Station 19 #1

Grey’s Anatomy Spinoff: Station 19 will be a ten-episode drama which follows a team of firefighters as they complete a twenty-four-hour shift. It will be set in a Seattle firehouse and follow everybody from the captain to the newest recruit as the show revolves around these brave men and women risking their lives and their hearts both in the line of duty and off the clock. Also, Station 19 is just a few blocks from Grey Sloan Memorial Hospital, which will still allow for romances between the two shows. Shondaland’s idea for expansion of the Grey’s franchise is quite like that of Dick Wolf’s Chicago dramas at NBC which follow firefighters, paramedics, cops, doctors and Das all in the same city, allowing for easy crossovers. As Grey’s Anatomy completes its thirteenth season and remains ABC’s highest rated series, it has had a successful spinoff with Private Practice which lasted for six seasons, giving this new spinoff high hopes for a successful run. Stacy McKee, who has worked on Grey’s Anatomy, Scandal, and How to Get Away with Murder will write and executive produce the series alongside Shonda Rhimes. Station 19 will be targeted towards Grey’s Anatomy and Shondaland fans, which is a pretty big and diverse fan base with her shows continuously being the highest rated ABC shows. The new spinoff will be included in the Shonda Thursdays following Grey’s Anatomy in the slow that was previously occupied by Scandal.

 

 

 

Deception #1

A new crime drama will premiere on ABC this March.

“Deception” stars Jack Cutmore-Scott as Cameron Black, a superstar magician whose career falls flat. Black turns to the FBI to solve crime using his skills of deception, influence and illusion. His FBI counterpart is Kay Daniels, played by Ilfenesh Hadera.

If the series sounds a bit like the 2013 blockbuster film “Now You See Me”, it may be because the film’s illusionist, David Kwong, will co-produce the ABC show.

A supporting character in the show is Jordan Kwon, played by Justin Chon who I am very excited to see on network television. Chon received recognition for his independent film, Gook (2017). I have also met him at a local ice cream shop in our hometown of Irvine, California, where we attended the same high school!

As for “Deception”, Chris Fedak (Chuck) will act as writer and executive producer, with other EP’s Greg Berlanti, Martin Gero and Sarah Schechter.

The new show’s Twitter account is young, created in May of 2017. It is not very active yet, with only 26 tweets–most being retweets of potential fans and current magicians, excited for the premiere.

“Deception” will premiere on Sunday, March 11 at 10/9c on ABC.

The Catch Post #10

Variety.com posted an article on March 30th that describes the current state for ABC Network. It mentioned the new Entertainment President Channing Dungey and how she has come at a time when ABC is declining in the ranks as the lowest major four networks. This season, Shondaland shows have decreased tremendously: Grey’s Anatomy 4%, Scandal 13%, and How to Get Away With Murder 22%. The Catch debuted at 1.2 and a 1.0 and 5.1 million viewers for episode two. Dungey developed all of these shows expect Grey’s so all eyes are on how she plans to raise the ratings network wide. With the mid season slump, it will be hard to rebuild the network.

 

The Catch Post #9

The day has come and gone but unfortunately The Catch did not do as well as a Shondaland original. When Grey’s Anatomy premiered in 2005, it rated 4.2 with 16.25 million viewers. When Scandal premiered in 2012, it rated 3.0 with 7.33 million viewers. When How to Get Away With Murder premiered in 2014, it rate 3.9 with 14.3 million viewers. When The Catch premiered, it rated 1.2 with 5.8 million viewers. It is now the lowest rating Shondaland show with the #TGIT brand. On March 24, the show had major competition with NBC’s Shades of Blue and cable network’s FX’s The Baskets season finale. But the largest competition was the NCAA Sweet 16 schedule. There were two major games playing that night. At 9:40 p.m. on CBS, No. 1 Kansas played No. 4 Maryland and ranked at 2.1 with 6.55 million viewers. There was another NCAA game on TBS that premiered at 9:55 p.m.

According to Forbes and TV By the Numbers, ABC has been declining in the 18-149 demographics from a 2.4 in 2014 to a 2.1 by the end of 2015. The network has been looking to Shonda Rhimes and her arsenal of hit shows to keep ABC afloat. With The Catch premiering with such low numbers, its concerning to ABC but also Shondaland since The Catch has not been scheduled for renewal for a new season.

The Catch Post #8

Since the exit of showrunners back in August, Shondaland had to re-shoot the pilot episode with Peter Krause. The show is premiering next week on March 24th at 10pm. It will be taking the place of How to Get Away With Murder which is another #TGIT Shondaland show. According to TVGuide.com, it will be premiering with NBC’s Game of Silence and CBS’s Rush Hour. They are all new shows this season with the 10pm time slot.

