FOX's stunt pays off big for "Glee"

Glee was one of the most critically acclaimed hits of the fall, but like many critic favorites it did not translate to big ratings. The show averaged just under 8 million viewers an episode during its first 13 episodes, putting it on par with shows like Biggest Loser and Medium. Glee returned last night at 9:28pm ET immediately following American Idol. The lead-in from idol and the unusual start time resulted in 13.6 million viewers. Perhaps what is most impressive is that Glee held on to all (or gained as many as they lost) of Idol's 18-34 year old viewers, the demographic most sought after by advertisers.

Glee is a great show, and if you haven't checked it out yet, you should. The first 13 episodes are already available on DVD, and the last 6 are available to watch free at www.hulu.com/glee

All that's left for Glee is to wait and see whether these new viewers come back to continue watching in the following weeks. Nielsen does note that there were 1.6 million fewer viewers in the final 5 minutes of last nights show than the first 5 minutes, but most of those viewers lost were from older demographics.

Scrubs Disappoints, Illini don't

So I've been out of the TV critic game for a while, but the return of one of my favorite shows of all time has brought me back.

Scrubs began a 9th season on Tuesday, its second on ABC. However, to say it is the same show as a few years ago would be a terrible mistake. In fact, the whole backdrop of the show has changed. The Sacred Heart has been inexplicably moved to the campus of Winston University as a teaching hospital. Now it is true, a lot of your favorite characters return for season nine. Zach Braff (JD), Donald Faison (Turk), and John C. McGinley (Perry Cox) are still there, but now fade into secondary character mode. Unfortunately, Sarah Chalke (Elliot) only made a brief appearance, and Judy Reyes (Carla) is no longer part of the show at all. The new main character appears to be a med student named Lucy, played by Kerry Bishé (photo above). She even does the voice-over narration that used to be the job of JD. Eliza Koupe returns in a more prominent role as Denise, and her character's strong personality is perhaps the one saving grace of the new episodes. She is working as JD's teaching assistant.

In short, this show is a shell of the show we learned to love back on NBC. The show has been falling off, but I feel that this season will truly be the one that will kill the show for die-hard fans. Instead of being able to ride off into the sun, we are apparently are stuck with the memory of these last few seasons as the disappointing end to a series that brought us so much enjoyment.


Well, on the bright side, the Illini pulled off an improbable comeback to beat Clemson 76-74 that became key to the Big Ten's first ever victory in the Big Ten-ACC Challenge. Illinois faced a 51-28 deficit with 19:00 left, but shot great and capitalized on Clemson turnovers in the second half to complete the biggest rally in school history. Wisconsin's upset over Duke sealed the deal as the Big Ten won the challenge 6-5.

How I Met Your Mother

How I Met Your Mother

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What's On? This Week In Television

February 16th, 2009 1:54pm EST Post a comment

This Monday night starts off a new week of television with a lot of reruns. The week culminates in the 81st Annual Academy Awards show, where favorites Slumdog Millionaire and The Curious Case of Benjamin Button vie for the coveted best picture Oscar.

Monday
Pick of the Night: House, FOX 8/7c.
"Unfaithful," a priest checks in to the hospital and claims to have seen Jesus floating above him.

Other new episodes worth watching: The Closer TNT 9/8c

Rerun alert: Big Bang Theory, How I Met Your Mother, Two And A Half Men, CSI: Miami Nights, Chuck.

Tuesday
Pick of the Night: American Idol FOX 8/7c.
This two hour special includes the first 12 of the final 36 contestants.

Other new episodes worth watching: NCIS CBS 8/7c, Leverage TNT 10/9c, Law and Order SVU NBC 109c.

Rerun alert: Scrubs

Wednesday
Pick of the Night: Law and Order NBC 10/9c
"Rapture," Jack McCoy's opponent for DA of New York decides to use his recent decisions to start an attack ad campaign against him.

Other new episodes worth watching: Lost ABC 9/8c, Important Things with Demetri Martin, Comedy Central 10:30/9:30c.

Thursday
Pick of the Night: CSI: CBS 9/8c
"Miscarriage of Justice," Langston (Lawrence Fishburne) is testifying in a high-profile case against a congressman, but the lab decides to reopen the case after new evidence comes to light.

Other new episodes worth watching: Survivor: Toncantins CBS 8/7c. Grey's Anatomy ABC 9/8c, The Beast A&E 10/9c.

Rerun alert: The Office, 30 Rock

Friday
Pick of the night: Monk USA 9/8c.
"Mr. Monk Fights City Hall," When the parking garage where Trudy was killed is set for demolition, Monk intervenes, but instead finds himself investigating the disappearance of a city official key to preserving the site.

Other new episodes worth watching: Psych USA 10/9c, Dollhouse FOX 9/8c

Saturday
Go out and do something fun.

