Monday brought good news for Fox, as House and Lie to Me both rebounded after several weeks of sagging ratings.

The good news didn’t translate to NBC; it’s two renewed freshmen series Chase and The Event are losing ratings steam fast. The Event is now averaging less than fourth-year, little-watched Chuck. NBC retroactively cancelled The Undercovers

Hawaii Five-0 also rebounded, after falling behind in the 10 pm hour as of late. Mike and Molly remained steady to maintain its status as the fall’s only real hit.

8 pm

Dancing with the Stars (8-9:30 pm): 4.0 demo, 20.6 million viewers

House: 4.0 demo, 10.8 million viewers

How I Met Your Mother: 3.6 demo, 8.9 million viewers

Chuck: 1.8 demo, 5.4 million viewers

8:30

Rules of Engagement: 2.9 rating, 8 million viewers

9 pm

Two and a Half Men: 4.5 demo, 14.2 million viewers

Lie to Me: 1.9 demo, 5.9 million viewers

The Event: 1.7 demo, 5.6 million viewers

9:30

Mike and Molly: 3.7 demo, 12.1 million viewers

The Middle (Repeat): 2.2 demo, 9.6 million viewers

10 pm

Hawaii Five-0: 2.8 demo, 10.3 million viewers

Castle: 2.5 demo, 10 million viewers

Chase: 1.2 demo, 4.5 million viewers

Football was again the most watched event of Sunday, and likely the week. From 8-11, the Colts/Redskins game averaged 16 million viewers and a 6.3 adults 18-49 rating, leading to an NBC win.

“Desperate Housewives” was the night’s most watched scripted show, with a 3.8 demo rating and 12.4 million viewers. “Extreme Makeover: Home Edition” was last at 8, with a 2.3 demo rating and 8.6 million viewers. “Brothers and Sisters” was also last at 10, with a 2.7 rating and 9 million viewers.

CBS had a strong night, with “Amazing Race” drawing 11.2 million viewers and a 3.4 demo rating at 8. “Undercover Boss” had 12 million viewers and a 3.5 demo rating. “CSI: Miami” was low at 10, with a 2.8 rating and 11 million viewers.

Game 2 of the NLCS averaged 9.1 million viewers and a 2.7 rating on Fox from 8-11, mostly at the back of the other networks. Fox’s Sunday night animation lineup will be pre-empted until the postseason ends.

After a moderately successful premiere, “The Event” suffered a 20% weekly viewership decline to a 2.9 rating and 8.9 million viewers. A show clearly modeled after “Lost,” this is not a good sign. The show’s already dropping into low-rated territory, and serialized shows that require weekly viewing generally fall faster than most. “The Event” is beginning to seem like the latest in a long-line of “Lost” knockoffs cancelled in its first season.

NBC didn’t receive much better news for its other Monday night shows. “Chuck” fell from a 2.1 to a 1.9 rating and 5.5 million viewers. After four seasons of escaping cancellation, this may be the end of the line. At 10 p.m., “Chase” also declined to a 2.1 rating and 6.3 million viewers, good for last place in the hour, indicating a short lifeline.

CBS saw a mixed bag of rises and declines, but overall delivered a solid night. “How I Met Your Mother” rose to a 3.8 rating and 8.9 million viewers, bringing up “Rules of Engagement” to a 3.2 rating and 8.1 million viewers. “Two and a Half Men” pulled in a 4.8 rating and 13.9 million, while “Mike and Molly” slipped at bit to a 3.7 rating and 11.2 million viewers. “Hawaii Five-0″ dropped a few tenths to a 3.5 rating and 12.3 million viewers.

Fox rode its reliable workhorse “House” to a 3.8 rating and 10 million viewers, thought that was down 10% from last week. At 9 p.m., “Lone Star” fell to a 1.0 rating and 3.7 million. It’s now competing with the “Whole Truth” and “Outlaw” for the first show cancelled in the new broadcast season.

ABC scored a 4.8 rating and 22 million viewers from “Dancing with the Stars,” and at 10 p.m, “Castle” lured in a 3.2 rating and 12.2 million.

Several shows that aired last night featured overruns, while some markets aired the Monday Night Football Game. Both of these will be later  stripped from shows affected, so numbers may rise and fall later in the week.

Sunday Night Football was king in America, averaging 16 million viewers from 8:30 to 11, leaving Fox, ABC and CBS to fight for second place.

At 8, “Extreme Makeover: Home Edition” was in last place, averaging a 2.5 rating and 8.5 million viewers. ABC lifted at 9, as the seventh season of “Desperate Housewives” averaged 12.8 million viewers and a 4.2 rating. “Brothers and Sisters” drew 9.5 million viewers and a 3.0.

Fox had a successful night led by “Family Guy,” which was the top scripted show on television in the 9 o’clock hour with a 4.5 rating and 9.1 million viewers. “The Cleveland Show” was down considerably from it’s series premiere last year, with a 3.1 rating and 6.6 million viewers at 8:30. “The Simpsons” pulled 7.7 million viewers and a 3.7 rating at 8.

Football overrun from the afternoon affected CBS slate, pushing shows back, and upsetting the schedule. Between 8:15 and 10:15, the new season of “The Amazing Race” premiered to 12 million viewers and a 3.7 rating. “Undercover Boss” delivered 10 million viewers and a 3.7 rating. (Note: CBS ratings are not final and subject to adjustment; final numbers will be available later this week).

Friday’s are typically much quieter for television ratings, but even so, CBS new police drama “Blue Bloods” starring Tom Selleck and Donnie Wahlberg pulled in 12 million viewers and a 2.2 demo rating at 10 p.m., doubling NBC’s “Outlaw,” the legal drama starring Jimmy Smits, which pulled a 1.1 rating and 5 million viewers. ABC was second in the hour with 20/20, which drew a 1.5 rating and 5.5 million viewers.

