Tag Archives: NBC

Deception #12

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Deception has returned after a two week break between episodes 5 and 6 of the first season. Episode 6, entitled “Black Art,” received a .6 in a 3 share with 3.38 million total viewers. Deception stacked up on Sunday at 10pm against Madam Secretary on CBS and Timeless on NBC.

The competition between these shows is somewhat fierce. Madam Secretary and Deception share very similar ratings and shares. Both received the same .6 in 3 share this past Sunday. However, the CBS Sunday hit show raked in nearly double the amount of total viewers.

Over at 30 Rock, the NBC show based on science fiction time travel struggles to compete in the Sunday time slot. Timeless received a .5 in a 2 share, with 2.36 million total viewers, a full million fewer than the ABC competition.

Madam Secretary has a leg up as it is already on season 4. Whether Deception is picked up for a second season is still in question. Once we know the answer, audiences will find it easier to know which Sunday show will make it out on top.

Jesus Christ Superstar Live

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Jesus Christ Superstar Live

Sunday, April 1 on NBC.

 

Programming:

Aired on primetime from 8-10:15 pm ET/PT and was also available on HULU instantly.

It starred John Legend, Alice Cooper and Sara Bareilles and was set during the final week of Jesus’ life, with the story being told from the perspective of Judas Iscariot, the infamous betrayer. As more followers are drawn to Jesus, Judah becomes worried that Jesus is losing sight of his principles and becoming arrogant. So, suddenly when Jesus attacks the people in charge of money in a temple, Judas turns on his teacher which sets the path to tragedy. Jesus Christ Superstar was originally developed as a concept album which hit No. 1 on Billboard charts, and paved the way for the Broadway show in 1971. It received five Tony nominations, and won a Drama Desk Award.

 

NBC is trying to change the way they have been previously presenting live musicals, and instead are going to present Jesus Christ Superstar Live as a “Rock Opera”. It was shot in Brooklyn, New York with a multi-level stage that featured thirty-two musicians interacting with John legend, who is playing Jesus.

 

Jesus Christ superstar live went off without a hitch, and finished with the dramatic crucifixion scene of John Legend’s Jesus Christ, which left audiences at home amazed by the elaborate set. It ended by Legend being lifted into the air and disappearing into a cross made of light

 

The original stage production of the musical was highly criticized by religious organizations, with Jewish groups calling it anti-Semitic and catholic and protestant organizations felt it was incorrectly represented. However, the NBC adaptation went off without any of these criticisms and instead was highly praised.  Being as how it aired on Easter, a day when families are together, it is when people are looking to share common experiences and have bonding moments, making this a family piece of entertainment. “The message is perfect for not only Easter but what is going on in our world right now and in our country…It has a universal message and it has universal entertainment appeal.”

However, people watching this at home complained of the audience being too loud and being unable to hear the vocals during the performance.

 

 

 

Ratings:

1.7 rating and a 6 share in the demo and 9.36 million total viewers This special led NBC to its most-watched Easter Sunday in 12 years, since April 2006. It also topped the most recent live musical on a broadcast network, Fox’s A Christmas Story Live last December.

 

Competition:

 

Jesus Christ Superstar was up against American Idol, The Simpsons, Family Guy, Instinct and Madam Secretary. American Idol hit a new viewership low and demo low, along with CBS’ Instinct which drew less than half of the 1.3 demo rating that it scored last week.

 

Jesus Christ Superstar tied with CBS’ 60 minutes as the top program of the night in households.

 

 

Promotions:

 

Track were prerelease the day before the show aired to gain excitement. Promotional photos were released on March 21st and interviews were being conducted across all major online newspaper outlets prior to the show. As for during the show, Chrissy Teigan was live-tweeting and #JesusChristSuperstarLive was trending on Twitter as of midnight Sunday night, four hours after it premiered on NBC.

 

 

Advertisers/sponsors:

 

The most prominent advertisers for Jesus Christ Superstar were McDonald’s, Jeep, T-Mobile, Progressive, KFC, Microsoft and Google. NBC did not integrate any sponsor messaging within the show. However, John Legend appeared alongside his wife Chrissy Teigan in a 30 second Google ad while his collaborator, Common, appeared in Microsoft commercials. NBC also used the large size of their holiday audience to promote in-house shows. During two minutes of airtime, NBC ran spots for “The Voice”, “Rise”, “Good Girls”, “Timeless”, “Dateline”, and “2018 Billboard Music Awards”.

