It's probably 2 things-more rich people (meaning homes making $100K+) are watching these shows even though the ratings are poor-so ad execs are happy because their stuff is being bought by people who can actually afford it, they have to stick with Jay Leno even though the ratings are bad, and somebody at NBC is probably sleeping with Amy Poehler just like they were with Sarah Palin, I mean Tina Fey.

Amy Poehler has been married to Will Arnett for over 5 years now, smart guy She isn't my favorite part of P&R anyway, Tom (Aziz Ansari) and April (Aubrey Plaza) are.

I wouldn't know, but then again considering how people are these days...

Some schedule updates from Fox: Tonight's ALCS Game 6 has been postponed due to rain, so it should be the usual schedule. Game 6 will now be tomorrow at 8:20 PM ET, so the usual Sunday lineup is pre-empted. If Game 7 is necessary it will be Monday night and pre-empt a special "So You Think You Can Dance" and "Lie To Me". "House" returns November 9, but a repeat airs November 2 if the World Series goes only 4 games.

Now that the World Series is set, here's the schedule on Fox for the next couple weeks (obviously regular programming will be pre-empted these nights, games start at 7:57 PM ET unless otherwise noted):
Game 1-Wednesday
Game 2-Thursday
Game 3-Saturday
Game 4-Sunday (8:20 PM ET)
Game 5-Monday, November 2
Game 6-Wednesday, November 4
Game 7-Thursday, November 5
Games 5-7 are if necessary.
Regular Fox schedules should resume November 6.

Edit: The CW announced a schedule change today-they've half-given up on "Melrose Place". The Wednesday 9 PM ET repeats have been dropped in favor of "The Vampire Diaries" repeats effective immediately. This will run through November 11, then the "America's Next Top Model" season finale airs November 18 (2 hours) and a movie on November 25. After that, who knows. The Melrose repeats are averaging around a million viewers after Top Model, which is averaging around 3 million.

ABC has also announced what appears to be a one-time-only schedule change: "The Forgotten" will be pre-empted on November 10 in favor of a special to promote the CMA Awards, which air November 11 on ABC. The Forgotten should return to regular schedule November 17.

This message was edited by DCRage on Oct 26 2009.

Fox has also updated the planned schedule changes for the Friday lineup, there have been more changes:
"'Til Death" still isn't dead. It returns January 10. It'll get the Sunday 7 PM ET timeslot...but no NFL boost.
"Brothers" will finish its first (and maybe only) season on December 27.
Fox also had to correct an incorrect schedule advisory from earlier that said Christmas Day (12/25) was a Thursday. It's a Friday. So on 12/25 "Dollhouse" repeats are bumped for 2 hours of "'Til Death" repeats. Merry Early Christmas.
After it's double runs, Dollhouse returns to it's regular timeslot on January 8.

So...here's the latest updated Fox lineups, as always subject to change (for the Sunday lineups it's regular programming after 8 PM ET unless otherwise noted):
Sundays:
November 8:
7 PM ET-Brothers
7:30 PM ET-American Dad (special time)

November 15, 29, December 6, 20, January 3-West Coast Only (NFL elsewhere):
7 PM ET-Brothers repeat
7:30 PM ET-'Til Death repeat

November 22:
7 PM ET-Brothers
7:30 PM ET-Simpsons repeat

December 13, 27:
7 PM ET-Brothers (2 episodes)

Starting January 10:
7 PM ET-'Til Death (2 episodes)

Fridays (December 4-18):
8 PM ET-Dollhouse (2 hours)

December 25:
8 PM ET-'Til Death (2 hours)

January 1:
8 PM ET-Fox Bowl Bash: Sugar Bowl (FYI: Fox doesn't have the BCS Title Game this year. ABC does)

Starting January 8:
8 PM ET-TBA
9 PM Et-Dollhouse

Get it? Got it? Good! When it changes again you'll hear it here first.

Thursday news:
NBC has ordered 6 more episodes of "Chuck" for the upcoming 3rd season for a total-so far-of 19 episodes. While this isn't definite, it could also result in the show coming back early. The plan was March after the Olympics, but with Southland getting Das Boot and "Trauma" probably not getting the back 9, January is a possibility.

