CW's 'Beauty' is just that

ABC comedy duo premieres finish in 4th place

By RICK KISSELL

'Beauty and the Geek' set a series best in women 18-24.

ABC's 'The Knights of Prosperity' preem ran fourth in its slot.

ABC's struggles with half-hour comedies continued Wednesday night, as the premieres of "Knights of Prosperity" and "In Case of Emergency" ran fourth in their slots. The CW, on the other hand, was looking good with its two-hour bow of "Beauty and the Geek."

According to nationals from Nielsen, "Knights of Prosperity" opened with a 3.0 rating/7 share in adults 18-49 and 7.2 million viewers overall, and "In Case of Emergency" delivered a 2.7/7 in the demo and 6.32 million viewers overall.

While these scores are  an improvement over what "Day Break" was netting in the hour recently, the net can't be thrilled with a fourth-place finish in 18-49 or its fifth-place finish in adults 18-34.

The Alphabet has done well with hourlong comedies "Desperate Housewives" and "Ugly Betty," but it has struggled with half-hours. "Help Me Help You" and "Big Day" have both produced puny ratings one year after the net failed with the likes of "Sons & Daughters" and "Emily's Reasons Why Not."

On Wednesday, ABC ran third in the opening hour with two original episodes of "According to Jim" that averaged a 2.6/7 in 18-49 and 7.3 million viewers overall.

The Alphabet will repeat its Wednesday comedy lineup tonight from 8 to 10 in a bid to allow more viewers to sample its newbies. Competish on Wednesday becomes more intense in coming weeks as "American Idol" returns on Fox.

At the CW, the third-season debut of "Beauty and the Geek" (2.2 rating/6 in 18-49, 4.90m) was in line with its season-two premiere scores last year on the WB, and the show set a series best in women 18-34 (3.5/9) -- winning the 8-10 p.m. time period in this category.

"Beauty & the Geek" posted double-digit gains from the first hour into the second, building at 9 p.m. by 32% in adults 18-34, 33% in women 18-34, 25% in adults 18-49, 25% in women 18-49 and 18% in total viewers.

"Beauty" will fill the 8 o'clock slot on Wednesday between editions of "America's Next Top Model," which has become CW's top performer. Another unscripted skein, "Search for the Next Pussycat Doll," will bow on the net later this season.

Fox won the night thanks to its coverage of the college football Sugar Bowl contest between Louisiana State and Notre Dame. Game averaged a 5.2/14 in 18-49 and 14.42m viewers overall -- the best for any of its three Bowl Championship Series games this week.

NBC started slowly with an original episode of "Friday Night Lights" on its new night (2.3/6 in 18-49, 6.28m), as the high school football skein was on par with its recent perfs on Tuesday.

Net picked up at 9 with the timeslot debut of gameshow "Deal or No Deal" (3.5/9 in 18-49, 11.33m), and "Medium" (3.3/8 in 18-49, 9.33m) was on the high end of its range at 10.

CBS was paced by repeats of "Criminal Minds" (3.5/9. 11.96m) and "CSI: NY" (3.1/8 in 18-49, 10.41m).

And FX reported Thursday that, due to a computation error by Nielsen, numbers for the bow of its drama "Dirt" have been revised upward. Show's premiere perf now clocks in with 2.4 million adults 18-49 and 3.7 million viewers overall. By comparison, "Rescue Me" opened with 2.5 million viewers in the demo, and "Nip/Tuck" with 2.0 million.