A very interesting night. ABC somewhat surprisingly brought Castle back to fill the post-Dancing With the Stars slot. Dancing is still going strong, something that I'm surprised about. I figure one run per year (a la Idol) would have kept it fresh -- I "misunderestimated" America's appetite for ballroom dancing. CBS might have the final piece of a bonafide must-see night of comedy with the new Accidently on Purpose, which is nicely slotted between the finally noticed How I Met Your Mother and the now-venerable and still funny Two and a Half Men. Mr. Sheen and Mr. Cryer are followed by the new breakout hit The Big Bang Theory. It really found its voice last year and should help CSI: Miami quite a bit. CW brings back last year's lineup intact and should perform pretty much where they did last year.Lie to Me moves to the post House slot on Fox (until 24 moves in in January) and should perform well. Then there's NBC. Heroes moves up an hour and makes you wonder if they can get as good as they once were? One thing to their advantage is the season is only 13 episodes -- they're sharing the slot with a show I adore, Chuck. The handoff, like most on NBC, will occur after the XXI Olympic Winter Games in mid-to-late February. The all-new Trauma lands at 9 and actually is in a decent place to launch. Speaking of all-new, it's NBC becomes Fox. Well not really. NBC changes the game in a big way starting at 10pm by no longer skedding dramas -- The Jay Leno Show bows on Mondays and will run every weeknight. Should be interesting.
The night will go to ABC and Dancing, with CBS' comedies a close second.
