[Originally completed: February 7th]

The Super Bowl was the weekend before the last.

It seems like forever ago. At least, if you haven’t been watching SportsCenter everyday.

But a long time ago (when more Super Bowl commercials were funny), there was the post-Super Bowl. A show that would make or break a series. Or not do anything at all. But it was important. Whichever network had the Super Bowl had the biggest stage on television and the biggest share watching at one time (and it wasn’t the Olympics or World Cup). You choose the show you think will benefit the most from the viewership, and you run with it.

Which was why I was surprised when they choose Elementary as that show.

The last time CBS had an opportunity to put a show in this spot, it was Undercover Boss. I thought it was a horrible idea. A completely brand new show, in which NO ONE had seen before. I was concerned. I voted against it. I thought it was silly.

Undercover Boss is now one of CBS’s vet reality series, and still gets tons of viewers. So, I was wrong. I’m not perfect. I’m happy I was wrong.

But then, they said Elementary. I watched Elementary. It wasn’t great. It was good. But wasn’t “I need to find out what happens next!”. So I was surprised they choose this show. Perhaps, out of all the new shows, it had the best potential. But I don’t know how much people would have wanted to see it.

They answered on the day of the Super Bowl: 17 millions. That’s still a lot, the highest for the series. But it was also the lowest post-Super Bowl showing since Alias in 2003, and the 2nd-worst since 1976 (the year before (’75), it was the NBC Nightly News following. I kind of found that unfair to compare).

Not so elementary, huh?

But why? Why did no one watch? I’m sure the time difference (since the Super Bowl was 30+ minutes delay from the power outage. But honestly, it probably wouldn’t have done much.

Even so, this past Thursday, it returned with its new episode back to its original numbers. Absolutely no gain was seen from the Super Bowl, making the move a potential fiasco. Sure, it’s still the #1 new drama (although, Chicago Fire is chasing…more on that later). But by CBS standards, isn’t that already expected? So although it maybe alright in TV standards, CBS may become a little more concerned about their new project.