There have been a lot of best and worst of 2009 lists floating around and I thought I'll do my own little list. I warn you now, that this isn't your standard best show and worst show list. I've been a little inventive with my awards. I start of with the misses list.
What were you thinking? - NBC cancelling Southland before the new series was aired
I can't believe you're still on the air - Heroes
Hail Mary attempt at more viewers - Claire's lesbian kiss, Heroes
It's not what it says on the packaging - FlashForward. Some billed it as the next Lost, well it's not.
I should really turn it over - The Cleveland Show
Stop and stare moment - Heather Locklear's face. There's something going on that I can't quite figure out.
Biggest waste of an hour - The Beautiful Life
Biggest waste of half an hour - Hank
I like you but I couldn't keep watching your show - Alex O'Loughlin and Alfre Woodard, Three Rivers
Is it you or your character that annoys me - Joseph Fiennes, Mark on FlashForward
Are you trying to kill the show on purpose? - Fox moving Fringe from Tuesday to overloaded Thursday
Do you want people to watch you? - NBC's dwindling primetime scripted shows.
Most obvious outcome in a cliffhanger - Grey's Anatomy with George and Izzie
Showing posts with label TBL. Show all posts
Showing posts with label TBL. Show all posts
Monday, 21 December 2009
Tuesday, 15 December 2009
The CW's New Class
The CW has probably seen some of its best and worst ratings from its freshman shows in the fall season. Out of the three shows, one was cancelled after two episodes and another has been struggling from the start. Where did The Beautiful Life and Melrose Place go wrong and why has The Vampire Diaries flourished for the network?
I’ll start with The Beautiful Life, though I won’t go into it too much or I’ll repeat the same things that I mentioned in a post after the show got cancelled. What was meant to get people excited seemed to rest on three things. The fact it was centred on models, was meant to attract viewers of American’s Next Top Model, the television comeback of Mischa Barton and Ashton Kutcher as co producer.
Unfortunately for this show, that’s where it went wrong. Just because ANTM is popular doesn’t mean people want to watch a drama about models. Too much attention was placed on the fact that Barton was back on TV since her character was killed off in The OC. I don’t think people really cared and it might have actually put some off watching. Then comes to my last point, Ashton Kutcher fans might not want to watch a show that doesn’t actually show him. How much creative control did he actually have? It’s not like he’s a top draw producer/show creator where fans will follow every show they do.
If it wasn't for The Beautiful Life, then Melrose Place would have been the worst performer from the start. MP's ratings haven't been great, stumbling behind 90210; both not being able to surpass 2 million viewers this season. The failures of Melrose Place is sort of similar to why 90210 isn't working. Banking on fans of the original to follow it and forgetting about attracting viewers that weren't fans and keeping them. It was something I touched upon before about TV remakes.
This brings me to The Vampire Diaries, based on a series of books. I'm not too familiar with the success of the books so I can't say that was my reason for watching the show. Three things brought it to my attention; Kevin Williamson, Ian Somerhalder and vampires. Now I shall explain. I'm a Dawson's Creek fan, I've watched Ian on Young American's, Tell Me You Love Me and Lost. I also watched a lot of things involving vampires (Buffy, Angel, Twilight, Moonlight, etc). I think that as characters, vampires are complex and can be a writers dream, if they know what to do with them, other than make them drink blood.
Whether or not it was their complete intention, the timing of TVD was impeccable. With the success of Twilight and books being made into films/TV shows, there was a market to tap into. As we all know, things like this don't guarantee success but it did get 4.8m viewers for the first episode. What keeps people watching is the cast, including Paul Wesley, Nina Dobrev and Ian Somerhalder and the excellent writing. The mid-season finale had it all, with an ending that made you want to count down the days until the next episode, to see the conclusion.
Don't get me wrong, I'm not someone who's only exposure to 90210 and Melrose Place has been in the past year or two. I did watch both shows when they were originally aired, though not in its entirety. There's just a big difference in quality between Melrose Place and The Vampire Diaries and the ratings paint the picture. MP seems to lack a meaty storyline and real direction. Bringing Heather Locklear isn't enough, she needs something to work with. There does seem to be a slight improvement and the last episode aired shows it. With the break and Auggie and Violet due to leave the canvas, they have a chance to make creative changes.
A new show will be joining the party in January. Life Unexpected is due to start in January. I'm quietly excited by this and it has the opportunity of being a hit for the network and I hope it is. The older shows like Supernatural, Smallville and One Tree Hill aren't going to be around forever and The CW needs to find its next batch of hits.
I’ll start with The Beautiful Life, though I won’t go into it too much or I’ll repeat the same things that I mentioned in a post after the show got cancelled. What was meant to get people excited seemed to rest on three things. The fact it was centred on models, was meant to attract viewers of American’s Next Top Model, the television comeback of Mischa Barton and Ashton Kutcher as co producer.
Unfortunately for this show, that’s where it went wrong. Just because ANTM is popular doesn’t mean people want to watch a drama about models. Too much attention was placed on the fact that Barton was back on TV since her character was killed off in The OC. I don’t think people really cared and it might have actually put some off watching. Then comes to my last point, Ashton Kutcher fans might not want to watch a show that doesn’t actually show him. How much creative control did he actually have? It’s not like he’s a top draw producer/show creator where fans will follow every show they do.
If it wasn't for The Beautiful Life, then Melrose Place would have been the worst performer from the start. MP's ratings haven't been great, stumbling behind 90210; both not being able to surpass 2 million viewers this season. The failures of Melrose Place is sort of similar to why 90210 isn't working. Banking on fans of the original to follow it and forgetting about attracting viewers that weren't fans and keeping them. It was something I touched upon before about TV remakes.
