Ratings Of Various Sorts
Television Ratings (i)
So after going on about the new shows debuting last night I only even saw one myself when it aired, taping My Name Is Earl and 7:30s better-than-usual episode of Two And A Half Men due to what was a rather busy night of trying to get things-I-should-have-done-earlier done. Anyways, new carpet's all done, everythings been put back, I finally sorted out the stuff I had to re-arrange into its old place, and I learnt my lesson as to what happens when you procrastinate - although the fact that I have "learnt" this lesson before and yet it still happens... regularly... suggests said-lesson probably won't stick. No matter, Everybody Hates Chris gets a solid B or 3.5/5 from me for its premiere. Obviously this rating is based on a TV-scale and is not comparable to a movie grade. It's a good show and Chris Rock's voice-over is often very funny... but I think it'll take me a while to get used to the concept of pretty much the ENTIRE show being driven by Chris Rock's voice-over. Seriously. It's original I guess for that, but still it would be nice if the characters on-screen were given maybe an inch more breathing space. My Name Is Earl on the other hand is undeniably very very good. One thing about most new shows, in particular Desperate Housewives, is that it normally takes me a few episodes to "warm" to the characters (not necessarily "like them", but just be used to them in the way that is intended I guess), but with Earl and co. I felt like I knew who they were, and was very satisfied with the impression I had been given, after all of 15-20 minutes. Very funny show, nice absurd humour thrown in every once and a while (like when Earl and his brother - being smalltown Southerners - find out a guy they were trying to fix up with a woman is gay, they don't just leave but run away screaming from his house ala a-pending-bomb-explosion, followed by the voice-0ver: "thinking back, the running probably wasn't necessary") and what's particularly impressive is the way it plays on the stereotypes of its trailer-trash characters while at the same time coming across as fresh and original. Earl, for all his bad deeds, is kind of a dumb-but-charming lead character who is very likable. Definitely a VERY strong B+ or 4/5 for the premiere. I have a good feeling about this show.
Television Ratings (ii)
For those unfamilar with how US TV ratings work, and I mean viewership ratings, a 13.4/21 means that of all of the 110 million or so US households with TVs, 13.4% were watching a certain program, and that this represents 21% of the total households with TVs who were watching TV at that time. Why is this of any concern to people like you and me; us non-Americans? Quite simple really; whenever an American program stops airing despite its popularity here, it means that in the States (where it matters) the ratings simply aren't high enough for that show to stay on the air - the higher the ratings, the bigger the audience, the more money for the US network from adverisers. Scrubs is a regular top-10 show in the all-important-to-advertisiers 18-49 demographic in New Zealand, but it doesn't mean shit when it comes to Scrubs chances of staying on the air; it's not doing all-too-well in America and hasn't been since it lost the post-Friends timeslot on NBC.
Now that I've gotten that beginner's guide out of the way; Holyfuckingshitballs at American Idol. I've very much come to loathe these Idol shows as the seasons have worn on, particularly the especially-useless NZ Idol, but apparently America fails to share this sentiment. Now in its fifth-season (and only the original winner, Kelly Clarkson, has actually gotten anywhere; Fantasia who? Carrie Under-what now? Did idle-American Ruben Studdard get swallowed by his own fat or something?), American Idol posted a freakin' 21.0/30 rating in its second hour. How big is that you ask? Well, CSI, the top-rated show this season in the States and one which sometimes beats the other networks when it's just a repeat, has averaged 16.1/24 for its 15 episodes so far in 2005-06. Idol - the show which epitomises the concept of the dream in that the chasing of that dream (the show's search for an idol) is more popular and exciting to audiences that the attainment of that dream (considering how many vote for the winner, the number of records that winner sells is normally a very microscopic fraction) - is a show that isn't showing signs of slowing down. Those are massive ratings. Massive. Now why can't those same morons watch something decent like Arrested Development instead of letting it get cancelled?
Good news though - Boston Legal is still doing well-ish in its time-slot, posting a 7.9/13 (on par with its season average) in the second of three episodes guest-starring Michael J. Fox. And 24's debut last Sunday drew more viewers than it did last season thus proving, through the idea that those who have seen it simply don't stop watching, how right I really am about its awesomeness. Unfortunately, CBS's Love Monkey (starring Tom "Ed" Cavanagh) has a lot of work to do if it is to stay on the air, posting just a 5.9/9 in its first episode (most shows, unless they're Desperate Housewives, lose viewers in each of their first few weeks).
Anyways, if you're interested to know what isn't in danger of leaving your screens in the near future, here are America's Top 20 shows of the season:
http://tv.zap2it.com/tveditorial/tve_main/1,1002,272season,00.html
Movie Ratings (i)
Yesterday, Wes Craven's best movie since the uber-awesome Scream come out on DVD: Red Eye. I saw this in theatres too and while I enjoyed it a little better the first time (when I didn't know what would happen) it still remains a terrific little movie which benefits from simplicity, a Run Lola Run-esque short running time and a couple of terrific performances from the-future-biggest-star-in-Hollywood Rachel McAdams and the always creepy Cillian Murphy (Dr. Jonathan "Scarecrow" Crane in Batman Begins). Brian Cox on the other hand dozes through his role, given very little to do but lie unconscious, eat snacks, watch television and answer the phone. Hell, scrap "very little" - I think I just wrote his part of the screenplay. Seriously. If you like tight thrillers, thought Flightplan could have been better, or liked "that chick in Wedding Crashers/The Notebook" then this movie is for you. Having now seen it twice, I'll give it a strong B, or 3.5/5. It does what it does very well, even if it isn't all that ambitious beyond being entertaining, actually having a decent set-up to go with its solid premise, and maintaining a suspenseful atmosphere.
