Fire and Brimstone: Poor Decisions by NBC, CBS

Okay, there are only a few shows I've really gotten into before the MLB break and they are likely to be cancelled. Boo, I say.

The first and likely the best is 'Kidnapped' on NBC which features a bit of Jack Bauer-brand vigilante justice and Prison Break-style (a.k.a. good) writing. Problems: NBC put it after 'The Biggest Loser' which, granted, is like a crapper version of American Idol-before-24 but it's going against the Lost-following and critcally acclaimed 'The Nine'. What's more troubling is that CSI:NY is winning the hour with a 10.2/17 (10.2 rating, 17 share. That's 10.2% of households with a TV for the rating and 17% of all televisions turned on.)

Example: Lost averaged 18.8 million viewers and a 11.1/17. Assume 170 million households in the US, 99% of which have a TV. (In economics, the number to remember was 150 million households but we've grown since the last census I guess.)

Anyway, one ratings point would be little under 1.7 million viewers for simplicity's sake.

My new favorite show, NBC's Kidnapped enjoyed a whopping 6.4 million viewers last week which has encouraged a shift to the graveyard that is Saturday night programming. Likewise, CBS' Smith has been unceremoniously put on hiatus, opting instead to show reruns of CSI:Miami (the one with the club scene) or whatever. Unbelievably, the teenage superhero drama 'Heroes' is doing very well and has been picked up for the entire season.

Why the problems with Kidnapped? Jeremy Sisto makes Keifer Sutherland look like an ACLU lawyer in a world in which asymmetric violence against seedy criminals seems to be a pretty good recipe. Don't know, really. FOX has a not-so-great show Vanished which is another kidnapping plot and NBC ran identical promos for the show. I can imagine severe confusion and viewer fatigue since there are so many similar shows and most people tend to have lives outside of television. I have no such problem. In any case, Kidnapped rocks. Check it out, you haven't missed anything. Well, a few things but as someone who just started watching Lost, it's likely not all that important.