It's called the "fall season" for a reason

As it is in the Red Sox and Yankee locker rooms, Champagne remains on ice at the networks as they’re hoping to celebrate the first solid hit of the new season; “underwhelming" continues to be the word to describe the fall season. The only thing doing spectacularly well thusfar is “Dancing with the Stars.”

CBS is trumpeting the fact that “Cane” had the highest ratings the network has had 10 p.m. on Tuesdays since 1999. True, but that was still only 120,000 more people than watched the premiere of “Smith” last season, and “Smith” was done after three episodes. “Cane” lost 950,000 viewers from its first half hour to its second, not the most encouraging of signs.

Results were mixed for The CW’s “Reaper:” 3.2 million tuned in, which is actually less than what “Veronica Mars” lured last season but more than its wan lead-in, “Beauty and the Geek.” “VM” never improved on its lead-in – heck, it never retained its lead-in audience. If “Reaper” had a stronger show in front of it, it no doubt would do much better. So: First pickup for the entire season? Given how The CW is doing elsewhere, why not?

Other returning shows are shedding viewers as ratings fell from last fall. Even with “Dancing” as a lead-in, “Boston Legal” had 1 million fewer viewers than last year. “The Unit” and “House” also lost a million fans, though “House” still had 18.13m and “The Unit” only 10.7m. “Law & Order: Special Victims Unit” lost nearly 2.5m, with 12.1m still watching.

“NCIS” and “Bones” had ratings similar to their debuts last year.

The networks have asked me to extend the following message to you: Watch more television, eh? You think they’re making these monumentally expensive programs out of the goodness of their hearts?