According to last night's ratings, ABC is now competitive, and indeed, in first place from 8pm - 9:30pm on Mondays with new hit Dance War, but trails badly from 9:30 - 11pm with Notes from the Underbelly and October Road, which grab ratings so low they don't deserve to stay on the air even during a strike-induced shortage of scripted shows. They both now have dropped to levels even below Big Shots, and that's saying something.
So my recommendation is to bring Men in Trees back now (instead of March), and immediately plug it into the 10pm slot. Additionally, with Dance War ratings solid and CBS's comedies in reruns, bring in Miss/Guided for a 9:30 Monday slot.
It would look as follows:
8:00 Dance War 9:30 Miss/Guided 10pm Men In Trees
With this revised lineup, ABC could be competitive once again on Mondays until Dancing with the Stars returns.
Originally posted by vlis: why do you think MiT will do better than OR?
I agree the big problem is NFTU that is what is lossing the viewers. However, if OR was given a different time slot and better lead in I think it would perform a lot better.
I don't think MIT would necessarily thrive here following some untested show ABC is in no hurry to get on the air. They may as well just continue with OR, which isn't exactly benefiting with Notes as its lead-in. Then cancel it.
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Posts: 5957 | Location: Chicago, IL | Registered: 20 September 2006
To respond to the comments that all October Road needs is a better lead-in, OR had almost identical numbers last week when it followed an even stronger 2-hr Dance War (without NFTU in between). I think moving it to Fridays at 8pm (replacing Grey's reruns of reruns) is a decent way to let it finish out its order, but keeping it here is a waste. Why do I think MIT will fare better? Because it still has a decent following, whereas OR has gone past the point of no return.
Originally posted by Chimera: To respond to the comments that all October Road needs is a better lead-in, OR had almost identical numbers last week when it followed an even stronger 2-hr Dance War (without NFTU in between). I think moving it to Fridays at 8pm (replacing Grey's reruns of reruns) is a decent way to let it finish out its order, but keeping it here is a waste. Why do I think MIT will fare better? Because it still has a decent following, whereas OR has gone past the point of no return.
I don't think MiT has a better following then OR. I think ABC has a major problem when it comes to dramas in general on Mondays at 10. The only thing that has worked in that slot in the last couple of yrs is the bachelor. OR and MiT main problem is that ABC takes them off the air for a long time and people lose interest. Neither one has had many episodes and ABC keeps switching them around. As much as I love OR the only thing saving it is the writer's strike and same with MiT. I think OR's best bet on another season would be for the CW to pick it up and pair it with OTH.
If they just expanded Dance Wars to 2 hours and followed it with MIT, that might work for 'em. They also might want to try Woman's Murder Club on a limited run there since both shows appeal highly to those outside the demo. October Road would actually be a good show to put on Friday (or even Saturday). I think it would have an appeal with the Baby Sitting Demo.
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Posts: 5957 | Location: Chicago, IL | Registered: 20 September 2006
Both OR and NTFU need to be junked. They are just bad programs, and Dance War is not going to be able to help them become competitive against repeats of CSI: Miami, let alone original fair.
The only reason they remain is the strike and Jan being a repeat filled month. There is no way any new program like Miss/Guided will debut on Monday. They will save it for May sweeps at this point.
Originally posted by xwiseguyx: If they just expanded Dance Wars to 2 hours and followed it with MIT, that might work for 'em. They also might want to try Woman's Murder Club on a limited run there since both shows appeal highly to those outside the demo. October Road would actually be a good show to put on Friday (or even Saturday). I think it would have an appeal with the Baby Sitting Demo.
I like the idea of Women's Murder Club -- as you mentioned, like Dance War it gets good ratings, but mainly outside the demo. The two may prove compatible. But I don't think there are any WMC originals left, and I'm not sure WMC repeats would do well against CSI:Miami.
Originally posted by xwiseguyx: If they just expanded Dance Wars to 2 hours and followed it with MIT, that might work for 'em. They also might want to try Woman's Murder Club on a limited run there since both shows appeal highly to those outside the demo. October Road would actually be a good show to put on Friday (or even Saturday). I think it would have an appeal with the Baby Sitting Demo.
I could live with October Road being on Fridays paired with Men in Trees or another show. It might work. Mondays aren't working for this show and if you look back at last yrs ratings for this time WAB got about the same ratings, a younger targeted drama just hasn't shown success on Mondays at 10 in the past. I think with the strike ABC shouldn't get rid of it. Plus, OR does decent on !Tunes.
Well, I found the perfect pairing to Dance War, but it'll have to wait until next Fall at the earliest: it's an upcoming ABC pilot for the 2008-2009 season.
Limelight: drama that revolves around the world of students and faculty at a performing arts school in new york
Sound familiar? Sounds like Fame, and a fictionalized version of Dance War. What would be perfect casting is if a few of the Dance War participants were included as 'students' in this new show.
I wouln't worry about fixing it this year. For next year, I would keep Dance War there from 8:30-9:30. Then have Samantha Who or a new comedy at 9:30. At 10, I would either have Brothers and Sisters in that slot for the whole season or put a new drama on between Bachelor seasons.
Posts: 1831 | Location: New Jersey | Registered: 24 March 2007
"ABC opened the night on a winning note care of the recently introduced Dance War: Bruno vs. Carrie Ann, but by 9:00 p.m. portion of Dance War dipped to third in the overnights. Dance War averaged a 6.8 rating/10 share from 8-9:30 p.m., with the half-hour breakdown as follows:
Dance War: Bruno vs. Carrie Ann 8:00 p.m. 6.8/10 (#1) 8:30 p.m. 7.0/10 (#1) 9:00 p.m. 6.6/10 (#3)
...Next on ABC was dying sitcom Notes From the Underbelly (#4: 3.1/ 5 at 9:30 p.m.), followed by the equally struggling October Road, with a last-place 3.2/ 5 at 10 p.m."
Seriously. ABC needs to move NFTU and October Road to Fridays or Saturdays right away! It's almost like they want to fail.
And I'll make a modification to my proposed lineup. Since Dance War is dipping in its last half hour opposite 2.5 men, I recommend pushing it back to an hour, which will probably work out even better as the best part of the show is missed by those switching channels at 9 for either 2.5Men or SCC, and add Wife Swap (which is getting killed by AI on Weds) at 9pm, followed by Men in Trees as I proposed at 10pm. So it would look like this:
Monday: 8:00 Dance War 9:00 Wife Swap 10:00 Men In Trees
This message has been edited. Last edited by: Chimera,
