A big week of premieres was headlined by the return of ‘American Idol’, but the ratings king is not quite the juggernaut it used to be. ‘Big Bang Theory’ managed to top the singing kids in the demo.

The flood of premieres for the new year continues with ‘The Firm,’ ‘Are You There Chelsea,’ ‘The Finder,’ ’30 Rock,’ ‘Rob,’ and ‘The Game.’ That’s both good and bad, as the numbers run the gamut from ‘sure to be canceled’ to ‘solid hit’.

The new calendar year is upon us, and the mid-season premieres are already starting. ABC kicked off ‘The Bachelor’, ‘Wife Swap’, and ‘Work It’, while NBC had a brand new season of ‘Biggest Loser’. Over on cable, have the judge/host shenanigans ruined ‘Project Runway’?

The week between Christmas and New Years is something of a new programming wasteland, but I did manage to find a very interesting number for ‘Big Bang Theory’ repeats on TBS. How do you suppose those stack up against ‘Community’ or ‘Chuck’ on NBC?

The holidays dealt a crushing blow to the network schedules last week, leaving only five hours of new scripted programming on all five broadcast networks combined. Over on cable, it was season finale time for ‘American Horror Story’, ‘The League’, ‘Dexter’, and ‘Homeland’.

After a five year break, ‘Fear Factor’ returned at the top of the NBC heap. Over on cable, a shocking finale for HBO’s ‘Boardwalk Empire’ meant good things for everyone. Well… everyone but that actor… that played that guy.

‘Two And A Half Men’ has slipped back ahead of ‘Modern Family’ on the big networks, while over on cable the ‘Sons Of Anarchy’ finale was bested by bikes, boxes, and babies.