Whoa! Let me check my neck to make sure I don’t have whiplash!

Less than one day — indeed, just hours — after the series premiere of its new Edie Falco original comedy Nurse Jackie, Showtime has announced a 13-episode Season Two pickup for the series. Now that, dear readers, is what you call a successful TV show, no matter what Nurse Jackie’s fate is from here on out.

The big renewal news was accompanied by the revelation that Nurse Jackie is Showtime’s most-watched series premiere in, like, ever. The pilot episode attracted more than 1 million eager viewers during the first showing at 10:30pm ET on June 8, and then another 350,000 folks tuned in for the encore later that night at 11:30pm.

Showtime’s previous record holder, the United Kingdom import Secret Diary of a Call Girl, lagged far behind, with just 950,000 viewers checking out its opening episode. And in case you’re wondering, the premium-cable network’s other huge comedy hit, Weeds, lured 1.68 million viewers to two broadcasts of its own fifth-season premiere yesterday, which made it Showtime’s most-watched series in 2009 as of now.

Two record-setters in a row ain’t bad at all. It seems the ladies rock big time on Showtime.

Nurse Jackie airs Mondays on Showtime at 10:30pm ET.

Ouch! You know things aren’t going well for your show when after just one episode aired — and the premiere at that — your home network goes and cuts the length of the season by almost 50 percent.

That’s exactly what has happened to ABC’s rookie Megan Mullally/Cheryl Hines sitcom In the Motherhood following its March 26 debut in the first half-hour of Ugly Betty’s regular time slot. As a result, viewers will only get to see seven of the 13 originally ordered episodes, and the other six will probably never be produced. The last is possible this late in the game because the show just started filming in February. Ouch again.

Although Variety reports that ABC claims the network suddenly realized it doesn’t “have room” to broadcast all 13 episodes, intelligent (or half awake) viewers know the actual reason is because of the lukewarm reception the first episode received.

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The Nielsen numbers are in for last week’s second-season Burn Notice finale “Lesser Evil,” and the message is clear: USA Network’s engaging spy dramedy ended the season on a ratings high, literally. Consequently, as Variety puts it, the series is “now the hottest show on cable” (emphasis mine). As if we fans didn’t see that coming.

The episode attracted a total of 6.1 million viewers overall, 2.7 million of which were in the coveted 18–49 demographic. That impressive performance allowed the sophomore show to surpass TNT’s Kyra Sedgwick crime drama The Closer, the previous top cable draw.

What a fantastic wrap-up to an outstanding and thrilling run. Bring on Season Three!

It hasn’t even been a week since The CW’s Reaper returned for its second season and already the bad news has started.

Instead of opening with a bang worthy of all the love fans feel for the show and its characters, Tuesday night’s “Episode 201: Episode IV: A New Hope” Season Two premiere drew a modest audience of just 2.36 million viewers overall, which was about the lowest the series has ever gone. The Nielsen performance was also 40% lower than the show’s series premiere way back in September 2007 (has it really been that long?!).

If it’s any consolation, the supernatural dramedy did have the unenviable position of airing directly opposite two mega popular reality series, Fox’s American Idol (22.68 million viewers) and NBC’s The Biggest Loser (8.26 million viewers), as well as a repeat of CBS’ reliable military crime procedural NCIS (13.66 million viewers). When you look at the situation from that perspective, it’s not surprising in the least that Reaper didn’t get farther in its uphill battle. A lousy time slot will do that, not to mention a nearly yearlong hiatus.

So, what does all of this mean? Well, if you’re a fan and have a glimmer of a hope for a third season, now is definitely the time to band together with other Reaper devotees and begin the push to recruit viewers who can help improve Tuesday’s dismal performance. The last won’t be easy, though.

Reaper will air Tuesdays on The CW at 8pm EST.

As attentive Comedy Centric readers may know, I can’t get enough of NBC’s quirky sophomore cop show Life, which is consistently one of the most refreshing and entertaining series on television nowadays.

It seems the smart folks who live in Spain share my immense appreciation of the dramedy and its cast, led by London native Damian Lewis and his Iranian-Spanish American costar Sarah Shahi. According to Variety, the series follows only proven franchise hits and fellow Telecino network staples CSI: Crime Scene Investigation and CSI: New York in the overall number of viewers tuning in to it each week since its February 16 premiere.

