October 1 - October 7 »
September 29, 2006
Big news overnight from the Deathwatch, there’s been some pretty serious movement for a few shows. Both “The Class” and “Kidnapped” have jumped closer to death by three places each.
“The Class,” which came in with pitiful ratings this week, and has sat at number 13 for two weeks, has bumped up to Number 10, meaning that Deathwatchers are calling it more likely to get the axe. Ditto “Kidnapped,” which had nestled into Number 19 for the past two weeks. Reviews of the show, a hefty cost of production, and a significant audience backlash have bumped it up to number 16.
The other big news is that last night’s premiere of “Ugly Betty” scored a whopping 10.7 in ratings and won the night. That’s the highest rating of any new show this season! Damn! Betty scores! She’s at number 2 on our Deathwatch, but we might want to start looking for that to change.
In other news, Studio 60, which had lost some footing in the past few weeks, is back in the bottom five, making it the fifth least likely to be cancelled.
Remember to check back on Monday and keep voting for your chance to win an ipod!
“Emotional, realistic; but maybe a downer”
DeathWatch Odds 20-1 (as of September 20, 2006, 11:04am)
BBCancelled: CBS’s intense new drama about the big bomb is anything but … a bomb. But DeathWatch voters think it's likely to fail.
On one single devastating day, the world changes. That pretty much sums up “Jericho,” the new apocalyptic drama on CBS. Something happens—war, coup, nuclear meltdown—in more than one U. S. city.
The citizens of “Jericho”, Kansas, are safe … for now.
The series chronicles the aftermath of that fateful day. Jake Green (Skeet Ulrich) returns home after a five-year absence only to find himself stranded when a mushroom cloud rises to the west of Denver. But no matter what Jake’s shady past or town pedigree—his dad is the mayor (Gerald McRaney)—he shows his true mettle when disaster strikes.
“Jericho” is a harrowing look at survival in the face of an unknown and growing disaster that may or may not be war. Well-written and cast (we could do without the teen princess in exile from the big city), its strengths lie in its quiet moments and its slow unfolding of what really happened in the outside world.
If anything, “Jericho” may prove to be too much of a downer for audiences to hang around for a long time. More real than the menacing threats present on “24,” “Jericho” shows us the very real aftermath of multiple nuclear disasters on U. S. soil.
Emotional and very realistic, it remains to be seen if viewers will stay tuned to a very different tale of survival. After all, we are in Kansas this time, not “lost” on a tropical island, Toto.
September 28, 2006
Last night’s lone premiere was The CW’s “One Tree Hill.” Critics continue to give this show absolutely miserable reviews, including Mike Duffy at The Detroit Free Press, who said: “Here’s another WB show that should have died instead of ‘Everwood.’”
Ouch!
Meanwhile, last night's second episode of "Jericho" came in second in its time slot and gained a 7% increase in ratings over it's premiere of last week. We have to say, for a show that DeathWatchers are voting as "likely to be cancelled" (it's holding steady on The Deathwatch at number 5) -- the ratings have been better than expected.
There was some movement within the game overnight. Both “Runaway” (now at 20 out of 23) and “Shark” (now at 22 out of 23) both moved up one place. The odds that these shows will be cancelled still hover around the 240 to 1 mark, which means it's more likely people are voting for other things to crash than for these to survive.
Apparently, “Friday Night Lights’ is a better football drama than “The Game,” as they’ve been leapfrogging each other for the 10th and 11th places, their odds of cancellation are both at around 45 to 1.
Keep an eye out tonight for “Ugly Betty” on ABC. It’s number 2 on our Deathwatch with 8 to 1 odds of cancellation, despite it’s positive early buzz and generous ratings.
Great Characters, Snappy Writing
DeathWatch Odds 224-1 (as of September 28, 2006, 10:31am)
BBCancelled: Heroes soars and viewers can see it flying. They’ve voted it as one of the shows most likely to become a hit.
If there’s a breakout show this year, it has to be “Heroes.” The new NBC drama about a group of young people discovering they have powers far beyond those of mortal men scored big in its premiere outing on Monday night. Critics and fans are already calling it the new “Lost.”
The similarities are there: Characters from totally separate walks of life are drawn together for a mysterious reason, all of them seemingly being tested for the sake of some higher purpose.
“Heroes” takes its own sweet time unfolding. We have yet to meet some of the characters.
The first episode introduced us to a male nurse who thinks he can fly; a Japanese worker who can bend time and space; a Las Vegas mother who has powers yet to be revealed and her genius son; a Texas cheerleader who is indestructible; and an artist who paints his visions only to see them happen as major news stories days later. Add to this the son of a mysterious Indian professor who is tracking this emerging phenomenon of people suddenly exhibiting powers and the man chasing him and you have a suspenseful, atmospheric show, one leading up to a major event that gathers the heroes together to stop some kind of disaster.
One of the paintings shows a nuclear bomb going off in the middle of New York City.
