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.

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. 

ABC’s Of Kings and Prophets – Post 1

king and prophets

Of Kings and Prophets is a new ABC biblical saga premiering Tuesday March 8th at 10:00 pm. The show’s plot is based on the Old Testament story of Saul, the first king of the Israelites dating from 1000 B.C. It is prophesized by Samuel that God wants Saul to destroy an ancient Israeli army in order for him to keep his throne. With his refusal, Samuel then prophesizes that Saul will lose his power and it will be given to another: David the shepherd (from the story of David and Goliath). The show stars Ray Winstone as King Saul, Olly Rix as David, and Mohammad Kari as the prophet Samuel.

With this show being based on characters from the Bible, it was only right for two of the executive producers to be Bill Collage and Adam Cooper who are also the creators of the show. They were also the writers and executive producers of the recent biblical film Exodus: Gods and Kings (2014) which told the story of Moses starring Christian Bale and Joel Edgerton. Other executive producers include Chris Brancato, Jason Reed, Reza Aslan, and Mahyad Tousi.

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As far as promotion goes, there is a dramatic trailer that is available on ABC.com along with a blog post from November 2015 by Aaron Welsh. There are also many promotional videos that includes cast videos, behind the scene looks, and 30 second clips of episodes. The cast is full of new faces so having detailed videos available is important for potential viewers and fans. It allows them to do a bit of research and gain a connection with the type of actors they will be watching.There is a Twitter page with only 962 followers but executive producers Collage and Tousi have been tweeting heavily about the show with a combination of 4,000 followers. There is also a Facebook page that has 9,466 followers and it has the same videos that are found on the ABC website.

 

ABC’s The Catch – Post 3

With the recent release of the official trailer, The Catch has gained over 1,500 followers on Facebook which lands them at 28,533 followers today. Their Twitter is in the low range of 3,777 but the premiere date is more than a month away so those numbers may rise closer to March 24th. The show’s first major promotional spot was last Thursday during the #TGIT lineup winter premiere night. The Catch will be joining the lineup taking the place of How To Get Away With Murder and being led in by The Family at 9:00pm which premieres on March 3rd then the local news afterwards at 11:00pm.

It does have to compete with shows with older followings like Elementary on CBS and Shades of Blue on NBC. Both shows also have strong female leads but what their advantages come with female leads who are veterans in a primetime slot. Jennifer Lopez’s (34.8 million followers) notoriety for Shades of Blue helps the show maintain a loyal fan base with a collective Twitter following for the show at 16k. Elementary (which premiered in 2012) has a Twitter following of over 66k and Lucy Liu’s (181k followers) fan base has been a great support for the show. Mireille Enos’ Twitter was created in January 2016 (most likely for the show) and only has 431 followers. The three tweets that she has are about The Catch; two Instagram posts and one post announcing the premiere date. Hopefully social media will help this show live up to the #TGIT powerhouses built by Shonda Rhimes.

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