Random TV Thoughts

[Stennick]

Revolution is one in a long list of sci fi shows that are fantastic concepts and then horribly executed that coupled with the fact that these networks insist on giving some of these shows 22 episodes a season when its clear they only have enough content and story for half of that. Even Lost suffered from steaks of episodes where shit was pretty dull just because you could tell they were killing time. I really want to like Revolution but I couldn't make it through the first episode without just being bored. Its also interesting that these shows pop huge ratings out of the gate before slowly dying. I suspect SHIELD will do this as well once people realize "wait no super heros are in the show?". 

[Reed]

Considering how much of a disaster NBC has degenerated into it really is amazing that they somehow managed to churn out arguably the best TV network drama in years (Hannibal).  I guess even a broken clock can be right twice a day.

[Brian Fowler]

I do wonder if the Networks really will start going to the half-length season for in-season shows.  (Well, I guess FOX already is, but the other 3...)

[EVA]

Already happening. Just to bring it over from the other thread, here's the rundown of shows off the top of my head...

FOX: The Following (15 episodes), Sleepy Hollow (13) , 24 (12).

NBC: Hannibal (13).

CBS: Under The Dome (13).

ABC: Hostages (15). They should probably also get credit for being ahead of the curve when they moved LOST to short seasons after season 3. We will speak not of the last season for obvious reasons, but I think everyone agrees that the shorter 4th and 5th seasons were tremendous improvements over the 2nd and 3rd.

I'm probably forgetting at least one or two more. I think EXTANT (I think that's what it's called) that's set for CBS next summer is also a short season. Of course, the common theme between all these shows is that they are all, too varying degrees, heavily serialized, high concept and/or genre shows. I think there will always be room on the schedule for crime procedurals that run 20+ episodes (Lord knows CBS won't part with it's acronym shows easily), and I don't think season-length really has much of an effect on half-hour comedies, but we are inevitably moving toward anything that doesn't fit into those categories being short-ordered, for a variety of reasons.

[Territorial]

Speaking of Sleepy Hollow, what do other people think of it?  I think I liked it more when it was called "Alcatraz", but it's starting to grow on me.  Can't see it getting a wide audience, though.  And setting up the show to run at least seven seasons (in the pilot, there's talk of a seven year war with the forces of darkness) seems like wishful thinking.

 

Watched Once Upon a Time in Wonderland this morning and liked it very much.  Also been enjoying Once Upon a Time.  I watched most of season 1, but wasn't really that interested and fell away from watching for... no particular reason.  Just missed an episode and realized I didn't miss it.  Started watching again late last season and have liked what I've seen lately.  Jed Whedon really needs to watch both shows and take notes.  Agents of SHIELD could do with more of a sense of wonder/high adventure (not to mention well-drawn characters).

[Brian Fowler]

Almost all of those are out of season shows though, aren't they?  Except at FOX.

[EVA]

The CBS shows are summer shows, the rest are "in season." Although the "in season" and "out of season" designations are going the way of the dinosaur, too. Just another way cable is changing the game.

[Stennick]

I thought it was USA with Psych they do like two shorter seasons in a year? I know ABC Family does that. The thing is though I'm not sure if its all filmed at once and just broken into two seasons or what. I think the other problem other than 22 episodes inevitably leaves us with episodes that  nothing happens on it also allows bad writing to continue longer. Atleast if the season wraps there is the hope they will take in response from the audience and try to fix some of the issues. 

[Territorial]

Hostages is on CBS, not ABC.  I assume it's a short season because (A) it's hard to extend the concept 22 episodes; and ( Toni Collette is reportedly not interested in being tied up to a full season work schedule (since she can take movie roles and what-not instead).

[Brian Fowler]

It seems possible, if not probable, that in the next few years, we'll see serialized, episodic dramas be 10-13 eps standard, while comedies and more soap opera-ish dramas will stay 22 (or more, in some cases.  I think Grey's Anatomy did a 27 episode season once, which is insane.)

[Territorial]

I thought it was USA with Psych they do like two shorter seasons in a year?

 

USA and TNT break up most of their dramas into two runs during the year.  USA generally gives 16 episode orders to shows like White Collar and Burn Notice, then runs a summer/winter season and breaks the episodes up into two 8-episode runs. They don't do this with every show.  Covert Affairs runs its entire season in consecutive weeks, except for a four week break in late Sept/October.  Royal Pains only runs during the summer.

 

TNT gives its more popular shows (Closer/Major Crimes/Rizzoli & Isles, etc.) 15 episode orders.  They run 10 or 11 episodes during the summer, then air a short "season" of 4 or 5 episodes in December.

[Reed]

I do wonder if the Networks really will start going to the half-length season for in-season shows.  (Well, I guess FOX already is, but the other 3...)

 

13 is the best option for a season. Long enough to tell a story and develop characters, but not so long you're doing filler episodes about how one of your main characters got his ugly tattoos. Cheaper too.

[Burgundy LaRue]

I'm suprised the major networks haven't moved to the 13-episdoe season yet.  As many have mentioned, it's cheaper.  And it allows networks more chances to find good shows.

[Reed]

Hostages is on CBS, not ABC.  I assume it's a short season because (A) it's hard to extend the concept 22 episodes; and ( Toni Collette is reportedly not interested in being tied up to a full season work schedule (since she can take movie roles and what-not instead).

 

It's totally flopped in the ratings so it's probably not going to get a second season anyway.

[Craig H]

Regarding Revolution, I feel like I have the best plan for enjoying that show. I watched the pilot, and the episode after it. Then I watched the last two episodes of the first season. I watched the first few episodes of this season, and then I'll just reconvene at the end of the season or when it's on Netflix. I couldn't even describe anything that happened in the middle of the first season of Revolution, but I'm sure it was a heaping pile of shit. Watching it in this way, I feel like I'm watching a good show.

