Whither ABC (sighs heavily). Such a night of creative, innovative, superlative television, and such measley metered market measurements. I don't even know what to suggest to Mr. McPherson, who is no doubt pulling out his hair at this point, but here goes with my sagest scheduling suggestions.
'Pushing Daisies' needs one generous-sized lead-in to get people back into the show. If a two-parter exists, put Part 1 behind 'Dancing' at 8 pm on Tuesdays, and conclude in the regular slot on Wednesdays. It would be a heartbreaker of 'Wonderfalls' proportions to see this series go down without ABC doing everything it can to help the show find a decent-sized audience.
'Private Practice' actually showed tiny growth from last week in the metered markets, and this show will claw it's way first into the lifeboats, so no special handling required.
'Dirty Sexy Money' also needs a grand lead-in, just once, to get households across America tuned into this vibrantly alluring serial (which is still tenaciously clinging to second place behind 'CSI:NY'). Best way to juice this series is to give it a one-shot, Sundays at 10:02 pm out of 'Desperate Housewives', just before the November Sweep. Mr. Berlanti shouldn't mind having his 'Brothers & Sisters' sit on the sidelines for one night to give its sister show a shot at a sizeable lead-in.
Good news on this gloomy Wednesday had to be the strengthening, funnybone-tickling 'Gary Unmarried' (up week-over-week in the metered markets).
If the networks need to keep protecting and nurturing these expensive critically-adored one hour high-concept dramas they keep making that hardly anyone wants to watch, could I just ask--there are those lead-ins to come from? At some point, don't they have to make some shows people DO want to watch?
PD has absolutely nothing of importance to say, and says it in the most cloying and annoying manner possible. It's a pure exercise in style, and MOST OF US HATE THE STYLE.
If Bryan Fuller wants to keep doing the TV equivalent of wanking for the rest of his career, he should do it with his own money, on his own time. That, or go back to Showtime--not that he'll ever create a show as good as Dead Like Me again--a show that only really got good after he stopped running it.
'Pushing Daisies' needs one generous-sized lead-in to get people back into the show. If a two-parter exists, put Part 1 behind 'Dancing' at 8 pm on Tuesdays, and conclude in the regular slot on Wednesdays. It would be a heartbreaker of 'Wonderfalls' proportions to see this series go down without ABC doing everything it can to help the show find a decent-sized audience.
I agree. It should be put behind Housewives for a night to see how it does, and then put it behind Lost through midseason. Both of them were "different" shows back when they premiered, and both managed to get great ratings. But ABC needs to move it if they want to have a chance to save it. Wednesdays @ 8 just isn't working.
Posts: 516 | Location: England (UK) | Registered: 11 October 2007
OMG!!! Did you see that the ANTM second half hour almost beat PD second half hour!!!!! Did you see that!!!!! WOW. I am not watching PD anymore when it is so OBVIOUSLY going to be cancelled within minutes.
Why should the network be trying to save shows, when it needs to save itself?
The shows are supposed to serve the network, not the other way around. People keep missing this.
If PD were winning all the big Emmys, like 30 Rock is for NBC, I'd see why they'd want to give it a bit more time. But it won best direction, best editing, and best score--only the people who get those awards give a damn about them.
Fact is, the show is just DUMB. I tried watching a bit last night. It's a stupid show, done in a strained overly clever manner. It's paper-thin material, stretched out to fill an hour.
The people are shallow cariciatures, the plot is nonexistent, and the fancy cinematography is mainly irritating, because it serves no purpose in terms of telling the story they never quite manage to come up with. It does, however, serve the purpose of running up big production bills very nicely.
It's yet another show that appeals very strongly to a tiny number of people and drives away everybody else. Ratings will go down no matter what ABC does--and they've done a lot. They supported the hell out of PD.
It only survived this long because of its timeslot, and now people are complaining about--wait for it--the TIMESLOT.
ABC Wednesdays are a mess. PP is the only one producing any numbers and it's not able to hold the night alone. Again, PD's only shot of staying on the schedule is to switch UB and PD. Without it, it's a goner. DSM dropped a lot in the half and doesn't look like it is surviving past December.
NBC is also a mess on Wednesdays. LJ needs to be cancelled now. Is NBC trying to see if it can dip below 3 million? Right now its in the 4 millions. ANTM beat it in overall viewers. That is just sad. BL special did nothing to help out the night and NBC is overusing it, which is killing its ratings. In one year, it will be like DOND which is so overexposed, people will lose interest in it. Unfortunately for NBC, I don't see Mama's Boys doing any better in the ratings than the BL special, so it will probably come back. KR is the only show producing some numbers for the night. It is definately getting renewed.
TD has at least stablized in its low ratings. Bones is doing very well for FOX.
Portland really likes NBC News for the Presidential debate coverage. Since it aired before primetime, what local show (Wheel of Fortune or local news or something) is the real draw in that timeslot?
Originally posted by Obveeus: Portland really likes NBC News for the Presidential debate coverage. Since it aired before primetime, what local show (Wheel of Fortune or local news or something) is the real draw in that timeslot?
Ft. Mayers/Naples, like Boston, has no MNTV.
Boston viewers get their MyNetworkTV on WZMY-50, the original MyTV broadcasting from Manchester, New Hampshire. Boston viewership of MyNetworkTV rolls up in the audience reports for New Hampshire.
