How has NBC performed during the Fall TV season? Well, let us take a day-by-day look at what they have offered up this season so far and see.
Sunday: This is a solid night of programming. The West Wing, Law & Order: Criminal Intent and Crossing Jordan. Most people tend to be watching ABC on this night and I am usually one of them but my DVR is humming along recording all of the above for later viewing.
Monday: Has brought the new hit Surface, which is probably the best of the alien invasion type shows. At least it is still on anyway. The escapist fun that is Las Vegas is still rolling along and Medium is too. This is one of NBC’s best nights from start to finish along with the aforementioned Sunday night lineup.
Tuesday: The Biggest Loser certainly was not for NBC followed by the ratings hit My Name is Earl and the critically acclaimed The Office, which has only gotten better each week. The night is capped of by Law & Order: Special Victims Unit. My Name is Earl and The Office have done so well that they have been moved to Thursday nights to try and revive ‘Must See TV’ as part of a two hour comedy block leading up to the Winter Olympics.
Wednesday: This night brought you the new shows The Apprentice: Martha Stewart and E-Ring followed by network stalwart Law & Order. E-Ring and Martha were both bad. They tried switching their timeslots to improve ratings, which worked a tiny bit, but not much. This was one of the worst nights of programming for NBC.
Thursday: Joey and Will & Grace started the night out followed by the original The Apprentice and the venerable ER. The rest of the networks smelt blood in the water and tried programming some of their best shows on this night. It worked for some like Smallville on WB and UPN’s Everybody Hates Chris but did not for ABC’s Alias. The night was still dominated from start to finish by CBS.
Friday: The night had Dateline NBC, Three Wishes and Inconceivable. Inconceivable definitely was. It lasted a whole three weeks I think it was. Maybe only two, I don’t really recall and it doesn’t really matter. Three Wishes was a decent show in the vein of Extreme Makeover: Home Edition but failed to garner enough audience on Friday night to keep it going weekly. Then Dateline NBC and repeats of Law & Order: Criminal Intent mostly dominated the night. Not a great night for NBC at all. Maybe things will turn around with The Book of Daniel.
Saturday: This night is a terrible night for pretty much every network as it is either reruns or commercially interrupted movies.
Overall: The network did somehow finish in third just ahead of Fox in the last sweeps period ratings wise but Fox is just biding time in the Fall until there real season starts in the Winter. You can say similarly that NBC is just passing the time until their Winter Olympics broadcasts start.
Things to look out for on NBC in 2006: The move of My Name is Earl and The Office to Thursday night until the Winter Olympics. Also look for the return of Scrubs with two new episodes every Tuesday night. Other shows to look for include a new Dick Wolf show called Conviction about young lawyers in New York, Windfall about a group of people who win the lottery and The Book of Daniel about a minister who sees and talks to Jesus.
What do you think about NBC so far this TV season? Leave your thoughts in comments.