Marc Cherry has finally signed that long-reported overall deal with ABC Studios that keeps him there through 2013, which means rumors, again, that "Desperate Housewives" could see at least a 9th season on ABC. At this point it seems safe to say it's got a 7th season coming, beyond that depends on if it can lock up the cast. They're only committed through next season.

"Scrubs" returns December 1. The timeslot will be Tuesdays at 9 PM ET. On December 1 only 2 episodes will air, then "Better Off Ted" returns December 8 at 9:30 PM ET.

Update: It appears Trauma isn't getting the back 9. It's getting Das Boot. The Hollywood Reporter reports the show is/will be cancelled, but all 13 episodes will be produced and likely will air. Then it's done. Ratings. Doesn't help it was NBC's most expensive new show.

HOORAY FOR CHUCK! NBC shows just don't last nowadays, so it's great to see Chuck still going strong.

The only way NBC shows survive is if they attract the rich. It's why we can't get rid of 30 Rock. That or it does take something extremely special-see Friday Night Lights.

Speaking of NBC, it's now confirmed that Trauma gets Das Boot but will finish it's 13-episode run.

Elsewhere, Fox has renewed "American Dad" for a 6th season, to air next season (2010-11).

Yeah, I was worried about Chuck after the first season too and I knew it was losing its audience. Then Chuck grew a pair and started doing shit, and the last season ended with him basically becoming a super agent. Now this show ought to kick all kinds of ass. Give the premiere a shot if you can to see if you like the new direction the show has gone in.

And keep loading up on Subway subs and planning another "Save Chuck" campaign if the ratings are what everything else on NBC is doing. But that's probably widespread backlash from fans of a lot of shows, of course Chuck and Lights (which I liked but just stopped watching after season 1, it's a good show though) as well as other cancelled shows (Earl, Knight Rider, Southland, and so on) and even returning shows. And of course the Leno fallout. NBC won't call Jay at 10 PM a failure, but the ratings now say it is going to be.

As for ratings, the early World Series ratings are out-of course they're good. The early estimate for Yanks-Phils Game 1 is 19.51 million viewers and a 6.3 in 18-49. That's up 33% over last year's Game 1 (Phils-Tampa) in viewers and 31% in 18-49. And among all WS this decade, that's #2 in ratings among Game 1s behind only '04 with the Cards and the SAWX. Additionally, because the Series will now go at least 5 games, Fox's Monday lineup this next week is pre-empted for the game. That means no House & Lie To Me repeats. If it goes 6, that's Wednesday which costs Fox 2 new episodes of Glee (but it'll mean at least double the viewers they'd get with Glee). Game 7 would be Thursday and pre-empt Bones & Fringe repeats.
And another ratings note: The season's demo race may now be over. Fox took over #1 in 18-49 for the season last week, very unusual because normally it doesn't take over until Idol comes back. OK, it's a virtual tie between Fox and CBS but the Series and NFL this weekend (plus CBS reruns all week) probably will put Fox over the top this week. Especially if Brett FAAA-VRUH really stretches things out again with another great comeback at "THE FROZEN TUNDRA".

More ratings news: The November Sweeps officially began last night...I know, it's still October. But then again, nothing in TV Land makes sense, right? Ratings are out and Fox took an unusual Thursday win thanks to baseball-World Series Game 2 did an estimated 17.1 million viewers from 8-11 PM ET. CBS was a competitive 2nd at 14.1 million viewers, well ahead of ABC in 3rd at 10.5 million. NBC was then a very distant 4th at 5.6 million, while The CW was last, but with a better-than-usual 3.5 million.
Fox also won 18-49 with a 5.3 rating, ahead of ABC's 3.8. CBS was 3rd with a 3.5 followed by NBC well back at 2.4. The CW did a 1.7.

Network breakdown:
ABC: Mostly down thanks to baseball, with "Flash Forward" doing 9 million-a new low-and "Private Practice" doing 9.2 million on either end of "Grey's Anatomy" doing 13.4 million. It was 3rd every hour in viewers.
CBS: Strong aginast baseball. "Survivor" did 12.5 million, then "CSI" and "The Mentalist" both did 14.9 million.
Fox: Baseball slowly declined each hour but still did between 17-17.3 million from 8-11 PM. 18-49 went up each hour, the jump was over 10% in the 10 PM hour.
NBC: Same old. "Community" did 5.5 million, "Parks And Recreation" 5 million, "The Office" 8.1 million, "30 Rock" 6 million. Leno then dropped to 4.4 million, which might be a new low. Yet again.
The CW: Surprisingly well against baseball. "Vampire Diaries" was again up week-to-week, this time to 4.2 million. That's the show's best number since the premiere, and it's close to that level again. And on top of that, it came oh-so-close to beating NBC in 18-49...missed by only .1 ratings point. It also did it's best numbers yet in CW's target 18-34 demo. "Supernatural" did fairly well at 9, up to 2.9 million...but it lost 35% of it's 18-49 lead-in.