NBC led at 8 p.m. with “Dateline,” with 6.5 million viewers and a 1.4 rating. CBS was in second with the seventh season premiere of “Medium” with 6 million viewers and a 1.4 rating. The premiere of the tenth and final season of “Smallville” was in third with a 1.2 rating and 2.9 million viewers. ABC and Fox were last in the hour with repeats.

CBS ruled at 9 p.m. with the Friday premiere of “CSI: New York,” which led the hour with 10 million viewers and a 2.0 rating. “Dateline” was second with a 1.8 rating and 8 million viewers. “Supernatural” had it’s Friday premiere and remained in line with last season’s numbers, with a 1.1 rating and 2.8 million viewers. The season premiere of “The Good Guys” was watched by few on Fox, pulling a 0.9 rating and 2.9 million viewers. The show was watched by few during it’s summer run as well, and appears headed to cancellation.

CBS lead the night in total viewers and in the 18-49 demo Thursday. In its new timeslot, the fourth season premiere of “Big Bang Theory” drew 14 million viewers and a 4.8 in the 18-49 demo, second highest for the night. It’s strong numbers spilled into William Shatner’s new comedy “$#*! My Dad Says,” which drew 12.5 million viewers and a 3.9 in the demo for it’s premiere. The 11th season of CSI premiered to 14.5 million viewers and a 3.4 rating; the third season of “The Mentalist” debuted to 15 million viewers, the highest for any series Thursday, and a 3.3 rating.

On ABC, “Grey’s Anatomy” drew a 5.3 rating, highest for the night, and 14 million viewers for it’s seventh season premiere. Sister show “Private Practice” bowed to a 3.3 rating and 9 million viewers. It wasn’t all good news for ABC though; new 8 p.m. drama “My Generation” floundered out of the gate to a 1.6 rating and 5.2 million viewers. ABC finished second in both categories for Thursday.

NBC didn’t have much luck either. The seventh season of “The Office” logged typically strong numbers, drawing 8.5 million viewers and a 4.3 in the demo, second for 9 p.m. hour. New comedy “Outsourced” had a strong premiere as well, pulling in 7.4 million viewers and a 3.5 in the demo, second in the 9:30 timeslot. At 8 p.m. “Community” was back in third place with a 2.2 rating and 6 million viewers; “30 Rock” drew a 2.6 and 5.5 million viewers at 8:30. The peacock finished last in the 10 p.m. hour, with “The Apprentice” logging a 1.6 rating and 3.8 million viewers.

Fox had its ups and downs with “Bones” pulling a 2.7 and 9.8 million viewers at 8 p.m., good for second place, while “Fringe” was in fourth at 9 p.m. with a 2.1 and 5.9 million viewers. Fox landed in fourth for the night. The CW was also typically in back: “The Vampire Diaries” drew 3.6 million viewers and a 1.6 rating while “Nikita” managed 3.2 million viewers and a 1.1 rating.

Fresh off it’s Emmy Best Comedy Win, “Modern Family’s” second season premiered with a bang, bringing in 12.6 million viewers and a 5.0 in the adults 18-49 demo, leading all shows on Wednesday night, well over its first season 3.9 average. Its strong showing bled into the second season premiere of “Cougar Town,” which delivered 8.5 million viewers and a 3.3 rating, also over its first season average. At 8 p.m., “The Middle” lured in 8.8 million viewers and a 2.6 in the demo, while freshman comedy “Better with You” brought in 8 million and a 2.5 rating.

But ABC’s good fortune for the evening didn’t translate to it’s 10 p.m. legal drama, “The Whole Truth.” It premiered to 4.91 million viewers and a 1.5 rating, less than half last fall’s “Eastwick” which premiered in the same timeslot to 8.5 million viewers and a 3.0 in the demo. “Eastwick” was ultimately cancelled after 13 episodes. “The Whole Truth” will likely be yanked much sooner than 13 episodes.

NBC was hoping for a little J.J. Abrams magic with his latest drama “Undercovers.” But the veteran producer of hits like “Lost” and “Alias” failed to deliver, as Undercovers delivered a solid 8.5 million viewers, but a very underwhelming 2.0 demo rating. The future appears bleak for the show. NBC had better luck with the two-hour season premiere of “Law and Order: SVU.” The show’s 12th season premiere averaged 10 million viewers and a 3.0 in the demo from 9-11 p.m.

CBS had reason to celebrate. “Survivor: Nicaragua” drew 12.5 million viewers and a 4.0 demo rating. At 9:00, “Criminal Minds” had a great showing with 14 million viewers and a 4.0, and new legal comedy “The Defenders” did reasonably well, bringing in 12 million viewers with a 2.9 in the demo.

Fox had a solid, if unspectacular night with a two-hour “Hell’s Kitchen” premiere. The show drew 6.5 million viewers and a 2.9 in the demo. The CW was at the back for the night with “America’s Next Top Model,” which brought in 2.8 million viewers and a 1.3 rating, while “Hellcats” was watched by 2.3 million with a 1.0.

ABC starts its now thriller “Happy Town” tonight at 10 p.m. WE tv has the premiere of “Sunset Daze” — which is like “Real World” with old people

The only finale tonight is “High Society” on The CW at 9:30.

MTV has its new series “Downtown Girls” about girls in downtown New York City premiering June 1 at 11 p.m.

HBO will please fans of “True Blood” when it puts out six original online mini episodes on Yahoo! TV before the June 13 season premiere.

Two reality premieres tonight on MTV. “The Hills” is on at 10, and “The City” premieres at 10:30.

“Southland” was marked for death on network television, but it found a new life and a new audience on cable. Now TNT has announced it will renew the cop drama for a third season, with 10 episodes to start airing in January. TNT got the series for a bargain after NBC dropped it quickly. About 3 million people watch it every week.

