Best Television Series Drama
AMERICAN HORROR STORY
BOARDWALK EMPIRE
BOSS
GAME OF THRONES
HOMELAND
Best Television Series – Comedy/Musical
NEW GIRL
ENLIGHTENED
EPISODES
GLEE
MODERN FAMILY
[Read more…]
TV News, Previews, Spoilers and Reviews
Best Television Series Drama
AMERICAN HORROR STORY
BOARDWALK EMPIRE
BOSS
GAME OF THRONES
HOMELAND
Best Television Series – Comedy/Musical
NEW GIRL
ENLIGHTENED
EPISODES
GLEE
MODERN FAMILY
[Read more…]
NET | 8PM | 8:30PM | 9PM | 9:30PM | 10PM | 10:30PM |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
ABC | The Middle (R) | Suburgatory (R) | Modern Family (R) | Barbara Walters Presents The 10 Most Fascinating People of 2011 | ||
CBS | Survivor: South Pacific | Criminal Minds | CSI | |||
CW | America’s Next Top Model (R) | Victoria’s Secret Fashion Show (R) | ||||
FOX | The X Factor | I Hate My Teenage Daughter | American Horror Story (FX) | |||
NBC | Up All Night (R) | Whitney (R) | Harry’s Law (R) | Law & Order: SVU (R) | ||
MISC | Work of Art (Bravo) | State of Play (BBC America) Psych (USA) Top Chef: Texas (Bravo) |
In the after-math of LOST, an interesting trend has begun to emerge in television viewing patterns: viewers are now gun-shy of investing in serialized television. Viewers are no longer willing to invest their time and energy into a show that may take them some place they do not want to go.
For LOST not only dared to kill off its principal characters, it ultimately killed off 9 of its 13 principal characters: Boone, Shannon, Charlie, Jack, John Locke, Sayid, Jin, Sun, Michael – leaving Kate, Sawyer, Hurley and Claire ambiguously alive, and who were revealed to be dead in the final episode. It also killed off a majority of its supporting characters, including Daniel Faraday, Charlotte, Danielle Rousseau, Alex, Juliet, Libby, Ana-Lucia, and Eko.
LOST became the “gold standard” in story-telling because it achieved the remarkable feat of luring in nearly 24 million viewers and ran 6 successful seasons, winning numerous awards along the way. But, in the end, there was a significant amount of “viewer fatigue.” Pulling in only 8 million viewers by its final episode, LOST is also a great example in how to disenfranchise an audience.
LOST secured its initial amazing viewership numbers because it offered an array of fascinating characters, so much so that viewers could not wait to learn more about each of them. The breadcrumbs LOST offered were eagerly snatched-up and analyzed and it become part the cultural zeitgeist and popculture.
But it also became a television teaching-tool; it taught viewers that steadfast devotion is not necessarily rewarded in the end. LOST broke too many hearts, upset its core fan-base and became a “shell” of its former self by the end. The fact that it ended with the reveal that a large number of its characters were living in a version of purgatory awaiting their chance to “move on” as their fellow comrades joined them one-by-one in the after-life was thoroughly discouraging. [Read more…]
One of my favorite new shows just broke everyone’s heart. ONCE UPON A TIME is premised on the idea that Emma Swan is the key to breaking the Evil Queen’s curse and that she will bring back the “happy endings.” But if this most recent episode is any indication, the curse is still alive and well — for Storybrooke is still a place where “happy endings” die.
Coming from the creators and writers of the episode “The Heart Is A Lonely Hunter,” Adam Horowitz and Edward Kitsis (both former writers of LOST), ONCE UPON A TIME took a page out of the LOST-playbook and killed off a beloved principal character. It was as if the one thing that we all dreaded the most has come back to haunt us – writers who dare to kill off characters. In the past decade, television has become more enamored with the idea of raising-the-stakes and making TV shows more unpredictable by killing key characters. Other shows have done it, but none more so and more heart-wrenchingly than LOST. It was a show that we all both loved and loathed for various reasons. But perhaps the greatest taboo that LOST ever broke was killing off beloved characters. [Read more…]
Time | Network | Show | Rating | 18-49 | VS. |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
8PM | NBC | Football Night in America | 16.68 | 6.2/15 | |
CBS | The Amazing Race | 13.68 | 3.4/8 | ||
ABC | Once Upon a Time | 8.91 | 2.9/7 | ||
FOX | The Simpsons | 6.45 | 3.0/7 | ||
8:30PM | NBC | Sunday Night Football | 20.45 | 7.4/17 | |
FOX | Cleveland Show | 4.98 | 2.3/5 | ||
9PM | NBC | Sunday Night Football | 23.25 | 8.7/17 | |
CBS | The Good Wife | 11.14 | 3.1/7 | ||
FOX | Family Guy | 6.05 | 3.1/7 | ||
