasterChef Jr. (Fox) Fri - 3.92 / 1.4
52. Dads (Fox) Tue - 3.40 / 1.4
53. The Mindy Project (Fox) Tue - 2.83 / 1.4
54. The Mentalist (CBS) Sun - 9.38 / 1.3
55. Undercover Boss (CBS) Fri - 7.86 / 1.3
56. Trophy Wife (ABC) Tue - 4.07 / 1.3
57. The Good Wife (CBS) Sun - 8.46 / 1.2
58. Last Man Standing (ABC) Fri - 6.03 / 1.2
59. Dateline (NBC) Fri - 5.28 / 1.2
60. Hostages (CBS) Mon - 5.16 / 1.2
61. The Michael J. Fox Show (NBC) Thu - 3.86 / 1.2
62. Parenthood (NBC) Thu - 3.77 / 1.2
63. Parks & Recreation (NBC) Thu - 3.23 / 1.2
64. Ironside (NBC) Wed - 4.91 / 1.1
65. 20/20 (ABC) Fri - 4.75 / 1.1
66. Sean Saves the World (NBC) Thu - 3.26 / 1.0
67. The Neighbors (ABC) Fri - 4.12 / 0.9
68. Betrayal (ABC) Sun - 2.88 / 0.8
69. Welcome to the Family (NBC) Thu - 2.49 / 0.8

RERUNS
x. The Big Bang Theory (CBS) Mon (r) - 8.54 / 2.2
x. Scandal (ABC) Tue (r) - 2.77 / 0.7
x. Sean Saves the World (NBC) Fri (r) - 2.79 / 0.7
x. Sleepy Hollow (Fox) Fri (r) - 2.13 / 0.7
x. The Michael J. Fox Show (NBC) Fri (r) - 2.79 / 0.6

ABC
Betrayal should join Lucky 7 as the second show ABC has cancelled.  I would say this will be the last year for Last Man Standing and The Neighbors as well.  It's also not looking good for The Goldbergs and Trophy Wife on Tuesdays.

On Wednesday the ratings for new shows Back in the Game and Super Fun Night are actually disappointing based on their lead-ins. Also, the series premiere of Once Upon A Time in Wonderland were underwhelming.

ABC's most successful new show in Marvel's Agents of SHIELD. It might now have the total viewers they covet, but these days, any network show would be happy to get a 2.7.  Modern Family is still its crown jewel, while they have the sudsers covered with Scandal and Grey's Anatomy.

CBS
This network gets the most overall viewers even if it isn't #1 in the demo.  Comedies are its forte there.  Hostages is its lowest-rated show, and even if CBS lets it end its 15-episode run, it won't be renewed. Also, based on the demo, I'd say this will be the last season for the excellent The Good Wife, which creatively seems like it still has 2-3 season in it. I hope it gets a proper send-off. It doesn't look promising for The Mentalist either.

NBC
Football and reality shows keep this channel afloat.  The Voice is now bigger than American Idol, and The X Factor is now irrelevant.  Welcome to the Family should be cancelled any day now, and Sean Saves the World will shortly follow. I also expect this to be the last year for Parks & Rec, and I wonder if NBC might try to save The Michael J. Fox Show by moving it to another night.

The Blacklist is its top scripted show (deservedly so). Sophomore series Revolution has all but lost its viewers. It'll be interesting to see how Grimm and Dracula do when they air next week.

FOX
Glee got a bump from those wanting to see how it'd handle Finn's death (including me, a non-Glee watcher). Sleepy Hollow is doing well, and The Following should be big when it returns. The Tuesday comedy night needs to dump Dads and Mindy Project and bring back Raising Hope and any other show that isn't Dads.

Also, here's the top cable-rated show from this week:

1. The Walking Dead (AMC) Sun - 16.11 / 8.2
2. NFL Football (ESPN) Mon - 11.95 / 4.7
3. Duck Dynasty (A&E) Wed - 7.4 / 3.2
4. NFL Football (NFLN) Thu - 7.81 / 3.1
5. NFL Post-Game (NFLN) Thu - 6.51 / 3.0
6. American Horror Story: Coven (FX) Wed - 5.54 / 3.0
7. Talking Dead (AMC) Sun - 5.10 / 2.6
8. The Walking Dead Marathon (AMC) Sun - 5.67 / 2.6
9. Sons of Anarchy (FX) Tue - 4.35 / 2.3
10. BET Hip Hop Awards (BET) - 3.69 / 1.8
11. Sportscenter (ESPN) Mon - 3.66 / 1.8
12. Real Husbands (BET) Tue - 3.54 / 1.8
13. MLB Baseball (TBS) Wed - 6.09 / 1.6
14. MLB Baseball (TBS) Tue - 5.79 / 1.6
15. MLB Baseball (TBS) Fri - 5.45 / 1.5
16. MLB Baseball (TBS) Thu - 5.45 / 1.5
17. WWE Raw (USA) Mon - 4.15 / 1.5
18. Bad Ink (A&E) Wed - 3.00 / 1.4

