"Pushing Daisies" held up pretty well in its second outing Wednesday, but it's "Private Practice" that's really looking like a hit for ABC. NBC's "Bionic Woman" dipped in week three, but not precipitously.

Meanwhile, Fox's "Back to You" and CBS' "Kid Nation" had a tough time in the 8 p.m. hour. "Pushing Daisies" (10.1 million, 3.6 rating/11 share) led the hour in the adults 18-49 demo and held the majority, if not vast majority, of its premiere aud last week (13 million, 4.3/13). NBC's "Deal or No Deal" (12.5 million, 3.1/9) regained some of the aud it lost last week to "Daisies" (pictured left). Same could not be said for "Back to You" (6.5 million, 2.2/7) or "Kid Nation" (7 million, 2.0/6).

At 9 p.m., "Bionic Woman" (10.1 million, 3.8/8) improved in the demo on its "Deal" lead-in. CBS' "Criminal Minds" (14.5 million, 3.8/8) led the frame in viewers but "Practice" (12.2 million, 4.8/12) won the demo by a comfortable margin, up slightly from its second outing last week. CW's "Gossip Girl" (2.9 million, 1.7/5 in adults 18-34) got lost in the fray but no matter; the frosh sudser earned a full season pickup from CW on Wednesday. Fox's "Kitchen Nightmares" (6.5 million, 3.0/8) was in its regular zone of the past few weeks.

At 10 p.m., it looks like time is running out on NBC's drama "Life" (8.1 million, 2.8/8). ABC's "Dirty Sexy Money" (8.9 million, 3.4/9) is better off, but it also has a better lead-in. CBS' "CSI: NY" (13.3 million, 4.0/11) easily took the hour.

For the nightly bragging rights overall, it was ABC in 18-49 (3.9/11) and CBS in viewers (11.6 million.)

--Cynthia Littleton

Josh Schwartz's two new hours-- NBC's "Chuck" and CW's "Gossip Girl"-- have gotten off to decent starts in the Nielsen ratings.  Apple's iTunes Store is a whole other matter.

Both shows have been iTunes smashes since they debuted, with each instantly landing in the top 5 list of most downloaded episodes. And as of just before 6 p.m. PT Friday night, there was no sign they were cooling down.

The teen-friendly "Gossip Girl" is proving to be one of the popular girls, with two separate episodes holding down the No. 2 and No. 4 spots on the iTunes episodic download list. "Chuck" is no slouch, either: The Oct. 1 episode is No. 6, while the pilot is No. 9.

While Schwartz's shows are the only newcomers in the top 10, Fox frosh "Kitchen Nightmares" and "Back to You" have cracked the top 20, ranking No. 17 and 18, respectively.

Hollywood types have been following the iTunes chart closely ever since NBC starting arguing that big iTunes sales of "The Office" translated into higher ratings. Whether the same will hold true for "Chuck" and "Gossip Girl" remains to be seen, but if early DVR data trickling in is any indication, don't be surprised if both skeins are more popular than early Nielsen data would suggest.

NBC's recent decision to dis iTunes didn't impact "Chuck," since the show is produced by Warner Bros. TV (which is still playing nice with Apple). But the Peacock's pullout is having an impact on the iTunes most-downloaded chart: "The Office," normally a staple of the top 10, is MIA. Ditto "Bionic Woman," which almost certainly would have been a fave of Apple's geek-friendly aud (though maybe not after the really awful second episode).

By the way, if you were a bit bummed by the second episode of "Chuck"-- I wasn't, but I know some people were annoyed by the decision to restate the pilot premise-- make sure to check out Monday's third episode, "Chuck vs. the Tango."  It's a great hour that cements Zachary Levi as a breakout star-- and "Chuck's" status as my favorite new show of the season.

--Josef Adalian

Wednesday's newcomers got off to fair-to-middling starts, per the prelim Nielsens. (Click here for a full rundown of the night by Variety ratings guru and Season Pass contributor Rick Kissell.)

Fox's "Back to You" won its 8 p.m. timeslot in adults 18-49, but didn't have the kind of opening night drawing power you'd expect for the combo of Kelsey Grammer and Patricia Heaton. Sitcom averaged 3.1/10 ratings share in the key demo and 9.5 million viewers overall.

For all the advance hoopla, CBS' "Kid Nation" didn't do a whole lot of business for the Eye in its 8 p.m. debut, pulling in about 9 million viewers and 3.0/9 ratings share in adults 18-49.

Gordon Ramsay's numbers also cooled off after his hot summer in "Hell's Kitchen." Chef's new show "Kitchen Nightmares" followed Fox's sitcom block at 9 p.m. with 6.6 million viewers and 3.1/8 in the demo.

