Life UneXpected: Too late for a ratings spunk

It was described as "Juno meets Gilmore Girls". Everybody said that it doesn't only have the WB alumns, like Shiri Appleby and Kerr Smith, but also the WB vibe that made many shows unforgettable. But Liz Tigelaar's Life Unexpected is the little show that could!

After a decent first season which was averaged 2 million viewers, 1.0 rating in adults 18-49 and 1.7 rating in CW's target demo, women 18-34 and after being on the bubble for a second season renewal, The CW greenlighted it right before upfronts and schedule it to Tuesdays at 9pm with longrunning (ex-) teen drama One Tree Hill as a lead in. LUX which deserved a stronger lead in, premiered on mid September with 1.65 million viewers, a 0.8 rating in adults 18-49 and a 1.4 rating in women 18-34. After that the show has been stable through its run averaging 1.5 million viewers, 0.7 in adults 18-49 and 1.3 in women 18-34. The network tried to grow its audience with a One Tree Hill crossover event. But the drama remained stable and didn't imrpove its numbers. That was until last night when, propably one of the strongest episode of the series, scored a season high with 1.8 million viewers, a 0.9 rating in adults 18-49 and a 1.5 in women 18-34. That was the best performance for the show since the season 1 finale last April and the best performance in the timslot in more than a year.

But the CW made its decision a while ago and refuse to order back episodes for the sophomore drama but the network said that the final decision will come on May. This statement means nothing of course for the show's future, since no advertisers wants to pay money for cancelled shows. Moreover Warner Bros annnounced the release of the complete series on DVD for April 7. And propably that was the last nail in the cofin for the struggling series. But last night's episode prooved that viewers still care about the show. Without the buzzing Heather Locklear addition to the cast, without taglines like "The Bitch is Back"(and to be fair with less competition), the creativity of last night's episode was the only reason that viewers caught the episode-the show built in the second half hour by 13%.

So i'm definitely supriced that The CW didn't give a back 5 order like it did, in the past with the struggling dramas Melrose Place and Privileged (both of them were on the Tuesday 9pm slot too) especially when shows like 90210 and Gossip Girl perform almost identically with last night's performance. I'm gonna miss the show after the 2hour finale airs on January 18 and when i'll watch it i'll say "F*** why the season high came so late"...

Will the "Eye" keep the declining 10pm shows on the schedule?

CBS is the only network that can cancel a show with a 3.0 rating average in adults 18-49. Or maybe it was. This season CBS, while its still up versus last year, thanks to the brave schedule moves that the executives made last spring-like moving Survivor to Wednesdays at 8pm to replace the low rated comedy block- but none of their new shows has been THE big hit and moreover their veteran dramas are all down versus last year. One of the biggest dissapointments for the eye must be the new Hawai 5-0 starring the CBS-adored Alex O'Loughlin. The actor has every single year a pilot with CBS and has also starred in two unsuccessul dramas on tthe network. The vampire themed Moonlight on 2007 which was cancelled after one season and the Three Rivers in 2009 which was cancelled after 8 episodes. While the show premiered decent with a 3.8 rating in advertisers coveted adults 18-49 demo, that was down 10% versus the CSI: Miami premiere one year ago (4.3) and since then the show has fallen to the 2.8-3.0 range. It showed a litle spark last week with the numbers climbed to 3.2. But is it enough for CBS.? At this point the remake is safe cause its one of the best performing show in the declining 10pm slot. While ABC and NBC have a trouble to schedule successful shows to the 10pm slot, CBS has find success with their procedurals. But this season all their dramas are sharply down. Besides Hawai 5-0 which isn't the next big hit that the network hoped, the critically acclaimed legal drama The Good Wife is also down in compare to last year. The Defenders is heading to a dangerous path through cancellation. Its anemic 1.8 rating three weeks ago is defenetely not a good sign for the show's future and the executives can always reverse their decision for a full season pick up. The Mentalist which is also on the 10pm slot has a pretty much stable run stabilizing to the 3.0-3.2 range while Blue Bloods which starting promising on Fridays has fell below last year's Numb3rs average scoring only a 1.6 rating.

CBS Midseason plans?

