How is the TV Season Doing Now (February Edition)

What a difference a few months make, right?

Just when NBC had finally made a positive move, reaching the top of the pyramid where the major networks are concerned in terms of ratings anyway, the situation took a turn for the worse around the holidays with their top new drama Revolution going on hiatus at the end of November and the reality series The Voice coming to an end in mid-December.

Then just as the holidays came to a close NBC debuted its new nighttime soap Deception, which has garnered to date (after airing 6 episodes) just a little under 4 million viewers overall. And at the end of January the debut of the Jekyll and Hyde-like drama Do No Harm debuted to even worse numbers; in fact, the series set a record as the lowest-rated in-season debt of a drama in modern history. Can we all say ouch!

That isn’t the end of the downward spiral for NBC, as it continued into February with the return of the much-maligned musical drama Smash that was back for a second season. The network put a lot of hope into the two-hour premiere of the most hate-watched series in modern history, but earned only 4.5 million viewers for the return and then was interrupted the following week by the State of the Union address.

To make matters worse, NBC has recently lost one of their bigger stars – Christina Applegate – who abruptly quit the sitcom Up All Night midway through its current second season run that is being revamped. Double ouch, right?!

The only bright spot, if there can be that given all of the above, is that NBC has ordered two more scripts for its new drama Chicago Fire, bringing the shows’ current order to 24 episodes. The series started off a bit rocky in the ratings, but over the course of this TV season, it has actually earned better than expected ratings. But, that could be too little too late at this point.

Over at ABC, the sitcom Don’t Trust the Bitch in Apartment 23 was pulled from the prime-time line-up (i.e., the show has basically been canceled) without airing eight remaining episodes. And, the fan favorite sitcom Happy Endings, which has been on a month-and-a-half break, has been shelved to Friday nights, the night that is basically considered the death slot for any show.

The situation isn’t much better for the dramas on ABC especially considering that the network’s once top dramas Revenge and Once Upon a Time have dropped in the ratings and have garnered the ire of once devoted fans with less than satisfactory storylines in some instances. And, the few new dramas that have aired so far – 666 Park Avenue and Last Resort – were brought to an end even before each show reached mid-season and Nashville is barely hanging on by a thread.

The only bright spot, it would seem, is that ABC has added an additional episode to Castle’s current, fifth season, bringing the full season order to 24 episodes; and Body of Proof, which has proven to be somewhat of a ratings success for the network in the past, will be back tonight. Additionally, the Washington D.C.-set drama Scandal has quickly become an internet sensation with the ratings jumping to over 8 million each week since the start of the new year; an improvement of at least a million to 2 million viewers weekly.

CBS, of course, has not felt the sway of the ratings slump quite as much as the other major networks, but some of their once top dramas – such as the CSI franchise – have seen a decline; enough so that the network will more than likely cancel one or the other. The network can boast that their two new dramas – Elementary and Vegas – are still holding strong from last year, both earning between 10 and 11 million viewers each week.

As for The CW, they made an early pick-up announcement for returning favorites The Vampire Diaries and Supernatural as well as their hit new series Arrow. Word is still out, though, on the network’s other new drama Beauty And the Beast despite much support by the reboot’s fans or the fact the series won a People’s Choice Award for Best New Series. One thing is for sure, however, the network’s long-running teen drama 90210 is surviving on nothing but life support, earning less than 800,000 viewers since the beginning of the year.

FOX, on the other hand, has seen the sitcom Ben and Kate pulled from the line-up and, of course, the new medical drama The Mob Doctor ending permanently at the beginning of January. The second season of the Kiefer Sutherland drama Touch had its two-hour premiere on February 8, earning a disappointing 3.5 million viewers while the musicomedy Glee is holding onto a meager average of 5.9 million viewers over the last month. Meanwhile, the network’s new thriller series The Following saw big numbers for its debut and second episodes but since then the drama has been losing speed dropping two million viewers for its third episode and an additional million for last week’s episode.

As for the cable networks, TBS canceled their new dramedy The Wedding Band after only one season while HBO renewed their “acclaimed” drama Girls for a third season. Whereas, FX debuted its new 80’s-set spy drama The Americans, earning a respectable 3.2 million viewers, but falling nearly half that only two weeks later. And, the new medical drama Monday Mornings debuted on TNT at the beginning of February, but earned less than mediocre ratings.

With the duldrums of March fast approaching and the end of the current TV season only a few months away, it is going to be interesting to see how all of the networks fare in the ratings.