10 things we learned during the first two weeks of the new TV season: 'Playboy Club', 'New Girl', 'X Factor' and more
Lessons to ponder from this year's crop of new and returning fall shows
Rate This Image
Top 5 Images In This Gallery
-
1 -
2 -
3 -
4 -
5
1. NBC desperately needs to figure out a new strategy
Once the undisputed ratings champion during its "Must See TV" heyday, NBC finds itself in fourth place once again, with a near-disastrous showing for its freshman class and today's cancellation of the network's heavily-hyped drama "The Playboy Club". Several other new and returning series are also on the chopping block, including "Free Agents", "Harry's Law", "The Sing-Off" and "Prime Suspect" (which they're now trying to salvage by placing into "Playboy Club"'s Monday night slot). Though the network also announced a full-season pickup for freshman series "Whitney" and "Up All Night" today (obviously timed to coincide with news of the "PC" cancellation), it's a little pitiable that those two shows represent their biggest successes so far this season despite their only-mediocre ratings.
Comments
Option 1
Comment instantly as a guest GuestOption 2
Option 3
Login or create a HitFix account Login Signupana
October 5, 2011 at 3:01AM EST Reply to Commenthttp://adf.ly/2Cv6s true or false?
Mulderism
October 5, 2011 at 3:04AM EST Reply to CommentThat's good. Amber Heard needs to stay in movies anyway.
S
October 5, 2011 at 3:16AM EST Reply to CommentNCIS is awesome. That is why it is it continues to be the most watched. And couldn't you actually find an image from this season?
Wozzaseds Awesome a bit strong but it is pretty good fun. Why critics that will (rightly) wax nostalgic about shows like magnum p.I. But dump on what at it's heart is an entertaining procedural whose cast have great chemistry I just don't understand. I love fnl, west wing, SoA, breaking bad etc, but don't also diss the shows that after a long day are just a bit of good fun. The coverage on here is great in general, no need to lower yourselves guys.
October 5, 2011 at 9:47AM ESTThat Werewolf Guy
October 5, 2011 at 3:22AM EST Reply to CommentI know MANY people who watch NCIS, including me, and to be honest, it is a very enjoyable show. Not very innovative, but there is no other show on TV right now, that has such a chemistry filled cast. So I guess that's the answer to "why".
Don't know why NCIS LA is so successful, though.
mustapha Holy shit, it's a werewolf. Kill it.
October 5, 2011 at 8:41AM ESTBrandon
October 5, 2011 at 4:47AM EST Reply to CommentHow many different times can a person use 'Nielsen'?
Dalia
October 5, 2011 at 5:23AM EST Reply to Comment"The Good Wife" a mega-hit?
I wish it were true.
JoeK
October 5, 2011 at 9:41AM EST Reply to CommentI understand the impulse of chasing Mad Men (even if it's lazy) but it's stark how the lifted setting and subplot for a single episode of that show had more going for it than this one. Laura Benanti deserves more work though she was very good.
War Chief Shake Zula
October 5, 2011 at 11:31AM EST Reply to CommentIT'S BETTER THAN YOU THINK IT IS! THAT'S WHY!
NCIS RULES!
Paper
October 5, 2011 at 11:32AM EST Reply to CommentNCIS - first, the military is an important part of American life and NCIS capitalizes on that with a well-structured procedural format. It is well-written for its genre, and has good actors and chemistry amongst them. The characters, as well, strike archetypal chords, and their types play off each other well. I am anything but a promoter of the military, but NCIS is still one of my favorite procedural shows. It works like Law and Order worked. These shows are how we want our police to be. Basically honest, with a realistic dose of understandable off-the-reservation moments.
We do not watch just one kind of show. Just to pick a telling contrast as merely one example, later the same night after NCIS, I watch Sons of Anarchy. There are all kinds of pasta, and sauces. There is a place for great comfort food, too. Not every day can be, should be, high fashion and five star restaurants. The key with comfort food is style, and NCIS does that well in its space.
Paper Oh, not to mention Glee, right in the middle of that, which has its own ups and downs, but as a type of show, contrasts nicely, don't you think? ;-}
October 5, 2011 at 11:38AM ESTNate
October 5, 2011 at 12:09PM EST Reply to CommentI know a few people who watch NCIS. They’re the same people who consider Criminal Minds the pinnacle of television broadcasting and have turned their noses up to Game of Thrones, Breaking Bad, and Battlestar Galactica because they’re “hard to follow,” “too dark,” or “dumb soap operas,” in that order. They also don’t see any point in Mad Men. On the other hand, they’re very excited for the return of Sanctuary.
I…don’t talk TV with them too much anymore.