CBS has renewed all their freshmen dramas and comedies. The only midseason show that CBS has announced the premiere date, is Paula Abdul's Live To Dance which will premiere on Wednesdays at 8pm, between the Survivors seasons, starting on early January. They have two new dramas (Criminal Minds: Suspect Behaviour, Chaos) and one new comedy (Mad Love) on the can. Their Monday schedule is doing fine with Mike and Molly retaining a big amount of Two & a half Men's audience. It even scored a series high in adults 18-49 with a 4.0 rating last week . Clearly its the only hit-if u can call it a hit- of the season in any network. Tuesdays are also decent for CBS. Both NCIS's are some of the network's strongest shows and The Good Wife, even with declining ratings wins the timeslot. Wednesday's Survivor and Criminal Minds win their time periods but The Defenders not. I can expect that they will move it to Fridays at 8pm and replace it with the Criminal Minds spin off (Criminal Minds: Suspect Behaviour) ala NCIS/NCIS:LA combo. Their Thursday dramas (CSI, The Mentalist) also perform decent but the Twitter-inspired comedy Shit My dad Says doesn't retain enough of the Bing Bang Theory audience. I'd replace it with Mad Love. On Fridays Medium has been already cancelled (for good now) with the series finale airing on January 21 and as i said earlier i expect The Defenders to replace it. Do i expect it to survive on Fridays? Defenetely NO. The leagal drama starring Jim Beluchi will haed to the tv graveyard on May. CSI:NY and Blue Bloods will stay where they are until May but i'm not sure that even one of them will return. On Sundays and after NFL ends, 60 Minutes and The Amazing Race will stay the same and propably CSI:MIAMI too, since it has improved the time period versus last year. But Undercover Boss is falling and falling, scoring new lows every week. I wouldn't extend it to a full season cause the audience is tired so the only option is to launch the FBI drama Chaos on its slot (9pm) if it's not of course this year's Miami Medical.

It would be very interesting to see how CBS's midseason schedule will look like, but its more interesting which shows they will cancel on May. Maybe is the year that the first CSI show will get cancelled. We will see...

Tick Tock, Tick Tock, Tick Tock, The CW clock is ticking....

How much ABC's veterans will fall until spring?

As i promised its time to analyse ABC's current condition -& my prognosis and suggestions- about their midseason schedule which i think they'll release soon.

Last season ABC was lucky enough that the television industry didn't pay a lot attention to their dumb schedule moves and for that they need to thank NBC and Jay Leno. But there is no Tonight Show fiasco this year and ABC needs to have a strong midseason line up to recover from a dissapointing fall.

The network had two early dissapointments , the documentary style drama "My Generation" which was cancelled after just two episodes and the legal drama "The Whole Truth" which will burn off some episodes through December and possibly the rest on summer. Detroit 187 premiered with only a 2.1 rating in adversisers coveted adults 18-49 demo and while it has a pretty stable run-last Tuesday it scored a 1.7 in finals- it definetely doesn't retain much of "Dancing With The Stars" audience and even loses 25% of its audience in the second half hour. ABC gave it a back 5 order -like it did with the last season's "The Forgotten" which was in the same time slot and had similar ratings- just to fill some holes. I don't even expect that they will air all the 18 episodes. "No Ordinary Family" which has been picked up for a full season , was the only new drama that premiered with some promising ratings, scoring a 3.1 in adults 18-49. But since then it is just falling and falling. Last Tuesday it was down to a series low with just a 1.7 rating in demo. In its defense its timeslot is really competitive with demo powerhouse "Glee" on FOX and CBS's "NCIS". The only new comedy entry "Better With You"-which also has a full season pick up- is definetely an improvement versus last year's "Hank" which was removed from the schedule after 6 episodes but as desperate ABC is, i don't expect that they wont premiere at least one new show on their comedy line up next year and right now the Shana Goldberg-produced sitcom is the weekest link.

