'L.A. Ink' Is in the Black, and 'The Closer' Keeps on Going

By Lisa de Moraes
Wednesday, August 15, 2007

Los Angeles really is more interesting than Miami, and Flavor Flav is no Pamela Anderson. You can learn a lot watching TV.

Here's a look at the week's best and worst:

WINNERS

· "L.A. Ink." When "Miami Ink" co-star Kat Von D had a falling-out with her tattoo shop's co-owner, TLC network offered her her own series. Nearly 3 million people caught last Tuesday's unveiling, more than doubling the draw of the Miami version's two seasons.

· "The Closer." TNT's Kyra Sedgwick drama made it eight straight weeks as cable's No. 1 show, scoring more than 7.5 million viewers.

· "Hell's Kitchen." Almost 10 million people laughed and cried as Rock Harper, exec chef at B. Smith's in Washington's Union Station, beat out a California nanny to win Fox's "Hell's Kitchen" this past Monday -- the competition's best numbers of the summer and Monday's biggest audience on any network. (For all things Rock, see The Reliable Source, Page C3.) Last week, the penultimate episode logged nearly 9 million.

· "Power of 10." Opposite the most popular show on TV these days ("America's Got Talent"), CBS's preview of the Drew Carey-hosted game show nonetheless scared up 9.2 million viewers -- good enough to land in the No. 4 spot for the week. (Sadly, the next night, in its time-slot debut, "10" fell to 7.8 million viewers.)

· "Masters of Science Fiction." Left for dead by ABC in the desert known as Saturday night, the network's anthology series did not wilt like a salted snail in its second week, but instead blossomed and grew its audience by 24 percent compared with the previous week's unveiling, and by nearly 40 percent week-to-week among the younger viewers ABC covets.

LOSERS

· "John From Cincinnati." It's a sad day for fans of shows about potty-mouthed washed-up surfer losers; HBO has pulled the plug on David Milch's "John From Cincinnati" after just one cockeyed season, which, according to the trades, may be the first time in recent HBO history it's conceded defeat on a one-hour series after just one season. The first telecast of the "JFC" finale on HBO logged an anemic 1.2 million viewers Sunday. On the bright side, the odds of HBO actually following through on its "plans" for two two-hour movies to wrap up Milch's other series, the one about potty-mouthed washed-up prospectors, gamblers and hookers, "Deadwood," just maybe got better than the 50-50 that HBO suits were offering recently at the summer TV Press Tour.

· Flavor Flav. "The Comedy Central Roast of Flavor Flav" logged 3.8 million viewers Sunday. While that's about three times as many people as tuned in to the season -- and, as it turns out, series -- finale of HBO's "John From What the Heck Is Milch Smoking" that same night -- it's about half as many people as tuned in to Comedy Central's Jeff Foxworthy roast back in '05 and also no match for the 4.3 million who caught the network's Pamela Anderson roast. To be fair, Mr. Flav's testimonial was the most watched Comedy Central roast ever among men between the ages of 18 and 34, which is all Comedy Central cares about.

· "Real World 19." The aged reality series opened its 19th edition; only 1.6 million cared, which, coincidentally, is exactly how many cared enough to check out the opening of "Real World 18." Remember the good old days, when the season debuts of "Real Worlds" 17, 16, 15 and 14 copped between 3 and 4 million? Good times.

· "Fat March." The latest weight loss series left a ratings crater in ABC's lineup last Monday, shedding about a third of its "Wife Swap" lead-in audience to settle in at 4.4 million viewers. On the other hand, weight-loss shows tend to be slow starters.

· The week's 10 most watched programs, in order, were: NBC's "America's Got Talent," CBS's "60 Minutes," CBS's "CSI," CBS's Tuesday "The Power of 10," CBS's "Without a Trace," NBC's "Singing Bee," CBS's "Two and a Half Men," Fox's "Hell's Kitchen," CBS's "Criminal Minds," and Fox's Wednesday "Don't Forget the Lyrics."