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‘Big Bang’ Reinforces Its Status as Biggest Hit on Network TV

September 27, 2013 by

“The Big Bang Theory” left no doubt about what show is truly the biggest hit on network television, opening its new season Thursday night with overwhelming ratings, the best premiere in its seven-year history.

That result also meant good news for the new CBS comedy that followed on Thursday, “The Crazy Ones,” starring Robin Williams, which scored the best ratings for a new show this television season.

Many programs took a battering from the strength of the CBS comedies, especially the competing comedies on NBC, where the much-anticipated Michael J. Fox sitcom opened to less-than-impressive numbers. Still, “The Michael J. Fox Show” was the high point for NBC, as the critically admired comedy “Parks and Recreation” landed with its lowest premiere rating and tied its worst-ever performance over all.

The news was also bad for the one-time Fox hit “Glee,” which was down 35 percent from its opening ratings a year ago.

ABC’s ratings, however, held up because of a special two-hour edition of its long-running hit drama, “Grey’s Anatomy,” though that show experienced a year-to-year tumble, down 23 percent.

The results are based on initial overnight ratings; when the official national numbers are delivered later on Friday some shows will probably improve (mainly the successes), while others may decline (mainly the have-nots). All networks now emphasize that viewing totals will rise for shows when “delayed viewing” is counted. CBS, for example, projects “Big Bang” will soar by an additional four million viewers within three days.

As it is, “Big Bang” was the story of Thursday night, with two episodes, at 8 p.m. and 8:30. Taken together as an hour entry, the show averaged just under 19 million viewers and a 5.6 rating among advertiser-desirable viewers ages 18 to 49 — the best showing for any series this season.

That hour nicely set up “Crazy Ones,” which pulled in 15.6 million viewers, with a 4.0 rating in the 18-49 category.

CBS followed with the veteran sitcom “Two and a Half Men,” which still managed a respectable 11.5 million viewers and a 2.9 rating in the 18-49 group. CBS’s only relative weak spot came at 10 p.m., as the second-season premiere of “Elementary” was clearly stunted by the extra hour of “Grey’s.” It attracted just over 10 million viewers but only scored a 2.1 in the 18-49 category, down 32 percent from its premiere a year ago.

NBC has invested tens of millions of dollars in Mr. Fox’s show, but is throwing it into a ferociously competitive night with little protection. The series opened with 7.3 million viewers and a 2.1 in the 18-49 competition. Neither number is bad in the current context of television, but given the appeal of Mr. Fox, NBC surely hoped for better.

In the show’s defense, however, it was asked to self-start after the abysmal performance of “Parks and Recreation” from 8 p.m. to 9. That show only pulled in 3.3 million viewers (worst by far among all the four network entries Thursday) and a 1.3 in the 18-49 category, down 24 percent from its premiere a year ago.

At 10 on NBC, “Parenthood” also tied a series low with a 1.6 18-49 rating with just a little over five million viewers.

Fox, which got a little uptick from “The X Factor” on Wednesday, seems to be happy that the show is settling in at a survival number: it averaged a 2.0 rating Thursday against the night’s formidable competition. That remains far below the show’s previous level, and it is far below the big numbers NBC’s singing show, “The Voice,” has been putting up. But “X Factor” looks stable, which is a positive.

“Glee” may be more a concern. Its 2.0 rating in the 18-49 group was on par with how the show ended last season, meaning further decline is all but assured.

For ABC, the good news for “Grey’s” is that it still can rustle up a hit-level 18-49 number (a 3.4) even though it is diminished from last year. It averaged just over nine million viewers.

Article source: http://www.nytimes.com/2013/09/28/business/media/big-bang-reinforces-its-status-as-biggest-hit-on-network-tv.html?partner=rss&emc=rss

Filed Under: Media Business Tagged With: , ,

NBC Looks to Past Stars for Prime-Time Turnaround

May 13, 2013 by Leave a Comment

Looking for what has been an elusive turnaround in prime time, NBC announced an aggressive new schedule on Sunday, crowded with new shows and familiar names both in front of and behind the camera.

The network will try to rebuild its once-formidable Thursday night comedy lineup behind two of its stars from the past — Sean Hayes and Michael J. Fox.

It will try to use the strength of its hit singing competition, “The Voice,” to introduce a new drama on Mondays and new comedies on Tuesdays in the second half of the season.