On ABC, there has been heavy advertisement for The Catch especially during commercial breaks for Grey’s Anatomy, Scandal, and How to Get Away with Murder. ABC has been using all of its affiliates to advertise for the show including ABC Family which is now Freeform. The network has been running the promo a week after it premiered on ABC in December. Also, when watching episodes form other shows on ABC.go.com, when you pause the video, the promo for The Catch is the still screen until you press play again. On tvbythenumbers.com, all of the Shondaland shows have been renewed for another season which leaves high expectations for The Catch.

The Catch Post #7

“Caliber sex and scandalous acts”: those are the words to describe ABC’s #TGIT Thursdays. For The Catch, audiences hope that the show lives up to the reputation. First there was the teasey performance of the tango by the main characters Alice and Ben revealing the deception of the con but the love that is still there between the two. If that didn’t ooze sex appeal, the new promo is filled with smokey touches and gripping sex showing the extreme chemistry between the two. The promo was only available on iTunes but was released to all sectors of video outlets.

The show’s page on ABC.com has also been updated. There are new photos from the show and behind the scenes videos with commentary from the actors and actresses. The Twitter page for the show has gained over 10k more followers and Mirielle Enos has be responding to followers to thank for support.

The Catch Post #5

ABC has made a very big step in history. According to Variety, ABC has replaced Paul Lee for Channing Dungey as Chief of Programming. The decision was made by Ben Sherwood who is the president of Disney-ABC Television Group. Dungey is the first African-American to be president of entertainment at one of the larger U.S. broadcast networks. The changeover was due to speculation that Lee clashed with Sherwood. Lee before ABC, Lee had a successful run at ABC Family (now Freeform) where he helped launch shows such as Kyle XY and Pretty Little Liars.

The goal for the replacement is to help the ABC freshman shows reach the potential of the brand. Yes, ABC has been successful with its “TGIT” lineup, Modern Family, and Shark Tank, its new shows have not been bringing in the views that the network is use to. Quantico has been the leading new show but it hasn’t been able to keep ABC from being fourth in 18-49 ranks and third in total viewers. The hope is with Dungey as the new head of programming, the shows of the spring will bring in the viewers. Sherwood would like attention to be paid to The Catch since its joining the “TGIT”. Their marketing strategy is to focus on the fact that the main character is the one doing the hunting hence the cat and mouse reference that has been promoted.

ABC’s The Catch Post 4

(ABC/Richard Cartwright) MIREILLE ENOS, PETER KRAUSE

The tag line of The Catch is the “sexiest game of cat and mouse” which is due to the riveting relationship between Mirielle Enos and Peter Krause characters Alice and Benjamin. The chemistry between the two has been heavily talked about since both come from less sexually-risque television shows (Parenthood and The Killing). The promo has characterized Krause as cunning and a master manipulator. Enos is portrayed as a determined and powerful woman who will do anything to catch her man.

On February 12th, ABC.com updated the show’s profile and released photos of teasers for the the season. This gives audiences a much needed visual of what the cast looks like together and it heightens the anticipation of the plot of the show. The next step will be active blogs and behind the scenes clips on the show’s website. Those will appear closer to the premiere date which is March 24th at 10:00 pm which will be replacing the other Shonda Rhimes hit How to Get Away with Murder.

(ABC/Richard Cartwright) MIREILLE ENOS, ELVY YOST

Kings and Prophets #3

With the premiere of Kings and Prophets came gut wrenching reviews that left viewers not surprised. According to USAToday.com, the downfall before the show premiered was predicted because it was the same team that produced the biblical “flop” Exodus: Gods and Kings. The USAToday article stated:

The problems with this laughable, sometimes unintelligible gloss on the biblical story start with Saul himself. In the Bible, he’s the ancient uniter of Israel and Judah. In the hands of British actor Ray Winstone, he’s more like a London mob boss who’s losing control of the family business while fighting off attacks from the rival Philistine gang.

The show’s initial ratings were in 0.8 in adults 18-49. It was troublesome for the network and with the history for the Tuesday 10pm time slot, it could be possible that the show will be cancelled. Last premiere season, Wicked City had the Tuesday 10pm slot and was cancelled after three episodes.

Kings and Prophets: Post #2

With the Eater season upon us, ABC has chosen an ideal time to promote a biblical series around the holiday. Premiering on Tuesday March 8th, Kings and Prophets is the tale of King Saul and David from the Old Testament. ABC.com has made the Kings and Prophets page live with profiles of the new face cast, videos of behind the scenes, and public blog posts from an ABC writer. Critics are anxious to see the collation between this biblical series and biblical film Risen (premiering February 19th) and FOX’s live special Passion which is a musical that portrays a modern view of the Resurrection.

Critics are also concerned with the writing team for Kings and Prophets. Exodus: Gods and Kings (premiered in 2014) caused some negative reviews based on the “white-washing” of the cast portraying Egyptians and the Jewish slaves. Adam Cooper, who was a writer for the movie, is now the principle writer for Kings and Prophets.