ABC will air a two-hour sixth season finale of “Grey’s Anatomy” on May 20 at 9 p.m.

History Channel’s “America: The Story of Us” premiered on Sunday, drawing 5.7 million total viewers. It was the highest-rated, most watched special in the cable network’s history, and there are five more episodes to come until the finale on Memorial day.

Now that the Olympics are over, with Canada’s heart-wrenching hockey defeat of Team USA, 3-2 in overtime, it’s time to watch real television again.

There’s a mixed bag of premieres tonight. CBS has “Rules of Engagement” at 8:30, while G4 has “The International Sexy Ladies Show” starting up at 8. TLC has “Our Little Life” at 8.

Of course, the big one, is “The Tonight Show with JAY LENO” at 11:35 p.m. on NBC.

And if you’re gunning for a finale, you have “The Bachelor” on ABC at 8.

Reports indicate that Janeane Garofalo is being tapped for a new CBS medical drama.

NBC will give “Last Comic Standing” a seventh season. Craig Robinson (Darryl on “The Office”) will host.

Acting vets Dennis Farina (Law and Order) and John Ortiz will appear together in “Luck,” the pilot for the new HBO horse-racing and gambling drama from Michael Mann and David Milch.

Tonight is the opening ceremony of the 2010 Vancouver Winter Olympics at 7:30 p.m. on NBC. The Olympiad will be the only concern on television for much of the rest of the month.

If you have no interest in winter sports, you can check out “Famous Crime Scene” on VH1 at 9 p.m., which premieres tonight also. CBS has “The Amazing Race” premiering a new season on Sunday at 8 p.m. HBO has “How to Many It in America” at 10, and VH1 has “Tool Academy” premiering at 9.

The high school football drama “Friday Night Lights” will end after five seasons. The satellite-exclusive show just ended up its fourth season, which will finally air on NBC starting April 30. Season five is in production and will air on DirecTV in the fall.

Here’s this weekend’s Olympic schedule:

Saturday:
NBC: 2-6 p.m. – Ski Jumping, Speed Skating, Biathlon
NBC: 8-11 p.m. – Speed Skating Short Track, Alpine Men’s Downhill, Women’s Moguls
CNBC: 3-5:30 p.m. and 8-10:30 p.m. – Women’s Hockey
Universal Sports: 12:30-3 p.m. – Highlights

Sunday:
NBC: 12-4:30 a.m. – Luge, Primetime Replay
NBC: 1-6 p.m. – Nordic Combined, Speed Skating, Luge, Biathlon
NBC: 7-11 p.m. – Women’s Combined, Figure Skating
NBC: 11:30 p.m. to midnight – Late Night Recap
USA: 3-530 p.m. – Women’s Hockey
MSNBC: 3 a.m. – 5:30 a.m. – Women’s Hockey
CNBC: 7:30-10 p.m. – Women’s Hockey
Universal Sports: 10 a.m. to noon – Highlights

HBO announced a fifth season for the drama “Big Love,” giving it a 10-episode order for season five. The series, which stars Bill Paxton, begins production in the summer, and the new season premieres next winter.

FOX announced “So You Think You Can Dance” opens a seventh season with a two-hour premiere on May 27 at 8 p.m.

Syfy picked up the rights to “Merlin,” a British series from FremantleMedia. The series premiers in April. The first season aired on NBC last summer, but the second series will also air for the first time ever in the US.

Actress Brit Morgan will play Debbie Pelt, the psycho ex-girlfriend of Alcide in HBO’s “True Blood.” Emily Rose, from NBC’s “ER” will star in the new Syfy drama “Haven” based on Stephen King’s “The Colorado Kid.” Rose plays an FBI agent who comes to a small town in Manie to investigate a murder. Supernatural stuff happens.

It’s the big one tonight — the premiere of the final season of “Lost” on ABC at 9 p.m.

If you’re not a fan, TLC has the premiere “19 Kids and Counting” also at 9. BET premieres “The Michael Vick Project” at 10.

The only finale tonight is A&E’s “Psychic Kids: Children of the Paranormal,” also at 9

The 52nd Annual Grammy Awards on CBS drew nearly 26 million viewers, the most since 2004.

SyFy has gone all fantasy on us. The network showcases a collection of storybook characters. Starting February 27 at 9 p.m., SyFy will start with “Beauty and the Beast,” and will continue with re-imagined tales of “Little Red Riding Hood,” “Aladdin” and more.

Finally, one we’re proud of, because we interviewed him last year, Chris Hardwick will get a second season of “Web Soup” on G4 starting March 3.

Happy first of February. Tonight is all about food. The premiere of “Ultimate Cake Off 2″ is on TLC at 10, and the season finale of “Worst Cooks in America is on Food Network at the same time.

Other premieres tonight include Showtime’s “Secret Diary of a Call Girl,” Bravo’s “Kell on Earth,” and “Blood, Sweat & T-shirts” on Planet Green — all at 10 p.m., so set the DVR.

NBC announced that “Parks and Recreation” was good for a third season. The show averages 5.1 million total viewers per week.

MTV is allowing us to experience “Jersey Shore” for a second season of 12 episodes. Pauly D, Mike, Snooki, Jenni, Sammi, Vinny, and Ronnie will be there. An uncensored DVD of season one will be available late this month.

Finally this morning, TBS ordered a pilot for an hour-long comedy called “Glory Daze” about four college freshmen in the 1980s who pledge a fraternity in Wisconsin.

ABC announced it was canceling “Ugly Better” after its springtime run, citing low ratings.

The show will have its 20-episode season cut short. In a statement, ABC Entertainment chairman Steve McPherson said “We’ve mutually come to the difficult decision to make this Ugly Betty’s final season, and are announcing now as we want to allow the show ample time to write a satisfying conclusion. We are extremely proud of this groundbreaking series, and felt it was important to give the fans a proper farewell.”