NBC is also adding new dramas from Dick Wolf, who created the “Law Order” series, and J. J. Abrams of “Lost.”

NBC plans to introduce a record 17 new series in the season, aiming to keep fresh programming on the air as much as possible year-round.

In all, the network will add six new comedies, eight new dramas and three new reality shows.

The schedule, announced by NBC’s chairman of entertainment, Robert Greenblatt, amounts to a full-scale effort to reconstruct NBC’s schedule with every night of the week affected, except Sundays in the fall, which will still be devoted to the network’s strongest asset, N.F.L. football.

Perhaps the most crucial changes come on Thursday, where NBC loses the only true hit comedy it has developed over the last decade, “The Office.”

NBC will introduce three new comedies on that night, with the new series starring Mr. Hayes (“Will and Grace”) getting the central spot at 9 p.m. That show, “Sean Saves the World,” is about a gay divorced father trying to raise a teenage daughter.

It will be followed by Mr. Fox’s return in a show named after him, in which he plays a father coping with his family and Parkinson’s disease.

The other new Thursday night comedy is “Welcome to the Family,” about a couple who have to meld their quarrelsome families. NBC will lead off the night with the return of “Parks and Recreation” at 8 and end it with the drama “Parenthood,” a positive story for NBC this year and now getting the once-prime drama spot on the network.

But the drama NBC clearly has highest hopes for is “The Blacklist,” which stars James Spader as a most-wanted criminal who agrees to help the authorities track top criminals, but only with the help of a new, obscure F.B.I. agent. It will take the 10 p.m. Monday slot, after “The Voice.”

The previous occupant of that time period, “Revolution,” posted some early good ratings. Now it will try to survive on its own on Wednesdays at 8.

NBC also is going for horror on Friday by adding to its successful “Grimm” series with a limited run of “Dracula,” starring Jonathan Rhys Meyers.

NBC FALL SEASON 2013

MONDAY 8-10 p.m. — “The Voice”; 10-11 p.m. — “The Blacklist”

TUESDAY 8-9 p.m. — “The Biggest Loser” (new day and time); 9-10 p.m. — “The Voice” (new time); 10-11 p.m. — “Chicago Fire” (new day and time)

WEDNESDAY 8-9 p.m. — “Revolution” (new day and time); 9-10 p.m. — “Law Order: SVU”; 10-11 p.m. — “Ironside”

THURSDAY 8-8:30 p.m. — “Parks and Recreation” (new time); 8:30-9 p.m. — “Welcome to the Family”; 9-9:30 p.m. — “Sean Saves the World”; 9:30-10 p.m. — “The Michael J. Fox Show”; 10-11 p.m. — “Parenthood” (new day and time)

FRIDAY 8-9 p.m. — “Dateline NBC”; 9-10 p.m. — “Grimm”; 10-11 p.m. — “Dracula”

SATURDAY Encore programming

SUNDAY 7-8:15 p.m. — “Football Night in America”; 8:15-11:30 p.m. — “NBC Sunday Night Football”

MIDSEASON SCHEDULE

MONDAY 8-10 p.m. — “The Voice”; 10-11 p.m. — “The Blacklist”

TUESDAY 8-9 p.m. — “The Voice”; 9-9:30 p.m. — “About A Boy”; 9:30-10 p.m. — “The Family Guide”; 10-11 p.m. — “Chicago Fire”

WEDNESDAY 8-9 p.m. — “Revolution”; 9-10 p.m. — “Law Order: SVU”; 10-11 p.m. — “Ironside”

THURSDAY 8-8:30 p.m. — “Parks and Recreation”; 8:30-9 p.m. — “Welcome to the Family”; 9-9:30 p.m. — “Sean Saves the World”; 9:30-10 p.m. — “The Michael J. Fox Show”; 10-11 p.m. — “Parenthood”

FRIDAY 8-9 p.m. — “Dateline NBC”; 9-10 p.m. — “Grimm”; 10-11 p.m. — “Crossbones”

SATURDAY 8-10 p.m. — Encores and specials programming; 10-11 p.m. — “Saturday Night Live” (encore)

SUNDAY 7-8 p.m. — “Dateline NBC”; 8-9 p.m. — “American Dream Builders”; 9-10 p.m. — “Believe”; 10-11 p.m. — “Crisis”

Article source: http://www.nytimes.com/2013/05/13/business/media/nbc-looks-to-past-stars-for-prime-time-turnaround.html?partner=rss&emc=rss

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For Taylor Swift’s Image, Erosion Is a Danger

March 16, 2013 by Leave a Comment

Though her romantic relationships went less smoothly than her career, they still inspired hits like “We Are Never, Ever Getting Back Together” (reportedly about Jake Gyllenhaal) and “Dear John” (as in Mayer, it is widely assumed). She landed endorsement deals with brands including Diet Coke, American Greetings, Keds and CoverGirl. And she was on magazine covers from Rolling Stone, to Elle, to this month’s Vanity Fair.

