Re: BB finale.

A blah ending to a blah season.

The jury questioning looked too forced, scripted and unrealistic compared to previous seasons.

Very surprised by the lack of discussion with the first six evictees. You had what looked to be on obviously scripted conversation between Ryan's girlfriend and another woman, and that was about it. Would have liked to have heard from the evictee who was chosen by the fans to return to the house, only for the houseguests to reject him in favor of James.

Also would have liked to have heard from Parker, who's a TMZ papparazzi. TMZ claimed he was getting attention for his BB work from the celebs he tried to photograph, and I'd like to hear his thoughts on being on "the other side" of the lens.

Neil is the Chuck Cunningham of Big Brother (unless he returns for BB10).

Sheila being told she finished second in the fan vote was a bit cruel, although I would have liked to have seen Julie tell Adam he's $500,000 richer and newly unemployed

The real highlight of the show...the camera shot of Evel Dick, bored out of his skull.

Ok, so in today's post strike, increasing DVR, overall viewership dropping like a rock for most shows environment. What kind of numbers should ABC expect for this "awful" show?

quote:

Originally posted by pisher:

quote:

I know, some of these comments i'm really getting a laugh out of. It almost beat Grey's Thursday night episode, it retained 95% of its audience from 1 year ago and ABC has to be ecstatic that it still does so well nearing the end of its 4th (and much improved) season.

Yeah, ABC is delighted that every year they spend more money on DH, and get lower ratings. Positively giddy, in fact.

quote:

Originally posted by total eclipse:
I agree. Cruelty to animals cannot be charming.

What cruelty to animals?

quote:

Originally posted by robert:

quote:

Originally posted by total eclipse:
I agree. Cruelty to animals cannot be charming.

What cruelty to animals?

Did you watch the ep last night at all?
Gabrielle's disgusting treatment of Carlos' dog definitely qualifies. I was half surprised the writers didn't go as far as have Gabrielle run over the Roxie or try and poison her.

quote:

Originally posted by robert:
... and AIA is decent but better than BBT?

AIA is a perfectr example of "The Lowest Common Denominator" programming.

quote:

Originally posted by Obveeus:
Yes, Aliens in America is better than Big Bang Theory. BBT's idea of edgy/original is to make jokes about how smart guys are nerdy, like Star Wars, and have trouble with women. Aliens in America, meanwhile, took on registered sex offenders and converting your religion to get your mate as comedic topics last night. Aliens in America is a breath of fresh air.

But yet... it is still unfunny.

quote:

Originally posted by Walter:

quote:

Originally posted by pisher:

quote:

ABC’s Desperate Housewives at 9 p.m. was the top-rated show of the evening, with 16.21 million viewers and a 5.8/14 among adults 18-49. But compared to one year earlier (Viewers: 17.17 million; A18-49: 6.8/17 on April 29, 2007), that was a decline of 960,000 viewers and 15 percent among adults 18-49.

And people will blame this on the strike, but it was down from last season before the strike as well. For all the talk about how DH was back, people are less interested every year. Marc Cherry has the right idea when he says it should end with S7--it can probably make it that far.

Im shocked that a show about unfaithful wives has lasted that long.

Have you ever actually watched Desperate Housewives? Because your summary of the show shows once again that you are talking out of your arse.

quote:

Ok, so in today's post strike, increasing DVR, overall viewership dropping like a rock for most shows environment. What kind of numbers should ABC expect for this "awful" show?

It's beside the point what they expect--we're not talking about whether or not they cancel it. We're talking about whether it's realistic to say "ABC is so happy with these numbers" when in fact ABC is looking at a very bleak future (as are all the networks) when they look at these numbers. DVR isn't going away. Dropping viewership isn't going away. Fragmenting audiences isn't going away. Rising production costs aren't going away. People getting increasingly bored with DH, Greys, Ugly Betty, etc, isn't going away.

They can't stay in business by spending more money for lower ratings, year after year. I understand that for you, as a fan, it's all about keeping 'your' show as long as possible. But for ABC, it's about money, and they are making a lot less of it.

And DH is going to do horribly in syndication.

Btw, where did I use the word "awful" in reference to DH in my last post?

For what it is, DH is fairly well done.

And I'd say the same thing about American Idol.

Which I don't watch.

And which is declining a lot more slowly than DH.

quote:

Originally posted by robert:

quote:

Originally posted by Walter:
Hey Cold Case thats more like it!!!!

11.48 million viewers

Still well below last year's numbers

In the defense of Cold Case, it had a MUCH better lead in last year and was paired with the hit Without a Trace. So these numbers are fine.

But my point is relatively speaking ABC has to be most happy about this show than any other scripted shows they currently have on the air.
I dont think they could ever expect its number at this stage to be where they were 3 years ago and to me 16 million is not only good but great by today's standards.

quote:

Originally posted by pisher:

quote:

Ok, so in today's post strike, increasing DVR, overall viewership dropping like a rock for most shows environment. What kind of numbers should ABC expect for this "awful" show?

