Using a picture of the #1 show would be too obvious so I just went and through my computer and picked out the first picture I didn't hate or couldn't remember if I used twice already.

Anyway as promised from Wednesday, here is the season average list for 2012. The 2011 and 2010 versions are somewhere on Bourgy (though the easiest way to get to either one is through here). Like those lists of the past I have a few things that need to be noted such as...

* (One asterisk) - 1 or more episodes of information is missing
** (Two asterisks)- 2 or more episodes aired outside of primetime (11pm or later)
Blue- renewed

This list of averages does not take previews, re-runs, supertrailers or specials into account. Since there were no actual clip shows aired this year (I count Love & Hip Hop Atlanta: Dirty Little Secrets as a special because it aired so long after the end of the show) those don't matter and didn't need to be counted. In past instances clip shows were counted.

1. Love & Hip Hop: Atlanta (3.263 million)- I know nobody is really surprised that this ended up #1. What VH1 (and fans for that matter) need to worry about is if the show has already peaked because shows stop being “real” after the first or second season and I heard this was already like 30% scripted so that can’t be good going forward (Though past evidence says that an obviously fake show has maybe 2 seasons in it beyond the first to keep fooling people before the fakeness becomes stale or overwhelming. Any season after that means either fans feel like they have to watch or the network has no other options).

2. Single Ladies 2 (2.266 million)- This whole season of this show was going to be a wildcard of sorts. It was still the only scripted show (but won’t be in 2013) and it lost its star only to cast a clone that looks just like the one they got rid of. But those weren’t even the things to look out for. The real wildcard was Love & Hip Hop: Atlanta the entire time so now does season 3 again get help from its new partner or does VH1 saddle it with another show? Only time will tell.

3. T.I. & Tiny: The Family Hustle 2 (2.048 million)- This show shows the power of having insanely high rated episodes to keep your average up. Without the first 2 episodes this would just barely be a top 5 show but it’s also those two episodes that set this show apart from Chrissy & Mr. Jones, Marrying The Game and La La’s Full Court Life.

4. Basketball Wives 4 (1.956 million)- Invisible Scar (Evelyn) + Invisible Lacefront (Tami) = Invisible Boycott right? Yeah that’s why they are doing a season 5. The only thing the chicks on this show need to see is that Love & Hip Hop (both cities) deliver much better numbers and that’s why they keep getting played. It’s all about money. Basketball Wives (both cities) brings in just enough viewers to keep doing more seasons without VH1 having to acknowledge that it is a smash hit show and therefore continue not to cough up smash hit money.

5. Basketball Wives LA 2 (1.752 million)- This here is why I say this show will be renewed. It’s a top 5 show. It might not be believable and it might not be deserving, but numbers talk and when one night is doing far better than the others you have to keep going with the hot hand just so you can continue to break even and that’s what VH1 has been doing. This show epitomizes their actions for the year.

6. Chrissy & Mr. Jones (1.695 million)- If these 2 are what causes the death of Love & Hip Hop by their exits then more power to them. Any “wives” show or shows of similar nature that die off are a welcome sight to me but you gotta be smoking if you think these are cancelworthy numbers on VH1 (look at how close 3-7 are. That’s a difference of less than 450k viewers and if #’s 4, 8 and 9 are already renewed what do you think will happen to the rest?)

7. Marrying The Game (1.622 million)- Since I don’t watch the shows I get a lot of info from lurking. Lurking alone tells me that this (and the show above it) don’t need to come back because both are shows about dusty rappers who are emasculated by their whiny near-menopausal girlfriends trying to goad them into marriage and ditching the identities that made the men somewhat known. Ironic that both shows are so close together and could go either way. I don’t see how VH1 keeps or cancels one over the other if both are essentially the same show. They are either going to keep both or get rid of both (My vote is for the former).

8. La La’s Full Court Life 2 (1.550 million)- You know what? As long as this show keeps ending up airing at the right place and right time it’s going to keep coming back. I’m not going to waste any time next year trying to figure out who the hell watches this.

9.  Mob Wives 2 (1.500 million)- Mob Wives, Mob Wives, Mob Wives….or as I like to call it, VH1’s headline show in name only. If you only paid attention to the mainstream media you would think that not only was this their highest rated show but that it was a contender with Real Housewives of New Jersey. It’s not and surely VH1 has to be disappointed because sans the first 5-6 episodes of this long season, the average wouldn’t be this high. Still if season 3 turns in something close to 1.3 million while their other Sunday shows keep flopping you better believe they are going to do a season 4 because they can’t operate on just one night alone (ask Oxygen how that’s working out for them).

