Category Archives: Spring 2015

The Odd Couple: Critical Reaction

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In last week’s blog post, I took a look at the ratings for the February 19th premiere of The Odd Couple. This week, I’m examining the critical reaction. At this point, it’s anybody’s guess, as the critics were mixed. However, many of them added that regardless of the quality of the show, The Odd Couple has a 50/50 shot of being renewed for a second season. As a fan of the original version of The Odd Couple, I find the new version to be lacking the original spark that made the Tony Randall-Jack Klugman incarnation so entertaining and successful.

In his review, Entertainment Weekly writer Jeff Jensen eloquently hit upon the problem with the revamped version of The Odd Couple, “There is a kind of bad show that might be the saddest kind of bad show. It’s the show that strands talented actors known for being funny on a sitcom that isn’t funny at all. The Odd Couple has Matthew Perry, Thomas Lennon, Yvette Nicole Brown, Dave Foley and more. You’d never know that they’re perfectly capable of making you laugh if you hadn’t seen their previous work, because their current show is, again, not funny.”

In the end, only time and the numbers will give us certainty on The Odd Couple’s future, but with a general overall feeling that it is just mediocre fare, it looks like it won’t be joining its CBS predecessors, The Big Bang Theory and Two and a Half Men as a runaway hit.

Weird Loners – Blog Post 4

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The launch date for Weird Loners on FOX is rapidly approaching! March 31st will come sooner than you may think.

With about a month before its premiere, I thought I would check out what FOX has done to promote Weird Loners via Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram.

This is what I found…

Facebook: 

  • Since May of last year, there have been a total of 13 posts. 
    • 6/13 released within two days of Valentine’s day.

Twitter:

  • 30 tweets

Instagram: 

  • 10 posts

Ultimately, I think FOX is doing a poor job of promoting Weird Loners. This show may want to take some pointers from ABC’s American Crime whose promotions began over a year ago.

It was definitely smart for Weird Loners to take advantage of Valentine’s Day for promotional value but that simply won’t deliver FOX the ratings they are looking for.

Most of Weird Loner’s social media buzz relates with the audience’s ability to relate to the show’s title. Thus, if this show hopes to become a major competitor, they are going to need to step up their promotion game ASAP. 

 

American Crime- The Buzz Leading up to the Premiere

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We’re about a week away from the premiere of American Crime, and the show is starting to generate some buzz online. While American Crime doesn’t have the amount of traction on social media that some of the other ABC mainstays currently have (like Scandal or How to Get Away With Murder), this will likely build over time. American Crime’s greatest benefit is its time slot, and this is the reason why it really doesn’t need a large scale promotional effort. Viewers come to ABC on Thursday nights knowing exactly what they are going to get. They come for addicting shows that keep them hungry for more episodes each week. If ABC follows that formula with American Crime, people will be there watching the premiere in high numbers, and will keep doing so until the show ends.

American Crime- Predicting the Success

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It’s difficult to predict if a show will be successful or not, especially in the very unpredictable television landscape we live in. But American Crime has a very different feel to it. From the first look at the trailer, the viewer can see a very cinematic undertone to the program. It is more immersive than a typical TV show, and because of that, I think this show could develop a strong and loyal fan base. One of the guest speakers in this Television Business course, Ed Hersch, said that there are some programs the networks already know will be a hit. American Crime is likely in that category. It has all of the elements needed to be successful: drama, suspense, controversy, and substance.

American Crime- Introduction

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American Crime is a highly anticipated drama coming to ABC in March. It will be replacing “How to Get Away with Murder”, which currently occupies the 10 p.m. time-slot on Thursday nights for the network. American Crime will attempt to do what the current Thursday night shows do on ABC: stimulate conversation and a lot of buzz on social media that gets people talking about the program, and in turn, creates large viewership numbers. It follows the story of a racially charged murder, and the court hearing process that follows that murder. The show has some decent star power behind it including Felicity Huffman and Timothy Hutton.

The Dovekeepers – Introduction

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The Dovekeepers is an original four hour miniseries for CBS produced by husband and wife team Mark Burnett and Roma Downey. The gripping tale details the lives of three women, Shirah (Cote De Pablo), Yael (Rachel Broshanan) and Aziza (Kathryn Prescott) whose stories and lives are tightly wound together through the siege of Masada in 70 AD. The series was based on a novel by the same title by Alice Hoffman, which was originally released in 2011.  During the CBS winter TCA event producer Roma Downey said “At its heart, ‘Dovekeepers’ is a love story…there is tragedy, of course, but at its heartbeat, there is beauty and hope.” The series will air in a two night event March 31 and April 1 on CBS at 9pm following it’s juggernaut, NCIS.

