True. But, I think even Two and a Half Men had a shaky start, and ended up okay. Saying that the axe is waiting to swing on How I Met your Mother and Out of Practice is just plain absurd on his part, especially after labelling Mother a modest hit for its first few weeks. With CBS a mainly dominant drama network, any comedy that does moderately well should be considered a hit, since their most popular sitcom is a show that pales slightly in comparison to Everybody Loves Raymond.

I think the ratings section should be for ratings. Far too often he disses a few shows (he called Scrubs "overrated" so many times, I can't count them all, simply because it was on against a show he liked), and supports other shows to the point where it's nauseating. He is FAR too repetitive with his opinions, and I think it should be left in an entirely separate section. Even in a comment section for that particular day! Then, if I want just the ratings without his opinion, I'm good to go.

And, you know... I'm so sick of hearing him say "The Apprentice: Martha Stewart" is "not a good thing".

"Underrated NCIS..."

Heh. He's just sore only 50+ year-olds watch the show.

I don't think anyone has really formed an opinion on NCIS to label it underrated. It's just... there. Like its parent show, JAG. That was just... there, and got big ratings in the same timeslot.

I don't like Marc Berman either. He comes across as too smug and self-righteous. How I Met Your Mother is in no way a ratings loser with 90% retention out of The King of Queens and an improved performance in adults 18-49.

His column is useful, though.

Or it's not what you call a water-cooler show. Almost every water-cooler show he has called overrated (Alias, 24...) Except for Lost and Housewives. Because you know, he'll get a lot of letters once he starts calling them overrated.

Exactly. His own opinions may not be much to read (once you read one of his columns, you basically have read them all for the season), but the information is great. At least he supplies all the ratings information, unlike Zap2it (they often leave out overall ratings) and TheFutonCritic (they don't include viewer numbers).

You got that right.

One more thing (my Marc Berman-bashing will come to a close after this for tonight): I'm kind of sick of hearing him CONSTANTLY tell us how Joey is a failure. We get it, Marc. Joey is no Friends. He's 1/6th of Friends' ratings. There's just no need to keep telling us that. It wouldn't surprise me if NBC is keeping the show on the air, just out of spite against him.

You live in the UK? Right? BBC is showing episodes out of order there (http://dvdtimes.co.uk/content.php?contentid=58440)... I find the show very enjoyable, the supernatural is not the main plot, this is a family drama basically, and both elements are dealt pretty well. I've only seen first eight episodes of season one and the show is pretty consistent if not getting better. I'd rate it with a 4,3/5 for now.

The only reason Marc Berman is used is BECAUSE hes one of the few and most reliable sources for tv ratings since THEFUTONCRITIC had that pesky ban put on archiving.

I enjoy reading secondary, bias opinons on things - but not on such pivotal primary sources.