[RE][scifinoir2] SciFi Rates Returning Series Based on Viewership

2008-11-04 Thread Martin Baxter
One question.

Are they watching the same shows I am, on the same kind of television?





-[ Received Mail Content ]--

 Subject : [scifinoir2] SciFi Rates Returning Series Based on Viewership

 Date : Tue, 4 Nov 2008 12:42:33 -0800

 From : Tracey de Morsella [EMAIL PROTECTED]

 To : scifinoir2@yahoogroups.com


We Rate Returning SF TV Series
http://www.scifi.com/sfw/news/sfw_news_20081103.html
Yikes! And you think the economy is bad. Imagine being a network executive
these days. Much like the vanishing honeybees, television viewers seems to
have evaporated, and shows across the spectrum are struggling. In fact, the
networks are bleeding as they thrash about trying to figure out how to bring
viewers back to their favorite shows.

In this second of two stories, we take a look at how returning SFamp;F series
are doing this fall, grading them from best to worst. 

  Ghost Hunters (SCI FI) Premiered with
2.7 million viewers. Last week, 3.2 million viewers. The future's so bright,
these ghost hunters will have to wear shades. Last week our favorite
ghost-hunting plumbers reached a series high, which is great news leading
into their big live Halloween investigation special
 . And beyond
spawning a successful sequel in Ghost Hunters International, SCI FI just
announced it has ordered a pilot for Ghost Hunters: College Edition, in
which seasoned investigators lead a group of college students in the hunt
for ghosts. Can you say franchise? Or, heck, let's just have the Ghost
Hunting Channel. Grade: A

This story continues below the image.

ghost

The Ghost Hunters: Jason Hawes (left) and Grant Wilson. (Chris Kontoes for
SCI FI ) 

Ghost Whisperer (CBS) Premiered with 9.31 million viewers. Last week, 9.95
million viewers. While the series hasn't been able to crack 10 million
viewers this year, it's come close enough that it is the highest-rated
series on Friday nights. And this is one of the few shows that has actually
increased viewers since last year on the networks. Grade: B+

Supernatural (The CW) Premiered with 3.96 million viewers. Last week, 3.25
million viewers. Supernatural has also done well this season, increasing in
total viewers from last season. This male-oriented show also has seen a
dramatic increase among women 18-49, which is very good. And the show did it
all in the toughest timeslot on television. Grade: B

Smallville (The CW) Premiered with 4.38 million viewers. Last week, 4.22
million viewers. Down a bit from last season, Smallville is still looking
like a champ, compared with The CW's other low-rated programming. It may not
be as shiny as it once was, but what show would be as it delves into its
eighth season? Ratings should be good enough for another year--if The CW
doesn't collapse completely. It's unlikely the network will find another
show that can be competitive on Thursday nights with viewers as loyal as
those for Smallville. Grade: B-

This story continues below the image.

smallville

Tom Welling as Clark Kent in Smallville. (Michael Courtney for The CW) 

Heroes (NBC) Premiered with 9.89 million viewers. Last week, 8.46 million
viewers. How the mighty have fallen. While Heroes premiered last year with
16.97 million viewers, the series has taken a significant hit. One bright
spot is that the show does very well in DVR viewings later in the week. The
bad news is that most of those people don't watch commercials. It's doubtful
Heroes is in danger of cancellation at this point, but the show's hit status
has vanished. Grade: C (NBC is owned by NBC Universal, which also owns
SCIFI.COM.)

Chuck (NBC) Premiered with 6.48 million viewers. Last week, 6.7 million
viewers. You've got to love a show about a sweet and adorable nerd who ends
up accidentally becoming a spy, and NBC loved it enough in its second season
to give it a full-season pickup before it even premiered. Unfortunately,
viewers have not been flocking to the series, which is down significantly
from last year, and if NBC didn't have other problems, Chuck would be in big
trouble. Grade: C-

Eli Stone (ABC) Premiered with 8.82 million viewers. Last week, 8.51 million
viewers. Poor Eli Stone! So far it's having a great season creatively, but
it's viewer-challenged. Viewers show up at the start of the show, most
likely thanks to the Dancing With the Stars Results Show, and then leave by
10:30 p.m. The drop of more than 2 million viewers within an episode is not
a good sign. The only saving grace is that Eli's doing better than
Thursday's Life on Mars and many of ABC's other 10 p.m. shows. Grade: D+

Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles (Fox) Premiered with 6.34 million
viewers. Last week, 5.34 million viewers. Tough times for this tough series.
Sarah premiered last year with more than 10 million viewers. The earlier
timeslot hasn't been kind to the series, however, and viewer erosion has
been significant. It might be time to give Sarah a tryout in a different
timeslot before scrapping this promising series 

Re: [RE][scifinoir2] SciFi Rates Returning Series Based on Viewership

2008-11-04 Thread Daryle Lockhart
The ratings numbers have been the hot topic of debate for the past 4  
or 5 years. Show me 9 million people who watch Ghost Whisperer and  
I'll show you 7 million people who were on the phone and left their  
TVs on  whatever. To be honest, I don't even believe 34 million  
people watched Obama's special.