This message was edited by DCRage on Oct 30 2009.

One early Monday news item, and it's good news for "Southland" fans: The show has been saved. The rumored pickup of the cancelled NBC show by the cable network TNT is now official. Here's what's known about the deal: The show will premiere on TNT in January. Timeslot is Tuesdays at 10 PM ET starting January 12. The deal includes the 7 unaired episodes from the second season that production was completed on before NBC cancelled it, as well as the 6 episodes from the first season. No word on if any more episodes will be shot.

Edit: TNT will decide on the show's future after all the episodes have aired.

And while this really doesn't amount to much of anything, a ratings item so ridiculous I must share it: "30 Rock" premiered in Germany Sunday night and the rating for it's German TV debut is out: 0.0. ZERO. SQUADOOSH!! That means it drew fewer than 5000 viewers. A .1 rating would be equal to about 15,000 viewers in Germany. In other words, this makes The CW ratings look like CBS ratings. And just so you know I'm not making this up:
http://www.hollywoodreporter.com/hr/content_display/television/news/e3i422dde68f61e91f2874acd139f32110c

Schedule note: Because the World Series will go to a Game 6, no "Glee" Wednesday night on Fox. If Game 7 is necessary, no "Bones" and "Fringe" Thursday night.

More Tuesday news: As perhaps a reward for it doing it's best 18-34 demo numbers yet last night, CBS has ordered 5 more episdoes of new comedy "Accidentally On Purpose", bringing the first season total to 18. It matched said demo high against baseball, which worked out to a 2.5. As a whole, it's doing just a shade over 8 million viewers and a 3.1 in 18-49.

This message was edited by DCRage on Nov 03 2009.

Thursday news:
The days for "Numb3rs" may be numbered. CBS has cut the order for the current 6th season of this crime drama series from 22 epsiodes to 16. Not surprisingly, part of it is ratings-although it's still managing nearly 8 million viewers Friday nights it's only doing a 1.7 rating in 18-49 and, like all Friday shows, is down quite a bit from last season. Could also be schedule-related to make room for upcoming midseason shows including the returning "Flashpoint". As for Numb3rs' future, a rep for CBS said no decision has been made. But considering the cost of the show and the fact that it's already set for syndication (and reruns already air on the cable network TNT), this is a sign that this season could be it.

Elsewhere, The PTC (aka the Inglorious Bastards of the TV world...no, it's not the FCC) seems to be under the impression that the suggestion of one person sleeping with more than one other person at a time is cause for civil unrest...either that, or The CW's marketing department slipped them some cash to stage a protest...said PTC is complaining about the next (this Monday) episode of "Gossip Girl" because CW is teasing a "3some" on this week's episode and supposedly the PTC thinks that should be limited to porn. But as we all know, it's not. CW calls foul stating the show targets women 18-34 and the show's median age is 27. Probably wouldn't be a big deal if the show aired at 10 PM or later (it airs at 9). Either way, watch the ratings next week to see what happens.

As for last week's ratings, not surprisingly Fox won thanks to strong World Series numbers. All 4 of Games 1-4 were in the top 10 for the week, with 3 in the top 3. Elsewhere nothing from ABC made the top 10 outside of Dancing and 3 CBS shows in the top 10 despite mostly being in repeats. And one note from Tuesday, the much-hyped "V" debuted strongly, beginning it's limited initial run (only 4 episodes then hiatus until next year) with nearly 14 million viewers and a 5.0 rating in 18-49. The total viewership was 2nd in the 8 PM ET hour but beat "NCIS" in the key demo.

