Continuing our night-by-night look at the Fall 2012 schedule, we move to Sunday. The only changes on the night are two ABC shows, and one CBS show, but only one of those shows are new. Desperate Housewives, long an ABC tentpole is gone, and hopeful sophomore Revenge takes its place at 9pm, followed by the only new show of the night, 666 Park Avenue.
Last spring there was some doubt about the NFL season, but there's no doubt this year. Sunday Night Football will, of course, dominate the night's ratings. ABC won't top football, but it may well top the night after football season.
Will The Good Wife finally be sold into syndication? Considering the tenacity of Les Moonves' salespeople, I'm going with yes, but it hasn't been an easy sell. The Mentalist takes the place of canceled CSI: Miami at 1opm. The Mentalist will have 116+ episodes at the end of next season (its 5th), and isn't owned by CBS. Next spring will be an interesting time for fans worried about the show's future.
No new shows for Fox's Sunday animation line up next season. The Cleveland Show will join the night at 7:30 after football season.
Take a trip down memory lane with last season's 2011's Sunday Fall schedule:
Could someone tell me why isn’t FOX scheduling anything at 10 o’clock on any day and why CW doesn’t schedule anything to sundays??
@Bad Wolf, I won’t make a guess (yet) that next season is the last for The Mentalist, but I will guess now that Sun 10pm is its last timeslot on CBS.
And almost no chance TGW goes less than 22 episodes. It’s there to get sold into syndication, reducing the order defeats that purpose.
Ratings Predictions
7:00
1. NBC- Football Night- 4.0
2. FOX- The OT- 3.6 (for the hour)
3. CBS- 60 Minutes- 2.7/ 1.2
4. ABNC- AFHV- 1.4/ 1.5
8:00
1. NBC- SNF- 8.1
2. ABC- OUAT- 3.4/ 2.7
3. CBS- TAR- 2.8/ 2.4
4. FOX- Simpsons 2.7/ 2.0; Bob’s Burgers 2.0/ 1.5
9:00
2. ABC- Revenge- 3.1/ 2.3
3. FOX- Family Guy 3.0/ 2.3; Am. Dad- 2.2/ 1.8
4. CBS- Good Wife- 1.7/ 1.3
10:00
2. ABC- 666 Park Ave.- 2.9/ 2.5
3. CBS- Mentalist- 2.3/ 1.8
Abc lineup can do very well on the fall but aganist Awards and spring i think only OUAT will survive( it did 3.0 vs 13.5 of the Grammy’s)….I hope that i’m wrong
I don’t watch The Mentalist but this move sucks for them. Just as CBS killed CSI: Miami in this slot, they will kill The Mentalist.
@Polar Bear
Someone’s forgetting the uptick in the finale, 3.2 in the finals I believe and the high 3s until ”Dreamy”
My watch list will be
Once upon a time, revenge and 666 Park Avenue.
dvr: the mentalist
Sunday
CBS- None
ABC- Once upon a time,Renvenge
NBC- None
Fox- Bob’s Burgers,Family Guy,American Dad,The Cleveland Show
Rumors of The Mentalist’s dress are… greatly exaggerated.
I think OUAT survived against Awards bcoz the fact that it was against the first hr of the awards. CMIIW, usually the first hr is just uninteresting nominations.
My predictions, OUAT will get low 4 [4.2] for s2 premiere and then down to high 2s – low 3s. Revenge 3.3 and 666PA holds the #s from revenge.
ABC all the way for me please
@JJ
Could someone tell me why isn’t FOX scheduling anything at 10 o’clock on any day
FOX doesn’t program at 10 pm because the setup is very lucrative for the local affiliates.
This dates all the way back to the late 80s/early 90s. The affiliates can program their local news virtually unopposed (except for then-local independant stations with their own news departments like WGN or KTLA). Then at 11 ET, they can go into syndicated programming (back in the day, probably an hour of The Simpsons) while the other networks are doing the local news and they also grab viewers before the late night talk shows begin.
I’m not sure how good this setup is compared to twenty years ago, given the growth of cable, etc., but obviously the affiliates are still doing so well that expansion of FOX primetime isn’t even on the radar.
It’s gonna be a packed Sunday with OUAT, TGW, Mentalist, Revenge, The Walking Dead, Dexter, and more cable shows.