(here he goes again) Now, show me how many people DOWNLOAD, STREAM,  
or RECORD episodes of Ghost Whisperer, and you'll have a pretty good  
estimate of audience size. This is why TV's dying. When I worked in  
the music industry, we used a standard  of measurement called  
SoundScan. The way it worked was simple. When someone bought an  
album, it was scanned. All of those scan reports were tallied up,   
and boom,  we knew who  #1 was. Right? Wrong. Because if I send you  
500  copies of Whosaywhat and the Sound of a Tree Falling for free,  
and ask you to scan it every time someone buys Mariah Carey, guess  
who #1 is gonna be that week? And that was MUSIC. Am I saying there  
is Neilsen fraud going on? Well, yes, but that's not even the main  
point. TV ratings are remarkably flawed, and the evidence of this is  
the quality of the shows that are coming back.

On Nov 4, 2008, at 10:20 AM, Martin Baxter wrote:

 One question.

 Are they watching the same shows I am, on the same kind of television?





 -[ Received Mail Content ]--

  Subject : [scifinoir2] SciFi Rates Returning Series Based on  
 Viewership

  Date : Tue, 4 Nov 2008 12:42:33 -0800

  From : Tracey de Morsella [EMAIL PROTECTED]

  To : scifinoir2@yahoogroups.com


 We Rate Returning SF TV Series
 http://www.scifi.com/sfw/news/sfw_news_20081103.html
 Yikes! And you think the economy is bad. Imagine being a network  
 executive
 these days. Much like the vanishing honeybees, television viewers  
 seems to
 have evaporated, and shows across the spectrum are struggling. In  
 fact, the
 networks are bleeding as they thrash about trying to figure out how  
 to bring
 viewers back to their favorite shows.

 In this second of two stories, we take a look at how returning  
 SFamp;F series
 are doing this fall, grading them from best to worst.

   Ghost Hunters (SCI FI) Premiered with
 2.7 million viewers. Last week, 3.2 million viewers. The future's  
 so bright,
 these ghost hunters will have to wear shades. Last week our favorite
 ghost-hunting plumbers reached a series high, which is great news  
 leading
 into their big live Halloween investigation special
  . And beyond
 spawning a successful sequel in Ghost Hunters International, SCI FI  
 just
 announced it has ordered a pilot for Ghost Hunters: College  
 Edition, in
 which seasoned investigators lead a group of college students in  
 the hunt
 for ghosts. Can you say franchise? Or, heck, let's just have the  
 Ghost
 Hunting Channel. Grade: A

 This story continues below the image.

 ghost

 The Ghost Hunters: Jason Hawes (left) and Grant Wilson. (Chris  
 Kontoes for
 SCI FI )

 Ghost Whisperer (CBS) Premiered with 9.31 million viewers. Last  
 week, 9.95
 million viewers. While the series hasn't been able to crack 10 million
 viewers this year, it's come close enough that it is the highest-rated
 series on Friday nights. And this is one of the few shows that has  
 actually
 increased viewers since last year on the networks. Grade: B+

 Supernatural (The CW) Premiered with 3.96 million viewers. Last  
 week, 3.25
 million viewers. Supernatural has also done well this season,  
 increasing in
 total viewers from last season. This male-oriented show also has  
 seen a
 dramatic increase among women 18-49, which is very good. And the  
 show did it
 all in the toughest timeslot on television. Grade: B

 Smallville (The CW) Premiered with 4.38 million viewers. Last week,  
 4.22
 million viewers. Down a bit from last season, Smallville is still  
 looking
 like a champ, compared with The CW's other low-rated programming.  
 It may not
 be as shiny as it once was, but what show would be as it delves  
 into its
 eighth season? Ratings should be good enough for another year--if  
 The CW
 doesn't collapse completely. It's unlikely the network will find  
 another
 show that can be competitive on Thursday nights with viewers as  
 loyal as
 those for Smallville. Grade: B-

 This story continues below the image.

 smallville

 Tom Welling as Clark Kent in Smallville. (Michael Courtney for The CW)

 Heroes (NBC) Premiered with 9.89 million viewers. Last week, 8.46  
 million
 viewers. How the mighty have fallen. While Heroes premiered last  
 year with
 16.97 million viewers, the series has taken a significant hit. One  
 bright
 spot is that the show does very well in DVR viewings later in the  
 week. The
 bad news is that most of those people don't watch commercials. It's  
 doubtful
 Heroes is in danger of cancellation at this point, but the show's  
 hit status
 has vanished. Grade: C (NBC is owned by NBC Universal, which also owns
 SCIFI.COM.)

