We may seem like a really fun team because our posts are, well … fun. You don’t know the half of it. As much fun as we have writing the posts, some of our best discussions take place behind the scenes, on our team email list. We might even be considered brainy and philosophical. Are you ready for your first peek behind the scenes at CliqueClack TV?
Jenny Weird … I mean Wade … started it all with her bizarre video about Reaper‘s fate. She’s a little … off. Anyway, Brett didn’t know what he was getting into when he sent a Jenny Wade quote for our weekly quotation marks column:
BRETT: It’s not exactly from ‘TV’ but the pickings are slim at the moment, so here’s Jenny Wade on Reaper‘s cancellation.
“You know who you should blame?… Find your friends that watched American Idol this season, instead of Reaper, and punch them in the face. And be like, Dude, it’s your fault.”
KEITH (stating the obvious): God those videos are excruciating to sit through.
KONA (tell us how you really feel): That’s so fucking stupid. I loved Samantha Who?, but I don’t blame its cancellation on the fans who watched Grey’s Anatomy, or the series finale of ER instead of it; I blame ABC for putting it in a ridiculous timeslot and being surprised when it didn’t get stellar numbers. Same thing with Life being up against Lost, and Chuck being up against every other show in the world. I’m sorry nobody watched her little show on The CW, but to blame it on people who watch Idol is fucking elitist and stupid. I hate defending Idol, but not as much as I hate that haughty, “I never watch reality TV” attitude. Yes, the majority of reality TV is crap; but that is not why Reaper failed.
BOB (weighs in with his obvious disdain for teenage girls): Well … I think the true travesty is that The CW kept 90210, which got beat in the ratings regularly by Reaper (at least when I checked), even when Reaper was up against Idol and 90210 wasn’t.
BRETT (the voice of reason who clearly watches — and thinks about — too much TV): Samantha Who? isn’t a good example if you want to go down the ‘bad time slot’ path. Wasn’t it on Thursday at 8:30? Taking the place of another comedy in Ugly Betty (and doing measurably worse)? And up against what was by then a very weakened NBC comedy, a Survivor that while still solid is far from the megahit it once was, and Bones, which did improve the FOX Thursday, but was still their third or fourth strongest night.
But then, I think the bad time slot argument is mostly bullshit anyway. There are no bad time slots, just shows that nobody bothers to watch. Why is Monday at 8 a bad timeslot for Chuck, but a great timeslot for all those other shows? Because nobody watches Chuck. It’s not like there aren’t viewers out there to be had. Look at The Mentalist, which had what is arguably a tougher timeslot than Chuck’s, and in it’s first year. Rather than sinking to the point of needing a gift from the network to get a renewal, the show consistently put up numbers that were around 300% of Chuck‘s viewers and 180% of Chuck‘s demo.
To use a sports reference, it reminds me of when someone calls in to the radio show and says they should fire the coach, but if asked, “Who would you bring in?” they seldom have an answer. Take Life — if not Wednesday, where would you put it? The network tried it on Monday, Wednesday, and Friday, failing at each step. Tuesday has to be out because Biggest Loser is arguably the network’s most successful show, and if it isn’t, The Office on Thursday is. You think Sunday was the magic bullet? I’d guess it would have done very Kings-like numbers there.
At some point, a show has to be able to find its own viewers. It’s not the fault of the network, or the fans. It’s just the simple fact that nobody bothered to watch. The bad timeslot argument gets even worse if you bring cable into it. You want to talk about tough spots, Monk was on Thursday at 9, against ABC’s #1 show, CBS’s #1 show, NBC’s #1 or 2 show, a surprisingly successful Hell’s Kitchen on FOX, and the best show on TV on The CW ( :D ). Despite that, and despite being hidden away on cable, it was still able to put up very Chuck-like numbers.
Of course, this all stems from one of my biggest internet pet-peeves. Seeing someone post somewhere after finally getting around to seeing Firefly, “This show is great, why did it get canceled?” Because nobody fucking watched. It really is as simple as that.
IVEY (trying to piss off Brett): Just to play devil’s advocate to your final point, its not always the fault of content that nobody watches.
Clacked by Debbie McDuffee
on Jun 11, 2009 @ 16:30 EST5EDT
Forget Reaper, I would punch people who watch American Idol just because they are watching it.
I’m with you, OakRidge. I’d like to punch everyone who watches American Idol, too. Just because. That said, I’ll be seeing my mother in October after many years. Love her to death, but she watches some shitty shows. I’ll let you know how the punch goes over.
I guess I’m the only one who thought Reaper sucked…
Nah, I’m sure you’re not the only one.
But many of us did like it. And maybe we think shows you like suck. That’s just the way it goes.
Ooh, ooh, ooh … Friday Night Lights???
Hey now, it may be the only thing Sebastian and I really agree on, but don’t blame us if you don’t get the brilliance that is Friday Night Lights.
