Okay, TV Junkies - if you're wondering how the new TV season is shaking out beyond the ratings, where do you look? Well, the Yahoo! Buzz Index is a great indicator. It looks like "Journeyman" and "Big Shots" might be in trouble, and it looks like "Cavemen" the sitcom is pretty much as big of a bomb as the critics expected it to be. Checking out the buzz on Technorati is another great way to keep your finger on the pulse - after all the drama with Jericho last year, I like to keep up with what people are saying about my fav shows.
Hold on... I need to go check out that "Pushing Daisies" and "Chuck" are doing ok...
Okay, I'm back. I think we've got no worries on that score. This seems like a great time for a review of why shows get cancelled. Is it because... the network execs are evil and shortsighted???? Well, that's certainly always a possibility. ;) But in general, TV is a business and shows pretty much get cancelled for only a couple of reasons. Ratings are obvious, but the score definitely isn't the only indicator. Another is how well a show can hold it's lead. This is one of the reasons why the buzz doesn't look to good for "Journeyman" on NBC, which is dumping one-third of its audience after the Heroes lead-in. OUCH!!! From a fan point of view, I think the show is developing nicely... but it frankly can't get a much better lead, and this news is definitely a concern in terms of whether this interesting sci-fi take has a future.
Another reason is if a show is bringing down the overall Network average in the time slot - this is also specifically related to what it's replacing, but the programming execs look for a hold at minimum and generally expect some growth to stay committed to a new property. "Big Shots" on ABC is in this predicament this season - having been given the very juicy "Grey's Anatomy" slot from last year. Look out - DYLAN'S IN DANGER!
The last biggie is if a show simply costs too much - your basic ROI equation. This was the killer for "Studio 60" last year, a loss that still gets my goat.
Ok - that's it for today, more Naked Buzz to come... keep your finger on the pulse!
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