“State of Affairs”

Here is the NEW scale that will be used this season:
Breakout (5) – Strong out of the gate; one of the highest rated new series
Hit (4) – Ratings are high, but not one of the highest rated new series
Solid (3) – Neither strong nor weak, simply puts up average numbers
Weak (2) – Not a bomb, but puts up consistently low numbers
Bomb (1) – Fails to catch on; one of the lowest rated new series

Quick Premise: A CIA analyst briefs the president on the most critical issues facing the country.
Timeslot: Mondays at 10/9c
Lead in: The Voice
Competition: Castle, NCIS: Los Angeles

Analysis: NBC is booting The Blacklist out of its timeslot in favor of State of Affairs, hoping it can replicate success. The competition is not all too rough, but with all three being a form of crime procedural, it’ll likely hurt State of Affairs just a tad.  NBC has been promoting State of Affairs for a few weeks now, and has been able to devote much of the promotion time for it.  Does advertising really correlate to success?  Probably not, although it is better than nothing.  I do not see State of Affairs being a Blacklist-type hit.  In fact, I think it will likely have a somewhat strong premiere (2.4) and then taper off as the weeks go on.  In either event, long term success seems doubtful.
Prediction: WEAK (2)

A Note to My Readers

Hello everyone,

As you may have noticed, there hasn’t been much activity on the site in a few days.  I would like to take some time to explain why the site has been inactive, and what you can look forward to on Tonight on TV in the future.

When I started this blog, it was my intention to make this a place for renewals, cancellations, and predictions.  September rolled around, and  I added daily ratings to the list of features.  Tonight on TV became a daily go-to site for a number of people.  Site traffic exceeded my highest expectations, with October becoming the most-visited month since moving to wordpress.

Unfortunately, over the past few weeks, my work and day-to-day life has gotten in the way of taking Tonight on TV to further heights.

There was also another issue at hand.

When I first started discussing television on the internet many years ago (perhaps around 2007),  it was on PIFeedback (now TV Media Insights). I truly loved everything about the forums and wanted to do more.  Around 2009/2010, I  decided to start my own blog to share my thoughts with others.  I would have complete control of the content and post anything I wanted.  It was a real joy for me over the past few years.

Over time, however, posting about television, specifically on a blog, has become a daily chore instead of a passion.  I no longer have the time to visit TV Media Insights as much as I would like to and have to put all of my energy into the blog.

With my time becoming more limited, and my feelings toward the blog as a whole changing, I have an announcement to make.  Effective immediately, I will no longer be posting renewals, cancellations, or daily ratings on the site.  I wish to discuss that information with others on a forum platform.  TV Media Insights is like a second home for me on the Internet.  Anytime I have online, I want to spend it on there – not here.

There is, however, one feature I will continue to post on Tonight on TV: ‘Chances of New Series’.  It is one of my favorite features, and a favorite among my readers (those posts command the highest clicks on the site).  The site will also continue to have special features during May upfronts.

This is not the end of Tonight on TV, just a new chapter.

– RJ (yankeesrj12)

“Red Band Society” Returns After Two Weeks

After two weeks off the air, Red Band Society returned with 2.87 million viewers and 0.9 A18-49, down a tenth from its most recent episode.  Retention from Hell’s Kitchen was 81% among total viewers and 69% in the demo.  Only a handful of episodes left, and Red Band Society is off of FOX’s list of problems.

A new episode of Stalker brought in 7.28 million viewers and 1.5 A18-49, even with last weeks prelims, but down a tenth from finals.  What makes this performance look a bit better than last week was the slightly increased retention from Criminal Minds (78% this week vs. 70% last week).  Still, CBS can do much better in the timeslot.

Older-skewing The Mysteries of Laura continued to bring in the viewers, scoring 7.76 million viewers and 1.2 A18-49, even with last week.  NBC already gave the show a full season order, so it will be interesting to see what happens with a second season.  We will, of course, have to wait until May for that answer.

“Marry Me” and “Selfie” Fall Again

Week four of Marry Me took an ugly turn without the help of a new episode of The Voice as a lead in.  Last nights episode brought in a series-low 4.98 million viewers and 1.3 A18-49, down two tenths week-to-week.  Retention from a recap show of The Voice was 53% among total viewers and 59% in the demo – yikes. This is clearly not what NBC had hoped for with Marry Me.  I would like to point out that NBC ran ads for a doomsday episode of Marry Me, in which it touted it as Tuesday Doomsday (or Doomsday Tuesday).  In either event, it appears NBC got its wish.  Any guesses as to what will takeover the timeslot next?

ABC aired two new episodes of Selfie last night, which leads me to believe the series is heading towards cancellation (but ABC denies that is the case).  The first episode, at 8 o’clock, notched 3.94 million viewers and 1.0 A18-49, with the second episode totaling 3.42 million viewers and 0.9 A18-49.  Both numbers are pretty terrible, so I expect ABC to air all 13 episodes and then call it quits (thankfully).

On the season premiere side of things, FOX finally had some good news to report.  Masterchef Junior, which aired its first season on Friday nights, came to Tuesday with 5.69 million viewers and 1.8 A18-49.  Those numbers easily top what Utopia had been doing, and lifted the rest of the night too (New Girl – 1.6 / The Mindy Project – 1.3).  There was less competition than the typical Tuesday night, so expect some loses in the coming weeks.  If I had to make a prediction, Masterchef Junior will settle in at 1.4-1.6 A18-49.  Still, this is quite a promising second season start for the competition series.

The Flash, Forever, and NCIS: New Orleans were pre-empted last night.

“Gotham” Rises

The only glimmer of hope on FOX, Gotham, continued to put up solid numbers.  The latest episode averaged 6.63 million viewers and 2.4 A18-49, up two tenths from one week ago.  Gotham has been performing very well for the struggling FOX.  Gotham also tied The Blacklist for the highest rated drama on the night (and that show didn’t lead off the night).

Another week, another impressive hold for CBS’ Scorpion, which garnered 10.34 million viewers and 2.2 A18-49, down a tenth from last week.  Colored me surprised to see how well Scorpion has performed this season.  CBS should really be protecting it better (ahem, leaving Big Bang on Mondays).  Growth from The Millers was impressive once again this week (6.78 million / 1.6 demo).

Week four of Jane the Virgin held with last weeks low, scoring 1.01 million viewers and 0.4 A18-49.  The year-to-year growth continues to be a positive.  Not much else to say though.