More premieres, finales and returning shows to highlight but nothing came as much of a surprise.

1. The Following (11.18 million 4.4)- These numbers are good indeed but I think perhaps this could have done just a little bit better. Now it’s crazy to think that next Monday’s numbers will hold steady but it does have a good chance to level off at season 1 numbers.

2. Nashville (5.10 million 1.3)- Nashville is really going to be the show to test ABC and prognosticators. Its current situation plus its ratings say that the show should be canceled. ABC’s severe lack of drama successes this year (Marvel’s Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. is the only freshman drama that can make a justified case for renewal) works in this show’s favor. ABC really hoped this would be the show to turn things around. They are waking up to the reality that this is not the case and with so many failures now they will have to decide if 2 years of bad but not shockingly low ratings is worth the tradeoff of trying to commission more than the usual 6 brand new drama pilots a year and dealing with the reality of all but 1-2 of them being outright failures.

3. Here Comes Honey Boo Boo (9:00 2.076 million 0.8; 9:30: 1.915 million 0.8)- I will say this is a little low for a premiere for this show. That’s not to say that these numbers are bad but the ratings pretty much come in about at the same level as season 2 was so any declines would see season 3 coming in below seasons 1 and 2.

4. Supernatural (2.21 million 1.0)- On a week without The Vampire Diaries this came back as The CW’s #1 show in the demo (Arrow being #1 in total viewers). Spring tends to get a little tough for most shows but staying in the same general area as the fall is nothing but a positive for this show.

5. Duck Dynasty (10:00- 8.516 million 3.3; 10:30- 8.490 million 3.4)- So no new earth-shattering, record setting ratings here but these are still the kind of numbers that make it very hard for A&E to just cut their losses and be done with the show. The days of setting new records are probably over and done with for this show but the numbers are still far higher than every reality show currently on cable.

6. American Idol (Wednesday:15.19 million 4.7; Thursday: 13.35 million 3.9)- We know this show is not the show it once was but because we know that shows of this type go in phases according to what point of the season the show is in, historical trends for this show could make those premiere numbers appear worrying.

7. Snooki & JWOWW (10:00- 840,000 0.5; 10:30- 862,000 0.4)- This show collapsed early on in the season and it never really found a way back up. MTV really isn’t in a better place but they do have a couple of pieces that they can work with that might make the decision to move on from this show easier. However should they renew the show, they need to do it knowing that the next season would be the last because there’s really nothing else that the show can do to help the network.

8. The Originals (2.07 million 0.9)- You can make the same statement with this show as you can make with Arrow and Supernatural. The show isn’t doing anything to cause the people at The CW to worry and when the time comes to renew shows this show will be right there with Arrow, Supernatural and The Vampire Diaries in getting those first renewals. The hard work will come pretty much after the midseason shows premiere.

9. Keeping Up with the Kardashians (Sunday: 2.569 million 1.3; Monday: 2.142 million 1.1)- E! is really stuck in a holding pattern with this show. It is no monster hit for them, they still have trouble launching a hit show from it (Rich Kids of Beverly Hills is not a flop but those numbers are suspect and can drop even further than the slightly above average Kardashian retention territory it came in with) and it is still the network’s highest rated show by a mile. So in essence the network really would be in a tough position if they canceled the show but they wouldn’t be in an ideal position if they renewed the show. That’s why the numbers for this season are so important.

10. Rob Dyrdek’s Fantasy Factory (1.276 million 0.6)- Not that final season ratings matter too much but I can’t say this is a bad start for an 11pm show. I honestly can’t remember what the last season ratings were looking like because it has been so long since the last season but given MTV’s current landscape, this really isn’t bad at all.