The New Adventures of Old Christine Given Full Season
Posted by Wendy Michaels Categories: Comedy, Prime Time, CBS, Saturday Night Live, Ratings, Renewals,
Julia Louis-Dreyfus is sittin’ pretty now that her Emmy-winning show The New Adventures of Old Christine has been ordered for a full season. Originally, CBS ordered 13 episodes for the second season, but with ratings on the upswing, the order was increased to 22 episodes. Christine was a mid-season sitcom last year—and many wondered if Louis-Dreyfus could shake the “Seinfeld Curse.” The last episode averaged 13.6 million viewers, which was an increase from the average of the first season, at 12.5 million. While I’m not a regular watcher, I do stumble across it from time to time—Louis-Dreyfus does a great job; I’ve been a fan of hers since her Saturday Night Live days.
In other CBS news, The Class and How I Met Your Mother will swap time slots, with How I Met Your Mother now taking on the 8:00 slot and The Class moving to 8:30. The Class could apparently use the bump from the popular How I Met Your Mother as a lead-in.
Read More 
| Reuters
Gallery: The New Adventures of Old Christine Given Full Season
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First Casualities of the Fall Season?
Posted by Wendy Michaels Categories: Comedy, Drama, Prime Time, Reality, CBS, FOX, NBC, Cancellations, Ratings,
While not officially canceled, two shows have received the kiss of death—being put on hiatus. It seems pretty early in the season to pull the plug already, but Fox’s Happy Hour and Justice have already been put on “hiatus” status. Fox is saying that the comedy Happy Hour will return in November, citing the upcoming baseball playoffs and World Series as their reason for shelving the show, if only briefly. Until baseball takes over, Fox will be running a rerun of ‘Til Death during Happy Hour‘s Thursday time slot.
Justice will also take a break, with a repeat of House airing in its place on October 4th. The network will, however, be airing a repeat of Justice‘s pilot on Friday, September 29th at 8:00 p.m. This time will cut the finale of Celebrity Duets short by one hour.
Neither of these new shows really stood a chance against the competition (even though neither is officially canceled yet)—up against Survivor: Cook Island and The Office.
Read More | The Futon Critic
Gallery: First Casualities of the Fall Season?
Too Many TVs? Nielsen Research Tells the Tale
Posted by Wendy Michaels Categories: ABC, Cable, CBS, FOX, NBC, UPN, WB, Cable/Satellite, News, Ratings,
A recent Nielsen Media Research study found that the average American home has more TV sets than people. The average number of people per home is 2.55, while the number of TVs averages 2.73. The availability of flat-screen TVs impacts the results, since it’s easier than ever to put sets most anywhere.
The research shows that half of American homes have three or more TVs, with 19 percent having just one. Compared to 1975, the number of single sets per home was 57 percent and having three or more was a minority—just 11 percent.
Nielsen also reports that the average person watches four hours and 35 minutes of TV per day. What are people watching? The ratings over the years have shown a lot of change with the multitude of channels available, so the the big networks’ ratings have shown a steady decline.
Read More | AOL News
Gallery: Too Many TVs? Nielsen Research Tells the Tale
TiVo and CBS Bring Early Preview of The Class
Posted by Wendy Michaels Categories: Comedy, CBS, DVR, Ratings,
One of CBS’ new (and heavily promoted) fall shows is about to get a one week bump for TiVo subscribers. The Class, an ensemble sitcom that includes Jason Ritter, will be available to TiVo subscribers as a free preview. This type of partnership is a first, and will likely be the first of many. George Schweitzer, head of marketing for CBS, commented that “CBS’ partnership with TiVo is a creative new way to use DVR technology to help drive television network viewing. Our goal is to introduce our fresh new comedy The Class... to a broad, diversified, receptive audience that has the ability to start trends and generate buzz, which is exactly what TiVo offers.”
CBS also has agreed to give TiVo users previews of three other new series: Jericho, Smith and Shark. TiVo users total around 4.4 million, while the number of households in the U.S. with DVRs is somewhere in the 8 to 12 million range. This type of arrangement could allow TiVo to set themselves apart from the other DVR services.
Read More | Zap2it
Gallery: TiVo and CBS Bring Early Preview of The Class
Madonna Concert to air on NBC in November
Posted by Wendy Michaels Categories: Music, Prime Time, Specials, NBC, Ratings,
Hoping to increase ratings, NBC is planning to air a two-hour Madonna concert in November. Madonna: The Confessions Tour Live will be taped in London’s Wembley Stadium this summer. Since Madonna shows are anything but squeaky clean, NBC is expected to tape the concert and edit the show for broadcast. Kevin Reilly, president of NBC Entertainment said, “She is going to do her show, and we will decide which numbers are in the (TV special) and which are not, and that is whole numbers. We are not going to make piecemeal edits.” NBC is currently ranked in fourth place among the four major U.S. broadcast networks, so the Madonna special could certainly bring in the numbers.
