I'm not surprised that Fallon is leading the late night schedule. He has had great guests and his segments even attracts lots of views on Youtube. I'm surprised that Kimmel is beating Letterman in demos and catching up in total viewers. I thought people only watched Kimmel's post-Oscars specials but it seems to be more than that now. Looks like ABC has more confidence in Kimmel now, after switching with Nightline. Sad that Ferguson is low on demos and his show is about to end soon. It will be interesting if Colbert and Corden can challenge NBC. I know that Colbert's show on Comedy Central is doing well for the network. It's also interesting how just over 870k viewers stay up to watch Carson Daly.

NBC must be extremely happy with the Leno to Fallon succession after the disastrous Leno to Conan succession (which I honestly don’t think Conan was responsible for).

Kimmel has always challenged Letterman in terms of younger viewers as reflected in the demos, but now he’s starting to challenge him in total viewers too.

I agree its a shame that Ferguson is now a distant third place in the 12:30am slot, his show is quite often the most original than the lot, but it’s quite niche, which is why I don’t think CBS were ever going to give him Letterman’s 11:30pm slot.

Watching what happens when CBS premier Colbert/Corden next year will be interesting. Stephen Colbert is different enough to not be a carbon copy of Fallon while still being fresh, and James Corden is either a genius or disastrous choice.

One thing is for sure though, its not just primetime where there’s a lot of money to be made these days, late night is more important to the networks than ever before.

Pretty much. Cable networks are invested into them as well. Comedy Central is really invested in The Daily Show and they just ordered more episodes of @midnight with Chris Hardwick. TBS has Conan and I'm sure that there are more shows to come. E! had Chelsea Lately until last month, but the show ended because Chelsea didn't want to do her show on E! anymore and have been very vocal about it. Then again, despite being a solid performer for the network, it did decline in the last few years, I think.

Thurs early ratings:

CBS:
Thursday Night Football Kickoff- 11.90m (3.5) and 15.91m (5.5)

NBC:
The Biggest Loser- 5.37m (1.6)
The Secret Lives of Pets- 4.17m (1.0)

FOX:
Hells Kitchen (r)- 2.54m (0.8)
Bones (r)- 2.48m (0.6)

ABC:
The Quest- 1.83m (0.5)
Shark Tanke (r)- 2.60m (0.7)

CW:
The Vampire Diaries- 730,000 (0.3)
The Originals- 580,000 (0.2)

Friday early ratings:

ABC:
Last Man Standing (r)- 4.51m (0.9), 4.37m (0.8)
Shark Tank (r)- 4.87m (1.0)
20/20- 3.75m (0.9)

CBS:
48 hours- 4.33m (0.6)
Hawaii Five 0 (r)- 4.87m (0.5)
BlueBloods (r)- 6.04m (0.6)

FOX:
Utopia- 1.98m (0.7)
Kitchen Nightmares- 1.80m (0.6)

NBC:
Running Wild with Bear Grylls (r)- 2.99m (0.7)
Dateline- 5.45m (1.4)

CW:
Masters of Illusion- 1.47m (0.4)
Whos Line? (r) - 1.10m (0.3)
Americas Next Top Model (r)- 800,000 (0.2)

This is becoming an embarrassment for Utopia, $50m they spent on it!!

FOX is going to lose either way with Utopia. It will be very costly to axe it now, but it will be even more of a problem if they leave it on the air past next week. But, I think they should just axe it next week, as ratings won't get any better. The fact that they spent so much on a project and expect the viewers to be committed for a year is just stupid. I think one person said on TVbyTN something like they might as well watch Bad Girls Club, since every episode is just the cast screaming and fighting, instead of actually showing the people trying to build a community.

It reminds me of one French version of Big Brother, which was literally a Faves vs Fans season. The ratings was so shitty that TF1 canceled the show immediately, only after two weeks on air (of the proposed 10 weeks). All of the cast members did get paid the season salary though apparently.

FOX are just idiots when it comes to decisions
They either cancel the wrong shows, keep the worst shows on or just mistreat their shows through poor promo or timeslots.

I think they got that from ABC circa 2009-12. ABC really screwed some shows over like Ugly Betty, Pushing Daisies and such. Plus, many decisions that Paul Lee has made were just pathetic beyond belief. But, that doesn't even come close to what Dawn Ostroff did to The CW. She single handedly destroyed the network with Gossip Girl and 90210 reboot.

Hmm that's true
Although FOX had done it way before then

A lot of this is Fox having to live through decisions that their ex-head Kevin Reilly made before he was sacked. I suspect it will take them until next season to get everything starting to go back in line with expectations. Utopia sounded terrible from the first moment I heard about them doing it - I knew it would tank from the outset. They need to cancel it - but they have almost nothing to replace it with, and it's a huge chunk of their schedule that's devoted to a horrendously performing show. I'd expect them to have a new talent show this time next year - and something that can run on a Fall and Spring schedule, much like The Voice does. American Idol is on it's last legs too, but we'll have to wait until January to see how badly that flounders. Fox just have a mostly shit line--up this year, with one or two really promising things, that will perhaps just keep their heads above water. Gotham, Sleepy Hollow and Gracepoint are all likely to be the critical or ratings successes they need, so that they can scuff over the badly performing stuff elsewhere (Mindy, New Girl etc).

Monday early ratings:

CBS:
The Big Bang Theory (r)- 6.29m (1.2)
Mom (r)- 4.87m (1.0)
Two and a Half Men (r)- 4.57m (1.0)
The Big Bang Theory (r)- 5.39m (1.3)
Under The Dome- 6.97m (1.6)

ABC:
Dancing with the Stars- 13.55m (2.4)
Castle (r)- 7.01m (1.1)

FOX:
Masterchef- 5.48m (2.0)

NBC:
American Ninja Warrior- 5.16m (1.8)

CW:
Who's Line (r)- 1.14m (0.4)
Americas Next Top Model- 990,000 (0.4)

New Girl and Mindy are back tonight
Wonder if they will continue to decrease.