 

Melas, Chloe. “Jesus Christ Superstar: Where to Watch and What to Expect. CNN Entertainment. April 1, 2018. https://www.cnn.com/2018/04/01/entertainment/jesus-christ-superstar-musical/index.html.

 

Crupi, Anthony. “Jesus Christ Superstar’ Ratings are a Little Shy of Miraculous. AdAge. April 02, 2018. http://adage.com/article/media/jesus-christ-superstar-ratings-not-miraculous-nbc/312957/.

Station 19 #8

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“Station 19” premiered with an average of 1.1 rating among adults 18-49 for its two-hour premiere, which was below NBC’s “Chicago Fire” which was 1.2 for both hours in the demographic. “Fire” had more total viewers overall, averaging 6.88 million over the two hours compared to “Station 19”’s 5.42 million. “Station 19” was premiering against non-time zone adjusted NCAA games, which might have been a reason for the lower viewership.  “Grey’s Anatomy” was the lead-in to “Station 19” which pulled a 1.9 rating among adults 18-49 and 7.5 million viewers, coming in second place right after college basketball. These numbers for “Station 19” are not up to par with what ABC had predicted, but still hoping that viewership grows in the next week, especially with “Scandal” and “How to Get Away with Murder” having their season finales soon. This is the first-time Shonda Rhimes has showed a Latina leading one of her shows, which is a shift from the black and white heroine’s viewers are used to seeing. Andy Herrera, the main character, shows that Latinas are more than their stereotypes of “spicy” eye candy and irritating supporting roles, and are strong woman who are the same as everybody else. As for press, Herrera talked to E! News for an exclusive first look at the poster and talked about her character on the show.

Porter, Rick. TV Ratings Thursday: ‘Station 19’ has lukewarm debut, NCAA Tournament on top. TVByTheNumbers. March 23, 2018.

O’Connell, Michael. TV Ratings: ‘Chicago Fire’ bests ‘Station 19’ Premiere, March Madness Rules All. Hollywood Reporter. March 23, 2018.

Romero, Ariana. Station 19 Finally Brings a Leading Latina Voice to TGIT. Refinery 29. March 23, 2018.

Olympic Closing Ceremonies

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The Olympics closing ceremony took place on Saturday, February 24 2018. The event was broadcasted on Sunday, February 25 at 8:00PM on NBC. Some of the program was shortened in order to fit the two-and-a-half-hour time slot. Some of the highlights of the night included a sports recap in the beginning of the show, a montage of medal ceremonies, Jessie Diggins carrying the flag, a 13 year old guitarist, Korean pop superstars, a look forward to the 2022 games in Beijing, and a performance by Martin Garrix. The major issues surrounding the closing ceremonies were the loss in overall ratings and the time change causing a tape delay and shortened content.

 

Programming

 

Prior to the closing ceremony, NBC put on an “Olympic Gold” special, which brought in a rating/share of 1.6/7 and 8.35 million viewers. NBC’s new show A.P. Bio followed the closing ceremonies at 10:30pm. It put up a promising 1.1/5 rating and had an impressive 4.69 million viewers. The Olympics definitely helped A.P. Bio, so it will be interesting to see if the show will hold on its own.

 

Ratings

The closing ceremonies brought in a 2.4/9 rating and 14.87 million broadcast only viewers according to Variety. This is significantly less than the opening ceremonies, which brought in 17.2 million viewers. It is expected for a closing ceremony to have a smaller viewership than the opening ceremony, but overall the Pyeongchang winter Olympics lost viewership by 7% compared to Sochi in 2014. Specifically, Sochi beat Pyeongchang closing ceremony viewership by .4 million. Since viewing habits have changed over the past four years, this is not considered a huge loss. According to the Chicago Tribune, On NBC alone, the Olympic coverage averaged 19.8 million viewers across broadcast and digital platforms, while the combined average for ABC, CBS, and Fox was 9.8 million. That is an 82% advantage, up from a 43% advantage in Sochi and an 8% advantage in Vancouver. These numbers are very pleasing to NBC.