But the veterans show are also down versus past seasons. And while its kinda normal, Grey's Anatomy is down 25% versus last year and the same is Desperate Housewives. Brothers & Sisters, Private Practice and Castle are surely lean-in dependent and at this point they won't grow. At the positive news Dancing With The Stars is still big and The Middle and Modern Family are up versus last season while Cougar Town has a decent run despite the fact that it can't retain much of Modern Family's audience. Primetime: What Would You Do and veteran 20/20 are doing a decent job on Fridays but Supernanny not and ABC shoud have already cancelled the show last spring.

So what now?

ABC has three dramas (V, Body of Proof and Off The Map), two comedies (Mr Sunshine, Happy Endings) and a bunch of realities for midseason. They have already announced that the second season of V will premiere on Tuesdays at 9/8c between DWTS cycles starting January 4. While i still like the show i can't deny that the only reason that ABC renewed it last season is the fact that they needed at least one drama to return for next year to avoid the "total failure" from the press. The show scored only low 2's with the final season of Lost as a lead in. Now i expect that it will fall to 1.6-2.0 range and the 10-episode run will be its last. ABC has also announced that the Shonda Rhimes-produced medical drama Off The Map will premiere on Wednesday 10pm slot starting January 14. This timslot is kinda a death slot for ABC with previous occupants Eastwick and The Whole Truth failing to succeed. I'd prefer it on Sundays at 10/9c after Desperate Housewives. But the network has made its choice. I just hope that it will perform at least decently beacause its their biggest gun for midseason and the only new drama on ABC that i am actually waiting to see. Body Of Proof starring Dena Delany was supposed to premiere on Fridays on fall but ABC's new President of Entertaintment, Paul Lee made a wise move by delaying it for midseason. I expect that it will premiere on Tuesday at 10/9c slot with the results show of Dancing With The Stars as a lead in and seriously this is the best timeslot that network could give it since Castle is staying where it is. I hell dont know where they'll schedule their two midseason comedies. I can see them giving a Romantically Challenged-treatment to one of them (Mondays at 9:30/8:30c with DWTS as a lead in) but that would hurt Castle. Another solution would be that they will schedule them on Tuesdays at 8/7c but its a really tough timeslot especially for new shows. Again they can definitely schedule them on Wednesday comedy block by putting on hiatus Better With You or even Cougar Town and there is always the summer burn off, if ABC has lost faith on the Mathew Perry's Mr Sunshine and the relationship comedy Happy Endings. A winter edition of the summer successful reality series Wipeout will replace the unnecessary Grey's Anatomy repeat on Thursday at 8/7c which will have a strong competition with FOX's American Idol and CBS's Bing Bang Theory The alphabet has also already announced that the Secret Millionaire will premiere on Sunday at 8/7c, and they have a bunch of alternative programs held for midseason (Jaime Oliver: Food Revolution, Extreme Makeover: Weight Edition, Wife Swap, Shark Tank).

So there it is! ABC will propably announce their midseason line up shortly. We just have to wait and see.

CBS im coming for you...

Compare our predictions/suggestions with the official NBC Midseason schedule!

We wrote our thoughts about #NBC's midseason schedule last Saturday & you can see with your eyes the similarities with the official midseason schedule that the network just released.

Here our prediction that proved that we were right:

1. Move Law & Order: SVU back to Wednesday at 10pm!
2. Move Law & Order: Los Angeles to try to save it!
3. Premiere The Cape big with a 2hour event
4. A 3hour comedy block!
5. The full Friday line up!
6. The full Sunday line up!
7. Move Parenthood from Tuesdays @ 10pm!
8. Launch Harry's Law on Mondays @ 10pm!

You can compare it by yourself our post VS NBC's PR here:

Our post: http://itsallabouttv.blogspot.com/2010/11/thoughts-about-how-to-save-peacock.html?utm_source=twitterfeed&utm_medium=twitter

NBC's PR: http://bit.ly/aNnw0v

Thoughts about how to save a peacock...

ΝΒC had definitely one of the strongest fall rollouts that i can remember and they try really hard to reinvent their image after the Leno-apocalypse. Last spring they ordered a bunch of new shows -dramas & comedies- but none of them seems to really work for them. And even worse this week their strongest drama was Parenthood which scored only a 2.1 rating in adults 18-49 and another five shows fell to series low.

