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CASTLE! BROTHERS & SISTERS! MODERN FAMILY! Our TV Addict Week in Rewind

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The Oh No They Didn’t of the Week: Is it just us, or is BROTHERS & SISTERS coming perilously close to jumping the proverbial you-know-what by pairing Kevin and Scotty up with the most adorable adoptee since the gang from GROWING PAINS adopted Leonardo DiCaprio?

Funnest — If Most Difficult To Explain To Those Who Don’t Watch The Show — Twist: On CASTLE, Laura Prepon played an actress researching Beckett so she could play the big-screen version of our hero’s fictionalized take on his partner. (Trust us. It was a blast.)

Most Disappointed Producers: Clearly, the folks behind the scenes at THE BACHELOR hoped that having Brad confront the women he’d dumped last season would result in the kind of train-wreck they’d created during last season’s sit down with Brad and Vienna. Sadly for them, it was yet another indication of just how big a mistake giving the dumb lug another platform really was.

Best Farewell: Sure, we wish they’d have aired the episodes over five weeks instead of all at once. But Syfy’s marathon of the final CAPRICA’s gave viewers a bit of closure while at the same time setting up the world in which BLOOD & CHROME — the much-discussed pilot that will be set post-CAPRICA but pre-BATTLESTAR GALACTICA — will take place.

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Making Television Magic: A Closer Look at Lifetime’s MARRY ME

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In the midst of the joyous holiday season, a very amazing thing happened: there was a Christmas miracle on television.  If you blinked and missed it, the special 4-hour mini-series MARRY ME starring Lucy Liu may have gone unnoticed on your television radar.  But, if you caught it, it is a television event worth celebrating.
 
Over the years, television specials rarely surprise.  They offer a catchy premise, a fun cast and the expected payoff in the end.  But this time I found myself sitting in front of my television utterly entranced.  What had sounded like a story about a woman torn between three different marriage proposals was actually something else entirely.  It was a story of a woman rejecting three different marriage proposals as she tried to figure out if she was looking for a fairy tale or being realistic about her marriage prospects.  The twist on a familiar story was unexpectedly delightful.
 
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The Ugly Truth About the TV Ratings Game

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By: Tiffany Vogt

 
In response to my article “The Year Round Programming Debate: Do We Want Our Summer Shows in Winter?” one program executive provided the following rationale for why networks are doing so.  He proffered that it was for “strategic business reasons” in order to attract and secure Fall ad sales and to achieve ratings goals that his network moved a number of summer programs onto the Fall broadcast slate.  He also attempted to justify the move by citing that the shows that were moved were achieving “healthy” C3/L7 data numbers – which translates to ratings including 3-day DVR playback and 7-day DVR playback. 
 
But, as TVbytheNumbers emphasized in their recent articles “Dear Fans of Low-Rated Shows: Ignore the Deceptive ‘Percentage Gain from DRV [change to DVR]’ Rankings,” DVR numbers are but a “Jedi Mind Trick” and “Network Jedi Mind Tricks: Live+7 Ratings and Your Favorite Show”, the C3/L7 ratings virtually amount to no ad revenue and are just reported for press purposes.
 
In fact, the same network executive (Ted Linhart, VP Research for USA Network) explained on Twitter, “Never look at C7, not used for anything, don’t feel comfortable releasing C3 – some clients don’t have it yet.”  He went on to explain in response to TVbytheNumber’s articles, “Yes, that is true.  But will say rewarding internally to see that many more people watched than we thought.  Morale and pride.”  In addition, he further clarified, “To be clear what we say is that the increase from Live+ Same Day to Live + 7 is meaningless to ad revenue.”

Translation: the DVR-play back ratings showing increased viewership essentially do not count.  They are simply a way to measure that more people watched a show, but there is no MONEY that comes from that viewership.  Thus, essentially viewers tuning in late are not financially supporting their shows.

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When the World Cracks: The cancellation of STARGATE: UNIVERSE has left a fan-base reeling in after-shock

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By: Tiffany Vogt

 
On the fateful day that it was announced the Syfy had canceled STARGATE: UNIVERSE the sci-fi fans rose up in anger and the sleeping horde of sci-fi fans let their voices be heard. It was the second time in as many months that a beloved sci-fi series had been canceled – on the same television network no less. It was a double-blow to an increasingly diminishing genre.
 
Science fiction has always been a hard sell on television. For one, the mass viewing audience tends to avoid anything remotely looking like science fiction. Another reason for the problems surrounding sci-fi shows gaining traction on the television landscape is that sci-fi fans are picky in what they will embrace. They are unforgiving of so-called bad sci-fi shows or lackluster writing.
 
Whatever the multitude of reasons, sci-fi fans did not whole-heartedly embrace CAPRICA and STARGATE: UNIVERSE. Thus, it was with a heavy-heart that both were reluctantly canceled. But the ratings showed that fans were abandoning the shows, not sticking by them. So in light of the eroding audience retention, the ax fell.
 
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Mourning the Loss of TERRIERS and UNNATURAL HISTORY, Special Shows Cut-Down Prematurely This Fall

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By: Tiffany Vogt

 
Looking back over the 2010 Fall season, it was a tough year for many shows trying to secure the attention of the increasingly fickle television audience. Some arrived as if they were but a blip on the radar, some lasted for a handful of episodes, and some were able to complete their first season episode orders. But there were a distinct few that lingered a bit longer in our hearts and minds as we wondered why they did not attract an audience – or worse yet, a big enough audience.
 