MTV has to premieres tonight “Randy Jackson Presents America’s Best Dance Crew” starts at 10 and “Take the Stage” is at 11. The network’s season one finale of “Teen Mom” on Tuesday earned 3.6 million total viewers.

The CW continues to prove its trying to be like USA Network circa 1989. CW picked up the pilot for “Nikita” a new look at the old sexy spy film/series “La Femme Nikita.”

A few more dramas in the works…

ABC approved an untitled crime drama pilot from writer Richard Hatem and director Gary Fleder, according to THR. The show matches a sexy female detective who works with a disgraced ex-cop to solve crimes.

NBC has a new 60-minute drama pilot in the works called “Justice” about a former Supreme Court justice who quits the high court to start his own practice.

Not a lot of news today — the big deal tonight is that “White Collar” returns on USA at 10 tonight. A&E has “Paranormal Cops” starting up at 10:30, and Bravo has “The Millionaire Matchmaker” premiering at 10 also.

We also have some “Idol” news today. Simon Cowell is in talks with former and current co-workers about jumping into the American version of “X Factor.” And yes, he is talking to Paul Abdul. The new show will premiere on FOX in Fall 2011, and Cowell won’t be returning to “Idol” after this season.

Syfy is pulling out all the stops to plug “Caprica,” a new original drama. The 2-hour pilot has already been seen by 1.5 million viewers, and it hasn’t even aired yet. SyFy is working with Hulu, Apple, and Amazon and is offering DVDs and the streaming pilot on SyFy.com and various free on demand services. Syfy also placed Spanish advertisements on Telemundo to get Latinos interested. “Caprica” debuts on Syfy this Friday at 9 p.m.

A few cable premieres tonight. “I Shouldn’t Be Alive” is on Animal Planet at 9, and “The Singing Bee” is on CMT also at 9. The finale of “Sanctuary” is on SyFy at 10 p.m. On Saturday, the premiere of “Pit Boss” is on Animal Planet at 10 p.m. On Sunday, A&E has the finale of “The Jacksons: A Family Dynasty” at 10 p.m.

CBS approved “NCIS: Los Angeles” and “The Good Wife” for second seasons. “Los Angeles” is the highest-rated new show this season with an average of 16.8 million viewers per week. “The Good Wife” has been a winner in the Tuesday 10 p.m. slot, helped by the failed Leno show on NBC.

Speaking NBC, the network announced its post-Olympic schedule.

• Mondays: Chuck at 8; Trauma at 9; Law & Order at 10.
• Tuesdays: The Biggest Loser at 8; Parenthood at 10.
• Wednesdays: Mercy at 8; Law & Order: SVU at 9; Law & Order: SVU at 10.
• Thursdays: Community at 8; Parks and Recreation at 8:30; The Office at 9; 30 Rock at 9:30; The Marriage Ref at 10.
• Fridays: Who Do You Think You Are?; Friday Night Lights at 8; Dateline NBC at 9.
• Saturdays: The Biggest Loser at 8; Law & Order at 9; Law & Order: SVU at 10.
• Sundays: Dateline NBC at 7; Minute to Win It at 8; The Celebrity Apprentice at 9.

TNT renewed its new drama “Men of a Certain Age” with Ray Romano, Andre Braugher and Scott Bakula for a 10-episode second season.

This spring, Discovery will debut “Worst Case Scenario” putting Bear Grylls risking his life to survive the worst possible situations.

Tonight is the premiere of “American Idol” at 8 p.m. on FOX. It will be the last season featuring Simon Cowell, the stern-judging Brit who brought this level of reality/talent television to America.

A lot of FOX news today — “Glee” gets picked up for a second season. At the same time, the network is launching a nationwide search to find talented cast members for the second season. Visit fox.com/glee for updates.

“Bones” hits the 100 mark on April 8, and “Family Guy” would be somewhere around 300 if it wasn’t canceled. The cartoon hits its 150th episode on May 2. “America’s Most Wanted” hits 1,000 episodes with a special 22nd anniversary episode March 6.

FOX is also working up a buddy cop action/comedy that’s so far called “Code 58,” set to preview on May 12 and 19 and premiere on June 7. Code 58 was created by Matt Nix, who also has “Burn Notice” under his belt, so he knows what he’s doing.

“Breaking Bad” premieres with a third season on March 21 at 10 p.n. Before that, the cable network will air a six-episode marathon March 19.

Finally, yes, it’s official, Sarah Palin signed a multi-year deal with FOX News. She won’t get her own show but rather will support other shows on the network.

Tonight is the season premiere of “What Not To Wear” on TLC at 9 p.m., but it’s the weekend that has us excited.

On Sunday, NBC as the premiere of “Chuck” at 9, so be sure to DVR the HBO season premiere of “Big Love” at the same time. History Channel has premieres of “Ax Men” at 9 also, as well as “Madhouse” at 10. If you are still looking for something, National Geographic Channel has the season premiere of “Border Wars” also at 9.

Sunday is also a big day for FOX with the 450th episode of “The Simpsons” at 8 p.m. followed by the “Simpsons 20th Anniversary Special: In 3D! On Ice!” at 8:30.

In less happy, less 3D and maybe not less on ice news, NBC execs have reportedly met with Jay Leno and Conan O’Brien about their abysmal ratings. TMZ suggests NBC might cancel Leno’s 10 p.m. show and return him to “The Tonight Show,” firing O’Brien. NBC has gone on the record saying they support both shows in their current formats, but the network admitted that Leno’s poor ratings are hurting affiliates’ 11 p.m. newscasts.

