Lester Cohen/WireImage; Michael Buckner/AMA2010/Getty ImagesThe Glee concert movie hit a sour note at the weekend box office.
And you know what that means: Everything's going to be just fine!
No, it's not good to inspire headlines that contain the words "tanked," "sunk" and "bombs."
But it's not necessarily good, either, to inspire headlines that contain the words "rules," "tops" and "success."
In 1998, The X-Files spawned a summer movie mid-way through the series' primetime run. The film topped the box office, and, the following fall, the TV show reached dizzying new heights lost millions of viewers, and continued on a downward trajectory until its demise.
The Nielsen lesson, which applies to all aspects of life and Prince Harry's girlfriends: There are no guarantees.
Whatever impact, or not, the Glee movie has on the Glee TV show won't be known for weeks, until the third-season premiere.
We do know the Glee movie did not kill The Glee Project. Even as obituaries were being written Sunday night about the concert film, the reality series was drawing a larger audience than the week before.
But, yes, it's still nicer to not to get the "dud" business.
Elsewhere, here's a quick look at the TV week's winners and losers, per the just-released rankings:
• Michelle Bachman: Not only did she win the Iowa straw poll, she and her fellow Republican debaters outdrew Burn Notice, The Next Food Network Star and a whole lot of everything else to finish in 10th place in cable.
• Jersey Shore: No, not even Bachman's bigger than Snooki. This was cable's No. 1 show. Still.
• Kate Gosselin: Kate Plus 8 show tied for 1,383th place, and got canceled, but the show drew a bigger audience than TLC's prime-time average, so debate amongst yourself who's the real loser here: the star or the network?
• NCIS: A rerun scored a bigger audience than Wednesday's all-new America's Got Talent, and climbed to second place in the broadcast standings.