 

Competition

 

Competing shows throughout the night did not come close to beating the Olympics in ratings. “Big Brother: Celebrity Edition” on CBS received a 1.4/5 and 5.18 million viewers. “The Bachelor: The Women Tell All” on ABC received a 1.1/4 and 4.19 million viewers. “The Simpsons” on Fox received a 0.7/3 and 1.81 million viewers. “Ghosted” on Fox received a 0.5/2 rating and 1.21 million viewers. “Family Guy” on Fox received a 0.5/2 rating and 1.31 million viewers. “La to Vegas” on Fox received a 0.4/1 and 1.1 million viewers. “Shark Tank” on ABC received a 0.8 and 3.12 million viewers. “NCIS: Los Angeles” on CBS received a 0.4/2 and 3.42 million viewers.

 

Promotions

Promotions for the closing ceremonies revolved strictly around promoting NBC only content. The network promoted shows across all categories such as news, entertainment, and even special events. To begin, NBC News teased an Ivanka trump interview regarding the Olympics, and said that more would be shown on NBC Today the following morning. There were promotions for the Olympic Channel, The Voice, Good Girls, AP Bio, Chicago Med, and the special event Jesus Christ Superstar. Interestingly, the network showed three spots promoting the NBC Snapchat account. This shows that NBC was conscious to hit traffic in all areas.

 

Advertisers/Sponsors

 

Immediately following content before cutting to commercial break, NBC highlighted its main sponsors. Some of these companies included McDonalds, Intel, Toyota, and Google. These companies paid more money for these sponsorships because they attract more attention than a regular commercial. The commercials that aired during the event were consistent with NBC’s and the Olympic committee’s values. The network showed commercials that appealed to the 18-49 demographic because that is the program’s most successful target. The network chose commercials that were family oriented and appealed to everyone. The companies with the most spots were Toyota, Excellus Blue Cross Blue Shield, Samsung Galaxy X9, Coca Cola, and Hershey’s. Visa used its two spots to cross market with NBC, using the Olympians as the stars of the commercial. There were three local commercials during the program. Two were for Adirondack furniture in Syracuse, and the other was for Laserview of CNY. According to the Chicago Tribune, NBC made a profit off this Olympics with $920 million in national sales. Sochi only brought in $800 million.

Shades of Blue: Post 9 (Season Finale)

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Word Count: 171

Shades of Blue wrapped up its first season last Thursday. The season ended with a little boost in ratings of 1.10 in the 18-49 demo with 5.425 million viewers. That is a 5.75% increase from the previous weeks ratings.

Social media was buzzing during the finale as the episode left the audience with a lot of questions to be answered in season two.

I have not seem much written about season two, besides the episode order will be for 13 episodes.  A Variety reporter, Elizabeth Wagmeister, said that information came from the showrunner for Shades of Blue, Jack Orman.

Season one also had 13 episodes, which is a shorter order. TVSeriesFinale.com reported that is most likely because of  Jennifer Lopez’s busy schedule.

Lopez told People Magazine in an interview that it took the Shades of Blue team 2.5 years to develop the show and get the script and characters right. She also said she is not sure where the show will go from here, but it will be back for season 2 on NBC.

Twitter Following: 24.5K

Shades of Blue: Post 8

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Word Count: 162

Last Thursday (March 24), Shades of Blue earned a 1.05 rating in the 18-49 demo with 5.13 viewers which was a .61% increase from last week.

This week Variety reported that it was announced that Sky has bought the U.K rights to Shades of Blue, and the show will play on the networks channel Sky Living. It was reported that the show will premiere in the U.K. later this year.

Digital Spy reported that Sky 1 and Sky Living director, Adam McDonald, said, “This New York detective drama is a perfect fit for the channel, and I can’t wait for customers to see the brilliant pairing of Jennifer Lopez and Ray Liotta in action.”

The season finale is next week, and I have not heard anything about season 2 yet. As soon as Shades of Blue finishes it looks like the following week there will be an episode of Law & Order: Special Victims Unit then the following week it will be an all new Game of Silence. 

 

 

 

Shades of Blue: Post 7

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We are now on the 11th episode of Shades of Blue, and the numbers have been leveling off the past couple of weeks. On Thursday, March 17, the  audience numbers for Shades of Blue actually increases, although the trend has been decreasing. In the 18-49 demo the Nielsen reported that the show had 5.099 viewers and earned a rating of 0.97. This is the lowest rating thus far in season 1. However, the ratings have been staying around 1.0.

On Thursday March 10, the rating was 1.01 and the episode brought in an audience of 4.859 million in the 18-49 demo.

Although the show was picked up for a second season, the number indicate that it may be canceled before it makes it to season 3.