And therein, perhaps, the trouble began.

Her ubiquity, not to mention her dating history, has begun to stir what feels like the beginning of a backlash (including both a Tumblr account and Facebook page titled “I Hate Taylor Swift,” the latter with 5,912 “likes”).

At the Golden Globes in February, the hosts Tina Fey and Amy Poehler warned Ms. Swift to “stay away from Michael J. Fox’s son,” who had accompanied his father to the ceremony, and joked that she could use “some ’me time’ to learn about herself.” Ms. Swift counterattacked in her Vanity Fair interview by quoting Katie Couric (who was quoting Madeleine Albright): “ ’There’s a special place in hell for women who don’t help other women.’ “

The incident quickly became a much-followed story on the Web and Twitter, with Ms. Poehler and Ms. Fey gently chiding Ms. Swift for taking things too seriously and others, like the talk show host Chelsea Handler, suggesting that she was fair game. “They were clearly making a joke just about her demeanor, which is embarrassing,” Ms. Handler told Andy Cohen on Bravo’s “Watch What Happens“ last Tuesday. “I mean, she’s just dated so many men.”

Can Ms. Swift, 23, take a joke? Has she been overexposed? Worse, is America’s reigning golden girl, sweetheart, country-pop crossover star and breakup-song specialist going through a quarter-life crisis?

Ms. Swift, through a publicist, declined to comment for this article. But Scott Borchetta, founder and chief executive of Big Machine Records and the man widely credited with her rise, said he believed the Vanity Fair quote was taken out of context, and voiced confidence in her staying power. “She’s so grounded,” he said. “This isn’t a person who’s going to wake up half-naked, drunk in a car somewhere in Hollywood.”

According to the marketing evaluations company Q Scores, Ms. Swift’s popularity rating, which takes into account familiarity (about 8 out of 10 people surveyed knows who she is) and appeal, peaked in 2010 at 30 out of 100. Presumably, Ms. Swift was reaping the benefits of the Kanye West debacle, when he interrupted her acceptance speech for Best Female Video by barging onstage at the MTV Video Music Awards in September 2009.

But her popularity score has since dropped by a third, to 20 this year, the lowest it’s ever been, though still 4 points higher than the average score (16) in the performer category.

“She’s not doing the kind of numbers that an advertiser would really love to see,” said Steven Levitt, president of the marketing company, noting her trajectory.

CoverGirl has let Ms. Swift’s contract expire. “We routinely evaluate our CoverGirls,” said Paige Cali, a company spokeswoman, adding that she couldn’t divulge further details except that the contract expired recently.

A Women’s Wear Daily article this week stated that Ms. Swift’s magazine covers sell fewer issues than those of her contemporaries, like Adele, Lady Gaga, Gwen Stefani, Lauren Conrad, Scarlett Johansson and Zooey Deschanel.

Mr. Levitt pointed out that this year Ms. Swift’s negative Q score, a 21, topped her positive number for the first time.

“It’s not the scores of an extraordinary performer that has substantially more positive than negative, like Tom Hanks or Will Smith,” he said. “There’s almost an equal number that rate her fair or poor. What you can surmise from that is that her rating is a function of age groups. The positive must be coming from younger age groups. A good part of the negative is from older people.”

To quote Ms. Swift’s single about middle school: “Why you gotta be so mean?”

Yet, even for her critics, it would be hasty to write off Ms. Swift. Her fourth album, “Red,” broke sales records in its first week, before going quadruple platinum. She kicked off the album’s corresponding tour on Wednesday, already having sold out several shows. And she got five nominations, including Entertainer of the Year, for the coming American Country Music Awards on April 7.

Article source: http://www.nytimes.com/2013/03/17/fashion/for-taylor-swifts-image-erosion-is-a-danger.html?partner=rss&emc=rss

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