Created by Tim Kring (“Crossing Jordan”), Heroes has everything going for it: Great characters, snappy writing and a format and style that evokes the current Hollywood darling, comic books and graphic novels. With one mighty first episode, “Heroes” may have escaped the jaws of television doom.
September 27, 2006
The biggest news from Tuesday night is that the Ted Danson's sitcom “Help Me Help You” opened without flourish. It came in third at 9:30pm.
You’ve rated “Help Me Help You” at number 4 on The Deathwatch. And frankly, our faith in this one is pretty low, too. Odds of cancellation are 18 to 1.
Overnight, there were some (very) slight changes in The Deathwatch. “30 Rock” which premieres on October 11th, has moved from number 11 to number 12 (out of 24) shows. Which means you, Deathwatchers, have voted it less likely to be cancelled than yesterday.
Ditto “Twenty Good Years” which moved from the 16th spot to the 17th.
Other than that, it was a quiet night for us, and ditto for tonight. The only big premiere is “One Tree Hill” on The CW. Might be a good time to get your house cleaned, think about a Halloween costume. Maybe pull out some sweaters.
Men In Trees
DeathWatch Odds 3-1 (as of September 27, 2006, 1:15pm)
BBCancelled: Your current favorite to die soonest, and has been since almost the day the game launched. Anne Heche’s quirky dramedy proves that while there may be men in trees in Alaska’s backwoods, the TV up there is just plain awful.
If quirky is as quirky does, then “Men In Trees” has quirky by the basketful, all of it seemingly falling from the trees like overripe apples.
And those mixed metaphors are apt for this confused show.
Anne Heche plays Marin Frist, best-selling author of relationship books, who finds her own personal life in disarray when her fiancé cheats on her right before their wedding. On her way to a speaking engagement in Elmo, Alaska, she finds herself stranded there and starting a reluctant new life.
Yes, we’re all thinking the same thing: Northern Exposure. But instead of a moose roaming through town, this show uses a skunk as a “fish out of water” metaphor.
Yawn.
So is the show that awful (we’ve seen worse this year … Happy Hour anyone?), or is Anne Heche still the woman we love to hate?
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September 26, 2006
The James Woods spectacle "Shark" has jumped to the bottom of our list making it "least likely to be cancelled" on our Deathwatch. “Shark” is followed closely by "The Nine," which premieres on October 4th.
At the top of our "soon to be cancelled" list -- "Men in Trees" retains the Number One spot, with 3:1 odds of being cancelled next. “Men” replaces Fox's "Happy Hour," which we've now listed as "on life support." We're actually so convinced it won't be back, we've taken it out of the game and moved it to our graveyard.
In spite of your votes for the cancellation of four ABC sitcoms (including "Ugly Betty" and "Knights of Prosperity"), it's FOX that's having a crummy week. The premiere of "Vanished" clocked in a 2.0 rating and we have it listed on our Deathwatch as number 6 out of 24. We have very small hopes that this show is ever going anywhere but out.
"Broadcasting and Cable" ran the news this morning that FOX has shuffled the schedules of both "Happy Hour" and "Justice," while suspending production for one week on both "Standoff" and "Til Death."
Fox is sticking with their story that the shuffles are all due to the coming Baseball season, but we're going to go ahead and say: “Play ball!”
NBC is starting off the week with a mixed bag.
"Heroes" premiered last night on NBC and did a 5.9 preliminary national rating. It beat out old favorites "Two and a Half Men" and an original episode of "The New Adventures of Old Christine." "Studio 60," however, took a dive and scored 30% lower ratings than it's premiere episode last week.
Oddly, at number 21 (out of 24) on the Deathwatch is "Runaway." Though reviews for the show say it's not exactly awful, the show scored a 0.7 during its premiere last night on The CW.
Yikes.
Standoff
DeathWatch Odds 35-1 (as of September 26, 2006; 12:16pm)
BBCancelled: Not so safely nestled in the Deathwatch Top Ten (meaning folks think its doomed), this FOX crisis negotiation drama is coasting solely on the charm of its charismatic leads.
According to FOX, “Standoff” combines “the relationship banter of audience favorites like ‘Moonlighting’ with the adrenaline-paced suspense of hits like ’24.’”
This comparison gave us whiplash from the sheer wrongheadedness of that comparison. When was the last time you saw Jack Bauer banter with anyone? “24” thrives on deadly seriousness. The “Moonlighting” comparison is closer to accurate, though.
“Standoff” brings together two FBI crisis negotiators who just happen to be romantically involved. The sex part is done with, which is a good thing. (Remember how once David and Maddie finally got around to it, “Moonlighting” lost much of its charm.) So “Standoff” is left as nothing more than a pedestrian police melodrama with the requisite slo-mo, happy endings, reuniting victim and loved ones set to touchingly appropriate music.