[Tabe]

FInished season 2 of Scandal.  As I'm watching, I realize that what I'm watching isn't great, there's roughly a billion things about it that drive me nuts, and, yet...I watched all of season 2 in like 5 days.  Season 2 is a big, convoluted mess with waaaaaaaaaaaaaaaay too many murders and over-the-top nonsense.  You definitely gotta shut off your brain as far anything being semi-realistic and just go with the flow.  Much like Shonda Rimes' other big hit, Grey's Anatomy, I hate pretty much every character* and yet....the whole season in 5 days.  I found myself wanting to see less and less of Kerry Washington as the season went on as her performance began to bug me.  She's way over-expressive with her face, making all these exaggerated movements with mouth that, due to the large number of close-ups she gets, end up being really distracting and annoying.  They also have her strut more than walk, which I found annoying - there's actually a couple sequences where she does the runway model "one foot directly in front of the other" walk, which no person actually does in real life.  The fakiness of the technology stuff they do also bugs me, but that's the IT guy in me talking.  The camera shutter effect they do also bugs me.  The "we wish we were West Wing" dialogue with people repeating things three times and cutting each other off bugs me.  Can't explain it - a billion things bug me about the show...and yet...the whole season in 5 days.

 

* - Oddly enough, the "worst" character, the guy who killed and tortured people for a living, Huck, is the character I like most.  Something about the guy being so broken and disturbed is really compelling.  On Grey's Anatomy, I literally hate every character except the one played by Camilla Luddington.  And that's mostly because she's so smoking hot.  The rest of the characters?  Hate 'em all.  I actually want to see them miserable and suffer, especially Meredith Grey.  That character is completely repugnant and yet she skates through life without any repercussions.  Grrrr.  So why do I watch the show?  Blame my wife - it's one of the few shows that she enjoys that I don't hate so it's a shared experience for us

[Stennick]

I'm enjoying Eastbound and Down this season the show has been hit or miss for me since the first season. Sometimes its more awkward than funny. The last episode with the hotel was sort of lame but the two previous episodes were pretty much some of the more all time better episodes. 

[Super Ape]

I know this place isn't the most Disney-friendly, but I've been taking in the new series of Mickey Mouse five-minute cartoons, and I gotta say they're fantastic.  They really captured the old school humor and style, updated the animation, and made it look like a love letter to the 30's.  It's like John Kricfalusi didn't lose his talent and took his act to Disney.  Soooooo good.  My favorite's the bullet train one.

 

[Raziel]

I know this place isn't the most Disney-friendly, but I've been taking in the new series of Mickey Mouse five-minute cartoons, and I gotta say they're fantastic.  They really captured the old school humor and style, updated the animation, and made it look like a love letter to the 30's.  It's like John Kricfalusi didn't lose his talent and took his act to Disney.  Soooooo good.  My favorite's the bullet train one.

 

Since the girl watches almost nothing but Disney Jr, I've been seeing these all the time.  They're fucking tremendous.  Just everything about them clicks.

 

Also backs up my argument that Disney knows how to leverage the fuck out of their IP's, whilst WB can't get out of their own way.  I say this because I finally managed to catch some of the recent, modern Looney Tunes show on CN, and its fucking abysmal.  

[Cliff Hanger]

Out of morbid curiosity, I gave the new Tomorrow People a try.  It's exactly what you expect from a CW-produced take on a forty-year-old British YA sci-fi show.  And yet, I find I am much more okay with that than I expected.  Not appointment TV or anything, but I'll probably watch the second ep.

[Reed]

NBC going completely hell makes me wonder why they don't just air Raw on there. In the past it's always been, they'd never get high ratings enough, Tribute to the Troops never does well, etc. But 4 million viewers (over 3 hours no less) a week is considerably better than most of their shows, sans The Voice or Blacklist, are doing.

[ivpvideos]

Advertisers will pay more for a 1.3 that isn't wrestling then they will for a 3 that is wrestling.

[Bustronaut]

Also, a cable 3 rating is smaller than a network 3 rating.

[tigertooth]

Well, 4 million viewers is 4 million viewers, right?

 

Anyway, I agree with ivpvideos about the advertisers.  Plus, putting wrestling in prime time -- even if it was a mild success -- would be seen as NBC really grasping at straws.  It could theoretically be revenue-positive in the short term (if you could convince advertisers to get on board), but for a lot of people it would cement the idea that NBC is a second-tier network at best.  I mean, they already have that reputation to an extent, but this would make things worse. 

[Reed]

Plus, putting wrestling in prime time -- even if it was a mild success -- would be seen as NBC really grasping at straws.  It could theoretically be revenue-positive in the short term (if you could convince advertisers to get on board), but for a lot of people it would cement the idea that NBC is a second-tier network at best.  I mean, they already have that reputation to an extent, but this would make things worse. 

 

CW had that idea too. SmackDown was (by far) their highest rated show and very cheap to make , but the execs decided it was too low brow and wanted to focus more on shows about pretty teenagers buying nice clothes and having issues and whatnot.

 

Fast forward to a few years later and the network has unraveled into a total joke, their overall average ratings plummeted, and they're at the point a show regularly doing 0.5 and 0.6s in the 18-49 category can actually be considered a success. I'm not saying dropping SD was why, but it may have been the beginning of the end for them.

 

Fun fact: In it's Friday night timeslot (that SD used to have) Nikita has sometimes gotten a 0.2 18-49 number, which is so awful for prime-time it's practically unheard of.

 

But, yeah, 'rasslin was ruining the network.