Grim Reaper Strikes: Lone Star Axed

As predicted in an earlier post, the first show to hit the television graveyard is the critically loved but rating starved Lone Star axed after only two episodes. Fox is well known for killing many a show quickly that doesn't stand up to the ratings. Picked by many a critic as one of the year's best, it suffered from Burn Notice like ads (See SNL sketch to understand) that told you nothing about what the show was about. Added that the main character was an anti-hero con man and the writing was on the wall. Most of Monday continued to improve with only the low rated Chuck now on the bubble for its low ratings, although most of NBC's Monday lineup finished poorly including the interesting The Event. Sandwiched between the likable Chuck and the unwatchable Chase, I feel NBC will do some shuffling sooner than later, with Chase getting the axe soon. Newcomers Mike and Molly and Hawaii 5-0 are still pulling in good numbers and proving to be solid hits for CBS.
Tuesday saw ABC's critically panned No Ordinary Family with Michael Chiklis and Julie Benz staring as a dysfunctional family that gains super powers, did very well in it's slot of Tuesday's brutal eight o'clock hour, followed by two hours of nothing on every network. The show pulled in a respectable 3.7 opposite the Glee monster, stalwart NCIS and the dying The Biggest Loser. DWTS and Detroit 187 both pulled in modest numbers in a weak time slot. NBC, while getting big gains over last years fall debacle (Jay Leno Show anyone?), still put out a host of shows that are questionable at best and are suffering from it in some slots like Monday, Tuesday and Friday. ABC and FOX have fared much worse with most of their new programming tanking across the board. ABC's one bright spot was No Ordinary Family but struggle everywhere else with The Whole Truth on the bubble as well Detroit 187. Fox's new shows are proving to be wholly unwatchable with only Raising Hope doing average at best and its follow up sitcom Hope Running Wilde soon to be cancelled.
CBS continues to dominate with several of their new shows doing well and the CW gains more ground as their shows are suddenly competitive which does happen when you air utter wank versus them.