10. Styled By June (1.038 million)- This show here was VH1’s lowest rated Monday show of the year. Because it aired on Mondays I’m not surprised that VH1 has been quiet about this show and I would be even less surprised if they keep staying quiet because they know they aren’t doing a second season. It’s the luck of the draw because had it aired on Sunday or Wednesday with these same numbers it would be an automatic renewal.

11. Hollywood Exes (807,000)- For a while this was the tale of 2 nights. Its 2 Monday preview episodes would have you to believe that VH1 was missing out on a grand opportunity to create a solid hit show. Its Wednesday numbers on the other hand looked like it might have needed some help. After the preview shuffling, the 4th of July and that DirecTV blackout, the show found its footing and possibly gave VH1 a sign that Wednesdays could work if they put something on that people want to watch (To be honest I think it would be smart to put Basketball Wives [Miami though LA could be a candidate too if the season hadn’t just finished] on Wednesdays especially if they want Love & Hip Hop Atlanta to be back before May/June).

12. Tough Love: New Orleans (700,000 *9 episodes)- This looked like it was doing ok for a while before falling off. I guess VH1 thought they could do better than this but since this went off, nothing has worked on Sundays and other than Mob Wives I don’t see anything else working for a while (that Making Mr. Right show has flop written all over it to me…anyway concerning this show, there are a few very preliminary signs that there might be a season 5 but nothing is confirmed so there’s no reason to go back and change any of my older posts yet).

13. Big Ang (651,000)- This is another spinoff that didn’t gain much traction. I’m not sure if they let her back on Mob Wives only because she was the one people liked the most or because they wanted to keep her and wasn’t all in about giving this another season. I think they need to see what happens with the next season of Mob Wives before they do any franchise renewals or spinoffs.

14. Mob Wives: The Sit Down (609,000 *6 episodes)- This looked really bad at the time it aired because it was an aftershow and it wasn’t holding half of the audience of Mob Wives. It was very strange to me and it says that people aren’t invested in Mob Wives as much as VH1 would like to think (plus I think they used that 1 episode Basketball Wives LA Overtime special from season 1 as a backdoor pilot and thought a weekly Mob Wives version would be more popular).

15. Mama Drama (608,000 **8 episodes)- This was a sacrifice for Baseball Wives (this show was actually supposed to premiere behind season 2 of Mob Wives) but since VH1 put all their eggs in a basket for a failed show, this one ended up assed out and in my opinion is still assed out because VH1 did everything they could to try to kill it and while it didn’t kill itself, VH1 is going to act like this show never existed.

16. Couples Therapy 2 (570,000)- While this did better than season 1 it’s still nothing to really write home about. It also did better than some Sunday shows but it did worse than the other Wednesday shows and I don’t know what the hell will happen with this show but it really shouldn’t come back if they are serious about doing better in 2013 (They claim their primetime average for the year was something between 600-650k viewers so everything below Big Ang is a below average show anyway).

17. Rehab With Dr. Drew (552,000) – While this was airing I got the feeling that VH1 was slowly getting over this show and when you consider all the shows above it that haven’t been decided on I can see why they wouldn’t be particularly enthused about making a decision about this show soon. There's no incentive in renewing it and there's also no incentive in making a special cancellation announcement when there are so many other undecided shows out there.

18. Mob Wives: Chicago (513,000)- Despite my obvious feeling about this show being from Chicago, I don’t know how they thought Mob Wives could be a franchise when the original show is not as strong as Love & Hip Hop or Basketball Wives. Time is ticking on this show not that it matters to me because I still believe this show is not coming back and VH1 is not going to make an announcement to confirm it.

19. Couples Therapy (468,000)- Being a bottom 3 show for the entire year should have been the death knell for this show but it got a second season and I’ve already stated what should happen with the show going forward.

20. Stevie TV (358,000**)- 11pm show or not, this show didn’t deserve to be renewed and for a cheap sketch show that they initially promised would return in the fall they are really dragging their feet about this one. I think they realize they made a mistake so we’ll wait and see if and when this pops up in 2013.

21. House of Consignment (223,000)- When VH1 first announced this show I thought it was destined to flop. Then VH1 decided that they would also throw this show to the sacrificial lambs to save Baseball Wives (Had Baseball Wives stayed on Wednesday and pulled acceptable numbers, this show would have aired behind it). When that happened it was all over for this show without even airing 1 episode but in VH1’s case it took them 4 episodes to come to that realization because they burned the last 6 episodes off in a span of 3 ½ weeks.