Say Good Knights to The Nine...Again

Some things just aren't meant to be. No matter what time of year. Or TV season.

The Nine and Knights of Prosperity are learning that lesson after the already canceled ABC series—one pulled last fall, the other last winter—saw their summer runs wiped out. Before they barely began.

The Nine, the serial drama about bank-robbery victims, has been pulled from the schedule after just two outings; Knights, the serial comedy about inept crooks (who did not hold up The Nine), lasted but one summertime week.

In both cases, low ratings can be blamed. Make that, very low ratings.

After averaging all of 3 million viewers for its summer debut, The Nine fell to On the Lot depths last week: 1.94 million, 111th place in the latest Nielsen Media Research rankings.

Only the previously referenced On the Lot, Fox's will-not-die and/or cannot-be-contractually-canceled filmmaking series, averaged fewer viewers for an all-new episode (1.92 million, 111th place).

In its return to prime time, Knights did better than Nine, but not much: 2.3 million viewers, 98th place.

Both shows were slated to push their unused inventory on Wednesdays. For now, ABC will fill the holes with extra helpings of According to Jim and Primetime.

Other ratings highlights for the TV week ended Sunday:

• Want proof that the summertime TV audience is a tad on the ancient side? CBS' 60 Minutes (second place, 10.2 million) hasn't been this hot since Mike Wallace was 78.
• Drew Carey's game-show career on CBS got off to a solid start with the prime-time premiere of Power of Ten (fourth place, 9.2 million). The show had a tougher go of it (17th place, 7.8 million) in its regular Wednesday time slot, opposite Fox's steady So You Think You Can Dance (14th place, 7.9 million).
• Either NBC's The Singing Bee (sixth place, 9.1 million for a Tuesday episode; 13th place, 7.9 million for a Monday episode) is tiring, or audiences are just strained from also humming along with Fox's Don't Forget the Lyrics (10th place, 8.7 million).
• Among the three football broadcast networks (CBS, NBC and Fox), Fox wins the award for averaging the most diehards (21st place, 7.5 million) for a thrilling contest among third-string players too overwhelmed to notice they're running around in full pads in August. 
• Did the premiere numbers for Fat March (63rd place, 4.3 million) look kinda, well, skinny? Not to ABC, which is having a terrible summer (see: The Nine and Knights of Prosperity), and couldn't be happier that its pavement pounders didn't get entirely crushed by Fox's Hell's Kitchen (eighth place, 8.9 million) and the shocking twentysomething-crowning season finale of NBC's Age of Love (24th place, 7 million).
• America's Funniest Home Videos Explained, sorry, i-CAUGHT, was another bright spot for ABC, managing to average even more viewers (34th place, 6.2 million) than the original YouTube clip of the Philippine inmates group-dancing to "Thriller."
• NBC's America's Got Talent (first place, 10.8 million) was the most watched broadcast show; TNT's The Closer (7.5 million) was the most watched cable show. Again.  
• TNT's Saving Grace (4.8 million) has been reupped for 15 more episodes; HBO's John from Cincinnati, of late drawing fewer than 1 million viewers, has been canceled after one season.
• No movie was more watched, on broadcast or cable, than a Disney Channel outing for Ella Enchanted (5 million); no raunchy skewering of Flavor Flav was more watched anywhere than on his Comedy Central roast (3.8 million)
• The History Channel's Ice Road Truckers is sizzling (3.9 million). FX's Damages (2.1 million) is cooling. TNT's The Company (2.1 million) was never hot.

Overall in the prime-time races, CBS (7.1 million) was the most watched broadcast network; the Disney Channel (2.2 million) was the most watched cable network.

Here's a look at the 10 most watched prime-time shows for the week ended Sunday, according to Nielsen Media Research:

1. America's Got Talent, NBC, 10.8 million viewers
2. 60 Minutes, CBS, 10.2 million viewers
3. CSI, CBS, 9.8 million viewers
4. Power of Ten (Tuesday), CBS, 9.2 million viewers
5. Without a Trace, CBS, 9.19 million viewers
6. The Singing Bee, NBC, 9.1 million viewers
7. Two and a Half Men, CBS, 9 million viewers
8. Hell's Kitchen, Fox, 8.9 million viewers
9. Criminal Minds, CBS, 8.87 million viewers
10. Don't Forget the Lyrics, Fox, 8.7 million viewers