Posted by Roger in RATINGS
WINNERS
ONCE UPON A TIME: Some shows crumble after a holiday hiatus – and some come back stronger than ever…
Case in point, ABC’s Once Upon A Time, which after some serious slippage towards the end of the year bounced back strong last week.
You may recall that Time launched big in October 2011 with 12.93 millions viewers but then lost viewers every single week. By mid-December the show was below the 9 million mark and ABC had to be wondering if the show was going to crater a la Pan Am.
But last week Once Upon A Time showed a serious rebound – scoring 10.35 million viewers and a strong 3.7 18-49 share. For ABC – which this week had to put the dreadful Work It out of its misery – this is definitely a happy ending. For now at least!
ROB: What do the critics know?
I had to ask myself this question Friday morning after the ratings came in for the critically slammed Rob (which I have to admit didn’t look too hot to me either!)
Despite widespread derision Rob pulled in 13.47 million viewers and a 4.1 18-49 rating – one of the strongest numbers of the week. Many commentators jumped on the ratings, proclaiming Rob More >
Posted by Roger in RATINGS
WINNERS
OPRAH’S NEXT CHAPTER: Finally some good news for OWN!
Yep, the beleaguered Oprah Winfrey Network might finally have another hit on their hands – and all it took was Oprah herself.
Sunday night’s premiere of Oprah’s Next Chapter, featuring Winfrey interviewing Aerosmith frontman Steven Tyler, gave a big boost to OWN, pulling in 1.1 million viewers to rate as the network’s biggest show in a year (OWN’s other hit? Season 25 – the series that went behind the scenes of Oprah. Hmm, do I detect a pattern here?)
Personally I thought Next Chapter was very entertaining and proved once again why Oprah is such a strong interviewer – she certainly didn’t duck the tough questions. But I do think 2 hours is too long for the show – even I had to reach for the fast forward button by the halfway mark!
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Posted by Roger in PREVIEWS
When Does It Start: Tuesday 3rd Jan at 8.30pm EST on ABC
In A Nutshell: It’s Bosom Buddies for 2012. Just what the world was waiting for!
What’s It About: Lee and Angel are two long-term out of work guys, struggling through the ‿man-cession’. After being out of work for over a year the two finally hear about a sales opportunity at a drug company. There’s just one catch – the company is looking for FEMALE sales reps. So what’s a man to do… yep, you guessed it!
So can Angel and Lee keep their male identities secret from their new colleagues? Can Lee also fool his wife and daughter? And how do shows like this get green-lit?
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Posted by Roger in RATINGS
It’s time for the final Ratings Roundup of the year. So who shone – and who stunk – over the last 7 days… let’s find out!
WINNERS
FEAR FACTOR: Okay everyone – let’s put this into perspective shall we!
From all the internet hoopla surrounding the return of Fear Factor this week (yes, that would be you Perez Hilton), you’d have thought that NBC had struck the ratings jackpot with their resurrected reality franchise. Short answer – they didn’t. But Fear Factor did well nonetheless.
On Monday night the Joe Rogan hosted gross out series returned from its 5 year break to pull in 8.52 million viewers and a 3.5 18-49 rating. That’s NBC’s best score in the 9pm timeslot for over a year.
But now some perspective. Fear Factor went up against a repeat of House on Fox and Hart Of Dixie on The CW as well as a painfully low rated ABC game show (see below). Plus while that demo is good, the overall ratings aren’t astounding and are likely to fall in the weeks to come. A premier of 8 million isn’t that impressive when slippage is likely. Still even if Fear Factor settles at the 6-7 million mark – that will still pretty More >
Posted by Roger in RATINGS
Winners and Losers From The Last 7 Days
I took a week off from the Ratings Roundup last week – but now it’s back. And guess what – sadly for the broadcast networks the ratings bad news continues…
WINNERS
SURVIVOR: SOUTH PACIFIC: I haven’t mentioned the long running CBS reality series on the site for a while now. But while other shows continue to garner all the hype and attention, Survivor has been holding steady and continues to pull in some pretty impressive figures.
Take this week for example. On Wednesday night the South Pacific edition of the show attracted 11.59 million viewers and a 3.3 18-49 share. For a show in its 23rd ‿season’ that’s pretty darn good going. And even more impressive is the fact that Survivor even beat The X Factor in the same timeslot, with the Simon Cowell music competition show managing ‿just’ 10.70 million (though the X Factor was slightly ahead in the demo with a 3.4). No wonder CBS just keeps renewing the show season after season…
PERSON OF INTEREST: Another show I haven’t written about for a while is CBS’s under the radar Person Of Interest. Launched with great expectations, the J.J.Abrams thriller has been on the bubble for More >
Posted by Roger in OPINION
It’s that time of the year again – the Fall season is over and the broadcast networks are taking stock. But after a tumultuous Fall season how are the big five shaping up – and what does the future hold? Here’s my Remote Patrolled perspective…
WHAT’S WORKING:
MODERN FAMILY: Fall 2012 was a great season for veteran comedies. Two And A Half Men and The Big Bang Theory continue to rule the ratings – but it’s ABC’s Modern Family that’s the undisputed champ when it comes to both critics AND commercial success.
