Fresh fall fare flat
Most firstrun skeins sluggish; Eye reality hot
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While CBS continues to shine with its summer reality tandem of "The Amazing Race" and "Big Brother," and NBC is off to a solid start with laffer "Father of the Pride," other new and returning skeins are doing just OK -- at best.
Peacock vets "Fear Factor" and "Scrubs" have been below par with the first two weeks of their early fall segs, and Fox wasn't at full throttle with the relaunch of its returning Wednesday comedy lineup this week, although its "That '70s Show"-led block won the night among young adults.
Also on Wednesday -- still more than a week before the official start of the fall season -- the second regular seg for NBC cop drama "Hawaii" tumbled by 27% from its mediocre preem and already looks to be in trouble.
"Hawaii" (2.4/8 in adults 18-49, 8.44 million viewers overall) tied ABC's repeats of "My Wife and Kids" for a distant second-place finish behind Fox in 18-49 and lagged CBS' "60 Minutes" (2.0/6 in 18-49, 9.89m) in total viewers.
And it figures to only get tougher for "Hawaii," as competing dramas "Smallville" on the WB and "Lost" on ABC invade the time period Sept. 22.
For Fox, "That '70s Show" (3.9/13 in 18-49, 7.85m) dominated the 8 o'clock half-hour in key demos and was the night's top show in 18-49, but even its numbers were on the low side.
Also winning in 18-49 for Fox were "Quintuplets" at 8:30 (3.1/9 in 18-49, 6.20m), which retained a tame 79% of its lead-in, and "Bernie Mac" at 9 (3.2/9, 6.58m). "Quintuplets" was the night's top draw among teens (4.0/16).
At 9:30, "Method & Red" at 9:30 (2.2/6 in 18-49, 5.01m) fell off quite a bit, placing third in 18-49.
National ratings for Tuesday of this week, meanwhile, showed that CBS' "Amazing Race 5" (5.1/13 in 18-49, 10.85m) and "Big Brother 5" (4.4/11, 9.76m) both hit season highs in 18-49 as they near their Sept. 21 finale.
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Thanks to "Father of the Pride" and a Sunday NASCAR race, NBC prevailed in key demos for the Aug. 30-Sept. 5 frame, according to final Nielsen nationals, which weren't issued until Thursday due to Hurricane Frances-related processing delays at the ratings company's Florida offices.
The Peacock averaged a 2.8 rating/9 share in adults 18-49, comfortably ahead of its bunched rivals, with CBS second (2.3/7) and Fox and ABC tied for third (2.2/7). Net also won in adults 25-54 (3.2/9) and total viewers (7.48 million), edging past CBS (7.16m) in the latter.
Numbers were muted some for the Big Three due to low-rated coverage of the Republican National Convention on three nights and overall lower viewing levels prior to Labor Day weekend.
Leading the way for NBC was the premiere of "Father of the Pride" (5.4/15 in 18-49, 12.39m), which became the highest-rated entertainment program on any net since the May sweep (Daily Variety, Sept. 2).
Also, a Nextel Cup NASCAR race dominated primetime on Sunday in key demos (3.1/11 in 18-49, 8.21m).
Elsewhere, Fox did well Wednesday with a special two-hour preview seg of reality series "Renovate My Family" (4.0/12 in 18-49, 8.26m) but stumbled Monday with the preview of another unscripted show, "Complex: Malibu" (1.7/5, 3.46m).
CBS was paced by "Big Brother" and "Amazing Race" on Tuesday, edging past NBC's premieres to take the night in 18-49.