I predict:

New Girl- 3.30m (1.3)
Mindy Project- 2.93m (1.1)

Sounds about right

Finale of Extant
Premieres of Red band society and The Mysteries of laura

all tonight

Both of the premieres seem a little similar. Both comedy/dramas, one is focussing on people in a hospital, and the other is a police type show. The Mysteries of Laura being at 10pm after AGT is probably a hope that it would get similar numbers for NBC than The Night Shift?

I can't wait until Monday and the entire week, that's when we get a huge amount of shows coming back/starting.

The Mysteries Of Laura has already been predicted to be one of the flops of the new season. I think it looks great and I love Debra Messing.

Red Band Society is against AGT which could harm it in a way. But it's one of those shows I have continually heard nothing but praise for.

Extant is dead. I am expecting CBS to announce it's cancellation soon after the finale. Poor Halle Berry. Another flop for her.

Despite NG being up on the season final which got 1.2 demo it was down a huge 44% from last years premiere which got a 2.9 demo... wow, so from the first ep to the last of S3, NG went from 2.9 to 1.2! CW was possibly inflated so most likely adjusted down for the repeats.

CBS:
Big Brother- 6.87m (2.3)
NCIS LA (r)- 5.40m (0.9)
Person of Interest (r)- 4.69m (0.8)

ABC:
Dancing with the Stars- 12.28m (2.1)
S.H.I.E.L.D (r)- 3.02m (0.7)

FOX:
Utopia- 2.50m (1.0)
New Girl- 3.06m (1.6)
The Mindy Project- 2.75m (1.3)

NBC:
Americas Got Talent (r)- 5.31m (1.2)
Americas Got Talent- 8.39m (2.5)

CW:
Arrow (r)- 1.12m (0.4)
Supernatural- 960,000 (0.3)

Tuesday finals, NG and Dancing with the Stars adjusted up, huge viewer increase for AGT.

CBS:
Big Brother- 6.91m (2.3)
NCIS LA (r)- 5.40m (0.9)
Person of Interest (r)- 4.63m (0.8)

ABC:
Dancing with the Stars- 12.68m (2.2)
S.H.I.E.L.D (r)- 3.16m (0.7)

FOX:
Utopia- 2.42m (1.0)
New Girl- 3.04m (1.7)
The Mindy Project- 2.68m (1.3)

NBC:
Americas Got Talent (r)- 5.31m (1.2)
Americas Got Talent- 11.46m (2.5)

CW:
Arrow (r)- 910,000 (0.3)
Supernatural- 830,000 (0.3)

According to very early reports, FOX struggled with new show Red Band Society and furthers FOX's trouble that they will be in very soon when everything else starts, whereas The Mysteries of Laura did very well keeping apparently 77% of Americas Got Talent's audience. I am routing fully for NBC, they had a very tough few years and have only recently started to find its footing with shows that aren't talent shows...for example, About a Boy which did well on Tuesdays and The Blacklist.

Hopefully The Mysteries of Laura will help anchor the Wednesday schedule, and with a potentially strong NBC Friday with reliable Grimm and new show Constantine, it could be a good year for NBC. It's only Thursdays which need to be sorted.

Thinking about FOX now reminds me of what NBC was like a few years ago, where it was struggling for years after Friends finished.

What's funny is that RBS has received average reviews but Laura has gotten negative reviews. It may be one of the shows which may not be critically liked but becomes a solid performer?

RBS tanked with 1.3 (4.03m) while The Mysteries of Laura started with 2.1 (10.43m). People are saying MOL started strongly, but when I see that number, I only see an average debut. Granted, it was led out of AGT finale, which got 2.3 (11.98m) but when someone says a "strong number" I expect something like a 2.5+ for a 10pm airing and 3.0+ for 8pm and 9pm shows. MOL's competitions for their regular slot are Survivor, The Middle/Goldbergs, Hell's Kitchen and Aarow.

As for RBS, that's a really bad start. Then again, FOX has been struggling all year and they STILL haven't cancelled Utopia, so who knows how low their benchmark will go.

Most of the critics seemed to love it. Apparently one of the best pilots of this year. FOX is really hoping Gotham does well.

Not very good for RBS at all. 4 million for a premiere of a one hour scripted drama is very poor. This isn't The CW, this is fox after all. I think AGT didn't help though.

I definitely want NBC to improve, but am very underwhelmed by MOL, doesn't help that I don't like Debra Messing.

Really looking forward to Constantine. Loved the books, hope it does them justice and runs for years.

Weds finals:

CBS:
Big Brother- 6.60m (2.2)
Criminal Minds (r)- 4.65m (1.0)
Extant- 5.44m (1.1)

NBC:
Americas Got Talent Final- 12.21m (2.4)
The Mysteries of Laura- 10.19m (2.0)

FOX:
Hells Kitchen- 3.96m (1.4)
Red Band Society- 4.10m (1.3)

ABC:
The Middle (r)- 4.06m (1.1)
The Goldbergs (r)- 3.62m (1.1)
Modern Family (r)- 3.82m (1.3)
Modern Family (r)- 4.27m (1.5)
Nashville (r)- 12.35m (0.7)

CW:
Penn and Teller- 1.58m (0.5)
The 100 (r)- 620,000 (0.2)

FOX still in big trouble, good night for NBC. The ABC repeats for the comedies doing great as usual, looks like there will be solid numbers for The Middle, Modern Family and TG. Penn and Teller will surely be back, 0.5-0.6 throughout a whole summer run is impressive for the CW