After waltzing off with its second Best Comedy Emmy in a row, Family is the official network comedy king. And this third season is scoring bigger ratings than ever, peaking at over 15 million viewers in week 2 and consistently in the 13-14 million range. Plus Modern Family is the lynchpin for ABC’s whole Wednesday comedy block – speaking of which…
THE MIDDLE / SUBURGATORY / HAPPY ENDINGS: Looks like Modern Family isn’t alone on Wednesday nights anymore!
Freshman comedy Suburgatory has fit right into the Wednesday lineup, averaging a healthy 8-9 million a week and building steadily growing buzz. Meanwhile The Middle continues to hold its own at 8pm, and unwanted stepchild Happy More >
Posted by Roger in RATINGS
Winners and Losers From The Last 7 Days
WINNERS
LOVE AND HIP HOP: I’ve talked frequently here at Remote Patrolled about Vh1’s ratings woes – especially late last year when the network really was in the ratings toilet.
But credit where it’s due the former music network has certainly turned the corner in recent months. Mob Wives is a solid hit for the network and about to launch its first spin-off in the Spring. And then there’s Monday nights, which Vh1 has transformed into a solid ‿urban’ night – powered by standout Love And Hip Hop.
This week Hip Hop attracted 2.78 million viewers and a 1.6 18-49 share, the top rated reality show of the night, ahead of such series as American Chopper, Hoarders and Monster In Laws. Plus not far behind is fellow Vh1 reality show, Basketball Wives, which pulled in 2.26 million and a 1.3 youth share on the same night. I still don’t really know what the Vh1 brand stands for – but at least the network has some solid ratings to crow about…
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Posted by Roger in OPINION
It’s been a great Fall season so far with plenty of terrific new shows to tuck into – and hopefully many more launching in the New Year (I’m especially excited for The River and Smash)
But for me one of the most heartening aspects of this new season has been the return of the primetime soap opera, a genre that’s been sadly out of favor in recent years.
The two most obvious examples of this of course are The CW’s Ringer and ABC’s Revenge. Ringer plays like a telenovela – a totally preposterous series featuring identical twins, murder, adultery and a bad guy who’s the spitting image of Taboo from the Black Eyed Peas. But while Ringer is great fun I just can’t see how the show sustains itself for more than two seasons – hence my comparison to a telenovela rather than a straight up soap.
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Posted by Roger in RATINGS
Winners and Losers From The Last 7 Days
WINNERS
REVENGE: Revenge is certainly proving sweet for ABC who’ve finally found a hit 10pm drama after a whole heap of misfires (The Whole Truth, Off The Map, Eastwick).
Revenge is still not a monster hit but anyone who knows anything about the TV industry can see when a phenomenon is brewing. Chat rooms and comment boards are filled with fans raving about the show, magazines are catching on (there’s a nice piece in this week’s Entertainment Weekly) and the show’s ratings are slowly inching up week by week.
This week’s episode of the Hamptons set soap opera pulled in 8.58 million viewers and a 3.0 18-49 share, Revenge’s highest demo score since the opening episode. And given that the show is getting better and better – and is fairly easy to pick up – I wouldn’t be surprised to see Revenge climbing above the 10 million mark in the very near future. Is the soap opera officially back?
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Posted by Roger in RATINGS
Winners and Losers From The Last 7 Days
WINNERS
FAIRYTALE TV: Looks like there might be a couple of happy ever afters for the broadcast networks this week!
After a mixed season with several successes but no major out of the box smashes, both ABC and NBC received some good news this week from some rather unexpected sources.
For ABC the pleasant surprise was Once Upon A Time, the fairy tale series that’s been tasked with launching their whole Sunday night line-up. Given that that line-up includes Desperate Housewives and Pan Am, two shows that define the phrase ‿fading fast’ that’s quite a tall order. But Once Upon A Time more than stepped up to the challenge, pulling in a terrific 12.93 million viewers and a 4.0 18-49 share. That’s ABC’s best drama premiere this Fall and LAST Fall! Now of course the question becomes – how will the ratings hold up in week 2? Remember Pan Am…
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