CBS

CHICAGO – One of the reasons that CBS’s “The Amazing Race” has been as critically-acclaimed and award-winning as it has over its successful run is the balance of regular people with more typical larger-than-life reality personalities. The show’s stellar editing team is the main reason the program works and host Phil Keoghan would be right behind in close second.

CHICAGO – NBC used the Super Bowl to launch their highly-promoted Super Monday and the gamble paid off as the troubled network won the night, beating a very competitive slate of programming on CBS and ABC. “The Voice” is a ratings beast and “Smash” was heavily sampled. Of course, whether or not “Smash” is a hit will be determined the further it gets away from the Super Bowl hype.

CHICAGO – Thursday nights looked radically different last night with changes on three major networks, including a new line-up on NBC and premieres on CBS and FOX. How’d they do? Well, CBS may have finally found a hit in the post-“The Big Bang Theory” slot, but NBC and FOX are going to have to go back to the drawing board.

CHICAGO – After an absolute train wreck like ABC’s “Work It” and something that comes close to disaster in NBC’s “Are You There, Chelsea,” there’s something nearly-satisfying about a mediocre sitcom like “Rob!”

CHICAGO – One of the clear observations in re-connecting with the 1964 Oscar-winning Best Picture “My Fair Lady,” is that essentially it’s a timeless musical. It lives in a universe of George Bernard Shaw, adapted from his original play “Pygmalion,” and comes to life through the music and lyrics of Frederick Loewe and Alan Jay Lerner.

CHICAGO – Everything immensely popular eventually falls victim to an awkward tie-in. There are graveyards of fast food toys related to blockbuster hits that never should have existed (a fact brilliantly parodied in the upcoming “Toy Story” short in front of “The Muppets”).

CHICAGO – Unlike the massive housecleaning at NBC announced today, things won’t change much at mid-season for the #1 network in total viewers, but CBS did make official that the Rob Schneider vehicle “¡ROB!” will get the cozy post-“The Big Bang Theory” slot on Thursday nights, starting January 12th.

CHICAGO – As expected, CBS has given back-episode orders to new dramas “Unforgettable” and “Person of Interest,” meaning they’ll be on until at least May 2012. As for whether or not they’ll get second seasons, let the bubble watch begin. Both shows have done well in overall viewers but not as respectably in the key youth demos.

CHICAGO – Critics may have been cruel but audiences were curious enough to see what Tim Allen’s “Home Improvement” schtick looks like in 2011, sampling the series premiere of ABC’s “Last Man Standing” to the tune of a solid 3.5 rating in the key 18-49 demo. Last year, “No Ordinary Family” opened in the time slot with a 3.2 rating and it’s worth nothing that the baseball game on FOX ate into every other network, especially with younger viewers, so there’s reason to believe that the numbers would have otherwise been higher.

CHICAGO – I wonder if a show so founded on its beautiful people in a beautiful setting as CBS’s “Hawaii Five-O” would have even made it to a second season in the days before HD. Sure, there have been shows like this that have been hits before (most of the nighttime soaps of the ’80s) but it’s undeniable that the look of this update of “Five-O” is one of its most addictive qualities. It’s nice to take a trip to the islands after a long Monday at work. Now you can do so every night of the week (or for about 18 hours straight) with the recently-released DVD and Blu-ray set of the first season.