Finally, CBS announced its midseason schedule. Jerry Bruckheimer’s new drama “Miami Medical” will air Fridays at 10 p.m starting April 2. “Accidentally on Purpose” moves to Wednesday at 8:30 p.m. starting March 31. “Rules of Engagement” begins its fourth season March 1 at 8:30 p.m, and 24 former castmates will return for the 20th edition of “Survivor” called “Heroes vs. Villains.” The two-hour premiere is February 11 at 8 p.m.

A bunch of cable premieres tonight — SyFy has “Ghost Hunters International” with a new season starting at 9. FX has “Nip/Tuck” at 10, and TLC has “Tailgate Takedown” also at 10.

The big news today is that Discovery and ESPN are creating 24/7 3D television channels.

Discovery Communications is teaming with Sony to develop an all-3D network by 2011, hoping to spur the purchase of special 3D televisions. Discovery promises content on the topics of history, space, adventure, engineering, tech, and children’s programming. Discovery is also working with IMAX on this deal.

At the same time, ESPN is working on its own 3D plans, and it said yesterday it would launch ESPN 3D this year to present 85 FIFA World Cup games starting on June 11. ESPN said it has been developing and testing ESPN 3D for more than 2 years, and will soon include the Summer X Games and college sports.

FOX Reality Channel is giving the always popular, often naked Cindy Margolis her own reality dating series called “Seducing Cindy,” starting January 30 at 9 p.m. The single mother of 3 will narrow down 24 would-be seducers in an attempt to find true love.

The People’s Choice Awards are on CBS tonight–btw.

Happy New Year! Here’s what’s on TV:

NBC has the premiere of “The Biggest Loser” at 8 p.m. At 10 History starts up “Life After People” again, and Discovery has the start of the new “Howe & Howe Tech” builder show.

“The Simpsons” has a milestone on Sunday with the show’s 450th episode “Once Upon a Time in Springfield” at 8 p.m. followed by a 1-hour documentary called “The Simpsons 20th Anniversary Special in 3-D on Ice.” The show is TV’s longest-running scripted primetime series over “Gunsmoke” and “Law & Order.”

The Donald has a third season of “Celebrity Apprentice” starting March 14 at 9 p.m. on NBC. Celebrities competing for charity include: Darryl Strawberry, Cyndi Lauper, Bret Michaels, Sharon Osbourne, Michael Johnson, Holly Robinson Peete, Goldberg, Carol Leifer, Sinbad, Summer Sanders, Rod Blagojevich, Maria Kanellis, Curtis Stone and Selita Ebanks.

The Versus network made a deal with the NBA to air D-League games starting January 16.

ABC is working on a pilot for a new crime crama called “1-8-7 Detroit” about homicide detectives filmed by a mock-documentary crew.

James Van Der Beek will start a recurring role that may lead to a regular gig on NBC’s new medical drama “Mercy.”

CBS isn’t afraid of college football. “NCIS” and NCIS: Los Angeles” have new episodes airing tonight to compete with the Orange Bowl.

Fun weekend coming up. Tonight is a busy one for TLC with the premiere of “Four Weddings” at 10 and the finale of “Say Yes to the Dress” at 9. On Sunday, E! has “Kendra” premiering at 9 p.m., and CBS has the season finale of “Survivor: Samoa” at 8.

Kind of a shocking piece of news coming out of PepsiCo. After 23 hilarious years, Pepsi will NOT advertise in the Super Bowl this year. Instead of spending the millions ($3 million for 30 seconds last year) the company will focus on its “Pepsi Refresh Project” to give $20 million to community projects all over the country. Frito-Lay (Doritos), which is part of PepsiCo, will continue to advertise, however. FedEx also said costs were the main reason why it will also not buy advertising space on the Super Bowl this year. Locally, with the Giants, Jets and even the Patriots looking like question marks, and the defending champion Steelers all but done, we wonder why we’re still watching…

The Super Bowl is February 7.

Elsewhere, the season three premiere of “Chuck” is January 10 with a two-hour opener at 9 p.m. after SyFy slaves away at an eight-hour marathon of season two on January 7 from 5 p.m. to 1 a.m. FOX is pushing new episodes of “House” up to January 11 to compete with “Chuck,” which moves into the same timeslot after its premiere.

HBO has a 10-part miniseries called “The Pacific” slated to premiere March 14. It’s a followup of the award-winning 2001 “Band of Brothers” and will include the battles at Iwo Jima and Guadalcanal.

A few interesting shows tonight. FOX has a special cooking show one-hit called “Gordon Ramsay: Cooking Live” at 9 p.m. following part 1 of the finale of “So You Think You Can Dance,” which is at 8.

A&E has a few odd premieres tonight in “Psychic Kids” at 9 p.m. and “Paranormal State” at 10.

NBC set dates for the return of its sitcoms before and after the Winter Olympics. “The Biggest Loser” returns January 5 at 8 p.m. “Chuck” returns January 11 at 8. “Paranthood” at 9 p.m. March 1. “The Marriage Ref” premieres March 14 at 8, and “The Celebrity Apprentice” at 9.

At the same time as the return of “Chuck” to the tube, NBC is launching a social media game around the show called “Mission” Chuck Me Out,” for fans to earn points by tracking mentions of the show on Twitter, MySpace and Facebook.

Showtime reported strong numbers for the “Dexter” season four finale on Sunday. The show put together the largest audience in 10 years for the premium channel with 2.57 million total viewers. Showtime’s “Californication” also reported a 71 percent increase in viewership over last season’s finale. The season four finale of that show on Sunday garnered 1.055 million viewers and was the most-viewed episode of “Californication.”

E! reports “Keeping Up with the Kardashians” season four premiere on Sunday brought in more than double the viewers as its season three premiere.

History Channel is putting together an eight-hour miniseries about the storied Kennedy family. “The Kennedys” will debut in 2011 as History’s first scripted show.

