I decided to analyze the advertising for Quantico based off the method I usually watch Quantico. I usually don’t have time for appointment viewing on Sunday night at 10pm so I count in the L+3 or L+7 via online viewing. Usually I watch on the ABC Watch app but this time I watched on my computer on the abc.go.com website.

The timing of commercial for OTT viewing is the same number of breaks as on television. The first two 2 minute commercial breaks were the exact same commercials except for the last two :30 second ads. The last :30 seconds of any commercial break were ads for ABC shows that are upcoming, mainly the winter finales for ABC’s TGIT. The order went: Target thanksgiving ad, L’Oreal Mascara ad featuring Jennifer Lopez, Metro PCS, Infinity truck, a job site called Indeed, then the ABC ad. The next two 6 minute ad breaks were Listerine, Lexus LX (with a clickable options for :15), MD Anderson Cancer Treatment Center, Google App (with extensive buffering issues both times) and then either a Marvel Agents of Shield Commercial or American Crime commercial.

It was interesting too because when you paused the show there was a full screen still advertisement for Jennifer Lopez hosting the Latin American Music Award. Most of the ads I think were pretty basic in who they were targeting, A2554, along with some diverse audiences with Jennifer Lopez’s presence. I think the repeating of ads for the two different breaks just goes to show that some companies are not fully invested into the digital landscape of advertising yet.

No one wants a lawsuit put on their show right after you’ve been ordered for a back 9, and that’s what happened to Quantico Last week, but this week there’s some better press.

First Quantico is nominated twice for the 2016 People’s Choice Awards. Once for Best New TV Drama and the other is for Priyanka Chopra for Favorite Actress in a new TV Series.

Second press, is how Quantico is doing internationally. The Indian market financially is not as large as the United States but, the number of TV Households there is growing and Pryianka is one of their biggest stars. So while Quantico is dubbed into 44 other languages it is being pushed out fastest to India with only a 1-week time delay. This is helping expand ABC to International Markets and helping the build relationships for money, future production and with censorship boards.

Third is that Quantico is adding a huge name to their cast that is bringing someone back to ABC who hasn’t been there in a while, Marcia Cross. This will be her biggest recurring role since her Desperate Housewives days and her fans have already started saying how excited they are to see her debut in her powerful role on the show.

Hopefully all this good press is distracting from the lawsuit that is going on as there has been no further press about it.

http://indianexpress.com/article/entertainment/television/priyanka-chopra-bags-peoples-choice-awards-nomination-competes-with-jamie-lee-curtis-emma-roberts/

http://deadline.com/2015/11/marcia-cross-cast-quantico-abc-caleb-1201611293/

Thursday 10/29 the news broke that executive producer of Quanitco, Mark Gordon, is being sued for stealing the idea for the show from a CNN documentary. Paula Paizes and Barbara Leibovitz Hellman and Jamie Hellman, creators of the documentary in question, Quantico: The Making of an FBI Agent, are the ones bringing the lawsuit. Paizes had previously worked for Gordon and brought him a movie idea about Quantico, which his company optioned, agreed for a producer credit, and to receive profits from the movie.

The documentary that Paizes ended up creating gave her exclusive access to the actual FBI training center, with personal stories from trainees. Paizes 2 years later in 2003 went back to Gordon to create that movie she always wanted, but Gordon and his company gave her no answer.

Voilà! 2014 comes along and ABC orders Quantico with the Mark Gordon Company producing. Paizes lawsuit says, “”the detailed knowledge of training techniques, lifestyle and terminology used in Quantico could only have derived from the transcripts and notes obtained by Leibovitz and Hellman during their unprecedented access to FBI recruits for the Documentary, copies of which were retained by [Gordon].” Gordon’s company has declined to comment and ABC has not released a statement yet.

This week’s episode title “Found” is quite apropos for the shows success. ABC Sunday nights at 10:00 have finally found a stronghold show, ABC has found another show that can be aired on network TV with the risqué contend and contend with the nature of many cable shows. Quantico has also found its voice for accurate dialogue that talks about all the different stereotypes of characters in the show without being cliché. As Chopra has already said, “It is, however, more a mirror to society in the USA — a multi-cultural mix of people from all over the world, connected to their ethnicity in some way but who primarily consider themselves citizens of the United States of America.” http://movies.ndtv.com/television/priyanka-chopra-hopes-quantico-will-open-the-right-doors-for-india-1237222

Variety calls it a, “sexy terrorism thriller” that has helped a network achieve a feat no one has been able to in a while, find a strong 10pm Sunday show. http://variety.com/2015/tv/news/fall-tv-ratings-blindspot-quantico-1201626729/

This week’s episode had two steamy sex scenes and a heart-wrenching scolding and confession about the struggle of being a gay man in today’s society. These are 3 pretty hefty topics to throw onto network television, but to keep up with cable you have to stay spicy. http://www.denofgeek.us/tv/quantico/250036/quantico-found-review

Now that Quantico has been ordered to almost a full season, you can see the power of Priyanka Chopra coming to fruition. ABC casting executive, Keli Lee, went through the long and exciting courtship of bringing Chopra to the US to be the first Indian to lead a network TV series. Chopra said the most difficult transitions were not speaking in her own language and not having a heavy accent for her lead role, which she chose from about 26 different pilots ABC had offered her.