So after going on about the new shows debuting last night I only even saw one myself when it aired, taping My Name Is Earl and 7:30s better-than-usual episode of Two And A Half Men due to what was a rather busy night of trying to get things-I-should-have-done-earlier done. Anyways, new carpet's all done, everythings been put back, I finally sorted out the stuff I had to re-arrange into its old place, and I learnt my lesson as to what happens when you procrastinate - although the fact that I have "learnt" this lesson before and yet it still happens... regularly... suggests said-lesson probably won't stick. No matter, Everybody Hates Chris gets a solid B or 3.5/5 from me for its premiere. Obviously this rating is based on a TV-scale and is not comparable to a movie grade. It's a good show and Chris Rock's voice-over is often very funny... but I think it'll take me a while to get used to the concept of pretty much the ENTIRE show being driven by Chris Rock's voice-over. Seriously. It's original I guess for that, but still it would be nice if the characters on-screen were given maybe an inch more breathing space. My Name Is Earl on the other hand is undeniably very very good. One thing about most new shows, in particular Desperate Housewives, is that it normally takes me a few episodes to "warm" to the characters (not necessarily "like them", but just be used to them in the way that is intended I guess), but with Earl and co. I felt like I knew who they were, and was very satisfied with the impression I had been given, after all of 15-20 minutes. Very funny show, nice absurd humour thrown in every once and a while (like when Earl and his brother - being smalltown Southerners - find out a guy they were trying to fix up with a woman is gay, they don't just leave but run away screaming from his house ala a-pending-bomb-explosion, followed by the voice-0ver: "thinking back, the running probably wasn't necessary") and what's particularly impressive is the way it plays on the stereotypes of its trailer-trash characters while at the same time coming across as fresh and original. Earl, for all his bad deeds, is kind of a dumb-but-charming lead character who is very likable. Definitely a VERY strong B+ or 4/5 for the premiere. I have a good feeling about this show.
Television Ratings (ii)
For those unfamilar with how US TV ratings work, and I mean viewership ratings, a 13.4/21 means that of all of the 110 million or so US households with TVs, 13.4% were watching a certain program, and that this represents 21% of the total households with TVs who were watching TV at that time. Why is this of any concern to people like you and me; us non-Americans? Quite simple really; whenever an American program stops airing despite its popularity here, it means that in the States (where it matters) the ratings simply aren't high enough for that show to stay on the air - the higher the ratings, the bigger the audience, the more money for the US network from adverisers. Scrubs is a regular top-10 show in the all-important-to-advertisiers 18-49 demographic in New Zealand, but it doesn't mean shit when it comes to Scrubs chances of staying on the air; it's not doing all-too-well in America and hasn't been since it lost the post-Friends timeslot on NBC.
Now that I've gotten that beginner's guide out of the way; Holyfuckingshitballs at American Idol. I've very much come to loathe these Idol shows as the seasons have worn on, particularly the especially-useless NZ Idol, but apparently America fails to share this sentiment. Now in its fifth-season (and only the original winner, Kelly Clarkson, has actually gotten anywhere; Fantasia who? Carrie Under-what now? Did idle-American Ruben Studdard get swallowed by his own fat or something?), American Idol posted a freakin' 21.0/30 rating in its second hour. How big is that you ask? Well, CSI, the top-rated show this season in the States and one which sometimes beats the other networks when it's just a repeat, has averaged 16.1/24 for its 15 episodes so far in 2005-06. Idol - the show which epitomises the concept of the dream in that the chasing of that dream (the show's search for an idol) is more popular and exciting to audiences that the attainment of that dream (considering how many vote for the winner, the number of records that winner sells is normally a very microscopic fraction) - is a show that isn't showing signs of slowing down. Those are massive ratings. Massive. Now why can't those same morons watch something decent like Arrested Development instead of letting it get cancelled?
Good news though - Boston Legal is still doing well-ish in its time-slot, posting a 7.9/13 (on par with its season average) in the second of three episodes guest-starring Michael J. Fox. And 24's debut last Sunday drew more viewers than it did last season thus proving, through the idea that those who have seen it simply don't stop watching, how right I really am about its awesomeness. Unfortunately, CBS's Love Monkey (starring Tom "Ed" Cavanagh) has a lot of work to do if it is to stay on the air, posting just a 5.9/9 in its first episode (most shows, unless they're Desperate Housewives, lose viewers in each of their first few weeks).
Anyways, if you're interested to know what isn't in danger of leaving your screens in the near future, here are America's Top 20 shows of the season:
http://tv.zap2it.com/tveditorial/tve_main/1,1002,272season,00.html
Movie Ratings (i)
Yesterday, Wes Craven's best movie since the uber-awesome Scream come out on DVD: Red Eye. I saw this in theatres too and while I enjoyed it a little better the first time (when I didn't know what would happen) it still remains a terrific little movie which benefits from simplicity, a Run Lola Run-esque short running time and a couple of terrific performances from the-future-biggest-star-in-Hollywood Rachel McAdams and the always creepy Cillian Murphy (Dr. Jonathan "Scarecrow" Crane in Batman Begins). Brian Cox on the other hand dozes through his role, given very little to do but lie unconscious, eat snacks, watch television and answer the phone. Hell, scrap "very little" - I think I just wrote his part of the screenplay. Seriously. If you like tight thrillers, thought Flightplan could have been better, or liked "that chick in Wedding Crashers/The Notebook" then this movie is for you. Having now seen it twice, I'll give it a strong B, or 3.5/5. It does what it does very well, even if it isn't all that ambitious beyond being entertaining, actually having a decent set-up to go with its solid premise, and maintaining a suspenseful atmosphere.
posted by Steve @ 9:44 AM
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