One thing you might have missed Friday: “Dollhouse” was on FOX with two new episodes. The network is squeezing it out, to get rid of the canceled show with a cult following. FOX had a 1.5/3 rating on Friday, putting it in fifth place behind shows like “Law and Order” on NBC and “En Nombre Del Amor” on Univision.”

The New Zealand folk-pop duo of Jemaine Clement and Bret McKenzie of the HBO comedy “Flight of the Conchords” announced that they will not renew the show for a third season.

No finales tonight, but two minor premieres: “The Sing-Off” on NBC at 8 p.m. and “Bank of Hollywood” on E! at 10.

CBS will test the waters of science fiction in a time travel project called “Murmurs.” CBS gave a script commitment to Jason Smilovic and producer Elaine Goldsmith-Thomas that revolves around a world where time travel is normal and an agency called Commission is in charge of it.

Tonight at 11, G4′s new “Campus PD” comedy starts about college police departments. The big fall finale tonight is “Glee” on FOX at 9. Bravo’s “Top Chef Part 2″ also airs its finale tonight at 10.

After 54 years, CBS is canceling the soap opera “As the World Turns,” which will air its last episode next September. The shows producers, run by a subsidiary of Procter and Gamble (see: Soap!) said they are looking for a new channel to host the show. Over the past half century, there have been more than 13,000 episodes created to the tune of 58 Emmy Awards. It launched the careers of James Earl Jones, Meg Ryan, Marisa Tomei and many others.

Staying in the daytime realm for a second, “The Bonnie Hunt Show” is getting canceled — the 2-year-old talk show will cease production in May.

Season 4 of “Keeping up with the Kardashians” will premiere on E! on Sunday at 10 p.m.

Tonight we have the premieres of ABC’s “Better off Ted,” MTV’s “Teen Mom” and SyFy’s new idiot box series, “Outer Space Astronauts.”

Add those to the finales of “The Biggest Loser” at 8 p.m. on NBC and “Scare Tactics” on SyFy at 9.

Sunday night’s series finale of “Monk” drew the largest audience ever seen on a basic cable drama with 9.4 million total viewers. The success carried over to White Collar, where the fall finale right after “Monk” drew 5.55 million viewers.

NBC picked up the full season order for “Community” and “Parks and Recreation” and scaled back the new sitcom “100 Questions” from 13 episodes to six.

CBS is making a drama based on the upcoming James Patterson novel, “Private.” Twentieth Century FOX will produce the drama about Jack MOrgan, a former Marine and CIA operative to takes over his father’s private detective business.

“Charlie Brown Christmas” is on ABC tonight!

A big night for USA Network with the series finale of “Monk” at 9 p.m. and the fall finale of “White Collar” at 10.

On Sunday, CBS has the finale of “The Amazing Race” at 8 p.m.

ABC will return “Flash Forward” on March 4, several months before its anticipated summer airing.

MTV gave “The Hills” a sixth season and its spinoff series “The City” a second, Variety reported.

The 90-minute season finale of “Sons of Anarchy” drew 4.33 million total viewers, making it the best-rated episode ever for this series, now through two seasons. FX announced it has ordered 13 episodes for the third season, which we’ll have to wait until next September for.

ABC is moving “Ugly Betty” to Wednesdays at 10 p.m. as of January 6 as part of ABC Comedy Wednesday. “Shark Tank” comes back to ABC on January 8 at 9 p.m.

Syfy has another new whimsical comedy series. “Outer Space Astronauts” premieres Tuesday at 9:30 p.m. The series was created by Russell Barrett, who developed the series at his home using computer graphics. It’s a five-par series airing Tuesdays at 9 after the first episode.

Bravo will sign on for a third season of “Shear Genius” starting in February.

The price is $5.8 billion for the 20 percent of NBC Universal held by Vivendi. GE will acquire this 20 percent and then immediately sell 51 percent majority control of NBC Universal to cable giant Comcast. The final word can come as early as Thursday. For its end, Comcast is expected to put up as much as $6 billion for control of NBCU.

On the ABC side, Charles Gibson’s last day as anchor of “World News” will be December 18. ABC will honor the storied newsman throughout his last week. Diane Sawyer will take over in January.

The third major network, CBS, confirmed what most of us knew: that its new medical drama, “Three Rivers,” was a flop. The show has been pulled off the schedule, though CBS has promised to compete production of the 13 ordered episodes. The Sunday time slot will be replaced by repeats of the previous weeks’ “Cold Case,” “Criminal Minds” and the smash new hit spin-off “NCIS: Los Angeles.”

FX, which has really come into its own lately, announced its midseason schedule. “Nip/Tick” opens its final season on January 6, and will air nine episodes over nine weeks. The final show will come March 3 — it’s also the show’s 100th. Also, the FX comedy “Archer” debuts January 14 at 10 p.m. “Justified” with TOmothy Olyphant starts in March.

The series finale of “Monk” is Friday. Last week’s episode garnered nearly 6 million viewers.

Finally this morning, we learned that ABC is working on a comedy with Nicole Richie playing a professional woman with a complex family life.

FOX announced its lineup for early 2010, which includes the return of “Dollhouse” on January 8 and two “Simpsons” special episodes:

January 8: “Dollhouse” at 9 p.m.
January 10: “The Simpsons” 450th Milestone Episode at 8p.m. and “The Simpsons” 20th Anniversary Special: in 3D! on Ice! at 8:30 p.m.
January 12: “American Idol” Part 1, two-hour premiere at 8 p.m.
January 13: “American Idol” Part 2 at 8p; “Our Little Genius” at 9 p.m.
January 17: “Human Target”: (series preview) at 8 p.m.; “24″ Part 1, two-hour premiere at 9-11 p.m.
January 18: “24″ Part 2, two-hour premiere at 8 p.m.
January 20: “Human Target”, series premiere at 9 p.m.
January 22: “Dollhouse” (series finale) at 9 p.m.
January 29: “Kitchen Nightmares” at 9 p.m.
February 4: “Fringe” (winter finale) at 9 p.m.
February 11: “Past Life,” two-hour premiere at 8 p.m.
March 14: “Sons of Tucson” at 8:30 p.m.

