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‘The Mentalist’ is Fall TV Hit, ‘Do Not Disturb’ Cancelled

Could it be the fallout from last season’s writer’s strike? Or just a plain old lack of creativity? It’s hard to know for sure, but one thing has become abundantly clear so far this fall: There appear to be no big breakout hits. With an already sparse pool of new shows to choose from, television viewers were more excited about their favorite returning shows than the crop of newbies.

Fox’s “Do Not Disturb,” a multi-camera sitcom about the upstairs/downstairs staff at an upscale New York hotel, is the first casualty of the new television season. After airing only three episodes, sources confirmed to Michael Ausiello of Entertainment Weekly that the situation comedy is getting the heave-ho. On the bright side, CBS’ new procedural crime series “The Mentalist,” had a solid premiere and managed to retain most of the “NCIS” audience. The show is not all that different from many of the other CBS crime shows, which is probably a good thing for fans of those shows.

Here’s a rundown of how the premiere of new shows did according to Nielsen ratings:

“The Mentalist” got off to a solid start with 15.6 million viewers despite stiff competition in the Tuesday 9pm timeslot against fan-favorite and ratings juggernaut “Dancing with the Stars.”
CBS’ “Worst Week” debuted with 10.9 million viewers and lost 21% of its “Two and Half Men” lead-in. The new comedy’s ratings are acceptable, but not impressive.
One of the most buzzed-about new shows this fall was Fox’s “Fringe,” but it failed to translate the hype into high ratings as it brought in only a so-so amount of viewers (9.1 million). However, the numbers have slowly increased since the show’s premiere and it will most likely be picked up for a full season.

Despite the huge promotional push from NBC and the ratings success of the TV movie, “Knight Rider” debuted to disappointing ratings with only 7.3 million viewers. That’s not so hot and could mean that this remake is in trouble.
The premiere of “Gary Unmarried” made it unlikely that CBS will be able to kick-start a second night of comedy on Wednesday nights. The new sitcom starring Jay Mohr elicited only 6.8 million viewers.

ABC’s game show “Opportunity Knocks” from Ashton Kutcher had a lackluster premiere with 6.6 million viewers. Yawn…

When “90210” premiered in early September, Beverly Hills was the place most viewers wanted to be as it garnered nearly 5 million viewers for The CW. Even though that number seems comparatively low, it set a record as the highest-rated scripted show debut in the history of The CW. Since its premiere, numbers have dipped drastically but that hasn’t stopped the network from officially picking up the show for a full order of 22 episodes for this season. I guess they still have faith that ‘90210’ can remain television’s hottest zip code.

Even before the show’s premiere, reviews came pouring in telling viewers: Do not disturb your evening by watching “Do Not Disturb” and apparently people listened because it launched to 4.9 million viewers.

CW’s other new show about rich teens, “Privileged,” had a mere 2.9 million viewers. Maybe the network has already gotten as much mileage out of hot-young-people-wearing-expensive-clothes-and-driving-BMWs as it’s ever going to get?

CBS, ABC, NBC, and The CW still have several more new shows set to premiere in October. With the Fall TV season off to a pretty dismal start, can familiar faces like Christian Slater (“My Own Worst Enemy”), Molly Shannon and Selma Blair (“Kath & Kim”), and Michael Imperioli (“Life on Mars”) reinvigorate the lineup? Or are the new shows of the 2008 Fall TV season soon to be forgotten?

Source: Yahoo

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