Monday Night Wrapup
September 25th, 2007
How I Met Your Mother – “Wait for it…”
What: The 3rd Season Premiere of my new favourite multi-camera sitcom on television. And yes, that’s still a positive thing even when it’s also the only one.
The Highlights: Ted’s “Tramp Stamp,” Ted’s various mid-shave beards, Enrique Iglesias and Mandy Moore in unobtrusive guest appearances, Barney in general, the Slap Bet Countdown, and the hint that we’ll finally start some progress on the titular story.
The Lowlights: A little light on Barney, and while Ted had some great moments this episode the narrative is better when he’s not at its center.
Monday Night’s Ratings – Old Defeats New
What: The Fast National Nielsen Ratings for the first night of TV’s new season from PIFeedback.
Winners: Dancing with the Stars, Two and a Half Men, and CSI: Miami all dominated the night, proving that new programming isn’t going to suddenly take over from reality, cheesy comedies and procedural drama on the night. Heroes makes this list as well, although I must admit that I wonder how long it can sustain those numbers with such a weak premiere.
The New Shows: Chuck, Journeyman and The Big Bang Theory all passed the initial test with passable numbers (All averaging almost the same rating), so next week will be their big challenge. Journeyman, however, is in trouble thanks to dropping its Heroes lead-in, while The Big Bang Theory built from How I Met Your Mother.
The Losers: K-Ville dropped considerably from its premiere when faced with Heroes, so it’s in some trouble. And, How I Met Your Mother dropped considerably from its performance last year, and needs to hope for improvement or else it might get the boot at midseason for New Adventures of Old Christine.
Weeds – “He Taught Me How to Drive-By”
What: Weeds’ seventh episode of the season, and the first since Mary-Kate Olsen’s debut last week, which I didn’t blog about due to its innocuous nature: she wasn’t terrible, she wasn’t noteworthy, she’s just there.
Highlights: The title of the episode, Nancy’s gang activity, Avoiding treating Mary-Kate any differently, U-Turn’s funeral, the end of episode reveal of Peter Scotson’s body, Andy catering a porno.
Lowlights: The rest of the storylines (Shane vs. Religion, Doug vs. Celia, Sanjay as Baby Daddy) are kind of terrible, and I don’t really understand why Nancy would sex up Sullivan as opposed to Conrad to celebrate her freedom.
Cultural Learnings 