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GOOD WEEK/BAD WEEK: January 11, 2014

GOOD WEEK: CBS TUESDAY AND THURSDAY
CBS had a low rated finale night for Hostages on Monday and a so-so result from the People's Choice Awards on Wednesday but they were on fire on Tuesday and Thursday. TV's two most watched shows - NCIS and The Big Bang Theory - both topped 20 million viewers for season highs. Tuesday also had the series premiere of Intelligence garner the best total viewer count of any new show this season alongside a respectable demo premiere, though it must now face Castle and The Blacklist on Monday. Every single show on Thursday was up with all four sitcoms posting their best numbers since at least mid-October. The Millers, which was looking weaker, came all the way back to tie its season premiere numbers. While January is a great time for many shows as the viewership totals tend to rise, other shows are proving that not everything works. For these two lineups, everything was chugging along.

BAD WEEK: ABC MIDSEASON PREMIERES
It has been a tough season for ABC. Everything on this side of Scandal seems to be either DOA or showing its age. And it has been really brutal for the new shows. After a fall that saw numbers ranging from disappointing (Marvel's Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. and The Goldbergs) to outright horrendous (Lucky 7 and Betrayal), ABC's midseason is looking even worse. Their limited replacement for Scandal, The Assets, premiered to the worst in-season numbers ever. It dropped in week two and was swiftly cancelled today after two episodes. Then Killer Women premiered on Tuesday following tons of promotion. If it was not for The Assets, it would have tied the lowest in-season premiere ever. It premiered well short of what Lucky 7 bombed to. And their remaining new shows don't look very promising. I contend however that a lot of this is ABC's own fault. They consistently premiere shows in the same slots where they continue to fail (look at Thursday 8pm and Tuesday 10pm). They air incompatible stuff like the slew of young adult sitcoms that have followed family comedies on Wednesdays. And their development, especially in the drama department, was pretty bad this year. So there may be bigger changes necessary at the Alphabet network.

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