Friday premieres: 'Flashpoint,' 'Howie Do It'

Huh. NBC's hidden-camera show "Howie Do It" tied the Season 2 premiere of CBS’ “Flashpoint” in the adult demo.

This means a better-than-expected debut for “Howie” at 8 p.m. (7.7 million viewers, 2.1 preliminary adults 18-49 rating and 7 share) and a slightly less-than-hoped-for premiere for “Flashpoint” at 9 p.m. (10.1 million, 2.1/6).

CBS won the night with the evening’s highest-rated show, “Ghost Whisperer” (10.6 million, 2.5/8). “Flashpoint” topped its hour, but had the network’s usual drop-off, just slightly better (by 11%) than “Ex List” in the slot, and was followed by “Numbers” (10.1 million, 2.4/7).

ABC was second with “Wife Swap” (4.8 million, 1.6/5), “Supernanny” (5.6 million, 1.9/5) and “20/20” (7.9 million, 2.2/6).

Third-place NBC’s “Howie” placed second in its slot after “Ghost” to mark NBC’s best non-Olympics performance in the hour since February. THR also gave "Howie" a good review, see here. “Howie” gave the finale of “Lipstick Jungle” (4 million, 1.3/4) its best Friday night lead-in yet, but the dramedy failed to pop. The ongoing low numbers for “Lipstick” combined with NBC no longer having dramas at 10 p.m. next season would heavily suggest this show is, indeed, finished. NBC wrapped the night with “Dateline” (4.9 million, 1.3/4). Fox aired a movie.