Author Archives: Shaugnessy Elsroth

Scream Queens – Post #12

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With just three episodes left of the first season, it surprisingly remains unknown whether or not Scream Queens will continue on to a second season. In a recent post by Tvbythenumbers, the comedic-horror show received three straight-faced faces  ( 😐 ). These three images, according to TvBytheNumbers, symbolize how they are in a toss-up between the show’s ultimate renewal and cancellation. Viewers question if the decision will be known by the first season’s finale in three weeks.

On an upside, last night’s episode is receiving great reviews by critics, and may just be the best episode for realistic character interactions. Since the episode was focused around Thanksgiving and family, multiple guest stars made their debuts; Rachele Smith, Faith Prince, Alan Thicke, Chad Michael

SCREAM QUEENS: Top Row L-R: Guest stars Rachele Brooke Smith and Chad Michael Murray, series star Glen Powell and guest star Patrick Schwarzenegger. Bottom Row L-R: Guest stars Julia Duffy and Alan Thicke in the "Thanksgiving" episode of SCREAM QUEENS airing Tuesday, Nov. 24 (9:00-10:00 PM ET/PT) on FOX. ©2015 Fox Broadcasting Co. Cr: Cook Allender/FOX.

SCREAM QUEENS: Top Row L-R: Guest stars Rachele Brooke Smith and Chad Michael Murray, series star Glen Powell and guest star Patrick Schwarzenegger. Bottom Row L-R: Guest stars Julia Duffy and Alan Thicke in the “Thanksgiving” episode of SCREAM QUEENS airing Tuesday, Nov. 24 (9:00-10:00 PM ET/PT) on FOX. ©2015 Fox Broadcasting Co. Cr: Cook Allender/FOX.

Murray, Patrick Schwarzenegger, Julia Duffy and Garry Grubbs. Unfortunately, even with such positive praise, the episode went on to receive its lowest rating yet – 0.8. Scream Queens wasn’t the only show with a disappointing rating; the finale of Dancing with the Stars dropped in ratings from last season. Perhaps it’s the holiday week that threw a lot of people off, but viewership continues to be much different than it was a year ago.

Scream Queens – Post #11

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Inquisitr is the latest source to report on the steady decline in ratings for Scream Queens, which remains in the clear of being axed by FOX. The author of the piece, Nathan Francis, believes the comedic horror show is continually saved each week due to new trends in the television/entertainment business. Network executives are more reluctant to kill off a program if it’s building an audience unaccounted for by traditional ratings. Television shows are also being considered for other options, such as airing solely on OTT services like HULU and Netflix.

In more positive news, Scream Queens is up for a People’s Choice Award for Favorite New TV Comedy. Lea Michelle, Jamie Lee Curtis and Emma Roberts are all up for Favorite Actress in a New TV Series. Elizabeth Banks will host the 42nd awards show on January 6, 2016. I’m curious to see if the outcome of these two awards will have any push or pull on the continuation of the series.

Scream Queens – Post #10

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640After a week off due to the World Series Game 1 last week, Scream Queens came back with a much duller episode than fans and critics were hoping for. Although it was only a one-week hiatus, the returning episode should have gotten audiences back in the groove – “Beware of Young Girls” did not deliver to such requirements. Critics stressed that this episode was one to attract those who are loosely watching the show, and they fear that many of those non-diehard viewers may now have lost the need to keep up with the show due to the interrupted airing.

It was equally interesting to read up on Metacritic reviews as many of the critics have yet to update their opinions, while users are very mixed with their feelings about the show. Many of the lower ratings are actually by users in languages other than English; Spanish and French – I wonder where the disconnect is between nationalities. American’s are either enjoying the show or upset with the large difference the comedy has from American Horror Story. I will be sure to stay up to date with these reviews and keep track of additional write-ups.

Scream Queens – Post #9

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The fall TV season has surpassed its first month of being on air, and the fate of new series are beginning to be announced; renewals, series limitations and general cuts. Scream Queens has yet to hear back from FOX executives, and though it may seem a bit late in the game, patience has become the new norm. Due to increased viewing in live+3 and live+7, broadcasters like FOX are forced to evaluate a plethora of data and then interpret said information. Executives must also balance future revenue opportunities. Since Scream Queens has FOX as its producer, distribution deals are a helpful side aspect to be taken into account. A great benefit from this specific series is that it targets a young female audience – advertisers have trouble reaching this category elsewhere. Ultimately from all of the data, FOX will evaluate the series with all of these factors taken into account. Does FOX foresee a reliable long tail for the future for Scream Queens fans?

Scream Queens – Post #8

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For those anxiously awaiting the next episode of Scream Queens like myself, we will unfortunately have to wait one more week to see how the comedic show will continue on. FOX will instead air the MLB World Series this week, taking much deserved precedence over all other programming. Had FOX not been the station covering the game, I wonder how ratings would have fared out for Scream Queens as it sways towards a younger female audience. With that, will other shows be heavily impacted by viewers instead tuning in to watch the Mets and Royals duke it out in the best of 7 game series?