In other news, the series finale of “Monk” is this Friday at 9 p.m.

Here are today’s top TV stories.

First and foremost, Oprah Winfrey will talk on the air today about ending her iconic syndicated daytime talk show, “The Oprah Winfrey Show.” She will tell viewers that the show will end its run after 25 years on September 9, 2011. Oprah does have her own network, called OWN, launching next year, but we’re not sure what her future plans are beyond the show.

Other news, the season finale of “Curb Your Enthusiasm” starts at 9 on Sunday on HBO.

Some future premieres to talk about. ABC will start the sixth and final season of “Lost” on February 2 with a two-hour episode starting at 9 p.m. An hour-long recap of last season will start at 8, and the show will air Tuesday nights at 9 all season long. ABC will also launch an online companion for “Grey’s” addicts called “Seattle Grace: On Call.” on ABC.com. The six-webisode series will be set at Joe’s Emerald City Bar and will feature cast regulars including Gloria Garayua and Brandon Scott.

Over on NBC, “Chuck” will start its third season on January 10 with 2 episodes starting at 9 p.m. Then it will move to a regular time slot with another episode Monday January 11 at 8 p.m.

G4, the video game and Gen-Y network will start a show called “Campus PD” with a look at police on colleague campuses on Florida, Texas, California, and North Carolina. It premieres December 8 at 11 p.m.

Two very different season finales tonight: “America’s Next Top Model” at 8 p.m. on The CW and “South Park” at 10 on Comedy Central. No premieres on this Wednesday.

In the news, MTV will have exclusive US television rights to Michael Jackson’s “This Is It.” The movie concert will start to air on MTV’s networks in 2011, so don’t hold your breath.

Discovery has another epic series coming out in March. “Life” is an 11-parter and will be narrated by Opray Winfrey.

Lorraine Bracco from “The Sopranos” was cast in a TNT drama pilot called “Rizzoli.” She will play the mother of police detective Jane Rizzoli, who will be played by Angie Harmon.

If you need more proof that the new “Stargate SG-1″ DVD is never going to get made, here it is: MGM Studios is seeking a buyer. The cash-strapped studio got permission from lenders to skip interest payments on loans through January as it seeks a merger or acquisition, possibly with Fox/News Corp., Time Warner, or Viacom. Rumors about a private equity fund also cropped up, but most reports have it that Lionsgate will come out ahead of a possibly bidding war. The New York Times values MGM at between $1.5 and $3 billion, down from the $5 billion that Comcast, Sony, and venture capitalists spent taking MGM private in 2004.

TBS’s new “The Very Funny Show” will debut November 19 at midnight, featuring stand-up comics talking about life on tour. The show will follow “Lopez Tonight.”

The CW is developing a medical school drama called “HMS.” Word is that Hayden Panettiere will executive produce it.

That’s it today. A worthless Browns/Ravens game is on “Monday Night Football” tonight. Enjoy.

Good TV night on Sunday coming up with premieres of AMC’s “The Prisoner” at 8 p.m., “Drive-Thru” on Fuel at 8:30 p.m., “Tough Love” on VH1 at 9 p.m., and a great feature called “WWII IN HD” on History also at 9. Blast has seen “WWII in HD” and we approve, especially for military history buffs.

In news news, CNN quickly replaced Lou Dobbs with the king of the touchscreen, John King. King will host a weeknight political show at 7 p.m.

Spike has a new cars show called “Unique Autosports: Miami,” starting February 28 at 10:30 a.m. There will be eight half hour episodes combining cars, celebrities and beautiful Miami. Guests will include LeBron James, Diddy, and players from the Yankees.

A bunch of news out of SyFy today. The network formerly known as Sci-Fi has a comedy series coming out called “Outer Space Astronauts” starting December 8 at 9:30 p.m. The show is about eight quirky soldiers who travel the stars looking for adventures. It’s basically making fun of Stargate, and it shows how much the network has changed in 10 years.

SyFy got good ratings on the premiere “Ghost Hunters Academy” on Wednesday, drawing 2 million total viewers, the best ratings for a reality series on SyFy since January 2008′s “Ghost Hunters International.”

Famed author Ray Bradbury will executive produce a six-episode miniseries about six of his short stories. “The Bradbury Chronicles” hasn’t been picked up by a network yet.

Today was the day of reckoning for several faltering television shows.

“Dollhouse,” “Hank” and “Brothers” all got the proverbial pink slip. “Dollhouse” through no fault of its own was set in no man’s land Friday night and seemed destined for failure from the start of the second season. “Hank” and “Brothers” never got off the ground.

Elsewhere, The CW will things fresh through at least May with new episodes of “One Tree Hill,” “Gossip Girl” and the new “Life UneXpected” all revolving around each others. “One Tree Hill” premieres with back-to-back episodes at 8 p.m. on January 18, followed by the start of “Life UneXpected” at 9 p.m.

The at-times controversial news anchor Lou Dobbs announced live on the air and unexpectedly that he was resigning from CNN immediately. Dobbs was under contract until the end of 2011, but CNN apparently released him. He was by some measure the voice of the right for CNN, though his views on immigration made him a lightning rod at times.

Tonight’s premiere is “Ghost Hunters Acadamy” on SyFy at 10 p.m. The lone finale is “Secret Girlfriend” on Comedy Central at 10:30.

In the news today, ABC made some moves, giving an order for five more episodes of “The Forgotten,” and canceling the new series “Eastwick,” which nobody watched.