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HELP ME, HELP YOU
DeathWatch Odds 18-1 (as of September 26, 2006; 11:56am)
BBCancelled: Let's face it. This show is a slightly less than highbrow group version of “Frasier,” which means it stands a chance at a life -- maybe. But only if the characters are developed from their stereotypical beginnings. After watching one episode, there’s an inkling of something hysterical here between the characters, and the their various emotional disorders.
It’s a big if, though. “Help Me” could just as easily bomb, and bomb loudly. Already it's on the cusp of being completely cheesy and over-simplified. Ted Danson may not be cutout for this kind of one-camera, no laugh track comedy.
SIX DEGREES
DeathWatch Odds 179-1 (as of September 26, 2006; 12:02pm)
BBCancelled: If TV execs pay people to chat about a show, then the suits put their $$$ behind “Six Degrees.” Critics are going gaga for it. People are talking about it.
Too bad it isn’t worth the buzz. The show is contrived and overly dramatic. You have to like or at least care about characters before you can feel sympathy for them. No?
“Six Degrees” is based on the random coincidences in life that introduce you to new people, but the dramatic convenience is so obvious you'll find yourself saying, "Come ONnnnn!" in a way only Gob Bluth II should get away with.
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September 25, 2006
Despite a week where eight shows premiered and none were cancelled, there is big news to report in the world of cancelled TV.
Fox has taken “Happy Hour” off of its schedule. The network hopes to bring it back sometime in November, but we're going to remain skeptical. "Happy Hour" has been at the top of our "most likely to be cancelled" list since we launched Deathwatch two weeks ago. (The odds were 3:1)
So what does it mean if a show is not cancelled but taken off the schedule? Well, it isn’t good.
READ MORE > >
Smith
DeathWatch Odds 213-1 (as of September 25, 2006; 1:20 pm)
BBCancelled: Survival of the fittest? Maybe. But “Smith” is out of shape. The problem: he’s too deliciously evil for network television.
There’s a moment in the pilot of “Smith,” the new heist series created by John Wells (ER), when star Ray Liotta exhibits his trademark look: He’s menacing as hell just by flashing a (literally) killer smile.
Liotta is “Smith,” so-named by the cops as an unknown perpetrator of a crime. Smith’s crime du jour is heists, specifically big-ticket items. In the first episode he and his crew steal some priceless Rembrandt paintings in a bold daylight raid on a Pittsburgh museum.
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"Happy Hour" cancelled? No, not yet. Just yanked from the schedule like a mean teacher can pull a students hair.
Fox has blinked first. The network has pulled the silly sitcom "from the schedule," according to Fox's website, but "will return it to the air in November."
Sure. Yeah. Okay.
The not-so "Happy Hour" is an odd bird -- no wonder DeathWatch voters picked it to be cancelled first. Imagine "The Odd Couple" meets "Two and a Half Men" meets ... uhm, Barfly? And you'll get a general sense of a show that feels cobbled together by a committee.
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September 24, 2006
A lot of our "DeathWatch" voters have been rushing to the defense of “Men In Trees,” but it hasn’t yet budged from its number two spot.
From TV Week and Broadcasting and Cable, here is a quick run down of Thursday night's primetime series:
Overall, “Grey’s Anatomy" on ABC ate the evening alive with a clip show at 8pm and a season premiere at 9pm. People dig this show; it pulled into the number one spot among 18 to 49 year olds.
From 8pm-9pm.
The top-rated show was “Survivor: Cook Islands” on CBS. We were shocked at this, because of the (absurd} premise of different races competing for prizes. NBC came in third with it’s season premieres of "My Name Is Earl" and "The Office" Fox came in fourth in the eight o’clock hour with its (disastrous) comedies "'Til Death" and "Happy Hour."
READ MORE > >
SHARK
DeathWatch Odds 305-1 (as of September 22, 2006; 4:39pm)
BBCancelled: James Wood’s new show may just have a slight case of the sniffles instead of anything deadly. Probably a hit, seeing it has the cushiest timeslot in television, right behind the #1 show, CSI.
“Shark” marks the television debut of James Woods as a series star, and sadly, despite him being on camera in almost every shot—or maybe because of him—the show is really just another lawyer show. “Perry Mason” with a touch of modern day, jurisprudence sleaze and a harsher bite.
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STUDIO 60 ON THE SUNSET STRIP
DeathWatch Odds: 237-1 (as of September 22, 2006, 5:01pm)
BBCancelled.com: Not the rosy picture of health it was before it debuted; those disappearing second-half-hour viewers may indicate a serious underlying health problem that can only be classified as too “cerebral.” Maybe Aaron Sorkin’s golden goose may be laying the wrong kind of egg.
Since the very first time a young, unknown actor uttered the immortal words, “I’m Chevy Chase and you’re not,” 31 seasons ago, “Saturday Night Live” has been part of America’s collective consciousness.
Why it took so long for someone to realize there’s gold in them thar TV hills is bewildering. But this season sees the debut of two fictional shows based on “SNL,” both, ironically, on the same network, NBC.
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