 Chuck (NBC) Premiered 

Re: [RE][scifinoir2] SciFi Rates Returning Series Based on Viewership

2008-11-04 Thread Martin Baxter
(and we'll stop him when he's proven wrong)





-[ Received Mail Content ]--

 Subject : Re: [RE][scifinoir2] SciFi Rates Returning Series Based on Viewership

 Date : Tue, 4 Nov 2008 16:14:30 -0500

 From : Daryle Lockhart [EMAIL PROTECTED]

 To : scifinoir2@yahoogroups.com


The ratings numbers have been the hot topic of debate for the past 4 
or 5 years. Show me 9 million people who watch Ghost Whisperer and 
I'll show you 7 million people who were on the phone and left their 
TVs on whatever. To be honest, I don't even believe 34 million 
people watched Obama's special.

(here he goes again) Now, show me how many people DOWNLOAD, STREAM, 
or RECORD episodes of Ghost Whisperer, and you'll have a pretty good 
estimate of audience size. This is why TV's dying. When I worked in 
the music industry, we used a standard of measurement called 
SoundScan. The way it worked was simple. When someone bought an 
album, it was scanned. All of those scan reports were tallied up, 
and boom, we knew who #1 was. Right? Wrong. Because if I send you 
500 copies of Whosaywhat and the Sound of a Tree Falling for free, 
and ask you to scan it every time someone buys Mariah Carey, guess 
who #1 is gonna be that week? And that was MUSIC. Am I saying there 
is Neilsen fraud going on? Well, yes, but that's not even the main 
point. TV ratings are remarkably flawed, and the evidence of this is 
the quality of the shows that are coming back.

On Nov 4, 2008, at 10:20 AM, Martin Baxter wrote:

 One question.

 Are they watching the same shows I am, on the same kind of television?





 -[ Received Mail Content ]--

 Subject : [scifinoir2] SciFi Rates Returning Series Based on 
 Viewership

 Date : Tue, 4 Nov 2008 12:42:33 -0800

 From : Tracey de Morsella 

 To : 


 We Rate Returning SF TV Series
 http://www.scifi.com/sfw/news/sfw_news_20081103.html
 Yikes! And you think the economy is bad. Imagine being a network 
 executive
 these days. Much like the vanishing honeybees, television viewers 
 seems to
 have evaporated, and shows across the spectrum are struggling. In 
 fact, the
 networks are bleeding as they thrash about trying to figure out how 
 to bring
 viewers back to their favorite shows.

 In this second of two stories, we take a look at how returning 
 SFamp;F series
 are doing this fall, grading them from best to worst.

 Ghost Hunters (SCI FI) Premiered with
 2.7 million viewers. Last week, 3.2 million viewers. The future's 
 so bright,
 these ghost hunters will have to wear shades. Last week our favorite
 ghost-hunting plumbers reached a series high, which is great news 
 leading
 into their big live Halloween investigation special
 . And beyond
 spawning a successful sequel in Ghost Hunters International, SCI FI 
 just
 announced it has ordered a pilot for Ghost Hunters: College 
 Edition, in
 which seasoned investigators lead a group of college students in 
 the hunt
 for ghosts. Can you say franchise? Or, heck, let's just have the 
 Ghost
 Hunting Channel. Grade: A

 This story continues below the image.

 ghost

 The Ghost Hunters: Jason Hawes (left) and Grant Wilson. (Chris 
 Kontoes for
 SCI FI )

 Ghost Whisperer (CBS) Premiered with 9.31 million viewers. Last 
 week, 9.95
 million viewers. While the series hasn't been able to crack 10 million
 viewers this year, it's come close enough that it is the highest-rated
 series on Friday nights. And this is one of the few shows that has 
 actually
 increased viewers since last year on the networks. Grade: B+

 Supernatural (The CW) Premiered with 3.96 million viewers. Last 
 week, 3.25
 million viewers. Supernatural has also done well this season, 
 increasing in
 total viewers from last season. This male-oriented show also has 
 seen a
 dramatic increase among women 18-49, which is very good. And the 
 show did it
 all in the toughest timeslot on television. Grade: B

 Smallville (The CW) Premiered with 4.38 million viewers. Last week, 
 4.22
 million viewers. Down a bit from last season, Smallville is still 
 looking
 like a champ, compared with The CW's other low-rated programming. 
 It may not
 be as shiny as it once was, but what show would be as it delves 
 into its
 eighth season? Ratings should be good enough for another year--if 
 The CW
 doesn't collapse completely. It's unlikely the network will find 
 another
 show that can be competitive on Thursday nights with viewers as 
 loyal as
 those for Smallville. Grade: B-

 This story continues below the image.

 smallville

 Tom Welling as Clark Kent in Smallville. (Michael Courtney for The CW)

 Heroes (NBC) Premiered with 9.89 million viewers. Last week, 8.46 
 million
 viewers. How the mighty have fallen. While Heroes premiered last 
 year with
 16.97 million viewers, the series has taken a significant hit. One 
 bright
 spot is that the show does very well in DVR viewings later in the 
 week. The
 bad news is that most of those people don't watch commercials. It's