Fox puts Vanished to Bed; Orders More Standoff and ‘Til Death
Posted by Wendy Michaels Categories: Comedy, Drama, Prime Time, FOX, Cancellations, Ratings, Renewals,
Fox has made some big programming decisions this week. First, two new shows, Standoff and ‘Til Death, have gotten an additional order of episodes. Surprising, considering that neither show is much of a ratings winner. Standoff gets six additional episodes, while ‘Til Death has been given the “back-nine” order, meaning it will continue for the rest of the season. There is speculation that the network is running out of new shows to keep on the air, so they are hanging on to these, even if they fail to perform. Standoff, which stars Ron Livingston in the world of hostage negotiators, averages about 9.8 million viewers each Tuesday night; with a drop to just 5 million viewers when the network changed timeslots to 8:00 p.m. ‘Til Death is only grabbing about 6.4 million viewers each week.
The other big news is that Vanished has been cancelled. With poor ratings of just 6.5 million viewers (and 7.45 million when it followed Prison Break), it was clear this one wouldn’t go the distance.
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Gallery: Fox puts Vanished to Bed; Orders More Standoff and ‘Til Death
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‘The Class’ Gets Additional Episodes
Posted by Wendy Michaels Categories: Comedy, Prime Time, CBS, Ratings, Renewals,
While I haven’t been too fond of the freshman comedy, The Class, it has somehow proven itself worthy of an additional order of episodes from CBS. I really wanted to like this show, but I (along with other bloggers and critics) find that there are just too many characters squeezed into a half hour and not enough good writing to keep the comic momentum moving. I think I hung in there for about four episodes before bailing. There’s so much really good TV out there, and I just didn’t have the time for it. I wanted it to get better, but it sort of just trudged along. That’s not to say that there aren’t funny moments, and I’m hoping that the additional episode order will allow the sitcom to make some improvements. Ratings have yet to improve, despite the time switcheroo that made How I Met Your Mother its lead-in. Viewership only averaged about 8.53 million viewers over the first eight episodes. It will be interesting to see if they respond to the criticism and trim some of the characters/storylines.
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Gallery: ‘The Class’ Gets Additional Episodes
Emmitt Smith Wins Dancing with the Stars
Posted by Wendy Michaels Categories: Prime Time, Reality, ABC, Dancing With The Stars, Ratings,
It’s official—after weeks of celebrities dancing, the winner has finally been crowned on Dancing with the Stars. That’s right, NFL’s all-time leading rusher took home the ugly disco ball trophy, beating favorite Mario Lopez. It’s been disputed that Lopez did a consistently better job on the show each week, with many speculating that Smith won due to his popularity. Together with his partner Cheryl Burke, the two danced their way to the top. Incidentally, Burke also won last year when paired with Drew Lachey. Said Smith of the win, “It is awesome! It is awesome! We came a long way, we really have.”
The nine discarded competitors also joined the finale to show their stuff—Joey Lawrence, Monique Coleman, Vivica A. Fox, Harry Hamlin, Sara Evans, Willa Ford, Jerry Springer, Tucker Carlson and Shanna Moakler. And so it goes, another season of the super successful celeb dance competition (who woulda thunk it?). Rumors are that the next installment of Dancing with the Stars could air as soon as March.
Read More | Yahoo! News
Gallery: Emmitt Smith Wins Dancing with the Stars
Surprise! Friday Night Lights Gets Full Order
Posted by Wendy Michaels Categories: Drama, Music, Prime Time, FOX, NBC, American Idol, Ratings, Renewals,
The media has been buzzing for weeks about the fate of NBC’s Studio 60 on the Sunset Strip and Friday Night Lights, with most saying that one or both would get the axe. We recently reported that Studio 60 got a full season order, so it seemed that the low rated Friday Night Lights would be taking the fall. Good news, Lights fans—NBC is taking a chance on the football drama by also giving it a full season order. The struggling show has not done particularly well in its Tuesday at 8:00 p.m. slot, so NBC tried it in the Studio 60 time (Monday at 10:00 p.m.) to see if it would do any better. The series has only averaged about 6.7 million viewers. Kevin Reilly, NBC Entertainment president, said of the news, “We’re proud to reward an authentic, poignant series like Friday Night Lights with a full-season order, demonstrating our confidence in its appeal and quality.”
Now NBC will be revamping its schedule to better showcase Friday Night Lights. No official word yet on what the new schedule will look like, but the network will be moving Friday Night Lights out of its current Tuesday night spot (to spare it from the return of American Idol). The new schedule will begin in January.
Read More | Yahoo! News
Gallery: Surprise! Friday Night Lights Gets Full Order
Justice Gets Yanked From Fox Lineup
Posted by Wendy Michaels Categories: Drama, Prime Time, FOX, Cancellations, Ratings,
It’s been speculated for quite some time that Fox’s drama Justice would be cancelled. With ratings never quite making the grade and a shift in date/time, the series just never quite took off. In case you’re not familiar with the show, Justice starred Victor Garber and was produced by Jerry Bruckheimer. So, it seemed like greatness in the making. But then, so did Smith and you know what happened there. It seemed Fox at least tried to give Justice a fighting chance by moving it from Wednesdays at 9:00 p.m. to Mondays at 9:00 p.m. (following Prison Break). Only 5.9 million viewers tuned in last week, with only about half of the Prison Break lead-in audience hanging on to watch Justice.