Some numbers on Chopra to show her international power: has previously been in over 50 Bollywood films, Miss World 2000, owns her own production studio in India, 11.4million followers on twitter, and advocate for the opening of doors for Indian actors, producers, writers and technicians to explore the US market.

On Quantico’s premiere night the show got tons of free publicity from the outpouring of support, on twitter, from Chopra’s fellow actors and actresses in India, (http://newsworldindia.in/entertainment/bollywood-wishes-priyanka-chopra-for-quantico-on-social-media-videos-messages-inside/132739/) which opens up ABC to the market of people they are definitely trying to attract by having her as the lead.

With only 5 episodes having aired, and 14 more to go, ABC has already created the next project offer for Chopra, her own celebrity talk show where she will be the host. http://movies.ndtv.com/television/priyanka-chopra-to-host-an-american-celebrity-talk-show-1236817

Last weeks’ blog mentioned that people were intrigued, but skeptical about the shows direction, well apparently ABC is not. On October 13, ABC made the call for a full season order of Quantico, so the unfolding mysteries will continue. With this, the series is up to 19 episodes with the possibility of 3 more being created, brining it up to a full 22. The 19 episodes is basically a full order because mid-season ABC has a heavy lineup of shows.

The commitment comes after impressive L+3 and L+7 numbers boosting viewership up another 5 million bringing the show to a total of 12.2 for Week 2. This has been impressive and shows that Quantico can stand-alone since it has been competing against: Sunday Night Football, Week 3 against AMC’s premiere of The Walking Dead along with a weak lead-in from other new ABC drama Blood-and-Oil. This weeks episode may have been titled “Cover” but there’s no hiding the Quantico has proven to be successful.

“Dubious, but still intrigued” said Ken Tucker in a recent Yahoo article (https://www.yahoo.com/tv/quantico-week-two-it-got-stronger-and-weaker-151335485.html), is a sentiment shared by most after week 2 of Quantico. Many reviews are skeptical whether Quantico will find its own groove as a distinct show or if it is going to continue in the same flash-forward and back style that is reminiscent of many other ABC shows, particularly Shonda Rhimes. This is no surprise because Mark Gordon, one of Quantico’s producer’s, is also a producer on Grey’s Anatomy.

They believe that the strongholds that are going to keep the show moving forward are the different mysteries that are evolving. However, some of them are quite simple for the characters to unveil, such as Nima’s character being a twin. The diversity of its cast/audience is a big factor in keeping the show alive. Again, people are worried because they think that the characters aren’t fully developed and are just glimpses of stereotypical attributes. Having characters of different ethnicities does, apparently, bode well because it is one of the top 5 new fall series drawing in diverse audiences (http://variety.com/2015/tv/news/tv-shows-minority-report-quantico-diverse-1201607557/). I say give the show a chance to develop it’s characters and story, it has only been 2 hours.

‘Quantico’ premiered this past Sunday to a 1.9 rating in the A1849. It’s an impressive rating because of what was surrounding it on the night. First off, the new ABC premiere ‘Blood and Oil’ was on in the 9:00 spot and only had a 1.4, which is not a strong lead-in for the subsequent premiere. Second, 60 minutes also debuted on CBS with a strong 2.9 due to interviews on the show with Vladimir Putin and Donald Trump. NBC had Sunday Night Football, which did a 13.8.

According to Variety(http://variety.com/2015/tv/news/ratings-quantico-solid-blood-oil-modest-premieres-1201603775/), ‘Quantico’ has received the best reviews of any broadcast drama premiere this fall. However, there are some, like the New York Times (http://www.nytimes.com/2015/09/27/arts/television/quantico-should-i-watch.html?_r=0) who are saying that it’s just borrowing from the premise of other ABC shows, ‘How To Get Away With Murder’, and just placing it in a different setting. There was enough of a mysterious set up to keep viewers tuned in and wanting to figure out more, we’ll see how it goes next week.

This show really touches on many social issues of our thoughts of national security and the way we view others. The executive producing team comes from all sorts of TV show backgrounds, which should help develop the identities of the characters with a knowledgeable acumen for their cultural and social differences. Joshua Safran will be the head writer for the show and he hails from the world of Gossip Girl. This experience should help pen towards a younger audience while dealing with heftier topics. This should also help with the language of the “Southern Belle” character. Experienced executive producer Mark Gordon will be at the helm. He has been behind such shows as, Grey’s Anatomy, Criminal Minds, and Ray Donovan. This mix of thought-provoking, successful dramas with characters from all walks of life should help Quantico find its stroke and humanize its characters. The rest of the Quantico writing staff is just as diverse as their characters, Safran says, “We have a Muslim writer, a Palestinian writer. We are taking that very seriously. We want to go into those stories with as much care and thought as possible. We just hope that it’s exciting and every week there’s a conversation about things that happen, not just when it’s ultimately revealed who it may be” (http://www.ew.com/article/2015/08/04/quantico-abc-terrorist).