I will be watching:
Once Upon A Time
Revenge
666 Park Avenue
Ratings guess for premiere night for ABC:
Once Upon A Time – 4.1
Revenge – 3.5
666 Park Avenue – 3.3
“I’m not sure how good this setup is compared to twenty years ago, given the growth of cable, etc., but obviously the affiliates are still doing so well that expansion of FOX primetime isn’t even on the radar.”
Our understanding is that the Fox affiliates 10pm local news is still their big money maker, plus Fox has not shown any interest in programming the 10pm hour nationally.
Sundays are awesome on ABC. My 2 favourite new shows Once and Revenge are back to back. Its the best move by far. However, its also the biggest risk for ABC. Revenge has huge shoes to fill but i am thinking after this weeks Revenge finale viewers might be intrigued to tune in next season. Afterall they say season 2 is the season a show comes into its own. Fingers crossed that happens for both Once and Revenge.
Oh my gosh. Why doesn’t CBS end 60 minutes and make a new show called 30 minutes. It’s getting old!
That way The Mentalist would have a much better shot on Sundays. In the spring, they could do a half-hour sitcom at 7.
Obviously football will win the night.
ABC looks like it has a solid Sunday schedule. AFHV aside, the night has good cohesion. The move could hurt Revenge, but the higher profile/higher HUT timeslot could help it as well, especially if they do good promotional work for the night. If 666 Park does decently, they should take second (excepting overruns on FOX/CBS).
FOX’s animation block has been falling, but at least the Simpsons and Family Guy are still strong enough to keep the night afloat. Once FOX fixes their drama issues, this will be the next area of focus.
Sundays do seem to have turned into a “let’s get shows to syndication” night for CBS. Really, this has been their trouble spot since the CBS Sunday Night Movie stopped. While I’m quite sure the overruns and resulting delays bother the fans much, much more than they do CBS, it does make it difficult to launch new shows, so it makes sense to put veterans on this night. Despite the lamentations of fans, the overruns don’t seem to do damage to the ratings (even on a Live+SD basis, probably less on a Live+3 basis). The Mentalist will likely drop due to it’s move (which I’m sure won’t get nearly the promotional push Revenge will), but it will still do fine and build from TGW like Miami did. It may or may not get cancelled in the spring, but that will be more about how the pilots do and how many spots CBS needs to open up than its ratings.
I may watch OUAT if I get caught up on the episodes on my DVR this summer. I have only seen the first 2 so far. Other than that, the Mentalist is all I am interested in here.
Ratings Predictions:
AFHV: 1.5-1.9
60 Minutes: 1.3-1.7
The Cleveland Show (midseason): 1.6-2.0
Dateline (midseason): 0.8-1.2
AFV will continue to win its slot.
OUAT: 2.8-3.3
TAR: 2.5-3.1
The Simpsons: 1.8-2.3
Bob’s Burgers: 1.7-2.1
Fashion Star (midseason): 1.2-1.5
OUAT will consistently be ahead of TAR the whole season, while Fashion Star will continue to decline.
Revenge: 2.6-3.2
TGW: 1.8-2.4
FG: 2.0-2.4
American Dad: 1.8- 2.2
TCA (midseason): 1.6-1.9
Revenge, if treated well, will blossom on Sundays. TGW and TCA will decline.
666 Park: 2.4-2.9
The Mentalist: 2.0-2.7
Do No Harm (midseason): 1.4-1.9
Sundays @10 is the only non- Friday death slot every network shares. 666 Park and The Mentalist together may break the curse. The move will affect The Mentalist, but not by much. 666 Park Avenue could become a hit behind Revenge. I don’t know a lot about Do No Harm, but I doubt it will do better than its lead-in, and its chances of survival are slim compared to hits like Smush, Grimm, and SVU, and new shows like Revolution, Chicago Fire, and a likely Voice-led Infamous.
Network averages-
ABC: 2.4-2.7
CBS: 2.0-2.4
FOX (without the OT): 1.8-1.9
NBC (midseason): 1.2-1.5
Football will win the night, but in midseason NBC will sink to last and ABC will win all the time.
Sorry, I don’t know much about sports ratings, so they’re not here.