:-)
Nah, I just warned him back when the “really” thing started that I’d drop in all over the place and give him a hard time about the show. It’s important to keep one’s promises!
(https://www.cliqueclack.com/tv/2009/05/05/do-you-suffer-from-renewal-resentment/comment-page-1/#comment-15933)
Ivey, the brilliance of FNL left when that ridiculous murder/coverup plot arrived. After that, it’s just been a really good show, with one mind-numbingly stupid story added in.
Let me just say that I think you all have a point. I managed to get over that story after re-watching the Season 2 DVDs and it really took me a while.
I mean it’s not like I loved DS9 in the first place. I thought it was longwinded and boring in its first two seasons when it aired on sundays at 7pm. Then it went into “syndication” or whatever you can call it when the same channel starts airing the episodes monday to friday at 3pm right after TNG at 2pm and before B5 at 4pm which made it the perfect Sci-Fi Sandwhich and made me fall in love with DS9 so much that it is my favorite of all Star Trek shows now.
I just wanted to express that opinions can change and that it might very well be that I would like Reaper if I watched it in rapid succession. I mean it’s better than “Chuck” by miles and miles. “Reaper” is actually kind of fun but I didn’t laugh at all… it simply fell flat for me.
Oh and Ivey we agree on “Glee” as well, just wanted to mention that.
And as long as FNL will get 5 Seasons all in all you can repeat that “really” line until you’re blue in the face Aryeh, I don’t mind :-D
You guys are exhausting. I don’t understand most Americans and their fondness for Idol. It was neat for the first 3 seasons, but after that it was old hat. It’d be easy to write off the viewers as stupid, but my friends who watch it are far from it.
I think the CW is a very hard station to succeed on. They’re overlooked, poorer, harder to find and they have an idiot (Dawn Ostroff) running the joint…my dad finally stumbled on Reaper about a month ago and he thought it was hilarious. I had to break the news to him that it’d just been canceled.
weirdy: You think its exhausting? imagine sitting down to the computer to see that you’ve got 60 emails on a non-work account :)
Having finally gotten around to watching the video, I second Deb on how … strange it was.
I guess where I fell out of the conversation, would have been to point out that not every show is going to be a hit. You’re going to have these shows in between great and mediocrity (ratings wise, not creatively) that can and will be affected by cross programming and lead ins and such.
I’m also curious (and Brett I’m sure can provide some detail here) about how the expectation game factors in. Do some shows get pulled more quickly because they are underperforming against expectation while actually doing average to decent against competition?
Expectations do play a big part. The CBS comedies are a great example. Worst Week absolutely killed Gary Unmarried in the ratings every week this season, but the expectations were entirely different. Worst Week was following the #1 comedy on television, so while the numbers were good, relatively speaking, it’s not coming back. Gary Unmarried, on the other hand, had the lowered expectations that come with a slot that has been a problem for the network in recent years. Although it did much lower ratings than Worst Week, it will get another shot next season.
I think the biggest part you guys are leaving out is management and accounting.
As long as a show refinances itself, it will always be renewed. I can only hope that that is the reason why “According to Jim” was renewed over and over and over.
In the end, the networks are companies who have customers that are not us, but the advertisers.
Extreme example: there could be a show out there on the CW called “Bill Gates’ family fun hour” with one ad break in which we just hear the Windows Start Sound for 5 Seconds.
As long as Bill buys the adspace for 5 Million a week that show could be on for roughly 10,000 weeks…
Ha! I guess I should just be thankful that we got the edited version.
Wow Jenny is hott in those 2 videos of hers.
Anyway, I really liked Reaper from the first ep. It’s pretty lame that the CW kept 90210 over this. Idiots.
Also, AI does suck… almost all reality TV sucks. Why do people enjoy that shit?
After watching the video, it’s obvious Jenny is coming from a place of jest. She’s just trying to soften the blow for all the freakishly dependent fans that probably hound her all day about getting a season 3. She said herself she’s over it.
And agreed, xnifex, she’s gorgeous, wow.
I don’t see what was so bizarre about that video.
I also fail to see how a person can separate the concept of “time slot” from lead in shows, inconsistent/changing day and time, and competition on other networks aired at the same time. It all works in concert. It all has an impact on viewership.
Reaper is canceled because it had everything going against it.
1. Its was against AI, the most watched show on TV because America is retarded and likes monotony.
2. Its on the least established network. I mean some areas still dont get The CW.
3. Reaper targets the male demographic. The CW hates the male demographic. They target teen girls like they are R. Kelly. That is why the lower rated 90210 is renewed. It has higher buzz around the cheerleader circles. Its the same reason The CW is sticking their highest rated scripted show (Smallville) on friday to make room for Twiligh… I mean The Vampire Diaries. But they will never fuck with Gossip Girl because their target audience loves it. Girls at my college throw weekly Gossip Girl parties, while I sit alone in my room and watch Chuck.
Ohh.. that’s sad. I miss Reaper already. I hope they’ve just put it on ice for a year or two.