It's beside the point what they expect--we're not talking about whether or not they cancel it. We're talking about whether it's realistic to say "ABC is so happy with these numbers" when in fact ABC is looking at a very bleak future (as are all the networks) when they look at these numbers. DVR isn't going away. Dropping viewership isn't going away. Fragmenting audiences isn't going away. Rising production costs aren't going away. People getting increasingly bored with DH, Greys, Ugly Betty, etc, isn't going away.

They can't stay in business by spending more money for lower ratings, year after year. I understand that for you, as a fan, it's all about keeping 'your' show as long as possible. But for ABC, it's about money, and they are making a lot less of it.

And DH is going to do horribly in syndication.

Btw, where did I use the word 'horrible"?

For what it is, DH is well done.

And I'd say the same thing about American Idol.

quote:

Originally posted by TV-aholic:

quote:

Originally posted by Obveeus:
Yes, Aliens in America is better than Big Bang Theory. BBT's idea of edgy/original is to make jokes about how smart guys are nerdy, like Star Wars, and have trouble with women. Aliens in America, meanwhile, took on registered sex offenders and converting your religion to get your mate as comedic topics last night. Aliens in America is a breath of fresh air.

But yet... it is still unfunny.

lol

quote:

But my point is relatively speaking ABC has to be most happy about this show than any other scripted shows they currently have on the air.

My point is that I don't buy this 'relative happiness' argument. You're happy when the ratings stay the same or go up. You're not happy when they go down. You're particularly not happy when production costs go up while ratings go down.

quote:

I dont think they could ever expect its number at this stage to be where they were 3 years ago

First of all, some shows get MORE popular as they go along--they all decline eventually, sure, but plenty of big hits have peaked in their fourth or fifth seasons, or later. DH peaked in its first season, and it was all downhill from there. That is by no means just a DH thing, obviously.

Secondly of all, its ratings are down from where they were ONE year ago. Obviously the S1 ratings are a thing of the past, and I'm not saying ABC has to get those kinds of #'s to be happy. Are they glad DH isn't falling even faster--I guess. And I'm sure President Bush is glad that his approval rating won't get below 10%--probably.

quote:

and to me 16 million is not only good but great by today's standards.

Yes--but that's the problem. The standard for what constitutes a high-rated show keeps lowering--but the standard for what constitutes a PROFITABLE show remains the same--you have to spend less than you make. And the way the business is constructed now, they have to spend significantly more on DH every time they renew it.

And in fact, most shows don't get into real money until they reach syndication--and DH has no future in syndication. It has maybe three more seasons in first-run. And then it will be a trivia question.

You do know DH won't STAY at 16mil, don't you?

So how low would it have to get before you'd have doubts about ABC's happiness? Which to be sure, is all any of us care about. Be happy, ABC.

quote:

Originally posted by total eclipse:

quote:

Originally posted by robert:

quote:

Originally posted by total eclipse:
I agree. Cruelty to animals cannot be charming.

What cruelty to animals?

Did you watch the ep last night at all?
Gabrielle's disgusting treatment of Carlos' dog definitely qualifies. I was half surprised the writers didn't go as far as have Gabrielle run over the Roxie or try and poison her.

But they didn't "really" hurt the dog. That's just the screenplay. You may hate the character for the way she treats the dog but that's totally different.

quote:

Originally posted by robert:

quote:

Originally posted by total eclipse:

quote:

Originally posted by robert:

quote:

Originally posted by total eclipse:
I agree. Cruelty to animals cannot be charming.

What cruelty to animals?

Did you watch the ep last night at all?
Gabrielle's disgusting treatment of Carlos' dog definitely qualifies. I was half surprised the writers didn't go as far as have Gabrielle run over the Roxie or try and poison her.

But they didn't "really" hurt the dog. That's just the screenplay. You may hate the character for the way she treats the dog but that's totally different.

How about TV shows that portray teenage mass murderers who go into school with guns ablazing? Some of them got pulled in the last few years out of sensitivity to real life events. We all know it's acting, make believe, but still, these things have effect on viewers. I'd rather not see cruelty to animal on tv just like I'd REALLY not see any rape scenes, thank you very much.

Actually they WILL make it half that far because Marc Cherry has already said season 7 will be the last season (spring 2011).

I personally think DH has been almost as strong as season 1. Dana Delany is a PERFECT fit for the show and her character has really jump started the franchise. I thought the show has been spot on and supposedly the 2 hour season finale has a big "game changing" ending . I've heard rumors and the ones I heard sound really interesting. Ratings are down all over but ABC will be happy with whatever this show brings in,

quote:

Originally posted by pisher:

quote:

Im shocked that a show about unfaithful wives has lasted that long.

I've never liked it much, but I wouldn't say it was a show about unfaithful wives.

I mean, would you say The Sopranos was a show about unfaithful husbands?

DH is a soap, and has typical plot elements for that genre.

What's unusual is that it focuses so heavily on several female characters, making them the protagonists, and the men the supporting players--Knots Landing did that to a much lesser extent, and lasted 14 seasons.

DH will be lucky to make it half that far. One reason for that is probably that it's a primetime soap/comedy hybrid. They were trying to cross Knots Landing with Sex and the City, and though I've never really enjoyed the results, it certainly made a splash in its first season.

Knots Landing could keep chugging along year after year, but DH had to keep topping itself, and you can only get so outrageous on a major network on Sunday night. Even now.