Image via Wikipedia
When it comes to television ratings, Buffalo is a very good barometer for how shows are doing across the nation.
So here are the top 10 things that are noticeable about local ratings in the first 10 days of the new season.
1. “The Playboy Club” May Close Quickly:The opener of the NBC drama that made sex boring got a lowly 3.6 rating and it slipped even lower in the second episode. A network often pulls a series with numbers like that or considers moving it somewhere else. Also in danger of being pulled is the Hank Azaria comedy “Free Agents,” which had a 3.6 rating in its second airing.
2. “Two and a Half Men” Still Strong: The opener with Ashton Kutcher had a 25.5 rating here, which is an incredible number these days. The second episode on CBS lost about 30 percent of the audience, but still will be the week’s top prime time show in Buffalo.
3. It May Be Too Early to Call “Two Broke Girls” a Hit: After the crudely funny CBS show was moved away from a “Men” lead-in, it lost about 45 percent of its incredible 20.5 opener. But it improved on its lead-in, which is a good sign. Still, those promos calling it a hit may be premature since the second episode was nowhere near as funny as the pilot.
4. Simon Cowell’s “The X-Factor” Is No “Idol”: All the karaoke shows that copied “American Idol” before Cowell (see above) got “X” off the ground may have made the Fox show seem even less special to audiences. The first week’s shows only had ratings of 7.4 and 6.0 here, less than half of “Idol” and well below expectations.
5. “Terra Nova” Falls Flat: Monday’s two-hour premiere of Steven Spielberg’s family series didn’t even do as well as “The X-Factor” on Fox. Not a good sign for this very expensive series.
6. “Modern Family” Gets Emmy Boost: One bright spot for ABC here was the 11.2 rating that this award-winning comedy had for its hour-long premiere after all of its Emmy wins. The lead-in “Family” helped give “Revenge” with Emily Van Camp a decent-sized opening audience here, out-rating “The X-Factor” and “Terra Nova.”
7. “The Office” With New Boss Does OK: James Spader as the new boss in place of Steve Carell helped this NBC show get a healthy 7.3 rating. But the real test will be if viewers come back this Thursday. That rating was double the rating for the premiere of Amy Poehler’s “Parks and Recreation,” which still can’t get arrested here despite critical acclaim and its Emmy nominations.
8. “The Good Wife” Sunday Debut Not So Good:After getting ratings in the teens last spring, Julianna Margulies’ CBS series had a 9.6 in its Sunday debut opposite football and the final season premiere of “Desperate Housewives.” I imagine that DVRs were working overtime Sunday and the “Wife” rating will significantly improve when that viewership is counted. (Keep in mind that DVR viewing and time shifted viewing within 3 to 7 days can be very important to all series).
9. “Prime Suspect” Promos Didn’t Help: Maria Bello’s antiquated version of the Helen Mirren series had a 5.6 rating on Channel 2, the NBC affiliate in a tough Thursday time slot against veteran hits “The Mentalist” and “Grey’s Anatomy.” Perhaps NBC would consider moving it to Mondays and switching “The Playboy Club” to Thursday.
10. “New Girl” May Have “X Factor”: Last week’s premiere of the Zooey Deschanel series had a 6.7 rating and improved on its lead-in from a fading “Glee.” That’s a very strong rating for a Fox comedy.
Mini-review of “Suburgatory,” which debuts at 8:30 tonight on Channel 7: Neatly sandwiched in between the increasingly popular “The Middle” and “Modern Family,” this comedy immediately has a lot going for it.
It’s about a single father, George (Jeremy Sisto in a softer role than usual) who moves his 16-year old cynical daughter Tessa (Jane Levy) from very fast New York City to the very clean and very quiet suburbs after he finds condoms in her room. Cheryl Hines of “Curb Your Enthusiasm” is on board as a clichéd suburban mother and Rex Lee of “Entourage” is also in the cast.
Tessa immediately hates the suburbs for all the clichéd reasons people ridicule the suburbs.
“A box of rubbers landed me in the land of plastic,” narrates Tessa.
“My plan is to serve my time and get out.”
“We need two things to survive: An automatic sprinkler and a restraining order.”
Love comments like that.
Meanwhile, Dad is loving all the attention and advice a single father and architect can receive.
“You are like an exotic import,” a friend tells George.
The cynicism about the suburbs can be darkly funny, but then the whole attitude is changed when it appears Tessa is ready to partially embrace the move. I hated that shift.
“Suburgatory” has enough cute moments to survive its cynical tone, especially with the help of its more popular and family-friendly suburban neighbors – “The Middle” and “Modern Family.”
Rating: 2 and a half stars out of 4
pergament@msn.comn
Alan Pergament was the television critic for The Buffalo News for 28 years. He currently is an adjunct professor at Buffalo State College and Medaille College, teaching courses in communications. He also writes a monthly column on the media for Buffalo Spree magazine.
