Despite the NFL and World Series gods clashing on NBC and Fox last night, entertainment shows on ABC and CBS largely held up.

ABC’s Once Upon a Time (9.7 million, 3.4), Revenge (8 million, 2.7) and 666 Park Avenue (4.8 million, 1.6) were within a tenth of a point of their ratings last week. That doesn’t mean much for Once and Revenge, but 666 is under ABC’s microscope right now and its numbers happened to go down a notch. Declining for a Halloween episode is bad form for a horror series. The Terry O’Quinn drama, along with fellow freshman ABC drama Last Resort, are awaiting word on whether they’re going to get full-season orders this week.

CBS had– what? No sports overrun? Nope. We actually get to see the network’s Sunday lineup in their proper time slots for once. Amazing Race (9.4 million, 2.4) was down 8 percent, Good Wife (9.5 million, 1.8) was down 5 percent. But the 100th episode of The Mentalist (10.1 million, 1.8) was up 20 percent. The crime drama was a flashback episode showing Patrick Jane meeting his CBI teammates for the first time.

NBC aired its Mockingbird Lane pilot Friday night as a Halloween special.

How’d it do? The ambitious Munsters reboot was seen by 5.4 million viewers and delivered a 1.5 rating in the adult demo. That easily beat Fox’s Kitchen Nightmares premiere (2.7 million, 0.9), which returned down a sharp 44 percent from last year, but it couldn’t top ABC’s usual 8 p.m. victor, Shark Tank (6.8 million, 1.8).

Mockingbird did firmly boost NBC’s Grimm (6 million, 1.9), however, which jumped 27 percent at 9 p.m. This is the second-highest rated episode of Grimm ever.

The big question is whether Mockingbird numbers are big enough for NBC to give the expensive project a series order. This performance doesn’t lend itself to an obvious answer. On one hand, if NBC had a guarantee that Mockingbird would deliver this same number every week, it would pull the trigger. Second place at 8 p.m. and boosting Grimm? Done. But premieres normally outperform regular episodes, and this received a fair amount of promotion — plus was well-timed airing right before Halloween. So … hmm. In case you missed it, here’s Ken Tucker’s review. READ FULL STORY »

The Mentalist hasn’t had an easy time on Sunday nights this fall. Moved from its longtime Thursday perch, Patrick Jane & Co. recently fell to series lows, not helped by CBS’ ever-shifting time zones on Sundays due to the network’s sports coverage early in the evening. Last night, The Mentalist (10.6 million, 2.0) may have jumped 25 percent to beat ABC’s 666 Park Ave. (4.9 million, 1.5), though once again the morning numbers are a bit more approximate than usual thanks to sports overrun in a few markets. The latest 666 was down 12 percent.

Another bit of good news for a broadcast show: ABC’s Revenge (8.2 million, 2.7) was up a tenth of a point. The drama’s modest gain is made more impressive because its lead-in, Once Upon a Time (9.1 million, 3.0), fell 12 percent. Unlike The Mentalist, Revenge ratings have benefited by moving to Sundays this fall.

Also Sunday: CBS’ Amazing Race (9.4 million, 2.6) and The Good Wife (9 million, 1.7) were steady.

Looks like CBS cancelling Made In Jersey had the desired effect.

With the struggling freshman series yanked off Fridays and becoming the first axed show of the fall, both CSI: NY and Blue Bloods improved in the ratings last night.

CSI: NY (9.4 million viewers, 1.4 adult demo rating) and Blue Bloods (10.5 million, 1.4) both went up 17 percent in the adult demo. CBS added an NCIS repeat at 8 p.m., with CSI: NY moving one hour later.

Also Friday: Fox’s Fringe (2.7 million, 1.0) was steady. NBC’s Grimm (4.9 million, 1.5) was down a tenth now that it has some stronger competition at 9 p.m. from CBS. And ABC’s Shark Tank (6.4 million, 1.8)? The reality show once again proved a great investment, matching its series-high rating and topping the night in the demo.

Image Credit: Disney/ABC; CBS; 20th Televsion/AP; NBC

Five new talk shows are attempting to fill the large void left by Oprah Winfrey in daytime — and, as expected, it’s not so easy to drum up a following in an already crowded daypart dominated by vets like Maury Povich, Dr. Phil and Ellen DeGeneres.

Among the new shows that launched this fall, Steve Harvey and Katie Couric are leading but the race remains thisclose against Ricki Lake in women 18-49, the demo most coveted by advertisers. Harvey and Couric have a better lead over the competition among women 25-54, where newbies like Jeff Probst and Trisha Goddard are struggling to gain a foothold.

Here are the final ratings for all the new syndicated yakkers for the week of Sept. 24 (when Lake, Probst and Couric finished their third week on the air while Goddard wrapped her second and Harvey, his fourth). For perspective, Povich was in the top spot last week among women 18-49 (1.5) and women 25-54 (1.7).

Each ratings point equals roughly one million viewers in that particular demographic. READ FULL STORY »