ABC | Charlie and the Chocolate Factory (Movie) | 3.74 | 1.2/3 | ||
9:30PM | FOX | American Dad! | 4.99 | 2.5/6 | |
10PM | NBC | Sunday Night Football | 21.02 | 8.2/17 | |
CBS | CSI: Miami | 11.05 | 2.2/5 | ||
ABC | Charlie and the Chocolate Factory (Movie) | 3.74 | 1.2/3 |
Editor’s Note: Ratings for CBS are slightly skewed due to NFL overrun
NET | 8PM | 8:30PM | 9PM | 9:30PM | 10PM | 10:30PM |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
ABC | Once Upon a Time | Charlie and the Chocolate Factory (Movie) | ||||
CBS | Amazing Race 19 | The Good Wife | CSI: Miami | |||
HBO | Boardwalk Empire | Luck | ||||
FOX | The Simpsons | Cleveland Show | Family Guy | American Dad! | ||
NBC | Football Night in America | Sunday Night Football: Giants at Cowboys | ||||
MISC | Dexter (SHO, TMN in Canada) Leverage (TNT) | Homeland (SHO) Hell on Wheels (AMC) | ||||
A&E | Stephen King’s Bag of Bones |
The Good: For the second time in the Network’s history, Fox came out on top during the pivotal November Sweeps period where it counts, in the coveted 18-49 demographic. But before we get into at what cost (more on that later) let’s focus on the positive. Helping to contribute to Fox’s boffo Fall was newcomer Zooey Deschanel’s NEW GIRL, Sunday’s appropriately branded Animation Domination” lineup (Including THE SIMPSONS and the Seth MacFarlane trifecta of FAMILY GUY, CLEVELAND SHOW, AMERICAN DAD!) and GLEE (Which despite a ratings downtick still maintained very a healthy rating in the 18-49 demo). More good news came in the form of BONES, which defied the MOONLIGHTING curse thanks to a perfectly timed real-life pregnancy of star Emily Deschanel and THE X FACTOR. Which brings us to… [Read more…]
Is there any chance at all that Sunday’s DEXTER makes up for last week’s snore of an episode? — Dillon
The TV Addict:If by “make up for,” you mean offer one of the most unexpected and uncomfortable plot twists in the series’ sordid history, than well yes, Sunday’s penultimate episode of the season is not to be missed. That said, having still not shaken of the after-affects of one of the most spine-tingling and stupefying scenes DEXTER has ever dared to deliver, we do feel it necessary to warn viewers that on a scale of “icky” to “grossest thing you can ever imagine,” Sunday’s episode is off the charts!
Any clues as to when Brennan will be delivering her baby on BONES? — Amy
The TV Addict:While we’re not 100% sure of this, all signs are pointing to Brennan delivering her baby when BONES returns from its post-January hiatus. What’s more, in typical BONES fashion, Brennan’s delivery won’t be nearly as smooth as one might have hoped. Which is to say, despite Booth wanting his baby born in a Catholic hospital and Brennan wanting a home birth in which she can maintain as much control over her environment as possible, the sill-nameless unexpected bundle of joy has other ideas. [Read more…]
Time | Network | Show | Rating | 18-49 | VS. |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
8PM | CBS | Survivor: South Pacific | 11.53 | 3.3/9 | |
FOX | The X Factor | 10.55 | 3.3/10 | ||
ABC | The Middle | 8.80 | 2.8/8 | ||
NBC | Up All Night | 4.95 | 1.8/5 | ||
CW | America’s Next Top Model (R) | 1.26 | 0.5/1 | ||
8:30PM | ABC | Suburgatory | 8.05 | 2.8/8 | |
NBC | Up All Night (R) | 3.83 | 1.4/4 | ||
9PM | CBS | Criminal Minds | 12.25 | 3.4/8 | |
ABC | Modern Family | 12.13 | 5.0/13 | ||
FOX | The X Factor | 10.55 | 3.3/9 | ||
NBC | Harry’s Law | 7.03 | 1.2/3 | ||
CW | America’s Next Top Model | 2.35 | 1.0/3 | ||
9:30PM | ABC | Happy Endings | 6.53 | 2.9/7 | |
FOX | I Hate My Teenage Daughter | 5.42 | 2.1/5 | ||
10PM | CBS | CSI | 11.66 | 2.5/7 | |
ABC | Revenge | 7.30 | 2.4/7 | ||
NBC | Law & Order: SVU | 6.93 | 1.9/5 |
The Good: Where do we begin? Despite what many insiders predicted would be a disappointing Fall for the Alphabet Network thanks to an aging roster of shows (See: GREY’S ANATOMY, PRIVATE PRACTICE and DESPERATE HOUSEWIVES), newly-minted ABC President Paul Lee’s quirky mix of quality scripted dramas and comedies paid off in a big way. On the dramatic front, both REVENGE and ONCE UPON A TIME defied the odds by reviving the Primetime Sudser and Family Drama genres, both of which were long thought to be past their prime. While on the comedy front, ABC continued to steal the spotlight from NBC’s Thursday night with a Wednesday lineup of top to bottom belly-laughs (See: HAPPY ENDINGS, MODERN FAMILY, SUBURGATORY and THE MIDDLE). Also of note were better than expected ratings for Tim Allen’s triumphant return to the medium which made him a household name in LAST MAN STANDING and CASTLE, the latter of which continued to hold its own despite a weakened lead-in. [Read more…]