For Week Ending 11/1, The Week's Top 10 Most Watched Shows, in order, excluding Sunday's NFL overrun: World Series Game 4, World Series Game 1, World Series Game 2, World Series Game 4 Pregame (8-8:19 PM), Monday's Dancing, "NCIS", Fox's Sunday NFL postgame (7:30-8 PM), "The Mentalist" World Series Game 3, "CSI". Had Sunday's NFL overrun been factored in, it would've been a distant #1 with over 30 million. WS game 4 did 22.7 million. Oh, and the series is over (THHHHHHHUHUHUHUHUHUH...YANKEES...WIN) so back to regular schedule on Fox starting tonight.

One late item from last night, the hit CBS series "The Mentalist" has already been sold into syndication even though it's only in it's second season. Reruns of the series will begin airing on the cable network TNT in fall 2011. It reportedly fetched a fee of over $2 million an episode, possibly $2.3 million, a broadcast series record. (The overall record is $2.5 million per episode that the cable network A&E paid for "The Sopranos") Oh, wait, this just in...record already fell. "NCIS LA" has reportedly fetched $2.5 million per episode from the cable network USA. After just 7 episodes. Said syndication run won't start until fall 2013 though.

Elsewhere, although ABC already cancelled it, "The Goode Family" might not be dead. The cable network Comedy Central has picked up the first-and so far, only-season of the animated comedy series and it will air Wednesdays at 10:30 PM ET starting January 6. Should it have a successful run, expect more episodes.

This message was edited by DCRage on Nov 06 2009.

It's been a very busy day in TV Land, lots of programming notes and schedule changes to report, broken down by network:
ABC:
"The Forgotten" gets 5 more episodes, bringing the new series' initial run up to 18. It's averaged 8 million viewers and a 2.1 rating in 18-49 so far. Factor in DVRs and the number is 8.6 million.
"Eastwick" gets Das Boot. No more episodes after it's initial run of 13, all of which are expected to air at some point. It was/is one of only 2 new ABC series so far, excluding "V", to not have heard anything on if it would get more episodes (the other one is "Hank"). It's averaging only 5.7 million viewers and a 2.0 18-49 rating. Factor in DVRs and it's only doing 6.5 million total.
Also shelved: New series "Let's Dance", which was to have debuted on November 23. Casting difficulties-yes, another celeb-driven series with stars re-creating famous dance routines. Uh, isn't that what Dancing is? No word on if it could return in '10. 5 episodes were planned.

NBC:
New reality series "The Sing-Off" premieres December 14. The show's limited run will take place over 1 week (8 episodes over 4 nights). NBC did this 2 years ago with "Clash Of The Choirs". It didn't last.
Schedule changes for December 28-31: Each night from 8-10 PM ET NBC will now run a 2-hour marathon of the Thursday sitcoms as follows:
12/28-Community
12/29-Parks & Recreation
12/30-The Office
12/31-30 Rock

The CW:
"Gossip Girl" goes on hiatus after January 11 for several weeks. This is to make room for new series "Life UneXpected" on January 18. When Girl returns in Spring, Life will bump "One Tree Hill" for a few weeks by taking the Monday 8 PM ET timeslot. This is reportedly so CW can get a bunch of reruns off the schedule, which nobody watches. CW should announce it's midseason plans in the near-future.
And speaking of Girl, if you wondered what happened with the big "3Some" last night, here's what you supposedly missed...nothing. OK, a couple kisses, one shot of everyone sleeping and covered up, that's it. As for how many affiliates bailed thanks to the PTC's pleas...SQUADOOSH. None. Haha.
And if you're wondering how much the "3Some" tease helped last night's ratings...it didn't. Only 2.3 million viewers, which is about what it usually does. And for those of you who thought "Heroes" was going to bounce back after "skyrocketing" to over 6 million viewers last week...wrong, haha. 5.3 million and a 2.3 18-49 rating last night. New series lows. And another new low for Jay Leno, didn't even make 4 million.

This message was edited by DCRage on Nov 10 2009.