This brings me to The Vampire Diaries, based on a series of books. I'm not too familiar with the success of the books so I can't say that was my reason for watching the show. Three things brought it to my attention; Kevin Williamson, Ian Somerhalder and vampires. Now I shall explain. I'm a Dawson's Creek fan, I've watched Ian on Young American's, Tell Me You Love Me and Lost. I also watched a lot of things involving vampires (Buffy, Angel, Twilight, Moonlight, etc). I think that as characters, vampires are complex and can be a writers dream, if they know what to do with them, other than make them drink blood.
Whether or not it was their complete intention, the timing of TVD was impeccable. With the success of Twilight and books being made into films/TV shows, there was a market to tap into. As we all know, things like this don't guarantee success but it did get 4.8m viewers for the first episode. What keeps people watching is the cast, including Paul Wesley, Nina Dobrev and Ian Somerhalder and the excellent writing. The mid-season finale had it all, with an ending that made you want to count down the days until the next episode, to see the conclusion.
Don't get me wrong, I'm not someone who's only exposure to 90210 and Melrose Place has been in the past year or two. I did watch both shows when they were originally aired, though not in its entirety. There's just a big difference in quality between Melrose Place and The Vampire Diaries and the ratings paint the picture. MP seems to lack a meaty storyline and real direction. Bringing Heather Locklear isn't enough, she needs something to work with. There does seem to be a slight improvement and the last episode aired shows it. With the break and Auggie and Violet due to leave the canvas, they have a chance to make creative changes.
A new show will be joining the party in January. Life Unexpected is due to start in January. I'm quietly excited by this and it has the opportunity of being a hit for the network and I hope it is. The older shows like Supernatural, Smallville and One Tree Hill aren't going to be around forever and The CW needs to find its next batch of hits.
Saturday, 26 September 2009
Not A Beautiful Life In The End
Before September has even ended and all the new fall shows were even given their first outing, we have already seen the first casualty. According to reports, The CW has cancelled The Beautiful Life after only two episodes.
The first episode managed to pull in around 1.4 million but the second episode struggled with 1 million. More than half of the viewers from it's lead in show, America's Next Top Model, decided to tune out of The CW. As somebody wrote, people seemed to be more interested in Tyra Banks trying to make a model than a show about models. To put it more into context, more people follow it's co producer, Ashton Kutcher, on Twitter than the combined ratings of both episodes.
I struggled to even write anything coherent about the first episode of The Beautiful Life so I was eager to see if any kind of reaction would come from episode two. With a build up of returning shows aired this week, I had put TBL aside to watch at the weekend. Before I had the chance to watch it, my mother told me that my prediction was right. After the ratings were released for Wednesday's shows I thought that it would be the first show to receive the chop.
Yes the ratings were poor but I think what made The CW act so quickly was probably the success of The Vampire Diaries. The network had already announced this week that they have ordered new scripts of Diaries, Melrose Place and given One Tree Hill a 22 episode order.
Melrose Place has also had less than flattering rating figures but only time will tell if this or another show will be next on the chopping block.
The first episode managed to pull in around 1.4 million but the second episode struggled with 1 million. More than half of the viewers from it's lead in show, America's Next Top Model, decided to tune out of The CW. As somebody wrote, people seemed to be more interested in Tyra Banks trying to make a model than a show about models. To put it more into context, more people follow it's co producer, Ashton Kutcher, on Twitter than the combined ratings of both episodes.
I struggled to even write anything coherent about the first episode of The Beautiful Life so I was eager to see if any kind of reaction would come from episode two. With a build up of returning shows aired this week, I had put TBL aside to watch at the weekend. Before I had the chance to watch it, my mother told me that my prediction was right. After the ratings were released for Wednesday's shows I thought that it would be the first show to receive the chop.
Yes the ratings were poor but I think what made The CW act so quickly was probably the success of The Vampire Diaries. The network had already announced this week that they have ordered new scripts of Diaries, Melrose Place and given One Tree Hill a 22 episode order.
Melrose Place has also had less than flattering rating figures but only time will tell if this or another show will be next on the chopping block.
Wednesday, 16 September 2009
Is Life Really That Beautiful?
So Mischa Barton is back on television in The Beautiful Life (not saying it's a good or bad thing). After her character was killed off in Fox's The OC, she has been more known for her life off camera than what work she's been doing. I can't really name anything other than her appearance in St Trinian's and a movie that had something to do with the pop duo Tatu.
The Beautiful Life is co-produced by Ashton Kutcher and also features Elle Macphearson and Corbin Bleu (though I didn't recognise him). It all centres around the world of modelling and the different sides of it. Every model has their own story and some have secrets.
I wasn't sure if I wanted to watch a drama about the model life and I'm still not sure. I can't say that I went away with with this overwhelming need to watch the next episode but I also can't say that I'm not completely turning myself away from it. The episode didn't draw in even half of what The Vampire Diaries got.
I really don't have many words for this as it really didn't render a reaction from me. I actually struggled to write this because I didn't have anything to say. If it was really good then I would heaping praise about everything and if it was bad then I would go into one but I have nothing. Maybe episode two might give me a response.
The Beautiful Life is co-produced by Ashton Kutcher and also features Elle Macphearson and Corbin Bleu (though I didn't recognise him). It all centres around the world of modelling and the different sides of it. Every model has their own story and some have secrets.
I wasn't sure if I wanted to watch a drama about the model life and I'm still not sure. I can't say that I went away with with this overwhelming need to watch the next episode but I also can't say that I'm not completely turning myself away from it. The episode didn't draw in even half of what The Vampire Diaries got.
I really don't have many words for this as it really didn't render a reaction from me. I actually struggled to write this because I didn't have anything to say. If it was really good then I would heaping praise about everything and if it was bad then I would go into one but I have nothing. Maybe episode two might give me a response.
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