2013 Emmy Winners

OUTSTANDING DRAMA - Breaking Bad
OUTSTANDING ACTRESS DRAMA - Claire Danes, Homeland
OUTSTANDING ACTOR DRAMA - Jeff Daniels, The Newsroom
OUTSTANDING SUPPORTING ACTRESS DRAMA - Anna Gunn, Breaking Bad
OUTSTANDING SUPPORTING ACTOR DRAMA - Bobby Cannavale, Boardwalk Empire
OUTSTANDING GUEST ACTRESS DRAMA - Carrie Preston, The Good Wife
OUTSTANDING GUEST ACTOR DRAMA - Dan Bucatinsky, Scandal
OUTSTANDING WRITING DRAMA - Henry Bromell, Homeland
OUTSTANDING DIRECTING DRAMA - David Fincher, House of Cards

OUTSTANDING COMEDY - Modern Family
OUTSTANDING ACTRESS COMEDY - Julia Louis-Dreyfus, Veep
OUTSTANDING ACTOR COMEDY - Jim Parsons, The Big Bang Theory
OUTSTANDING SUPPORTING ACTRESS COMEDY - Merritt Wever, Nurse Jackie
OUTSTANDING SUPPORTING ACTOR COMEDY - Tony Hale, Veep
OUTSTANDING GUEST ACTRESS COMEDY - Melissa Leo, Louie
OUTSTANDING GUEST ACTOR COMEDY - Bob Newhart, The Big Bang Theory
OUTSTANDING WRITING COMEDY - Tina Fey & Tracey Wigfield, 30 Rock
OUTSTANDING DIRECTING COMEDY - Gail Mancuso, Modern Family

OUTSTANDING REALITY SHOW HOST - Heidi Klum & Tim Gunn, Project Runway
OUTSTANDING REALITY SHOW COMPETITION - The Voice
OUTSTANDING VARIETY, MUSIC, OR COMEDY SERIES - The Colbert Report
OUTSTANDING WRITING VARIETY SERIES - (17 writers), The Colbert Report
OUTSTANDING DIRECTING VARIETY SERIES - Don Roy King, Saturday Night Live
OUTSTANDING CHOREOGRAPHY - Derek Hough, Dancing with the Stars

OUTSTANDING TV MINISERIES OR MOVIE - Behind the Candelabra
OUTSTANDING ACTRESS  TV MINISERIES - Laura Linney, The Big C: Hereafter
OUTSTANDING ACTOR TV MINISERIES - Michael Douglas, Behind the Candelabra
OUTSTANDING SUPPORTING ACTRESS - Ellen Burstyn, Political Animals
OUTSTANDING SUPPORTING ACTOR - James Cromwell, American Horror Story: Asylum
OUTSTANDING WRITING TV MINISERIES - Abi Morgan, The Hour
OUTSTANDING DIRECTING TV MINISERIES - Steven Soderbergh, Behind the Candelabra

The show was hosted by Neil Patrick Harris, and it therefore felt more like the Tonys than the Emmys a lot of the time.  A dance number in the middle of the show?  A choreography sequence in Hour 3? For this, they cut short Anna Gunn's speech?

Favorite parts of the show:
- Kevin Spacey's bit in the opening sequence.
- The acceptance speeches of Merritt Wever and Julia Louis-Dreyfus.
- Will Ferrell's "couldn't find a babysitter" presentation.
- General unpredictability.

Some of the categories:
 - Loved that Breaking Bad won Best Drama. Was kinda hoping Veep or Big Bang Theory would win Best Comedy, since Mod-Fam and 30 Rock have won it the past seven years between them.
- Jeff Daniels for The Newsroom was a shocker.  Thought it should have gone to Cranston, or Hamm, or Spacey, or Lewis, or Bonneville.
- Bobby Cannavale for Boardwalk Empire was a surprise, but I guess I'm okay with it. I probably would've gone with Aaron Paul or Mandy Patinkin.
- I never watch Nurse Jackie, so I have no idea how good Merritt Wever is. I would've picked Anna Chlumsky or Mayim Bialik.

As to the In Memorium, they gave five special tributes to Jonathan Winters, Jean Stapleton, Cory Monteith, Gary David Goldberg, and James Gandolfini.  (They really thought the spot should go to Monteith instead of Jack Klugman or Larry Hagman?) But they didn't play any clips; we only got testimonials.  And same with the regular In Memorium, we got only photos.  Anyway, stretching out the death theme made the whole event more of a bummer than usual.

Hail, Modern Family!

I find myself happy for actors who toil in small roles and general obscurity but eventually they get to do more recurring work. Jonathan Banks is one of those guys. He worked his way into a regular role as hitman Mike on AMC's Breaking Bad, and now he gets to play Ed O'Neill's brother. This was one small joy I got out of this week's episode. The highlighted plot thread had to be Cameron taking over the school production, with Cam's exploding aspirations, Mitchell biting his tongue, Manny perplexed as to why all the girls are more charmed by Luke... I love this show.

