FOX Gets its Mid-Season Report Card

The Good: For the second time in the Network’s history, Fox came out on top during the pivotal November Sweeps period where it counts, in the coveted 18-49 demographic. But before we get into at what cost (more on that later) let’s focus on the positive. Helping to contribute to Fox’s boffo Fall was newcomer Zooey Deschanel’s NEW GIRL, Sunday’s appropriately branded Animation Domination” lineup (Including THE SIMPSONS and the Seth MacFarlane trifecta of FAMILY GUY, CLEVELAND SHOW, AMERICAN DAD!) and GLEE (Which despite a ratings downtick still maintained very a healthy rating in the 18-49 demo). More good news came in the form of BONES, which defied the MOONLIGHTING curse thanks to a perfectly timed real-life pregnancy of star Emily Deschanel and THE X FACTOR. Which brings us to…

The Bad: While Fox will certainly tout THE X FACTOR as a big err… factor when it came to helping to contribute to its decisive November Sweeps victory, its 10-12 million viewers per week certainly wasn’t as big as originally expected based on the year-long long build-up to the Simon Cowell opus. Also not living up to expectations — much to our chagrin — was the costly dinosaur infused time-travelling adventure that is TERRA NOVA (Whose fate remains very much in the air), the Jonah Hill fronted animated series ALLEN GREGORY (Which has already been yanked off the schedule) and I HATE MY TEENAGE DAUGHTER (No explanation necessary). And since we’re on the subject of no laughing matter, FRINGE’s performance on Friday has us thinking that fans best be preparing to say goodbye to both universes come May.

The Future: Should be interesting. Particularly for those of us who will be keeping a watchful eye on whether or not AMERICAN IDOL will suffer from signs of music competition fatigue thanks to the one-two punch of THE X FACTOR and NBC’s THE VOICE. Also of interest will be what affect – if any — all the behind-the-scenes drama will have on the J.J. Abrams produced ALCATRAZ and whether or not Kiefer Sutherland’s return to the small screen in TOUCH can possibly live up to the hype.

Grade: A

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• FOX Gets its Mid-Season Report Card
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• CBS Gets its Mid-Season Report Card\
• NBC Gets its Mid-Season Report Card