Weekly Nielsen Ratings Report for Week Ending 11/8/09:
Not surprisingly, sports led the way last week as 4 of the top 5 programs were baseball or football, with the end of the World Series just edging out NFL for the top spot. Otherwise it was all CBS in the top 10 outside of Dancing, and as usual no non-sports NBC or Fox in the Top 20, although Fox is now viewed as having enough of a lead now in 18-49 for the season to date to win the season now, considering the Juggernaut is still to come. And to the nets outside of CBS and ad execs, that's what counts. Breakdown by networks:
ABC: "V" premiered to a final number of 14.3 million viewers with a 5.0 demo rating, a strong premiere bolstered by generally positive ratings although some of us now beg to differ. Otherwise Dancing, "Grey's Anatomy" and "Desperate Housewives" led the way as usual, especially in 18-49. But hurting The Alphabet was "Flash Forward", which continues to slowly but steadily drop-8.5 million and a new demo low. And although it did have to face baseball and did a fine 18-49 number, "Modern Family" is also falling to near 8.5 million, and all the Wednesday comedies are down from premieres. Oh, and an FYI for those wondering: "Scrubs" returns December 1. And if you missed it yesterday, likely no more mentions of "Eastwick" after this-it's getting Das Boot. Likely finishes it's 13-episode run then cancelled.

CBS: The Eye again held on for a close win in total viewers. CBS led the way Monday with 9 PM sitcoms (with "The Big Bang Theory" continuing to improve on it's "Two And A Half Men" lead-in in 18-49) and Tuesdays with the NCISs averaging over 17 million (NCIS again cracked 20 million) and "The Mentalist" not only beating ABC in 18-49 but also building on it's "CSI" lead-in both in viewers and 18-49. On Sunday, "60 Minutes" hit season highs thanks to a big NFL overrun and an Andre Agassi interview. It also helped "The Amazing Race" hit season highs. "Three Rivers" and "Cold Case" continued to perform poorly, neither reached 8 million.

Fox: Huge baseball numbers made it a great week early on, including over 22 million watching THHHUHUHUHUHUH YANKEES...WIN Game 6 and the series. Game 5 did 17 million Monday against usual strong Monday competition. The Sunday experiemnt of making it all "Family Guy" did OK, usual good demo numbers but the "Almost Live Comedy Special" only did 6.7 million viewers, lowest of the night.

NBC: The only reason they even stayed close was football, as the Sunday night game was the highest-rated Sunday night game so far this season, a trend that could continue as the "flex scheduling" period approaches and matchups can be changed to bolster ratings. Otherwise, only things of note are "The Office" continues to beat CBS in 18-49 despite only averaging 8 million viewers (at this point 18-49 makes up a tad over half it's viewers) and "Community" is improving in 18-49 despite not even reaching 5.5 million viewers. And although baseball is partly to blame, Jay Leno hit new lows this past Monday-less than 4 million viewers and only a 1.2 18-49 rating.

The CW: "America's Next Top Model" continued it's trend of improving as the cycle nears the end, doing nearly 3.9 million and hitting season highs in several demos. "The Vampire Diaries" continues to lead the way, staying just over 4 million and easily winning CW's target young women demo. "Smallville" also got a small boost on Friday, up to over 2.6 million viewers. And as noted yesterday, this week's "Gossip Girl" "3Some" experiement basically backfired. No affiliates dropped the episode despite PTC complaints, but it didn't help ratings-it did about it's usual number, 2.3 million. And finally, "Melrose Place" still can't crack 1.5 million before DVRs are factored in. And for those curious, Vampire Diaries repeats on Wednesday are helping ratings, they've gone from barely 1 million after Top Model to a little over 1.4 million at 9.

On cable, the season finale of AMC's "Mad Men" drew 2.3 million viewers, as the finale and the season as a whole were up roughly 15-20% in ratings from season 2 (the season averaged about 1.8 million). It's already been picked up for a 4th season as expected. Elsewhere, Nickelodeon pulled out one of it's occasional "Spongebob Squarepants" special epsiodes and as usual got strong ratings for it-nearly 7.7 million viewers Friday. That beat almost everything on TV, broadcast nets included-only "Ghost Whisperer" and the Law & Orders drew more total viewers.

The Week's Top 10 Most Watched Shows, in order, excluding Sunday's NFL overrun: World Series Game 6, NBC's Sunday Night NFL (Dallas-Philadelphia), "NCIS", NBC's Sunday Night NFL pre-game (8-8:30), World Series Game 5, "60 Minutes", Monday's Dancing, "The Mentalist", "CSI", "NCIS LA". If Sunday's 20-minute or so NFL overrun is included, it would've been #1. Also of note, the premiere of V ranked #12.