Top Ten in TV 2010

I have not watched this year's seasons of HBO's True Blood or Boardwalk Empire. But I hear good things.

Stuff I liked:

The scenery of CBS's The Amazing Race, master manipulator Russell getting to the finals again on CBS's Survivor: Heroes vs. Villains, likeable dim-bulb Fabio on the otherwise unpleasant CBS's Survivor: Nicaragua, the smartest men in the room with body-language experts Simon Baker on CBS's The Mentalist and Tim Roth on FOX's Lie to Me, the perservering Dundler Mifflinites of NBC's The Office, the love for Simon Cowell on his last year of FOX's American Idol, the gawky baby-giraffe of a model Ann on CW's America's Next Top Model, the enigmatic Michael Imperioli on ABC's Detroit 1-8-7, Patricia Heaton's exasperated mom in ABC's The Middle, the line-reads of Scott Caan on CBS's Hawaii Five-0, the strong second season of STARZ's Party Down, the mournful post-Rita season of SHO's Dexter, the round-table segments under Jake Tapper's brief tenure on ABC's This Week, the fresh talent of Jay Pharaoh on NBC's Saturday Night Live, the sportswriters spouting on ESPN's Around the Horn, and the 2010 midterm election coverage by Fox News and CNN.

Honorable Mentions:

ROBOT CHICKEN STAR WARS EPISODE III (CN) - Absolutely hilarious.

DEXTER (SHOWTIME) - It wouldn't be able to top the Trinity Killer season, but the mournful aftermath fifth season gave Dexter some serious consequences, and Michael C. Hall's performance was able to hit new levels as the formerly emotionless monster deals with true grief.

... and my top ten are ...

10. CABLE NEWS COMEDY - I specifically identify The Daily Show (Comedy Central) and Red Eye (Fox News). Jon Stewart continues to be the master referee (even if he insists he's on the sidelines) and he's fair enough for a left-leaning host, and then there's right-wing comedian Greg Gutfeld hosting his middle-of-the-night party with unique guests and hilarious deadpan ombudsman Andy Levy. I DVR both and watch at least a couple episodes a week of each.

9. THE TUDORS (SHOW) - The final season was a crowning one, where Henry VIII realizes too late that killing all his old advisors just means more untrustworthy ones will pop up in their places. I've watched the series since the beginning, and it's the role of Jonathan Rhys Meyers' career. His Henry was vain, impetuous, ruthless, and had the will to change the course of history forever.

8. THE BIG BANG THEORY (CBS) - Funniest show on TV that still employs a laugh-track. Loving how they're rounding out the cast with geeky girlfriends for Sheldon and Howard.

7. THE GOOD WIFE (CBS) - The perfect combination of weekly procedural and backstage politics. I like that Alan Cumming's been given more to do as Peter's lawyer Eli Gold, I like the clever guest-casting (Michael J. Fox was great), and I like that each week we don't know what Alicia's going to do.

6. BETTER OFF TED (ABC) - This brilliant, brilliant office-place comedy deserved far better than ABC schedulers gave it.

5. MODERN FAMILY & COUGAR TOWN (ABC) - Both shows are still just as funny in their second seasons, if not more so.

4. COMMUNITY (NBC) - No show is more consistently funny. There've been many episodes from either where I've watched them a second time before deleting them from the DVR. I love the genre-poking, the theme episodes (like the action-movie parody embodied by a campus-wide paintball war), and especially Abed (Danny Pudi), the film student who's like an alien observing life on Earth.

3. JUSTIFIED (FX) - Timothy Olyphant's Raylen Givens is the coolest casual crime-fighter since Magnum P.I. The Kentucky atmosphere is rich, and it plays a nice balance between encapsuled cases with plenty of subplots that work throughout the season. I especially enjoyed the one when Olyphant's old Deadwood co-star W. Earl Brown showed up as a hostage-taking career convict. Emmy needs to remember this show next year.

2. AMC - Three of the best show on TV are on this channel. First is BREAKING BAD, which raises the stakes every season to where the tension becomes unbearable. I love how Bryan Cranston's Mr. White switches back and forth between family man Walt and hardened drug-dealer Heisenberg. Then there's MAD MEN, where the characters had another year of growth and the new ad agency is finding their financial situation as precarious as their old one. Finally there's THE WALKING DEAD, an addictive drama that has one of those premises where I can't believe it hasn't been done until now. Zombies walk the Earth and we follow the handful of survivors wondering what next. Andrew Lincoln (Love Actually) is a nice steel-eyed protagonist in his sheriff's uniform, and I'm also enjoying veteran actor Jeffrey DeMunn in a role he can be remembered for.

1. LOST (ABC) - Oh, how I'll miss you. Sad to know we'll ever again check in with Locke, Ben, Hurley, Jack, Kate, Sawyer, Sun & Jin, Desmond, Sayid, Crazy Claire, etc. I liked the flash-sideways world as this self-created purgatory where time doesn't exist, giving the chance for the core group to all reunite.