NBC's current condition

First of all, The Event, which was one of the most ambitious shows on NBC and they hope that it could become the next Lost/24 . But the highly promoted drama is performing even worse than last year's failure Flash Forward on ABC which we all know how it ended. Last Monday it only achieved a disappointing 1.7 rating in adults 18-49 and week to week it falls even further. NBC gave it a back 9 but the network also gave a back order to Chase which fell to a miserable 1.2 rating in adults (many dramas on The CW beat it in the demo). They always can reverse their decision but a drama that only scores a 1.2 rating can't grow in the future to at least NBC's acceptable 1.8-2.0 range. With Tuesday's The Biggest Loser down versus last season, the critically acclaimed Parenthood has a pretty much stable ratings but it is down versus last season 20% and a 2.1 average in demo is not what you calling a hit. Wednesdays was a pain on the a** with J.J Abram's Undercovers failing to attract audience and eventually canceled. NBC's flagship drama Law & Order: SVU is probably in its worst season (rating wise) and its sister show Law & Order: Los Angeles its definitely not the hit that the network hoped. Last Wednesday it achieved only a 1.7 rating in adults 18-49. Thursdays are one of the few bright spots for NBC-alongside with Sundays (NFL)- with Community doing a modest job, 30 rock improving the slot vs last year's occupant (Parks & Recreation) and with Outsourced retaining a decent percent of The Office's audience. But The Apprentice reboot is definitely one of the biggest failures of the season with an average of 4.5 million viewers and a 1.4 rating in adults 18-49. Fridays are difficult for every network but for NBC which was losing the night from The CW is surely worse. School Pride (or Extreme Makeover: School Edition, as i like it to call) is practically unwatched with a 0.6 rating, the Conan O'brien-produced drama Outlaw burning off its remaining episodes and veteran Dateline being significantly down versus past years.

What about Midseason?

NBC has three new dramas and four comedies alongside a few unscripted programs for midseason to replace some fall's failures. EW.com reported yesterday that the network is thinking to expand the Thursday comedy block into 3 hours. While i don't completely disagree as i understand that this move will create buzz and at this point they have nothing to lose, i hoped that they would move Law & Order: Los Angeles there to try to boost its ratings cause clearly its the only new drama that has some serious chances to return next season and that would let them to move Law & Order SVU back to Wednesdays at 10pm cause clearly the 9pm hurting the veteran drama. Giving a full season pick up to Chase is definitely the stupidest decision of the season so they need to cancel the extremely low rated drama ASAP! The Event is not the new Lost so i'd at least try to save it by putting on Mondays at 8pm a better lead in. Super-hero drama The Cape has been voted as the most anticipated new show of the season so i can see it have some kind of success. Of course they should spent a lot of money promoting it- which i'm not sure that NBC has right now- and try to launch it big with a possible 2hour event or something like that. Harry's Law with the amazing Kathy Bates as the lead and a surprisingly great cast can replace the need-to-be-canceled Chase. The Biggest Loser is STILL strong and it STILL can help launching a successful show. I'd premiere Love Bites there and move Parenthood to Wednesdays at 9pm. Parenthood has proved that its not a hit and NBC needs a new hit like yesterday. Maybe this anthology series with Becki Newton can achieve something better than a 2.0 rating but i'm unsure if Parenthood can survive without TBL's help. Wednesdays at 8pm is one of the least competitive slots on broadcast television so i'd try to open a new comedy block by moving Community at 8pm followed by one of the new comedies that NBC has (Friends with Benefits, Perfect Couples, The Paul Reiser Show) at 8:30pm.The highly improved-quality wise-Parks & Recreation could replace Community on Thursdays at 8pm. As of Fridays and Sundays NBC has a lot of unscripted programs-or alternative programming as networks like to call realities these days- to fill the holes with possibly Who Do you Think You Are & a 2hour Dateline on Fridays & Minute To Win It & The Celebrity Apprentice on Sundays when Football ends.

Its really interesting what the Peacock will do to improve their line up for midseason so that's why i started my blog with my suggestion/prognosis for their spring schedule. Stay tuned cause ABC's time is coming... & i have a lot of things to say about the alphabet!!