Teproc Geez, is this really called for ? I can certainly understand not wanting to watch Mad Men, Breaking Bad and Battlestar Galactica : they're much more complex and challenging. That's what makes them interesting too, but sometimes you just want to have a good time, even when you're only half paying attention.
October 5, 2011 at 12:52PM ESTI know people who watch NCIS, and I occasionally watch it too, because it's a fun, enjoyable, sometimes clever although predictable show. I have much less problems with that being popular than with Mike & Molly or any reality TV program ever.
That Werewolf Guy Yeah, I get it, only intelligent people watch serials. That's a new argument. *yawn*
October 5, 2011 at 4:28PM ESTBut seriously, while I do consider BREAKING BAD as the most excellent show on TV right now and maybe of the last 10 years or more and love it when a show takes its time to tell a gripping and layered story, I also have several procedurals on my weekly watchlist. Mostly because it's harder to get disappointed by them. If I had one dollar for every serial, that got either caught up in a convoluted story arc that got more and more ridiculous over the years and then ended either on a completely unsatisfying note or without a real ending at all, due to an early and sudden cancellation, I had enough money to make my own, damn TV show!
I don't really like these people, who would never watch a serial because of the miss-one-episode-and-you-are-out-factor, either. Such a show can be very rewarding. But I wish the serial snobs would stop bitching about the wonderful simplicity of a procedural! Story arcs became Malibu Stacy's brand new hat. They are often just there as a marketing gimmick and don't have anything interesting to tell, but hey, at least it LOOKS like an intelligent show!
Oh, and BSG was a dumb soap opera, that sacrificed logic and believable character motivation for a laughable caricature of a "dark and gritty" post 9/11 reality.
George
October 5, 2011 at 12:26PM EST Reply to Comment1.NBC need to stop shooting for ratings and focus on creating a higher standard of creativity. If people want a crude comedy or bland simplistic crime procedural then that's what CBS is for. NBC needs to focus on becoming the semi type of HBO of broadcast. They should take advantage of summer.
2.Cw want to return to the stability when it was WB. They need to stop just catering to 15 yr old girls. Get whole lot more creative with their shows and make them intelligent enough that adults can take something away from them. Seriously bring back Diversity that was idea of WB+UPN=CW merger in the first place.
aw
October 5, 2011 at 3:04PM EST Reply to Commentthat x factor pic is a bit creepy. paula shines like plastic discarded on a rainy tokyo street, not far from trouble. Hate photoshop pics.
Dave I Another thing . . . Those high heels look less like shoes and more like weapons.
October 5, 2011 at 3:29PM ESTSamantha
October 5, 2011 at 3:23PM EST Reply to CommentThere's nothing wrong with NCIS and NCIS:LA (and this is coming from someone who doesn't really watch procedrals). Both have really enjoyable casts.
Lisa
October 5, 2011 at 7:20PM EST Reply to CommentI don't regulary watch NCIS, but I have seen it a few times and it's fine- honestly the whole anti-procedural snobbery is really old and kind of annoying.. My dad watches these shows, not because he's "too stupid" to watch the serialized shows, but because he is too damn busy to watch every single episode of any show.
Also NCIS beat Glee in the demos multiply times last year, so it's definitively not "unthinkable" that it's beating Glee now..
jurassica
October 5, 2011 at 10:33PM EST Reply to CommentNCIS is awesome! I got a huge crush on Tony Dinozzo during his stint as a wheelchair-bound hottie on Dark Angel and it's always fun to watch him get more distinguished looking. Ziva is fun and McGeek too. High-Q-rating Gothica doesn't do much for me, but everyone else compensates.
I tried to watch the pilot for New Girl and I haaaaaated it. I cringed at all the "adorkableness" and I loved her in Elf and 500 Days of Summer and Hitchhiker's Guide...so I don't know. The character is just grating.
WeebeysPlasticFish
October 6, 2011 at 1:29AM EST Reply to CommentCBS should change its name to LCD Broadcasting System.
I know too many people who watch NCIS. I personally find it to be one of the most annoying shows on primetime. It's like somebody took characters from some terrible sitcom and decided to put them in a crime drama. Maybe that light-hearted element is the appeal, but I find it cringeworthy and not believable.
Grits
October 6, 2011 at 12:09PM EST Reply to CommentWait, am I missing something here? You don't watch NCIS and can't have received even a 2nd party opinion of it, since by your own admission you don't personally know anyone who watches it, yet you so definitively dismiss it's appeal. Sooo what's your opinion even based on? It's one of the more enjoyable procedurals on broadcast television (which Americans have ALWAYS had a unique penchant for) so how can you be surprised that it's so successful?
I love it and I'm 28; a far cry from the "AARP crowd" by the way