Post by Forever Xena on Oct 15, 2005 1:45:10 GMT -6
A Not So "Desperate" Fall
by Joal Ryan
Oct 13, 2005, 3:35 PM PT
Geena Davis' married, harried President Allen is about as close to a desperate housewife as it gets this fall.
Not quite a month into the new season, the broadcast networks have produced a batch of medium-sized successes, a few fast flops and no new breakout shows, save for Davis' Commander in Chief.
a d v e r t i s e m e n t
Though absent a Desperate Housewives-sized freshman hit, the networks, on the whole, are drawing slightly more viewers this fall than last, thanks to fast starts by ABC, Fox and UPN.
The moderate climes have been a blessing for new shows. As of Thursday, more than one-third of fall's 29 fledgling series had been renewed through the spring. The pickups: CBS' How I Met Your Mother, Criminal Minds and Ghost Whisperer; Fox's The War at Home, Prison Break and Bones; NBC's My Name Is Earl; the WB's Supernatural; and UPN's Everybody Hates Chris.
In comparison, only two...or three...or four new shows have been canceled. (Since networks never actually cancel anything, it can be tough, for body-count purposes, to differentiate the dead from the merely dying.)
Notably absent from the list of the very much alive: Commander in Chief. ABC has yet to issue any full-season orders, even to TV's most watched new show, which has averaged 16.5 million viewers through its first three telecasts.
The Alphabet network's other leading candidate for a vote of confidence: Invasion, which most recently helped drop NBC's aged Law & Order to its lowest rated outing since 1991.
And while it's early, ABC might have found another show that'll stick with Freddie. The Freddie Prinze Jr. sitcom premiered Wednesday before 9.1 million, winning its 8:30-9 p.m. time slot, the network said.
While Freddie's debut was good, good is what's passing for great, especially among comedies. The only new traditional laugh-track sitcom to average more viewers this fall than Freddie are CBS' Out of Practice (generating 12.1 million viewers, but no buzz, and no season-long pickup--yet) and How I Met Your Mother (10.6 million). Overall, NBC's guffaw-free My Name Is Earl is the most watched new comedy (13.3 million).
Freddie's premiere also means producer-star Prinze wins the Nielsen bragging rights for his home. Wife Sarah Michelle Gellar's Buffy the Vampire Slayer never averaged more than 5.3 million for the WB and UPN. Gellar does, however, hold a sizable 143 aired-episode lead over Prinze.
While Prinze might not catch Gellar in the TV longevity division, he now seems assured of not catching Don Johnson or Chris O'Donnell in the TV washout department.
Even in a season of modest expectations, more was expected of Johnson's Just Legal, canceled by the WB after three outings, and O'Donnell's Head Cases, bounced by Fox after two outings. The other whiffs of the fall: NBC's Inconceivable (which the network insists will return); and UPN's Sex, Love & Secrets (technically, a suspended production). Fox's Kitchen Confidential, already bumped from the first week of November sweeps, currently qualifies only as the walking dead.
by Joal Ryan
Oct 13, 2005, 3:35 PM PT
Geena Davis' married, harried President Allen is about as close to a desperate housewife as it gets this fall.
Not quite a month into the new season, the broadcast networks have produced a batch of medium-sized successes, a few fast flops and no new breakout shows, save for Davis' Commander in Chief.
a d v e r t i s e m e n t
Though absent a Desperate Housewives-sized freshman hit, the networks, on the whole, are drawing slightly more viewers this fall than last, thanks to fast starts by ABC, Fox and UPN.
The moderate climes have been a blessing for new shows. As of Thursday, more than one-third of fall's 29 fledgling series had been renewed through the spring. The pickups: CBS' How I Met Your Mother, Criminal Minds and Ghost Whisperer; Fox's The War at Home, Prison Break and Bones; NBC's My Name Is Earl; the WB's Supernatural; and UPN's Everybody Hates Chris.
In comparison, only two...or three...or four new shows have been canceled. (Since networks never actually cancel anything, it can be tough, for body-count purposes, to differentiate the dead from the merely dying.)
Notably absent from the list of the very much alive: Commander in Chief. ABC has yet to issue any full-season orders, even to TV's most watched new show, which has averaged 16.5 million viewers through its first three telecasts.
The Alphabet network's other leading candidate for a vote of confidence: Invasion, which most recently helped drop NBC's aged Law & Order to its lowest rated outing since 1991.
And while it's early, ABC might have found another show that'll stick with Freddie. The Freddie Prinze Jr. sitcom premiered Wednesday before 9.1 million, winning its 8:30-9 p.m. time slot, the network said.
While Freddie's debut was good, good is what's passing for great, especially among comedies. The only new traditional laugh-track sitcom to average more viewers this fall than Freddie are CBS' Out of Practice (generating 12.1 million viewers, but no buzz, and no season-long pickup--yet) and How I Met Your Mother (10.6 million). Overall, NBC's guffaw-free My Name Is Earl is the most watched new comedy (13.3 million).
Freddie's premiere also means producer-star Prinze wins the Nielsen bragging rights for his home. Wife Sarah Michelle Gellar's Buffy the Vampire Slayer never averaged more than 5.3 million for the WB and UPN. Gellar does, however, hold a sizable 143 aired-episode lead over Prinze.
While Prinze might not catch Gellar in the TV longevity division, he now seems assured of not catching Don Johnson or Chris O'Donnell in the TV washout department.
Even in a season of modest expectations, more was expected of Johnson's Just Legal, canceled by the WB after three outings, and O'Donnell's Head Cases, bounced by Fox after two outings. The other whiffs of the fall: NBC's Inconceivable (which the network insists will return); and UPN's Sex, Love & Secrets (technically, a suspended production). Fox's Kitchen Confidential, already bumped from the first week of November sweeps, currently qualifies only as the walking dead.