Post by Forever Xena on Nov 16, 2005 7:26:05 GMT -6
TV & DVD Columnist Mike Brantley
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Commander' skews old'
Tuesday, November 15, 2005
In the 8 p.m. hour on Tuesdays, ABC's "Commander in Chief," the first-rate new drama starring Geena Davis as America's first woman president, has been winning its hour in total viewers.
Pretty good, right? You'd think so, but then that's only if you didn't realize that competitor Fox is actually doing better in the same hour among the advertiser-loved subset of viewers who are ages 18 to 49. The show on Fox is "House," which stars Hugh Laurie as a doctor with a bad bedside manner but a brilliance when it comes to diagnosing what ails his patients.
Last time, "Commander in Chief" had 14.78 million total viewers, but was fourth place among adults aged 18-49, according to Nielsen. "House," meanwhile, was in second place overall for the hour with 14.15 million viewers, but that show finished first in the 18-49 subset of viewers.
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So "Commander" is committing the cardinal sin of appealing to -- gasp! -- older viewers.
Nevertheless, "Commander" has been appealing to me since its debut, and I've still got one foot in the 18-49 group. It's nowhere as richly detailed a political drama as NBC's "The West Wing" has been, but it is fun -- with Donald Sutherland's Speaker Nathan Templeton character the perfect political foil for Davis' President Mackenzie Allen. One thing "The West Wing" has lacked over its run has been a consistent political adversary for its fantasy administration, which could have heightened its drama here and there.
In the new "Commander" episode airing at 8 tonight on affiliate WEAR-TV3, President Allen vows a new direction for her administration. Finding few allies and lagging in the polls, she turns to her closest advisor, husband Rod Calloway (Kyle Secor), appointing him to an official West Wing position of strategic planning advisor. This miffs Chief of Staff Jim Gardner, who is already in a power struggle with the first gentleman.
Behind the scenes, the show's real commander in chief is newly appointed executive producer Steven Bochco, a prime-time veteran. Last month, it was announced that Rod Lurie, the film critic turned film director and screenwriter who created the series, would relinquish the show's reins to Bochco.
I'll bet No. 1 on Bochco's agenda is making the show more appealing to younger viewers. We'll have to stay tuned, I suppose, to learn what that may actually mean to a show whose most ardent fans -- "old" as they may be -- don't see much that needs fixing.
» E-mail this columnist
Commander' skews old'
Tuesday, November 15, 2005
In the 8 p.m. hour on Tuesdays, ABC's "Commander in Chief," the first-rate new drama starring Geena Davis as America's first woman president, has been winning its hour in total viewers.
Pretty good, right? You'd think so, but then that's only if you didn't realize that competitor Fox is actually doing better in the same hour among the advertiser-loved subset of viewers who are ages 18 to 49. The show on Fox is "House," which stars Hugh Laurie as a doctor with a bad bedside manner but a brilliance when it comes to diagnosing what ails his patients.
Last time, "Commander in Chief" had 14.78 million total viewers, but was fourth place among adults aged 18-49, according to Nielsen. "House," meanwhile, was in second place overall for the hour with 14.15 million viewers, but that show finished first in the 18-49 subset of viewers.
Advertisement
So "Commander" is committing the cardinal sin of appealing to -- gasp! -- older viewers.
Nevertheless, "Commander" has been appealing to me since its debut, and I've still got one foot in the 18-49 group. It's nowhere as richly detailed a political drama as NBC's "The West Wing" has been, but it is fun -- with Donald Sutherland's Speaker Nathan Templeton character the perfect political foil for Davis' President Mackenzie Allen. One thing "The West Wing" has lacked over its run has been a consistent political adversary for its fantasy administration, which could have heightened its drama here and there.
In the new "Commander" episode airing at 8 tonight on affiliate WEAR-TV3, President Allen vows a new direction for her administration. Finding few allies and lagging in the polls, she turns to her closest advisor, husband Rod Calloway (Kyle Secor), appointing him to an official West Wing position of strategic planning advisor. This miffs Chief of Staff Jim Gardner, who is already in a power struggle with the first gentleman.
Behind the scenes, the show's real commander in chief is newly appointed executive producer Steven Bochco, a prime-time veteran. Last month, it was announced that Rod Lurie, the film critic turned film director and screenwriter who created the series, would relinquish the show's reins to Bochco.
I'll bet No. 1 on Bochco's agenda is making the show more appealing to younger viewers. We'll have to stay tuned, I suppose, to learn what that may actually mean to a show whose most ardent fans -- "old" as they may be -- don't see much that needs fixing.
If anything I would expect it to appeal more to the 18-49 group than the 50+. But that just goes to show I don't know everything. ;D
