TV Ratings (Friday, 2/23/08)

Did NBC's new game show "Amnesia" do well? Was Friday's edition of "Dateline" hotter than the now-canceled "Las Vegas," the show it replaced? And was ABC right to ditch repeats of "Desperate Housewives"? Answers, after the jump.

"Amnesia" got off to a decent start with 7.55 million viewers tuning in, on a par with the lead-in "1 vs. 100." The latter however ended its current run. Will "Amnesia" be able to anchor NBC Fridays at 8:00pm beyond the initial sampling?

ABC improved its performance immensely by replacing the low-rated reruns of "Desperate Housewives" with back-to-back episodes of "20/20." Serialized dramedies simply don't repeat well.

Finally, "Dateline" scored almost 2 million viewers less than the season average of "Las Vegas." The reality programming is however cheaper to produce.

With abrupt replacement upsetting many loyal "Las Vegas" fans, was the move really worth it? Couldn't NBC have given the show a proper send-off by adding at least a couple of episodes to tie up the loose ends?

ABC:
8:00pm Grey's Anatomy (R) (3.97 million)
9:00pm 20/20 (6.64 million)
10:00pm 20/20 (8.64 million)

CBS:
8:00pm Price Is Right: Million Dollar Spectacular (9.36 million)
9:00pm Ghost Whisperer (R) (6.35 million)
10:00pm NUMB3RS (R) (7.87 million)

NBC:
8:00pm 1 vs 100 (7.55 million)
9:00pm Amnesia (7.55 million)
10:00pm Dateline (6.34 million)

Fox:
8:00pm Bones (R) (7.04 million)
9:00pm House (R) (7.92 million)

CW:
8:00pm Friday Night Smackdown! (4.72 million)

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