Two special stand-outs are FX’s TERRIERS and Cartoon Network’s UNNATURAL HISTORY. One came as a complete shock when it was not picked up for a second season; while the other cancellation was expected, but still painful when the news broke solidifying its dark fate.
 
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Deconstructing BONES: When Television Becomes Art-Worthy and Makes Us Want to Weep With Joy

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By: Tiffany Vogt

In a recent episode of BONES entitled “The Doctor in the Photo” (written by Carla Kettner), one particular line stood out and resonated.  It was when Dr. Gadh quoted, “I will show you fear in a handful of dust” (which is a line from the famous T.S. Eliot poem: “The Waste Land: The Burial of the Dead”).  When Dr. Dadh explained, “We do not actually fear death — we fear that no one will notice our absence — that we will disappear without a trace,” it echoed just as loudly.

It is a rare and magnificent feat when television is written with this kind of literary intensity.  When it is, we pick up our ears in disbelief.  For suddenly, whatever we are watching is no longer just a television show, it has risen to the level of art.

Frequently there are scenes so emotionally portrayed that we are touched to our core by the actor’s performance or by the storyline so delicately laid-out.  But it is not always the words themselves that grab our attention.
 
So I challenge you, when was that last time that a specific line or phrase grabbed you by the throat and made you want to cry with joy?  If you are like most viewers, it is virtually impossible to conceive of any such language.  We may recall a funny line, or a great one-liner  — something used to zing or highlight the moment.  But to feel so overcome with the words that we think to ourselves, “that needs to be written down” or immortalized in some way so that the essence of what was said or written is memorialized.
 
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We sink Our Teeth into THE VAMPIRE DIARIES and Reflect on Burning Questions We Need Answered

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By: Tiffany Vogt

As the CW presents a marathon of the season 2 episodes to date of THE VAMPIRE DIARIES, this seemed like the opportune time to reflect back on some lingering questions.
 
De-clawing Katherine: Did it help or hinder the story?
At the end of Season 1, when Katherine made her grand entrance back into Mystic Falls, viewers were floored. She brilliantly impersonated Elena, fooling Damon into confessing his love and kiss her, then getting Aunt Jenna to invite her into the Gilbert home so that Katherine could deftly remove John’s invincibility ring and stab him in the chest. All summer fans everywhere were thinking the same thing: what would Katherine do next? The breathless anticipation had everyone on the edge of their seats.
 
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Reflecting on CASTLE, SUPERNATURAL and PSYCH’s fun-filled television homages of TV shows past

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By: Tiffany Vogt

 
Every now and then television decides to pay homage to other cult classic television shows, and if you saw a few of the recent episodes of CASTLE, SUPERNATURAL, and PYSCH, then you were in for a treat.
 
In the November 15th episode of CASTLE entitled “Close Encounters of the Murderous Kind,” Richard Castle and Detective Kate Beckett investigated the murder of a young research scientist who was killed in zero gravity conditions. All signs pointed towards an unearthly abduction and THE X-FILES Easter-eggs were carefully placed throughout the episode. And while there was a UFO encounter and abduction — it was by government agents, not aliens. There was also a fun nod to THE X-FILES companion series MILLENIUM, with Lance Henriksen making an appearance as the leader of an alien abduction support group, who wrote the book, “Taken By the Fourth Kind.” Whether it was Castle whistling THE X-FILES’ theme song or a cameo of a cigarette-smoking man, the show did a fun job giving homage to THE X-FILES.
 
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The Year Round Programming Debate: Do We Want Our Summer Shows in Winter?

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By: Tiffany Vogt

 
This Fall brought an interesting phenomena to television: For the first time summer shows were returning in November and December, after only a short 2-3 month hiatus. Just when viewers were adjusting to summer shows returning in January and February, the television networks had the bright idea of mixing it up and bringing back their biggest summer shows to compete during November sweeps and during the December dead-zone.
 
It used to be that television was divided into the standard television season running mid-September through late May, with a winter break in December and January. Yet with the need to push for year-round programming, networks began dabbling with a third season, launching summers shows in June and July to run for 8-12 weeks.
 
For the most part, summer shows were a huge success. Viewers loved having new programs to watch with little or no competition vying for their attention; and networks got to test the waters of whether or not it was financially viable to launch a third season.
 
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The Changing Face of Television & the Proliferation of New Content Created for the Web

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By: Tiffany Vogt

 
If past decade of television has taught us anything, it is that reality television is here to stay.  Although interest in reality television has waned a bit in recent years, the same can be said of scripted television shows.  Ratings have declined on all fronts – it is not exclusive to either reality television or scripted television.
 
So such decline has led to speculation about what will be the next big thing.  What will be the determining factor to reshape television as we know it?   With the popularity of reality television since 2000, it has been hard to see that a brand new arena of content has sprung up under our noses. 
 
Also increasingly popular in the past decade has been the proliferation of social networking.  Whether it be MySpace, Facebook, Twitter or YouTube, the internet has broken out as the next big thing.  Not content to sit in front of a television, teenagers today are consuming their entertainment via their iPods and iPhones.  Thus, televised media has morphed into web media.  One cannot only watch television shows on the ‘net, one can now watch a whole array of original content created specifically for the web.
 
It is still uncertain how to make such original content viable from a profit perspective, but despite the dubious certainty of economic gain, it has not stopped entrepreneurial minds from venturing out and staking a claim on the web.  It is cheap, it is accessible — and there are millions of untapped potential in viewers searching for something to watch and interact with.  
 
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