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Community Returns Way Up, The Following Stumbles A Bit – The Week In TV Ratings

Community Returns Way Up, The Following Stumbles A Bit  – The Week In TV RatingsJamie Wotton writes for Bleeding Cool.

A few good things here, some bad, and do you care to guess what did well?

The Following, FOX's current saving grace, and the spiritual successor to House and 24, the previous two successful shows in the network's Monday night lineup, did really well for itself in its first two weeks. The second week actually improved on its premiere. FOX executives celebrated… but maybe they partied too soon…

CBS, the only network with several megahits, was enjoying a break while The Following
came out and made headlines so when How I Met Your Mother (4.0), Rules Of
Engagement (3.1), 2 Broke Girls (3.6) and Mike And Molly (3.1) all returned and did pretty terrifically, the only place for FOX to go was down.

On its third week The Following hit a 2.9. Not an incredibly low number, but it helps place the series in the bigger picture more accurately. We'll see what happens next week, because it's looking like that it might be the most telling.

On Tuesday, other than NCIS (3.7) still doing crazy its numbers, it seemed like the FOX's lineup of Raising Hope (1.6/1.5), New Girl (2.5) and The Mindy Project (1.9) has truly settled.

In the winter, there definitely appears to be a difference between how FOX lay out their schedule and the other networks. They don't have Presidential elections, baseball and whatever else consistently screws up their Fall so they can return from the Holidays, refreshed and stronger than ever just because a messed up Fall allows them to pick up the pieces.

For a couple of years now, FOX have tried to launch their lineup twice a year. I believe that going ahead, they should really just put their best foot forward in the Winter. They can have attention-seeking, cheap-to-produce buzzy shows in the Fall and start their series proper in January. People wait a long time for shows to return on Cable, so it's not like the audience will forget they watched 22 episodes a year earlier.

Wednesday was iffy all round. Modern Family hit a season low 3.7, Arrow went up to 1.0, but other than that there's little to note. Suburgatory (2.1) still loses a significant portion of its Modern Family lead-in but I still don't fear cancellation for the quirky comedy.

Chicago Fire isn't doing its best numbers but at 1.8 on NBC it's still absolutely worth the extra two episodes they recently ordered.

In a pleasant Thursday night for often-combative comedy audiences, both The Big Bang Theory and Community did really well. Community returned with a rating of 1.8, up on pretty much everyone's expectations. It is notable, though, that the last time the show was taken off the air it returned to even bigger numbers at a 2.2.

Community is a show that a lot of people seem to like, and when they can watch it, they do. We will see if it lowers to its second-place DVR numbers next showing. As of right now, if it stays anywhere even or above a 1.5 I'd say it's is a lock for renewal.

Meanwhile, as I'm praising a strong 1.9, The Big Bang Theory is laughing with its 6.3. CBS has quietly built Thursday into a very strong night, with JJ Abrams' Person Of Interest scoring a 3.2. The Super Bowl didn't do much of anything for Elementary, as it only went up one tenth from its last airing to a 2.3.

Also on Thursday, Parks And Recreation hit a season high 2.0, confirming its position as
a NBC bedrock and a shoo-in for renewal. Throughout this entire fifth season, and without much help from the network, the acclaimed comedy has been performing very strongly, so it's nice to see it continue to grow.

Friday had the return of Touch. Only, this isn't the same Touch. It's a rejigged, newly timeslotted Touch. I don't know what anyone's goal was for this show, and I can't imagine anyone genuinely being excited about it. Either way, it got the Friday Fringe Standard of 1.0.

Friday probably ended with the return of Touch too. With little serious competition, Nikita did a swell 0.5.

I'm skipping Saturday again, because that's what the networks do, but Sunday arrived with a clusterfrak. Down from last year, but still huge, The Grammys scored a giant 10.1 rating with 28.37 million tuning in.

With an event like The Grammys airing, and its expected large audiences, you would think that networks would choose to not air their lineup – but they do – to consistently unappealing results. Once Upon A Time returned to series low 2.2. At this stage, a third season should be in the bag, but it's a show with a price tag so ABC really can't justify it falling any further.

Revenge also met its series low. The soap has been tumbling all season, and this week hit a 1.4. Hopefully it will rise again but I'm unsure how long it could keep it going with these less-than-stellar numbers.

More next week.


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