Solomon's Weekly Rant (10/13/07) Discussion: ABC's Tricky Promos

[Pavan]

Please read:

http://www.sitcomsonline.com/blog/20...antha-who.html

...then discuss.

[friendsfan77]

Fox is a culprit of this too. I know they've done it with Idol in the past. I agree with the idea that they do this to say "so many people are watching, give it a shot if you haven't" so they can get more viewers. I don't really like it. It's really not honest. People are going to watch based on their own decision to. I may gain interest to try a new show if a friend or someone I know watched it and wants me to try it because they liked it and think I probably will also, but I'm not becoming an instant fan just because 45 million or how many other people are watching a certain show.

To me though it does explain the pattern of "(insert flop show name here) is a MEGA HIT! WATCH NOW!", then in a few weeks, the show in question is gone and the cause of cancellation will be low ratings.

[PhilaEaglesHater]

Originally Posted by friendsfan77

Fox is a culprit of this too. I know they've done it with Idol in the past. I agree with the idea that they do this to say "so many people are watching, give it a shot if you haven't" so they can get more viewers. I don't really like it. It's really not honest. People are going to watch based on their own decision to. I may gain interest to try a new show if a friend or someone I know watched it and wants me to try it because they liked it and think I probably will also, but I'm not becoming an instant fan just because 45 million or how many other people are watching a certain show.

To me though it does explain the pattern of "(insert flop show name here) is a MEGA HIT! WATCH NOW!", then in a few weeks, the show in question is gone and the cause of cancellation will be low ratings.

And when I heard 27 million I was like-"Wait, that's a Superbowl Number"-lol Whatever, tell me what's really happening

[DSfan]

They really shouldn't be doing that. But I guess they assume that if at some point there were 27 million then it's not really lying, even if the average for the hour was much lower.

Other channels do stuff like "Seinfeld, tonight at 6:30 ONLY on Fox 44"
Who are they kidding? I hate when they do that with shows that are actually on like billions of channels and they try and claim ONLY on their station.

[Clint Eastwood Fan]

ABC lies . They also run hit shows over the hour so the weak one will have inflated ratings. I hate when they do that and it never stops me from changing the channel.

[Pavan]

Originally Posted by KingofTVResearch

And when I heard 27 million I was like-"Wait, that's a Superbowl Number"-lol Whatever, tell me what's really happening

Super Bowl gets 90 million.

[Pavan]

Originally Posted by Walking Tall

ABC lies . They also run hit shows over the hour so the weak one will have inflated ratings. I hate when they do that and it never stops me from changing the channel.

Ratings are calculated by a show, not the time period. Like Grey's Anatomy ran until 10:03 this week, the rating for 10pm-10:03 was for Grey's Anatomy, not the show following it, in this case Big Shots.

All networks do it really. NBC and Fox too. CBS and The CW I think don't or not nearly as much.

[PhilaEaglesHater]

Originally Posted by pavanbadal

Super Bowl gets 90 million.

Well maybe it's the NBA finals I was thinking about

[robyrob]

Originally Posted by pavanbadal

Ratings are calculated by a show, not the time period. Like Grey's Anatomy ran until 10:03 this week, the rating for 10pm-10:03 was for Grey's Anatomy, not the show following it, in this case Big Shots.

All networks do it really. NBC and Fox too. CBS and The CW I think don't or not nearly as much.

i think that the REAL reason the networks run shows past the hour or start before the hour is so that if you watch the "hit" shows, then you are kinda stuck with the decision of missing the first/last minutes of a show on another channel or keep it on the same channel to watch a dud - all so they can boost the ratings of the "duds"

[HugeTVFan]

In the case of Pushing Daisies, it was only 13 million for its first airing but there was a Friday airing that might've had around the inital number--than again, Friday is a fairly low-rated night so I may be incorrect. Or DVR, ABC.com, etc...they may be counting all of that. This is just a theory. It may not be correct (especially with Friday) but it may possibly be. Or you guys may be correct and it may be a lie.

[Clint Eastwood Fan]

Originally Posted by pavanbadal

Ratings are calculated by a show, not the time period. Like Grey's Anatomy ran until 10:03 this week, the rating for 10pm-10:03 was for Grey's Anatomy, not the show following it, in this case Big Shots.

All networks do it really. NBC and Fox too. CBS and The CW I think don't or not nearly as much.

NBC and FOX haven't done it this season that I have seen and I watch a lot of shows on those channels ( though I know NBC has done it in the past). No matter though it is very rude to do that to their viewing audience. It has never made me stay and watch a show I didn't want to watch.

[Pavan]

Originally Posted by HugeTVFan

In the case of Pushing Daisies, it was only 13 million for its first airing but there was a Friday airing that might've had around the inital number--than again, Friday is a fairly low-rated night so I may be incorrect. Or DVR, ABC.com, etc...they may be counting all of that. This is just a theory. It may not be correct (especially with Friday) but it may possibly be. Or you guys may be correct and it may be a lie.

Solomon explained in the rant what the 27 million meant. At least 27 million sampled the premiere on Wednesday, Oct. 3. Sampled means they watched at least 5 minutes. Over 13 million watched the entire full hour on average.

So, 27 million is right since they saw at least 5 minutes of it, just as Solomon said, tricky.

[Pavan]

Originally Posted by Walking Tall

NBC and FOX haven't done it this season that I have seen and I watch a lot of shows on those channels ( though I know NBC has done it in the past). No matter though it is very rude to do that to their viewing audience. It has never made me stay and watch a show I didn't want to watch.

Yeah, NBC and Fox haven't done yet this season. Fox does it a lot when American Idol comes. ABC has only done it post GA (2 or 3 min extra) and post DWTS (2 min usually, though we did have an extra 6 min once) so far. And I think a minor minute or two after DH and PP. Those episodes that go until 2 or 3 minutes after usually do have an extra minute or two added in footage, so that is a plus I guess. Like on November 1, Grey's Anatomy will run until 10:07. So we will get actually more than the usual 43 minutes, close to 46 minutes for that episode. So the next show after that will either have less commercials or their minutes will go down a bit.

[JulieSomoski]

I'd have to say this is one of your best rants yet, Solomon. It's something no one really pays much attention about, but now have a whole discussion on it. I saw that promo too, and almost posted about it at one of the boards, but decided not too. I don't really see how saying 27 million is gonna persuade anyone to watch the show, anyways. Who cares if 27 million watched, or if 13 million watched . . . if people really want to see PD, then they'll tune in.

Fox has already been doing the same thing with BTY and TD. For commercials before ths how starts, they're saying it's the night's most watched hour of comedy. Of course it is . . . they're the only comedies on that night-LOL. FOX has also done it with AI in the past a lot of times.

[Ireneparalegal]

My boyfriend was one of those "27 million" people who watched that Pushing Daisies. I watched the first five minutes and I couldn't stand it anymore. Hearing that narration, and the glossy-looking (computer-generated) coloring, etc. just bored me. I immediately left the room and went to watch something better (anything).