Remarkable that the scripted shows did well in the ratings and cracked most of the top 20! And three new shows cracked the top 20--that's not happened in years! For about 5 years it was the reality shows dominating, but Dancing with the Stars is slipping a bit, not the big 20 million weeks it once had. Same with Extreme Makeover-Home Edition. And I think the networks are realizing that they don't always have to have reality shows filling up the lineup for half seasons. I think they feel that the reality shows with their niche audiences do better on the cable networks than broadcast TV so they're passing them over to them. And they do better in spring on broadcast TV than in the fall. They'll most likely air them in the summer. I saw that NCIS Los Angeles had a strong first week. Modern Family performed well too. I think it will do well this season and might hold the number 2 or top 5 or top 10 most weeks. Want to really find out if the new shows retained their audiences the second week.

Huh - out of that whole list, there's only one show I'm watching and one I've been meaning to start. (DWTS and TBBT, for those keeping score.)

Of course, not being interested in sports or procedurals is probably a significant contributing factor in that.

"No "Survivor" or "Amazing Race" - If these shows can't beat "Modern Family", they are in trouble!"

Or not....

Survivor has done 11.66 million in the first two episodes of this new season, and the average last season was around that as well. While there's no denying the show's viewership has declined over the years (as you would expect), it's a very, very gentle slope. The show's going absolutely nowhere anytime soon when you look at the numbers and the fact that it's a relatively cheap show to produce. In fact, this season and the next were filmed back to back in Samoa, so that cuts costs even further.

As for The Amazing Race, it's viewership has been consistently in the 9 to 11 million range since 2006 when they moved the show to Sunday nights. Again, it's not going anywhere anytime soon unless they try to sink the ship with another awful family edition season.

Wow. CBS still kills. Glad to see an ABC comedy make it to the top 20. Too bad HIMYM does not have as good ratings as BBT though :(

The death of reality? Maybe, but don't bet on high-priced dramas replacing them. With the economy in the toilet and advertisers looking to scrimp anyway they can, if the networks can't make enough from reality/news shows/and Leno, they'll start turning parts of primetime over to the affiliates.

That's what I picked. And I'm very disappointed with the American public because of that.

NBC is lucky to have football, otherwise they wouldn't be on there. How I don't know, because they have the best shows.

The DEATH OF REALITY!!!!!


Let's have a party.

No "Survivor" or "Amazing Race" - If these shows can't beat "Modern Family", they are in trouble!

Yeah #2 is turning into a real dog. I had it on last night but even spam e-mail was drawing my attention away from it. There's just not a strong central character.