CSI: New York

9:30pm – Thursday, January 28 on Channel Nine

A lethal pipe-bomb blows a Manhattan townhouse and valuable evidence to pieces, forcing the CSIs to get creative in reconstructing the damaged clues that ultimately lead to the bomber.

10:30pm – Thursday, January 21 on Channel Nine

When Danny and Lindsey discover a young woman, dressed as a mermaid and floating in a bed of kelp, has been killed they search the island of Manhattan for her murderer. Meanwhile, Mac and Stella investigate the death of a man who is survived by his two wives.

10:30pm – Thursday, January 7 on Channel Nine

When an anonymous caller tells Mac there is a dead body buried at Giant’s Stadium, evidence found at the scene points to one of the CSIs. The team tries to crack the case and prove their investigator is innocent. Across, town Stella and Danny find a banker stabbed to death in his luxurious hotel suite.

9:30pm – Thursday, January 7 on Channel Nine

A Russian tourist is found stabbed to death and the CSIs come face to face with the frightening realities of human trafficking. Solving this case becomes personal when it directly affects a prominent member of the NYPD.

9:30pm – Thursday, December 17 on Channel Nine

The CSIs must piece together a human jigsaw puzzle when a beloved wrestling coach’s severed body parts are found buried throughout the city. Meanwhile, Detective Flack is in the hot seat when a teenage suspect dies in his custody.

9:30pm – Thursday, December 10 on Channel Nine

Young brides-to-be fight over a killer dress at the biggest wedding gown sale of the year and one of the shoppers winds up dead. The unusual clues of this case force Dr. Hawkes to confront a painful chapter from his past.

9:30pm – Thursday, December 3 on Channel Nine

The CSIs appear to have an open and shut case after a murder suspect is impaled during a police pursuit, but it turns out the investigation is just beginning. Guest starring Kristin Cavallari (Laguna Beach and The Hills).

10:30pm – Tuesday, August 11 on Channel Nine

When an anonymous caller tells Mac there is a dead body buried at Giant’s Stadium, evidence found at the scene points to one of the CSIs. The team tries to crack the case and prove their investigator is innocent. Across, town Stella and Danny find a banker stabbed to death in his luxurious hotel suite.

9:30pm – Tuesday, August 11 on Channel Nine

Young brides-to-be fight over a killer dress at the biggest wedding gown sale of the year and one of the shoppers winds up dead.

The unusual clues of this case force Dr. Hawkes to confront a painful chapter from his past

If channel 9 have the intention of keeping as many viewers away from their network on Tuesday nights, then they are doing a GREAT job of it.

Their Tuesday night line up has changed AGAIN, and at very short notice AGAIN.

Two weeks ago, they had Dance Your Ass Off at 7.30pm. That show was axed a few days later. Last week, they had Two and a Half Men on at 7.30, then the New Adventures of Old Christine at 8, followed by 20-1 at 8.30, then CSI: NY at 9.30 and 10.30.

This line up failed and gave 9 the worst Tuesday night ratings that I can remember. WHY? Simple: noone knew what was on. Printed guides wrong. EPGs updated sometime over the weekend. And out of those who did know what was on, many would have chosen not to watch any of the shows knowing full well that it is unlikely the same show will be on the following week.

Next Tuesday (Aug 4) sees 20-1 return to its original Tuesday night time slot of 7.30, with an hour of Two and a Half Men to Follow. At 9.30, it’s Commercial Breakdown – another show that noone watches, so expect it not to be on the following week – followed by Ramsay’s Kitchen Nightmares at 10.15.

If they would only settle on a line up and keep it the same for more than a week, they may actually have the very strange effect of the audience building. The 20-1 / 2.5 Men line up is tired as, and now the laughing stock of the industry. So much so, the line up was sent up on channel 7’s Double Take last Thursday, showing a channel 9 “coming up next” screen with 3 Two and a Half Men episodes, followed by – well, in the skit, they start typing 20-1 in, then change it, then change it again, then say we don’t even know! Maybe another Two and a Half Men?

And even TV Burp had a go at it, with a segment called “RIP Dance Your Ass Off – 15/7/09 – 15/7/09”, which started with Ed discussing the new show on 9 which is a cross between So You Think You Can Dance and the Biggest Loser. While he introduces the show, he takes phone call, saying the show has been axed already.

It’s fair enough to dump shows that are not rating, but it is sheer stupidity to change the line up of a whole night every week at the last minute with no regard for the fact that printed guides will be rendered useless, and many EPGs will not have up to date programming until some time on the weekend. Both channel 7 and 10 go through the same process but, these days, rarely change a show at such short notice.

It is time channel 9 started listening to their audience, and started allowing viewer loyalty to build up. Think back one year or so, channel 10 was in the same boat – chopping and changing the schedule at short notice and coming 3^rd in the ratings. Now look at 10. What’s the difference? THEY LISTEN. They care. They try new shows, new ideas and aren’t afraid to go out on limb.

And as for channel 7, quality, stable programming is also their key. 7 allow shows to build. Look at Scrubs on Monday night for example – it ended up at around a million viewers, but started at 600,000. If that was channel 9, it would have been off after a week.

An interesting fact I read on TV Tonight – When 9 first aired Two and a Half Men, it rated so poorly, that they took it off one week later. The show returned one summer, built audience and has been on ever since.

Finally – there is a twitter account called twitter.com/fixchannel9 following me, and after checking who they are following, a lot of other TV based twitter accounts. Don’t know who or what it is, could be a promo even, who knows? But there’s one thing for sure – channel 9 definitely needs fixing. We’ll have to wait and see what comes out of this twitter account which so far only has one update commenting on last Tuesday night’s performance.