Monday, February 18, 2013

What I'm Watching: Over/Under


I know I just talked TV, but things are afoot in my world that are taking time to process and deal with, and I wanna talk about this:

 

http://www.aintitcool.com/node/61018

 

I love that the article basically says, “Hey, what’s getting cancelled?”  Also, I like to pair it with this:

 

http://www.grantland.com/story/_/id/7447836/steven-hyden-remake-90210

 

Which is my favorite article ever about the fact that no one is watching the 90210 remake.

 

True story:  I was totally going to watch that show, because it features a black adoptee with white parents, and also has an actress who was on Degrassi and was awesome.

 

I recorded the first three or four episodes, then had to get a new DVR, and never bothered to catch up.  The show now appears to be mere moments from cancellation, but who knows?  The CW keeps a lot of stuff on the air because they sell downloads and DVDs and whatever else, and so their ratings almost don’t matter.

 

That said, my thoughts on the survival of the various shows I’m watching:

 

Revolution:

 

This one fascinates me, as it’s been off the air so long I’ve almost forgotten about it.  I see an article every once in a while that says, “Hey, we took some time off, and because of that the show is going to be EVEN BETTER when it returns!”

 

The question is, will anyone watch it?  I’ve got my DVR set to grab it when it shows up again, sure, but the show went off the air with no real way to go back to episode one and catch up.  In season one, Glee went off the air for two or three months, but tossed out Season 1 Part 1 on DVD during the Christmas season, and I’m quite sure that spiked their return numbers.

 

That said, NBC has almost no bench.  The majority of their shows are either ending this year or have been huge flops, and I’m not hearing amazing things about pilot season.

 

So Revolution will almost certainly return.  I suspect, however, that’s it’s going to bleed some of its audience. 

 

Warehouse 13:

 

This one also feels like it’s been gone forever, but the ratings are the best that the SciFi channel has to offer.  Unless the show gets too expensive (which wouldn’t take much, granted) I’m sure the next season is a given.

 

American Idol:

 

Man this is an interesting one.  It used to be the highest-rated show on TV, but it’s getting beaten in the ratings now on a semi-regular basis.  That said, it’s still sitting around in the top ten, ratings-wise, while most other Fox shows are either getting long in the tooth (Bones) or slowly flat-lining (Glee).

 

I can see this going for one more year in a desperate attempt to cling to one of the few real winners they have left.  Of course, the cost keeps going up while the rewards keep going down… so maybe not.  (Hint: Yes, it’ll be back for another year. I am sure of this.)

 

Modern Family:

 

Not the biggest hit in the world anymore, but still a huge hit.  This one will go at least seven seasons, maybe longer.

 

Supernatural:

 

Already renewed for Season Nine, with a fresh, fun premise to carry it another year or three.  I can easily see this one making it ten seasons, if not more.  How many shows go UP in the ratings in season eight?

 

The Big Bang Theory:

 

I’m amazed they don’t just auto-renew the show at this point, since it’s quite possibly the highest-rated show on TV.  You don’t hear too often about shows getting multiple-season renewals these days, but I wouldn’t be shocked if they did it with Big Bang.

 

The Vampire Diaries:

 

Already renewed for next year, with a possible spin-off in the works.  This one has a few years left in it.

 

Community:

 

Interestingly, it did huge numbers opening week, and then dropped like a stone the next week, when the episode was a significant improvement.

 

I keep telling my buddy that this one is going to become the next Scrubs, wherein it keeps getting renewed to take the places of the failures that occur at the start of each year.

 

He’s dubious, but I’m willing to stick my neck out.  If the ratings hold week by week against the biggest show on two channels and the second-biggest on a third, it’ll be around next year.

 

Glee:

 

This one is… tricky.

 

The last episode aired last week, and sweeps end… this week.  That just seems like a strange and possibly damaging choice.  Though perhaps Idol is running two hours this week.  (Okay, I looked it up and they are.  This can’t bode well for Glee.)

 

The fact is, Glee is obviously overstuffed.  Stars of the show are now guest stars.  Last week they had to throw out an Asian Bird Flu joke in a desperate attempt to explain why a huge chunk of the cast didn’t show up in the episode.

 

There are ways to make this show work, but it’s increasingly clear that the writers don’t know what those ways are.

 

And so it goes.

 

Ironically, I think one more season might serve the show well if they chose to cut the budget.  By finally cutting all the deadwood and old cast members who continue to have less and less relevance as current cast members, they might actually be able to focus on plot and character again, which is what made the show so much fun to begin with.

 

Spartacus:

 

Sadly, it’s already cancelled.  There’s talk of a Julius Caesar spinoff, but I’ll be surprised if it happens, and I’m only marginally interested anyway.

 

The Walking Dead:

 

Another show whose ratings keep going up.  I continue to be amazed that it hasn’t gotten a multi-season renewal.

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