US TV

An archive of articles about US television programmes and production.

An American writer’s view of British TV

18 October 2006 Rob Buckley 3 Comments

Ooh. Someone from Madison, Wisconsin’s The Capital Times just got back from her vacation in Europe and found British television “interesting”. Always intrigued to see how others view our tele, but just to clarify once and for all, US readers: Pop Idol was not our idea – it was Australia’s (as was Deal or No Deal). That really shouldn’t be on our shoulders.

Incidentally, could somebody please explain why Americans and Brits alike think Spooks (aka MI-5) is worth watching? 24 has a firmer grip on reality and is a tad more exciting…

UPDATE: Just to prove I shouldn’t write before my third cup of coffee of the morning, my synapses have just kicked in to remind me that I was thinking of Popstars, not Pop Idol, which was indeed a UK original. Popstars was, of course, based on a show from New Zealand, not Australia. Other than that, I was right on the money. But Deal or No Deal is definitely Australian, albeit owned by the Dutch company Endemol.

News

Studio 60’s ratings falling ever further

18 October 2006 Rob Buckley 3 Comments

Sarah PaulsonIt might be from Aaron Sorkin. It might have a star-studded cast. It might have characters constantly going on about how, if you write a quality show, the US public will watch it. But Studio 60 really isn’t doing at all well in the ratings. Currently, it’s about third or fourth in its time slot, with ratings dropping 15% from last week’s episode to 7.8 million (or in ratings talk, 3.1/8 in 18-49, 7.8 million viewers overall).

It’s up against the jaw-droppingly stupid CSI: Miami (is it possible for David Caruso to have had Botox for his acting muscles?) so it’s undergoing a real-world empirical test of its own philosophy. Unfortunately, its theories are wrong: when the US public are presented with glossy, sexy, exciting but stupid versus well-written, wordy, intelligent but preachy drama, they’ll plump for the Caruso-bot every time, it seems.

No word from NBC about what’s going to happen to Studio 60, although there are various words being muttered about the quality of the viewers being just as important as the quantity: Studio 60 is delivering the same kind of people as The West Wing, who are generally smarter, richer, etc than the CSI: Miami crowd (ie everyone else). All the same, keep your fingers crossed and don’t be surprised if Studio 60 becomes Studio 13 episodes only.

US TV

Third-episode verdict: Runaway

16 October 2006 Rob Buckley 1 Comment

Runaway

Runaway, aka “The Fugitive and his family” has been bumbling along for three weeks or so now: time for third-episode verdict. I’m going to stamp it with an almighty “average”.

It’s improved slightly since the distinctly unimpressive first episode, but it’s still failing to come up with any interesting story thread, unlike Vanished (for all that show’s silliness), and the characters aren’t desperately involving either. Oh no, little Jimmy is going to have to flunk the Spelling Bee or else his photo will be taken and they’ll be caught! How awful.

I’m predicting a slow, lingering death for this one, unless someone puts it out of its misery. Don’t get caught up in it.