Monday night's ratings: "What About Brian" beats "Studio 60"

Wow - Aaron Sorkin got beaten by a "7th Heaven" castoff. That's gotta hurt.

JGM...

Taylor...

Hmm...? Okay. I suppose.

I'm 30 and I grew up watching SNL. My parents are mid-50's and they
watched it. If I had a 10-year-old and he watched it, too, then, you're
right. 3 generations. But it isn't 3 generations long a series.

Taylor...

Sad how "How in the heck did THAT get renewed??!!" 'What About Brian?'
beat this series.

So, ratings gurus: how do the ratings for (the far superior, IMO) "30
Rock" compare?

"What About Brian" - 5.7/9
"Studio 60" - 5.3/8

Uniblab...

In fairness, these are the fast national ratings, and "Studio 60" did
prevail in the overnights. But still, "Studio 60" has managed to scare off
over a third of its premiere audience, with no signs of stopping. "Medium"
would be a much better fit in this time period.

I wonder if "Studio 60" will even get a back-nine order.

evwill...

"What About Brian" beat "Studio 60" in the prelim 18-49 numbers too.
Before the season started, did anyone foresee Brian surpassing Studio
60?

Steven L....

The general consensus among the mass media--critics, columnists,
reviewers and pundits--was that "Studio 60" was the show most likely to
be this season's breakout hit.

NBC would get better ratings if they replaced "Studio 60" with
"Celebrity Deal or No Deal". :-)

Jeffy3...

I think I am burned out on the Sorkin style of writing. The
scene-ending dramatic pauses worked well on West Wing when there was a
nuclear crisis, but it doesn't work so well when it's found out that a
late-night comedy sketch was plagiarized.

keithp...

The writing is the main problem (but not the only one) for me with this
show. Every bit of dialog sounds forced, scripted, overly dramatic, too
calculated... exactly like the West Wing was, but for some reason it
doesn't work here.

The cast leaves me cold too. Whitford was fine as his character on TWW,
but here I still think of him as that character. Perry doesn't do
anything for me either. I don't watch it anymore.

As for the show within a show sketches not being that funny, I don't
mind suspending disbelief with that and accepting the fact that the
sketches are funny even if what I am seeing are not. It's sort of
like the portrayal of VIncent Chase in ENTOURAGE. Adrian Grenier isn't
physically believable to me as a big-time movie star, but then again if

kenny...

... but a Toby Maguire or Ryan Phillippe (whom I'm guessing are supposed
to be the real-life analogues based on the movies they've been giving
"Vincent") are believeable as such?

record hunter...

Toby Maguire's not a movie star?

kenny...

I think "big time" is "Jeffy3"'s sticking point; I'm just saying
that there's a bit of a difference.

record hunter...

He's as 'big time' as Vincent Chase.

record hunter...

He's as 'big time' as Vincent Chase.

they cast someone who could be a big-time movie star, they would BE A
BIGTIME MOVIE Star and not be on ENTOURAGE.

Everett W.

record hunter...

Does Diebold run the Nielsens? Or Katherine Harris tally the results?

David...

One of those "Heroes" freaks is messing with the results.

Obveeus...

Couldn't be. The ratings are proving that Heroes makes a lousy lead-in.
;-)

Lord Vader III...

That's very bad news for Studio 60. After all the preseason hype I'm
sure NBC wants it to succeed but it looks like its only going to be a
matter of time before we see a L&O repeat in that slot. :(