Read More | Yahoo! News
Gallery: Madonna Concert to air on NBC in November
Bravo Renews Real Housewives of Orange County
Posted by Abby Rose Dalto Categories: Bravo, Desperate Housewives, Ratings, Renewals,
Bravo has decided to renew The Real Housewives of Orange County for a second season, set to premiere in 2006. The reality show focuses on the day-to-day lives of a group of wealthy Southern Californian women, in what has been called a real-life “Desperate Housewives” (or as I like to think of it, “Laguna Beach” for grownups).
Although the show was not an overwhelming ratings topper, it was relatively successful for Bravo, as a basic cable network. Oddly enough the median age of viewers was 34 (meaning that half of the show’s viewers were over 34, and half were under 34). That makes it Bravo’s “youngest” show of the schedule, which is a big deal considering it is about housewives.
Hopefully the second season will have the same success, despite a change in producers. Instead of Kaufman Films and Dunlop Entertainment - headed by creator Scott Dunlop - this season will be produced by Evolution Film & Tape.
The second season will focus on the original women - in addition to some new faces - as it picks up where the first season ended.
Read More | Reality TV World
Gallery: Bravo Renews Real Housewives of Orange County
Cable and Big Networks Team for Wider Exposure
Posted by Wendy Michaels Categories: Comedy, Drama, Prime Time, ABC, FOX, NBC, Ratings,
The trend to air cable shows on their sister networks is becoming more prevalent these days. We had reported earlier about the move by Fox to air episodes of It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia before the second season premiere of the show began on FX. More networks are following this model, including:
- Kyle XY – an ABC Family series that airs Mondays at 8 PM, also airs on ABC on Fridays
- The 4400 – shown on USA on Sundays at 9 PM, NBC also aired The 4400 on June 3
According to an article in USA Today, corporate synergy is fueling this pairing since there are a number of cable channels with big network connections. In the case of Sunny in Philadelphia, the final episode that Fox aired averaged 4.1 million viewers and won its time slot among young adults. FX president John Landgraf believes the additional exposure works, saying “They have such a larger reach than we do, it’s a great way of exposing new viewers to our shows… we’re turning over every stone we possibly can.”
Read More | USA Today
Gallery: Cable and Big Networks Team for Wider Exposure
Showtime Cancels Huff
Posted by Christina Furtado Categories: Drama, Cable, Showtime, Cancellations, News, Ratings,
After two low-rated but critically acclaimed seasons, Showtime has pulled the plug on its drama Huff, according to a report in Variety yesterday. The cast of the show, that focuses on a psychiatrist played by Hank Azaria and his family, was apparently notified earlier in the week. The show was noted for a huge Emmy campaign after its first low-rated season, resulting in an Emmy for Blythe Danner. A second season only aired, however, because Showtime exec Robert Greenblatt had been so impressed by the show that he green-lit a second season before the first even aired. The second season still failed to increase its numbers, so the season finale on Sunday night will also be its series finale. Huff also stars Oliver Platt, and Season One is available on DVD.
Read More | Coming Soon
Gallery: Showtime Cancels Huff
Apprentice 7 – The Donald Keeps Getting Richer
Posted by Wendy Michaels Categories: Prime Time, Reality, NBC, Apprentice, The - Donald, Ratings, Renewals,
Despite lower ratings for season 5 of The Apprentice versus previous seasons, NBC just can’t say “no” to The Donald. Season 6 will feature the back-stabbers…er…contestants in Los Angeles, and is set to air in January. The future of the reality franchise seemed uncertain given the declining ratings, however Trump told Daily Variety that NBC has given the go-ahead for a 7th season. Presently, NBC and Trump are scouting locations, with the leading contenders being Las Vegas or Miami. According to Trump, the decision will be made in the next two months.
Read More | E! Online
Gallery: Apprentice 7 – The Donald Keeps Getting Richer
Cable Scrambling To Close In On TNT’s The Closer
Posted by Eric Chaloux Categories: Drama, Cable, TNT-HD, Nip/Tuck, The Sopranos, News, Ratings,
The Closer, starring Kyra Sedgwick, has made a big splash kicking off the summer television season. First, its second-season premiere was commercial free. Second, it was a good show. And third, it blew away the competition with 8.3 million viewers, the most-watched scripted series ever on basic cable. Historically, “the only thing that’s owned by broadcast is scripted series,” says TBS and TNT’s chief operating officer Steve Koonin to USA Today. “Now, with The Closer, Nip/Tuck and Monk, that’s not true anymore.” Just to put into perspective just how many viewers watch The Closer try this on for size: the show had an audience that matched HBO’s biggest series, The Sopranos.
Joining TNT, USA, and FX in the scripted game are Spike!, ABC Family, E! and TBS. All four have several scripted dramas shows that could hit your TV as early as this fall.
Read More | USA Today
Gallery: Cable Scrambling To Close In On TNT’s The Closer
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