As a result of the three shows’ combined performance winning their respective time slots on Monday nights with about a quarter of all viewers, Telecino is the place to be on Spanish TV the first day of the week. How about that?! And, to think the only reason Life is in the lineup is because the last writers strike shorted the number of available CSI: Miami episodes.

But, wait, there’s more!

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“Chuck Versus the Third Dimension,” the special all-3D episode of Chuck and the show’s first fresh installment of 2009, did good last night. In fact, the episode was so watched, it scored the highest ratings of the season for the series, which fans know is one of the best shows on television these days.

Says NBC in an appropriately jubilant press release: “Last night at 8 p.m. ET, “Chuck” returned with a special 3-D episode to score its highest 18-49 rating and biggest overall viewership of the season, a 3.0 rating, 7 share in adults 18-49 and 8.3 million viewers overall. Versus its “live plus same day” season-to-date average, “Chuck” last night was up 20 percent in 18-49 rating (3.0 vs. 2.5) and 24 percent in total viewers, despite formidable time-period competition from Fox’s “House,” CBS’s “Big Bang Theory” and “How I Met Your Mother” and ABC’s “The Bachelor.” In 18-49, this is NBC’s highest rating in the time period in 11 months (since February 25, 2008).”

Woot! Unfortunately, I couldn’t find my 3D glasses in time to watch the installment properly during its premiere. But, I just found a pair today, so I’m gonna do the deed online. Anybody and everybody can check out the episode, in both 3D and 2D, right on the Web at the show’s NBC site. Each full episode will be online until April 3rd, so just click one of the following links: 2D Version | 3D Version

Also, preview “Chuck Versus the Third Dimension” here and here.

Chuck airs Mondays on NBC at 8pm EST.

Nielsen Media Research really dug deep, going as low as viewers aged twelve years old, to give ABC Family the excellent numerical results for Tuesday night’s second-season premiere of Greek.

The episode, “Brothers and Sisters,” scored the show’s highest ratings ever for total viewers and among viewers 12–34 and females 12–34. Even better, the series managed two- and three-figure percentage increases in several important demographics, including total viewers a year ago. Plus, it achieved an impressive 78 percent increase in total viewers over last summer’s series premiere on July 9, 2007. Go CRU!

Season One Premiere

• Total Viewers: 1.1 million
• Adults 18–34: 303,000
• Women 18–34: 167,000
• Viewers 12–34: 592,000

Season Two Premiere

• Total Viewers: 1.6 million (46% increase)
• Adults 18–34: 612,000 (102% increase)
• Women 18–34: 391,000 (134% increase)
• Viewers 12–34: 1.2 million (103% increase)

Variety reports excellent news today for the ladies of the Lipstick Jungle. Based on strong Nielsen numbers, NBC has ordered an additional six episodes of the Thursday-night, Candace Bushnell dramedy starring Brooke Shields, Kim Raver, and Lindsay Price.

Each week during its 10pm–11pm time slot, Lipstick has led in the ratings among women aged 18 to 49 and women aged 18 to 34. This development means the series will now have the 13 episodes that were originally requested before the first season was shortened to just seven installments due to the writers strike. The new episodes will be for future airing, however, as the series will not shoot anymore episodes for the current season.

Whoo-hoo! Samantha who? Samantha Who?, Ratings Queen, that’s who.

The Nielsen ratings for last week are out in some areas, and it’s official: Christina Applegate’s new ABC sitcom Samantha Who? received major love from U.S. viewers during its premiere episode last Monday night.

The rookie series closed the Top Ten at number ten with a total of 14,424,000 viewers. I won’t bore anyone with tedious statistical stuff like shares and households and demographics and whatnot.

All we need to know is that Applegate and company made the most of their ultra popular Dancing with the Stars lead-in to rank even higher for the week than the current most popular sitcom on U.S. television, CBS’ Two and a Half Men. The older show, which often places in the Top Ten itself, had 13,693,000 viewers overall, giving it a rank of fourteen.

Cheers to the very funny Samantha Who? for a job exceedingly well done.