Tag Archives: murder mystery

Secrets and Lies – Post Eight

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            Secrets and Lies was preempted on Sunday, April 5 for ABC’s annual airing of The Ten Commandments. It is the first time since the show began that a new episode was not aired. The show returns to its regularly scheduled 9:00 p.m. time slot on Sunday, April 12.

ABC is yet to renew Secrets and Lies for a second season. The show seems to have a solid following, as week in and week out the viewership remains at about 5 million people. Much like the expert reviews, which greatly vary, audience opinion does too. The show has a Metascore of 48 on Metacritic based on 22 critics. On Rotten Tomatoes, the Secrets and Lies has a 36% score, with 21 people deeming the show rotten.

Secrets and Lies – Week 7

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March 29 saw Secrets and Lies match its lowest rating of the season with a 1.3 in the key 18-49 demographic. On social media the show has a stable following. The verified Facebook page boasts more than 185,000 likes while the verified Twitter account has a greater than 14,000 followers. The show has a consistent presence on both major social media outlets posting content at least once a day. This results in audience engagement. Over the last week, more than 5,000 tweets contained the show’s name. Additionally, Melissa Gilbert, who stars in the show leverages audience engagement by tweeting about Secrets and Lies from her own personal account.

Additionally, the show will take a two-week hiatus from new episodes and show re-runs on April 5 and April 12.

Secrets and Lies – Week 5

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“Secrets and Lies” continues to be a stable presence on Sunday nights. Although the show has not demonstrated an ability to grow its viewership, TV by the Numbers says the mystery has retained 95% of its audience from its premier on March 1. One major obstacle for the ABC drama is overcoming the stacked CBS Sunday line-up. Weekly, CBS pulls in at least 11 million viewers at the 7:00 p.m. and 8:00 p.m. hours for “60 Minutes” and “Madam Secretary,” solid lead-ins to the “The Good Wife” at 9:00 p.m.

When it comes to reviews, the critics drastically disagree. In February, the Hollywood Reporter endorsed the cast of the show. That same month, SFGate.com, a Hearst owned entity, came away unimpressed and delivered a scathing review. Critic Dave Wiegand said, “Even before you’ve finished watching one episode, you’ll be convinced that ‘Secrets and Lies’ is the single worst show of 2015 so far.” The varying reviews have not stopped the show’s publicists from promoting the cast. An ABC News article published Wednesday, seeks to promote and humanize actors Ryan Phillippe (Ben Crawford) and Juliette Lewis (Andrea Cornell) who high speak about their personal lives and attempt to tease future episodes. However, in my opinion, teasing future episodes of a fictitious murder mystery is pointless. Regardless of the show’s plot, the mystery always gets solved in the end. Furthermore, this ABC show gives viewers another clue; there will be secrets and lies along the way.

Secrets and Lies – Week 4

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“Secrets and Lies” debuted to mixed reviews Sunday night. The two-hour premier reeled in 5.83 million viewers, the second largest audience that night. Only CBS’s hit show “The Good Wife” had more people watch with 8.92 million tuned in. The new ABC murder mystery premiered the same night that FOX debuted “The Last Man on Earth.” Critics from the Hollywood Reporter were surprised by the success of the FOX show. It seemed to appeal to a younger demographic as its 2.3 rating in the 18-49 demographic was the best at the 9:00 hour. This is bad news for “Secrets and Lies.” If both shows remain in the same time slot “Secrets and Lies” is likely to struggle.

Additionally, I thought it was an unusual approach to have a two-hour premier for a show that was poorly promoted. In my opinion, I don’t see the average TV viewer budgeting two hours of their time to catch-up on a murder mystery.