Next week’s episode of Scream Queens will guest star Tavi Gevinson and be centralized around a funeral for an unknown character. Promos will be featured during this week’s series to gain anticipation and hopefully boost ratings up as a result. Also, FX is planning a Halloween night marathon of the first six episodes, so for those who are a bit behind I highly suggest you take this week to catch up. Enjoy!

Scream Queens – Post #7

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Scream Queens has been receiving some strong backlash lately from The Parents Television Council for showcasing “graphic decapitations and discussions of necrophilia”.
Although the comedic horror is rated age appropriate for 14-year-olds and airs at 7 pm in some time zones, the council doesn’t find these topics to be suitable for such an audience. Arguments are increasing against the show’s excessive use of violence, general nastiness and sexualized dialogue. Parents are warned to keep their children and teens as far away from viewing this program as possible.

The most surprising foscream-queens-ptc-mcdonalds1cus within these complaints is how McDonalds, an active advertiser during the show, is being urged to stop its affiliation with the program. The Council states how these weekly commercials reflect the brand’s positive stance on sexual fantasies with corpses and senseless killings. The organization went on to say that sales are falling for The Golden Arches due to poor sponsorship decisions and their own franchise is being negatively impacted through such relationships.

At the end of this week’s episode review, a link was included to write to McDonalds to share concerns. Is PTC taking this too far?

Scream Queens – Post #6

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Rumors are popping up; Scream Queens may be included in 2015’s canceled TV shows, due to it’s lagging ratings. This past Tuesday, ratings fell to 1.2, down 14 percent from last week. Overall, the show has fallen 25 percent against its premiere.

There may not be much truth to this assumption though, as Dana Walden, Fox Television Group Chairman and CEO has openly discussed interest in a second season. In an interview with the Wrap, Walden discussed how he’ll wait a few weeks for data to trickle in to make an ultimate decision, but the seeds have been plotted. The show itself has a large following of powerful endorsements, as well as the continued increase in ratings 3- 7 additional days after airing each week. This is perfectly exemplified by the official viewing numbers from the show’s premiere. According to ZapToIt, Scream Queens had a ratings increase of 1.4 in it’s first week, going from 1.7 to 3.1; an 82% increase. That equates to 7.1 million total viewers after 7 days.

The viewer interest is there, the numbers exhibit that, but the timing is proving to be an issue. How will this all play out?

Scream Queens – Post #5

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With Scream Queens kicking into it’s fourth episode tonight, the buzz for renewal is quickly spreading. When TheWrap asked Fox over the weekend if the comedic horror show would be accepted for a second season as long as delayed-viewing projections were to continue, Fox Television Group chairman and CEO Dana Walden responded with a firm “Absolutely.”

The challenge with network wide decisions of second season renewals lies in the missing statistics. In order for such assessments to be finalized, networks need data quicker than they are being received – this data takes time to gather as well as to interpret. For example, Nielsen live-plus-three ratings take five days to be produced, while live-plus-seven numbers aren’t finished being calculated by the company for an additional twenty-one days. Also, there is no standard accepted by the TV industry yet for multi-platform viewer calculations. The hope is for last weeks merge of comScore and Rentrak, Nielson’s competitors, to be a step toward a common standard. I guess time will tell as viewers (hopefully) continue to tune into Scream Queens, whether it be live or three to seven days afterward.

Scream Queens – Post #4

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In the aftermath of last Tuesday’s premiere, Scream Queens had a low initial rating of only 1.65. However, after three days, the show added 1.07 ratings from adults ranging from 18-49, boosting the show up to a 2.73 rating. That is a 65% increase and jumped ahead of three shows apart of Tuesday night’s competition. Ryan Murphy’s new horror comedy gained an additional 2 million viewers in these three days via television, as well as 1 million new streaming viewers, totaling out the shows three-day viewership to around 7.3 million. With all viewing platforms taken into account, that’s an 80% increase.

In an interview with Variety, Murphy stressed how these initial numbers are a perfect example of how people are watching their programming when they want to via the best outlet for them. It’s not a huge concern to Murphy at this time, as he is confident that the audience will stick with the show. Going forward, Murphy plans to wait for Live+3 numbers to get a true sense of the ratings for Scream Queens.

Will last night’s ratings prove true to Murphy’s theory?

Scream Queens – Post #3

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Last night was the official two-hour premiere of Scream Queens on Fox. As promised, multiple characters died within the span of 120 minutes, and I frequently found myself laughing out loud to edgy humor. A reviewer for EW made a great point in saying that the show isn’t for everyone. “Some will find it too sadistic or too campy, or unfairly dismissive of Millennials.” For someone like myself though, I would say the show is hard-hitting in all the right ways.

ListenFirst Media provided The Wall Street Journal with DAR (digital audience ratings) for all current shows resonating content most among Facebook, Google+, Instagram, Tumblr, YouTube and Wikipedia combined. From August 15th through September 15th, Scream Queens generated a DAR of over 6 million. This number exceeded all other new fall shows by an ample margin. Scream Queens landed in 8th place last week in overall broadcast DAR ratings with a total of 2,255,000 ratings, as reported by Variety.

Next weeks blog will include the official ratings from last night, as well as Live+7 as I am positive that a great percentage of viewers will fall into that category. Stay tuned to see the results!