Hard to believe that CBS trots out CSI at 9 for its 10th season. Who remembers when it debuted on Fridays? They've got a nice block with the 19th iteration of Survivor at 8 and the "now-on-Thursdays" The Mentalist. Good night, although it might have been better to launch The Good Wife here, especially against Private Practice. Not as good of a fit, but the eyeballs would have been better for the new show. The CW has a good pairing of supernaturalness with the all-new The Vampire Diaries and um, Supernatural. Fox also has a decent pairing of Bones (Season 5? Seriously?) and Fringe. (I think Past Life makes a better pairing with Fringe, but Fox can deal with that midseason.)Thursday shows just how far NBC has fallen. It's the first NBC Thursday lineup without ER since 1993 (Remember what aired there?) and they've kind of become a non-factor on the night for the first time since Fall 1983. On the plus side, it's probably their most solid Thursday since the end of Friends and Seinfeld. I'm tentatively positive about the new Community and hoping that the uneven Parks and Recreation can gain a decent footing. ABC has what it my most anticipated new show show of the season at 8 with FlashForward. We'll find out if audiences believe Grey's Anatomy truly jumped the shark last season at 9, with its sadly underwhelming companion Private Practice at 10.
While Grey's should still challenge CSI for the highest scripted show crown, the night is CBS.
Oh yeah, Leno's at 10 on NBC.