Sunday
PICK OF THE WEEK: 81st Annual Academy Awards show
The coverage starts at 8/7c on ABC with the red carpet show where you can see interviews with your favorite stars. Then afterwards is the presentations of the Oscars live from Los Angeles.

NO episode: Desperate Housewives

http://www.starpulse.com/news/index.php/2009/02/16/what_s_on_this_week_in_television_2

Starpulse.com articles

I have now been contributing articles to the entertainment website Starpulse.com for 6 months. Most of the articles have either been posted or originated on this blog, but the link below will send you to a page with all of the articles I have written for them, including ones not posted on this blog such as "Scrubs is Back!" and "TV's best crime shows in transition."

Kevin Olsta's Starpulse.com articles

Bob is the Ultimate Survivor

Bob Crowley, a physics teacher from Maine, bested the rest and became the winner of Survivor: Gabon and the million dollars that goes along with it. At 57, Bob is the oldest person to ever win the title of sole survivor, and also might be the most likeable winner of all time. Through online voting and text messaging, the viewers rewarded him with the fan favorite award, earning him an extra $100,000 to go along with his winnings.

Bob truly outwitted, outplayed, and outlasted his competitors to get all the way to the end. When his back was against the wall on multiple occasions, he was able to hatch plans to save himself every time. With four players remaining, Susie won the final immunity challenge, leaving Bob vulnerable. Bob was the obvious pick to vote out, since it was likely that the jury members would vote for him to win. However, Sugar had come to look up to Bob as a father figure, and Bob was able to use that to convince her to vote for Matty. This caused a tie, and resulted in what was essentially a million dollar fire building contest. Bob had actually been practicing for this possibility when he had time alone. The training paid off, literally, as he won and earned a spot in the final three.

The final three were Bob, Susie, and Sugar, the model from California. Sugar has become very popular with the public, as she has claimed she can't even leave her house without running into paparazzi. However, the feelings did not translate to the game. The other players decided that they did not approve of her tactics and emotionality, and she received no votes from the jury. Susie was the ultimate underdog going in, but she was able to win a spot in the final three by building the best house of cards at the immunity challenge. Then, at the final tribal council, she gave a very convincing argument that she deserved to win because she had exceeded all expectations and tried her hardest at every turn. Nevertheless, it would be Bob that earned four of the seven votes for his likeability and mental and physical prowess to become Ultimate Survivor.

Survivor will be back this spring for another installment. Host Jeff Probst and 18 Americans will experience the adventure of a lifetime in the Brazilian highlands.

Jay Leno and NBC announce outside-the-box programming move

This afternoon, NBC announced a breakthrough plan for fall 2009 that is unlike any other line-up ever produced.

It was well documented that this spring Jay Leno would be stepping down from his 16 year post at The Tonight Show. Late Night host Conan O'Brien would move into the 11:35/10:35c slot, and former SNL cast member Jimmy Fallon would be taking over for Conan on Late Night.

These moves led to speculation that Jay would in fact not be retiring, but instead ink a lucrative deal to create a new show on a competing network. With these talks moving from rumor to reality, NBC realized they had to do all they could to try to keep Jay Leno in the family.

So what's the solution? A completely outside-of-the-box programming move that will bring Jay Leno to primetime. Instead of airing costly hour dramas every night at 10/9c, NBC will be featuring The Jay Leno Show every weeknight. In a press conference this afternoon, NBC chairman Jeff Zucker talked about how excited they were to have this innovative new idea set in place, and to have Jay Leno at the center of it. Leno commented on how people are going to bed earlier. People enjoy things like the monologue and headlines, but just don't want to stay up till midnight to see it. In primetime, he said that he hopes to do more on location pieces and break from the set mold of comedy, guest, music. The move is certainly an interesting one, and probably contains equal parts of brilliance and desperation.

What kind of domino effect does this move create? First of all, NBC will have over 30% less time for original series programming. This means that many underperforming shows will likely get the axe and other shows may be delegated to one of NBC's cable networks like when they moved Law & Order CI to the USA network. Secondly, since Jay will be bringing the many of the Tonight Show's components to The Jay Leno Show, it begs the question whether the Tonight Show will essentially adopt the format of Late Night with Conan O'Brien. Ealier, there was speculation that Conan would have to abandon many of the quirky sketches and themes that he uses on the Late Night show when he moved to the 11:35/10:35c slot. Now, it would appear that he may have more latitude to make the show his own. Thirdly, this really opens up the door for Jimmy Fallon to really create an entirely new show at Late Night, instead of just taking over for Conan. How will the other networks respond to this? My guess is probably not much at all. They have many established hits at the 10/9c hour, and I would assume that shows like CSI:Miami would still beat Jay in the ratings. The question will be how much of an increase will NBC experience over other shows in these slots like the discarded Journeyman or struggling My Own Worst Enemy.

This move is at the very least a gimmick and at the very most a game changer in which NBC looks to rise out of the fourth place hole it has been in for several years. The plans are being laid out right now, but we will have to wait until next fall to experience it for ourselves.