Tag Archives: network television

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.

The Slap Post 3

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This week, ratings of The Slap went down after a disappointing premiere and luke-warm reviews. Instead of writing about that (since I’m sure I’ll be doing that in the coming weeks), I want to discuss what the show has working for it. First of all, the cast is phenomenal. With names like Peter Sarsgaard, Zachary Quinto, Uma Thurman and Thandie Newton, the cast seems like they should be part of an underrated independent film, not a miniseries on NBC. Besides that, it has some great names behind the camera. Lisa Cholodenko, the Oscar nominated director/writer of The Kids Are All Right, directed 7 of the 8 episodes. The series was created by Jon Robin Baitz, who worked for the successful Brothers & Sisters for ABC, and Walter F. Parkes, a three-time Oscar nominee.

When I look at these names, people who have in the past done truly amazing work, I get excited about The Slap. They all seem like names that would be better suited for cable television, but they have found a (somewhat hostile) home on network television. Though it doesn’t seem hopeful that many more viewers will find this show in the next six weeks, The Slap is a show that works on paper.

Secrets and Lies – Post 2

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The countdown to the premier of “Secrets and Lies” is just over a week away. As the date nears the publicity the show has received has increased. In many ways the show appears to be an experiment. The story is told almost entirely from the perspective of Ben Crawford, who is accused or murder. Some critics suggest that the character is in almost every seen. While shows in the passed have centered around one character (consider the likes of “Everybody Loves Raymond” and the “George Lopez” show), this murder mystery will be a new challenge. Murder mysteries often encompass multiple people and many details. I am interested to see how the show develops its plot and tries to fill in blanks before viewers become too confused to watch.

Welcome to “Battle Creek”

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On Sunday, March 1st CBS will launch Battle Creek the 10pm EST time slot as a mid-season replacement for CBS rating stalwart CSI. The show boasts an impressive stable of talent, starring Josh Duhamel (Transformers) as the flashy new FBI agent playing foil to the incumbent police detective played by Dean Winters (30 Rock) in Battle Creek, Michigan. The ensemble is rounded out by Kal Penn (Harold and Kumar) and Oscar nominee Janet McTeer.

After laying dormant for over a decade, Vince Gilligan’s “Battle Creek is finally getting its shot with CBS.

The creative pedigree of the show is even more star-studded than the cast, with Breaking Bad and Better Call Saul creator, Vince Gilligan, and House creator, David Shore giving the hour-long black comedy at least a fighting chance to gain traction in a time slot with limited competition outside of ABC’s Revenge. Sony will produce.

 

Source: http://www.latimes.com/entertainment/tv/la-et-st-ca-tv-preview-battle-creek-20150104-story.html