Allegiance Week Three

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“Allegiance” Hangs On

The outlook of the third episode of NBC’s “Allegiance” is not as dismal as the second week, but things are still not looking good for the series.  Last Thursday, February 19, the show brought in a .9 rating/3 share and 3.38 million total viewers, up slightly from .7 rating in 18-49.  The episode was filmed in Philadelphia and the plot line was based around the Masonic Temple.  NBC Thursday night as a whole continues to struggle to succeed with it’s new programming, it came in behind ABC, CBS, and Fox with a 1.1 rating /3 share for adults 18-49.  “Allegiance” came in third in its time-slot behind “How to Get Away with Murder” and “Elementary”.  “How to Get Away With Murder” won the 10 o’clock hour by a larger margin– it brought in a 2.8 rating/ 9 share and 8.84 million total viewers for adults 18-49.  Its lead-in “The Blacklist” matched last weeks ratings of the lowest of the season and is not bringing in the amount of viewers that as they would like it to.

Maybe the reason for such unsuccessful ratings for “Allegiance” is the lack of star-power.  Writer-director George Nolfi is responsible for writing “The Adjustment Bureau” and “The Bourne Ultimatum” has a background in action/drama shows similar to “Allegiance”. The show’s biggest star is Hope Davis who made multiple appearances on the HBO show “The Newsroom” as well as the movie “A Special Relationship” where she played Hillary Clinton.  While she has a vast portfolio of past work, she doesn’t seem to have a strong following as she doesn’t even have a twitter account.  Her “Allegiance” husband Scott Cohen gathered his following as Max Medina on “Gilmore Girls” and starred in the USA show “Necessary Roughness”.  He has just under six thousand twitter followers. NBC placed a series order for “Allegiance” in early May during upfront season along with the two other terrorism-dramas “State of Affairs” and “Odyssey”.  Perhaps they missed the mark on the topic that their viewers wanted to watch as they planned their midseason lineup.

Facebook Likes: 16,764

Twitter Followers: 3,553

Galavant – Post Two

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Galavant finished it’s eight episode four-week run with a whimper as it earned a 1.1/3 in the 18-49 demo according to Nielsen.  The show was up against no special programming, as it’s usual competitor, Sunday Night Football, finished its season the previous week.  Though the ratings leave something to be desired for ABC, the production team at Galavant seemed confident a renewal would come through.  They ended the season with a number of cliffhangers that left fans wanting more, but will leave the story very unfinished should the show not be picked up for a second season as TV Line predicts.

On the upside for Galavant, the soundtrack to the miniseries, written by composer Alan Menken and lyricist Glenn Slater, seems to be achieving moderate success, with a 4.3/5 rating on Amazon and a 4.5/5 on iTunes. The well known Menken seems to be the greatest draw to the series, with his musical style established in films like Aladdin, The Little Mermaid and Pocahontas.  Variety pointed out that should the soundtrack win any Emmy awards this season, Menken will be amongst the elite who possess an EGOT.

Weird Loners – Blog Post 3

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Casting galore! Reports state that Becki Newton may also guest-star on the show’s sixth episode. Newton — known for The Goodwin Games, Ugly Betty and How I Met Your Mother — may make a meaningful addition to what may turn into a hit show.

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Something tells me FOX is shaking in their boots. All these “guest” appearances seem to be their primary publicity ploy. I can only imagine what are they trying to compensate for…

Why bother launching a show you think will tank? Time will tell!

For more information about Becki Newton and Weird Loners, click here. 

The Odd Couple 3: The Premiere Part 1: A look at the Early Numbers

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The CBS revamp of the 1970s classic sitcom The Odd Couple premiered last night and its newest incarnation came in more with a whimper than with a bang. Sandwiched between CBS hits, The Big Bang Theory and the series finale of Two and a Half Men, it did well ratings wise, but the viewership is sure to drop off as the weeks go by. Looking at the preliminary Nielsen numbers, CBS dominated and so did The Odd Couple which served as a hammock for CBS’ 8-10 pm comedy lineup. Looking at the key 18-49 demographic, the night started off with The Big Bang Theory which notched a 4.4 rating with a 15 share and had 17.4 million viewers. At 8:30 the premiere of The Odd Couple garnered a 3.1 rating, a 10 share and 13.57 million viewers. Sitcom night on CBS ended at 9 pm with the hour-long season finale of Two and a Half Men, which got a 3.1 rating, a 9 share and had 13.20 million viewers. The ratings for CBS slipped further with Thursday night’s concluding show, Elementary, which aired at 10pm and received a 1.5 rating, a 5 share and had 8.05 million viewers. On the whole, CBS won the night with 12.206 million viewers; its closest competitor, ABC had 8.813 million viewers. Critical reviews have been mixed and it will be interesting to see if the numbers for The Odd Couple will hold up and if it’s time slot will keep it on the air long enough to connect with viewers.