NBCPlayboy Club got shut down. Two and a Half Men won't quit. And which two new fall shows are here to stay (at least till the spring)?
A look at where the fall TV shows fall, per the latest TV ratings:
GONE
• The Playboy Club (87th place in weekly rankings; estimated 3.4 million viewers last night): On Monday, it was dead last among all Big Four network shows. Today, it's just dead, the first casualty of the season, pulled in favor of a Brian Williams newsmagazine. The Playboy-protesting Parents Television Council was "pleased."
NOT GOING ANYWHERE
• Up All Night (66th place) and Whitney (64th place): Both comedies won full-season passes today.
NOT GOING ANYWHERE…YET?
• Free Agents (95th place) and Prime Suspect (60th place): When your network's picking up freshman shows, but it's not picking up yours, then that's not exactly good news. Still, take note, Prime Suspect watchers: A source tells E! News that NBC will air its reruns in Playboy Club's time slot until the Williams newsmag debuts on Halloween
STILL GOING STRONG
• CBS' Monday comedies: Two and a Half Men was the week's No. 1 show; Mike & Molly was a Top 10 hit; 2 Broke Girls was a Top 20 hit; How I Met Your Mother just missed the Top 25. Last night proved to be more of the same, even with Men down, if that's the word, to an estimated 17 million or so viewers.
• NCIS (second place): Men has lost more than 10 million viewers since its super-sized premiere; this show is regular-sized huge, week in, week out.
• The Big Bang Theory (seventh place): Ditto on the consistency thing.
• Terra Nova (34th place; estimated 8.3 million viewers last night): Held steady with its premiere, something that's no small accomplishment for a sci-fi series. (See: the fast fades of The Event, The Cape, FlashForward, etc.)
• House (estimated 9.8 million viewers last night): If you figured this show jumped the shark with last spring's season finale, you figured wrong. Its eighth-season premiere was surprisingly solid.
ETC.
• New Girl (33rd place): Still outdrawing its Tuesday night companion, Glee (39th place).
• Suburgatory (30th place): Pretty good start, considering it improved on its Middle lead-in (38th place).
• How to Be a Gentleman (37th place): Not-so good start, considering it blew a good chunk of its Big Bang Theory lead-in.
• Pan Am (43rd place): More than 3 million passengers deplaned after the premiere. Will its descent level off—or continue?
• The Office (52nd place): Still a Top 20 show among 18-49 year-olds.
• Person of Interest (14th place): Most-watched new series.
• Fringe (97th place): Least-watched show on the Big Four networks.
Here's the TV week's Top 10 most-watched shows, per Nielsen:
- Two and a Half Men, 20.5 million viewers
- NCIS, 19.5 million viewers
- Sunday Night Football, 18.9 million viewers
- 60 Minutes, 17.1 million viewers
- NCIS: Los Angeles, 16.3 million viewers
- Dancing With the Stars (Monday), 16.2 million viewers
- The Big Bang Theory, 14.7 million viewers
- Dancing With the Stars (Tuesday), 14.4 million viewers
- Sunday Night Football Pre-Kick, 14.1 million viewers
- Mike & Molly, 13.9 million viewers
(Originally published Oct. 4, 2011, at 10:50 a.m. PT)