Read More | CNN
Gallery: Justice Gets Yanked From Fox Lineup
What About Brian Picked Up
Posted by Wendy Michaels Categories: Drama, Prime Time, ABC, Ratings, Renewals,
We already reported not even two weeks ago that ABC was ordering four additional scripts of the sophomore drama, What About Brian—and now, the series has been picked up for the full season! Wow, that was fast. Must have been some quality scripts, huh? With Barry Watson (as Brian) leading a cast of interesting characters and storylines, it seemed a safe bet that this show would stick around for the rest of the season. While ratings are not stellar, they did get a bump from 6.3 million last season to 6.7 million this fall. With The Bachelor in the timeslot before it, What About Brian is able to hold on to 85 percent of the lead-in show’s audience. Adults 18-49, and in particular, women 18-34, are a strong part of the viewing audience.
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Gallery: What About Brian Picked Up
Studio 60 Gets the Full Order
Posted by Wendy Michaels Categories: Drama, Prime Time, NBC, Cancellations, Ratings, Renewals,
Seems NBC is taking pity on the ratings-impaired series Studio 60 on the Sunset Strip. While the show hasn’t been living up to expectations in terms of viewership, the network has extended the show for the full season. Time will tell if the show gains momentum—and numbers. It’s hard to believe that it could see an increase in ratings, since most people who jumped ship on the series are unlikely to dive back in if they’ve missed a number of episodes. NBC Entertainment chief Kevin Reilly said of the full season order, “I am pleased to show our support for this outstanding and ambitious effort from executive producers Aaron Sorkin and Thomas Schlamme. From the start, they have delivered the superb show that we wanted. The critical support has been rock-solid and there is a passionate core audience. We can’t wait for what’s going to come in the remainder of the season.” The show had seemed to be in jeopardy of cancellation, but somehow dodged the bullet. While the show started strong with 13 million viewers, it has dropped to about 8 million per episode. The show does, however, draw the highest concentration of folks with incomes of $75,000 or more.
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Gallery: Studio 60 Gets the Full Order
It’s Always Sunny Gets a Third Season
Posted by Wendy Michaels Categories: Comedy, Prime Time, Cable, Cable/Satellite, Ratings, Renewals,
This is the little sitcom that could… FX’s It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia has been renewed for a third season. Expect 15 new episodes for season three, an increase over the 10 from last year. Danny DeVito, who made a great addition to the second season, is expected to return for all of the episodes. Nick Grad, head of original programming at FX, said of the renewal, “We’re encouraged with the ratings growth, we love the show and think that creatively, it’s just hitting its stride. The fact that Danny DeVito is returning speaks highly about the quality of the writing.”
The second season saw an increase in viewers—drawing 1.3 million each week (compared to the first season, which only brought in a little over a million weekly). The majority of viewers are in the adults 18-49 target. Look for season three to premiere next summer.
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Gallery: It’s Always Sunny Gets a Third Season
Six Degrees on Hiatus; Men in Trees Given Full Season
Posted by Wendy Michaels Categories: Drama, ABC, Grey’s Anatomy, Ratings,
The ailing freshman show, Six Degrees will be taking a little break—with Men in Trees taking over the timeslot. Six Degrees hasn’t made much of a showing in the ratings, which is remarkable considering it follows Grey’s Anatomy. Surely the show must be able to retain some of Grey’s audience. But it hasn’t. And don’t call me Shirley. With the ratings in the dumpster, ABC has decided to pull Six Degrees through December.
Men in Trees, which has been doing well on Friday evenings, will take over the 10:00 p.m. Thursday spot that Six Degrees will leave vacant (starting November 30th). Men in Trees has also been given a full season order, so it’s likely the move to Thursdays will get it some additional exposure. ABC intends to bring Six Degrees back on the schedule sometime in January.
Read More | Zap2it
Gallery: Six Degrees on Hiatus; Men in Trees Given Full Season
American Idol Marks its Return
Posted by Wendy Michaels Categories: Music, Prime Time, Reality, FOX, American Idol, Ratings,
Fox’s bread and butter, American Idol, will be gracing your television soon. Fox announced that the pop talent show will be returning on Tuesday, January 16th. With the good news, comes the bad—the season premiere will span two nights of two hour shows. How can any viewer endure so much Idol? Well, if you’re like me, you just skip watching the audition shows altogether. It’s too bad that the people auditioning make it past the first level of auditions to appear before Randy, Simon and Paula—just for the sake of some fun on the audition shows. No wonder the people end up mad—they think they’re good enough to make it to the judges, but it’s really a joke at their expense!
Following the premiere on January 16th and 17th, American Idol will pick up the usual pace of Tuesdays at 8:00 p.m. and Wednesdays at 9:00 p.m., showing audition highlights over the course of the episodes on January 16, 17, 23, 24, 30 and 31. That takes us into the semifinals in February, with the competition among the top 32 starting in late February. This is the sixth season of American Idol.
(You can find all the American Idol 6 posts here.)
Read More | Zap2it
Gallery: American Idol Marks its Return
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