ABC also nixed “Let’s Dance,” on news that Kathy Griffin was to host and celebrities weren’t flocking to join the show, according to reports. ABC will use a filler reality series in that time slot, instead of “Let’s Dance,” which was set to debut November 23.

“Lopez Tonight” scored 3.2 million viewers on TBS, TNT and truTV when it premiered Monday, beating Conan O’Brien and David Letterman in the 18-34 demographic.

truTV will launch a new reality series about professional football, going behind the scenes from draft day to the Big Game in “NFL Full Contact” produced by NFL films.

The CW will premiere “Life Unexpected” January 18, tagging in for “Gossip Girl,” until that mega-popular show returns with 12 more episodes later in 2010.

Finally, Nielsen has reported that Americans are watching more television than ever before, with an average of four hours and 49 minutes per day, per American. This is a 20 percent increase from 10 years ago. We have more choices than ever, and we can DVR anything we want. Life is good, right?

Sunday’s finale of AMC’s “Mad Men” sent 2.3 million total viewers to the cable network, a 33 percent spike over last season’s finale for the Emmy-winning show.

A&E will premiere two episodes of “Intervention” at 9 p.m. and 9:30 followed by the second season premiere of “Hoarders” at 10 on November 30. This is the eighth season of “Intervention.”

Evolution Media, producer of Bravo’s “The Real Housewives of Orange County” is working on a men’s reality series called “Boys Club: ATL.”

George is throwin’ a party tonight, and it’s taking over the Turner cable world. “Lopez Tonight” premieres tonight at 11 on TBS, with simulcasts on TNT and truTv. The lone finale tonight is “Lincoln Heights” on ABC Family at 8 p.m.

News on this Monday morning, The Disney/ABC/NBC/Universal/Heart television partnership announced it was cutting 10 percent of jobs at A&E and Lifetime, which the TV group acquired in August.

While Lifetime is cutting, Showtime is adding. The premium network will be the first to air “Twilight” on January 23. On January 25, “Secret Diary of a Call Girl” airs at 10 p.m. and “Tracey Ullman’s State of the Union” at 10:30. Monday will be comedy night next ytear with “Nurse Jackie” at 10 and “united States of Tara” at 10:30. Showtime also announced that the fourth and final season of “The Tudors” will premiere April 11 at 9 p.m.

Bravo announced that “The Real Housewives of Orange County” attracted nearly 50 percent more viewers on its season five opener last Thursday than it did last year.

TNT acquired the exclusive syndication rights to the CBS drama “The Mentalist” which will start airing the cable network way out in 2012. “The Mentalist” is in its second season. USA Network got exclusive cable syndication rights to the hit CBS spin-off “NCIS Los Angeles.”

A ton of A&E news today. A&E has a reality miniseries about the Jackson Family called “The Jacksons: A Family Dynasty” scheduled to start December 13 at 9 p.m. with a two hour premiere. The series will focus on Jackie, Jermaine, Tito and Marlon Jackson preparing for a tour after the death of Michael. A&E also announced that it approved an hour-long pilot for “Sugarloaf” about a Chicago cop who gets fired after his captain shoots him and wrongfully accuses him of sleeping with his wife. The cop moves to Florida and joins the state police. A&E’s new drama “The Quickening” will star Jeffrey Nordling, John Heard and Michael Arden with Radha Mitchell. The show is about a cop who gets demoted to desk work after it surfaces that he’s bipolar.

Finally this morning, HBO is planning a new drama called “T” about a woman who undergoes gender transformation into a man. No word on an air date.

“The Wanda Sykes Show” premieres tomorrow night at 11 on FOX. The big finale this week is “Mad Men” on Sunday at 10 on AMC. VH1′s “Tool Academy” finale is at 9, so get excited.

NUMB3RS might be getting the boot after six years.

CBS is making some mid-season changes. It is cutting the season order of “NUMB3RS” to 16 episodes, down from 22. This is in order to make room for shows like the reality “Undercover Boss” and the dramas “Miami Trauma,” “Flashpoint,” and “The Bridge.” Numbers gets cut short in its sixth season.

The fate of “The Oprah Winfrey Show” is up in the air. One report has it that Oprah will switch from broadcast to cable when her contract with CBS expires in 2011. Oprah would then be tree to move to her own cable network, which launches next fall. But CBS says they know nothing of any moves the talk-show diva is looking to make.

Also on the topic of talk shows, NBC has renewed “Maury,” “Springer,” and “Steve Wilkos” for at least three more years. Tribune, the company that syndicates these shows, also announced that some of its other shows, including “People’s Court,” “Judge Matis,” “TMZ,” “This Old House” and “Judge Jeanine Pirro” are renewed through 2012.

Scipps is purchasing a 65 percent majority stake in the Travel Channel from Cox Communications, pouring millions of dollars into the 22-year-old cable network and securing its near billion-dollar debt.

Comedy Central is teaming up with The Onion to produce a 30-minute television series inspired by The Onion Sports Network.

Finally this week, FX has a Western drama series under construction called “Reconstruction,” set in Missouri during the post-Civil War era.

Not much today. Bravo has the premiere of “The Real Housewives of Orange County” at 10 p.m., and Investigation Discovery starts “Cold Blood,” also at 10.

ABC announced that “The Bachelor: On Wings of Love” will premiere January 4 at 8 p.m. This is the 14th edition of the reality show, and it will feature commercial airline pilot, Jake Pavelka, from Dallas, who was in the most recent “Bachelorette” only to fail.

FOX has a cool new CIA drama in the works from Chernin Entertainment, Variety reported. It’s untitled but it will be about a unit of the CIA that does “remote viewing,” finding out information using paranormal skills. No word on the cast.

In other FOX news, Colin Hanks will star in “Jack and Dan” opposite Bradley Whitford. Hanks will play Jack, a detective teamed up with a drunken maverick partner. This one will premiere in early 2010.