Scripted Shows Go On, But Viewers Simply Yawn

Scripted series promoted during Super Bowl. Super Bowl plugs appear to have done little for scripted series. "Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles," for instance, logged just 164,000 additional viewers from its last pre-Bowl telecast to its first post-Bowl episode. "Prison Break" went down by 400,000 viewers. The Super Bowl's biggest beneficiary, "House," which received in-game promos plus the plum postgame time slot, went up 600,000 week to week to become the week's most watched scripted show. But, alas, it was also that series's last completed original episode.

"Welcome to the Captain"/"The New Adventures of Old Christine." On Monday, neither CBS's premiering "Captain" nor the season debut of "Christine" could touch the crowd collected by CBS's "Two and a Half Men" rerun.

"Lipstick Jungle"/"Cashmere Mafia." Cume the audiences for the two new "Sex and the City"-esque sitcoms, on NBC and ABC, respectively, and you still don't have a top-10 show for the week.

"The Return of Jezebel James." Before it even debuts, Fox has tossed its Amy Sherman-Palladino sitcom to the wolves, canceling its March 12 post-"American Idol" launch so as to expand the singing competition's half-hour results show to one hour. "JJ" instead will debut two nights later, on a Friday -- Friday being Fox's Saturday.

CBS's Super Tuesday coverage. CBS kicked off its prime-time coverage of the presidential primaries in 24 states at 9 p.m.; from 10 to 11, it got beat by CNN and had FNC breathing down its neck.

"Survivor: Micronesia." Thursday's debut audience of 14 million was the franchise's smallest to date, behind even its premiere in May '00 (15.5 million), though the show is still considered resilient for a reality series in its 16th edition.

The week's 10 most watched programs, in order, were: Fox's Tuesday and Wednesday "American Idol," and "House"; CBS's broadcast of the Grammy Awards ceremony; Fox's "Moment of Truth"; ABC's "Extreme Makeover: Home Edition" and "Lost"; CBS's "Survivor: Micronesia"; NBC's Monday "Deal or No Deal"; and CBS's "60 Minutes."