Axiom's Edge Science Fiction and Fantasy

By John J. Joex

Two shows returned with new episodes this week (one for the first time this season) and both scored ratings victories (of sorts) on two separate nights. Chuck’s special two-hour season premiere last Sunday drew the largest ratings numbers that show has seen in some time with an average of a 2.9 in the 18-49 demographic and 7.4 million viewers. Then on Monday, it aired its first Season 3 episode in its regular timeslot and held onto a fair portion of its previous night’s audience, pulling a 2.6 rating and 7.3 million viewers. And while these numbers night be nothing to write home about on several other networks, fourth place NBC has to be encouraged by the show’s results so far.

Fringe also returned with new installments this week airing a special “lost” episode on Monday at 9 PM EST. This episode beat out Heroes on NBC pulling a 2.8 rating and 7.8 million viewers; the highest numbers it has seen this season since its premiere. Viewers may have been a bit confused by the episode as FOX failed to give much heads up on the fact that it was a hold-over from last season and included an appearance by Charlie Francis (Kirk Acevedo) who died earlier this season. This did not deter fans, though, because in its first new Season 2 episode for 2010 in its regular Thursday 9 PM EST timeslot, Fringe scored the highest numbers it has seen in that hour this season with a 2.6 rating and 6.6 million viewers (and that’s against new episodes of CSI and Grey’s Anatomy). So apparently there is something to FOX’s claim that when American Idol is on the numbers for all its shows improve (with Dollhouse as the exception).

And speaking of that Joss Whedon show, it continues to languish as it wraps up its final episodes. And next week’s series finale has been bumped one week in favor of a telethon to raise money for those affected by the earthquakes in Haiti. As for Dollhouse’s Friday night competition, I’m not sure what to make of Ghost Whisperer’s numbers. It continues to win its timeslot consistently, but it is considerably down from last year (averaging 8-9 million viewers this season vs. over 10 million last season). I’m guessing CBS will stick with it since it has become a Friday night staple and since Medium has finally given it a good lead-out show, but then I wouldn’t be too surprised if that network made a change after season end (remember, they axed Eleventh Hour last season’s even though it ended in the Top 25).

Here is the full breakdown of the numbers for all of the Science Fiction and Fantasy shows that aired on the broadcast networks this past week:

Source: TV by the Numbers

Previous Results: Heroes Gets Off to a Slow Start

For more on the Cancellation Alert for each show, see our Cancellation Watch column