CW had something to talk about with the 9 p.m. bow of "Gossip Girl." Show wasn't so hot in overall viewers, drawing about 3.7 million, but scored in its target demos of women 18-34 (3.2/9) and femme teens (5.3/17).

--Cynthia Littleton

The season begins in earnest next week with debuts of the following:

New shows…:
"K-Ville” (Monday at 9 on Fox, pictured at right)
“Back to You” (Wednesday at 8 on Fox)
“Kid Nation” (Wednesday at 8 on CBS)
“Gossip Girl” (Wednesday at 9 on CW)
“Kitchen Nightmares” (Wednesday at 9 on Fox)
“CW Now” and “Online Nation” (Sunday 7-8 on CW)

…and returning shows:
“Deal or No Deal” (Monday at 8 on NBC)
“Prison Break” (Monday at 8 Fox)
“Beauty and the Geek” (Tuesday at 8 on CW)
“America’s Next Top Model” (Wed. at 8 on CW)
“’Til Death” (Wed. at 8:30 on CBS)
“Survivor: China” (Thursday at 8 on CBS)
“Simpsons,” “King of the Hill,” “Family Guy” (Sunday  8-10 on Fox)
“Cold Case” (Sunday at 9 on CBS)
“Shark” (Sunday at 10 on CBS)

For a comprehensive schedule, by date or name, click here.

— KL

Readers in Gotham and L.A. don't have to take our word(s) for it. The Paley Center for Media (aka Museum of Television & Radio) is offering a sneak peak at fall's new shows through its pilot screenings series at its Manhattan and BevHills branches.

The TV party starts tonight at 6:30 p.m. in BevHills with a slate of Fox shows: "K-Ville," "Back to You," "Nashville" and "Kitchen Nightmares."

CW pilots unspool on Saturday starting at 1 p.m. with "Reaper," "Gossip Girl," "Aliens in America" and "Life is Wild." NBC takes over at 6:30 p.m. with "Chuck," "Life," "Bionic Woman" and "Journeyman."

On Monday evening it's ABC's turn: "Pushing Daisies," "Dirty Sexy Money," "Samantha Who?" and "Big Shots."

CBS rounds out the slate on Tuesday evening with "The Big Bang Theory," "Moonlight," "Cane" and "Viva Laughlin."

Screenings have already been underway for a few days at the Gotham facility, but as of this posting TV junkies there can still catch the same slate of CBS pilots on Monday and the CW sked on Tuesday.

For further details click here for the Paley Center website. For clips of some of the above, scroll down to the Variety Video link on this home page, and check out On the Air blog's Clip Madness. 

(Pictured above: CBS' "The Big Bang Theory")

Gordon Ramsay's impressive new show "Kitchen Nightmares" launches by cleaning up the operations in a stereotypical Long Island Italian eatery. (While dramatic and humorous, it fits into the "reality" category so it is not being reviewed by the Season pass crew. That's a shame; this is fabulous television).

While the name on the building belongs to the loudmouth in the expensive yet tacky suits, the owner is the quiet sister who figures she'll be closing the joint soon if baby bro doesn't stop raiding the till. He, Peter, who treats his duties as host like some union no-show job.

Ramsay, with the help of the world's fastest heavy equipment installers, redoes the kitchen, the menu and the mindset almost overnight.

It is gripping storytelling with demonstrative characters - the expressions of the head chef are priceless; the directing and editing service the story so well, "Nightmares" immediately shoots to the upper reaches in the ranking of this season's new shows.

The restaurant that gets the redo, Peter's Italian Restaurant in Babylon, N.Y., apparently used to be called Peter's Pasta House, but nearly any mention or review of the eatery - and its mediocre food - seems to have been erased from the Internet save for this one numerical rating.

— Phil Gallo

Welcome to Season Pass, Variety.com’s blog for dishing about fall’s new scripted TV shows.
We wanted to give readers a wide range of opinions on the fall fare so eight of us spent a good chunk of our summer watching all of it. We like to complain, but it was really kind of fun.

Each of us has rated all the shows using four categories:

Love it, setting a season pass now

Worth another try

OK, but not for me

Won't watch again

"Reaper" (below) was one show that took us all by surprise. I did not expect to like it and it ended up being one of my favorites

The shows that rated the highest (one or two thumbs up) among our group of TV junkies were: ABC’s “Pushing Daisies” (seven season passes), NBC’s “Chuck” (four season passes), the CW’s “Reaper” (six season passes), CBS’ “Big Bang Theory” (three season passes), the CW’s “Gossip Girl,” (one season pass), Fox’s “Back To You” (one season pass) and CBS’ midseason entry “Swingtown” (one season pass).

See the chart for more details.

Our opinions are meant as a guide only. We encourage you to give all the shows a try and see for yourself what shows speak to you.

We’ll be blogging after each episode to track the shows’ progress. And we’ll weigh in on topics related to the season.

Have fun and happy channel surfing!