The New TV Season Is Off And Running

The new television season is only one week old but so far there are a couple of trends developing. First, ratings for the various newsmagazine shows are strong and steady. Most are carrying stories related to the terrorist attacks on September 11th and viewers are tuning in with interest.

The second trend is the dramatic decline of the ratings for the various "reality" shows. Just a few weeks ago they were the hottest genre going in television. The reality of the events of September 11th seems to have made "reality based" shows seem trivial to many viewers now. Time will tell if this is a temporary trend or not. Personally, I've always felt that the events and people on the various "reality" shows were trivial. I'm surprised the fad lasted this long.

Nielson Media Research has released the overnight ratings for Monday thru Thursday of the first week of the television season. The national ratings will be released after the deadline for this particular column and the results could change somewhat. As of now, however, here is how the first few days of the season are shaping up:

Monday Night: ABC dominated most of the night with the season premiere of "Monday Night Football." Even in a game that saw the Green Bay Packers overwhelm the lowly Washington Redskins, the program received a 16 share. The only series to top that during the duration of "Monday Night Football" was the season premiere of "Everybody Loves Raymond (CBS) which garnered a 20 share.

The WB saw the season premiere of "7th Heaven" draw an 11 share, good for the third most popular show of the night. The family drama gets very little press yet it remains the most popular show on the WB. It is also one of my favorites.

Fox saw the ratings for "Who Wants To Marry A Princess" plummet to an 8 share.

Tuesday Night: CBS had plenty of reasons to be happy with the night. The ratings for the season premiere of their military series "JAG" were the second biggest ever for the series (17 share) and saw it rank as the second most popular series of the evening. NBC's "Frasier" earned top honors as the most watched program of the night with a 21 share. CBS got solid numbers (a 15 share) from the debut of their new series "The Guardian," a show about a corporate lawyer representing children in family court as part of his community service punishment for doing drugs. CBS's "Judging Amy" was the most popular series at 10 p.m. with a 17 share.

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