The shows social media accounts continue to stay active and engage with viewers. Every week the shows following increases, as the show really pushes using the hashtag #shadesofblue. On NBC’s main page they show that a sneak peak clip from Shades of Blue is “trending now.” NBC also has a page that allows you to watch all episodes of the show.

Twitter Following: 21.3 K
Facebook Page Likes: 178,898

 

 

 

Shades of Blue: Post 6

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Shades of Blue is down in ratings these past few weeks, and continues to look viewers. Neilson reported that in the 18-49 demographic in the last week viewers went from 4.98 to  4.73 million viewers. The rating stayed about the same at 1.

Dan Buffa, an Entertainment contributor of KSDK, did a review on the show that brings insight to some of the choices NBC may be making.

Unlike most reviews I have read, Buffa said that Ray Liotta is what makes a “normal run-of-the-mill cop show” great. Although he said Liotta helps the show, he said a show like this shouldn’t expect to see any Emmy Awards.

“All network cop shows have some good and lots of bad. The days where David Mamet and Michael Mann patrolled these streets are long gone and showrunners like Adi Hasak (screenwriter of 3 Days to Kill and From Paris with Love) try to do their best imitation of true grit for a season or two before it starts to stink,” he said.

Although Buffa said a show like Shades of Blue has many imperfections, he suggests people “soak up the tiny moments of greatness. It’s a fast food restaurant with an occasional great order. It has its moments.”

Buffa notes that this is because there are some very well written scenes and great acting with Liotta in season 1.

“He is the reason to watch this show,” Buffa said. “Without him, the show dies faster than a romantic subplot.”

He believes Liotta is key to the show because he “automatically commands your attention with his intensity, approach to a character, and complete buy in.”

On the note of Jennifer Lopez, Buffa said, “when you look at J. Lo and wonder if she went from the set straight to her concert show in Las Vegas, just look back at Ray and smile with satisfaction.He’s a real old school actor. He elevates this show. Hasik knows this and puts him in nearly as many scenes as Lopez.”

Buffa said he thinks the show has gotten better week by week, but the ratings don’t agree with that. Regardless they have been picked up for a second season.

“NBC knows it can leverage a corruption story mixed between NYC cops and the FBI for at least one more season. With star power like Lopez and a talent like Liotta, this show can run for a while. Law and Order: SVU may run until I am in a nursing home, so Shades of Blue has a little pasture to gallop across and the writing doesn’t have to improve much,” Buffa said.

Twitter Following: 19.9 K

Shades of Blue: Post 5

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Ever since Shades of Blue renewed for a second season, I have noticed an increase in the promotion of the show. This week, Jennifer Lopez appeared on the Today Show to talk about her role on the show and she has been extremely active on social media.

I have also been watching the social media accounts for Shades of Blue, and they have been increasing their posts and engagement. The show is now up to 19,000 twitter followers. They are very interactive with viewers, and like  to tweet back at least 10 times a day. On the days the show, its creators and cast as all tweeting throughout commenting on what action is happening.

The show currently has 170,915 Facebook likes, and uses this media platform to post a lot of sneak peek clips, and pictures of the cast with impactful quotes for the show. The show also started to do “Question & Answer” sessions over Facebook with cast members. The show does this right before show time to get viewers excited and talking about the show on social media. Viewers want to interact and talk with the talent, so this is a strategic move to engage the audience.

Twitter Following: 19K

Shades of Blue: Post #4

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There is an interesting critics review written by Daniel Fienberg (The Hollywood Reporter) that describes Shades of Blue as a vanity project for Jennifer Lopez.   I took this as Fienberg saying Lopez has enough money she could retire,  and enough accomplishments to keep worked for fame afloat. Lopez has a not of money and fame on her hands, and some could argue that taking on this project does not necessarily do anything for her. This review talks about how “vanity project” has a negative connotation attached to it and how with a name like Lopez attached to the new television show, NBC is getting some major exposure. Having Lopez on board also allowed for a full season to be guaranteed, giving the writers time to develop her character.

“The downside is that Shades of Blue is, as a whole, not a very good show,” Fienberg said. “Still, it’s at least a bad show in a way that’s compatible with a lot of Lopez’s bad movies, so it should satisfy its intended audience.”

He goes on to note that the series creator, Adi Hasak, must have looked at Lopez’s previous work to understand that viewers like seeing her playing an authoritative role, “who get victimized or victims who right back, and consequently crafted a hybrid of Angel Eyes and Enough. Lopez’s role of Harlee Santos fits just that.

Twitter Following: 18.2 K