OK, please, somebody explain to me this most bizarre (dare I say, messed up) scheduling move of the fall: Two of this season’s most promising new series-The Ex List and Crusoe-somehow ended up in the dirty slums of Friday night. Ew! - E! Online’s Kristin Dos Santos in her fall preview for Friday night’s new shows.
The vast wasteland that is Friday night broadcast network television may seem like a dirty slum to most, but for TVbytheNumbers, the Friday ghetto has probably generated the most passionate debates on the site. Ah, what might have been if both Crusoe and The Ex List both aired at the same time. Though we’ll likely frame it as such anyway, Crusoe will air at 8pm (on NBC, beginning October 17) and The Ex List will air at 9pm (beginning October 3 on CBS).
And yes, Kristin did say that The Ex List looks promising. And yet, after the post has been up on her blog for over an hour, there are not 300 comments assailing her from crazed fans of the show which must not be named. WTF!? I chalk it up to summer doldrums pre-Labor Day. I haven’t seen the previews yet so I can’t weigh-in on how promising it is, and I’m not sure I could or would even if I ever do watch it. But the poll listed in the post (see link above) has The Ex List in the lead with over 58% of responses currently saying they’ll watch the show, with another 22% saying they will DVR it.
I have to say, the VAST majority of the negative comments I've heard about Ex-List have been from pissed off fans of that show. As far as reviews, the most negative things I've seen are reviewers questioning how long the premise can last and (mostly) male reviewers saying it's too girly for them (not in those words, but that's the basic gist).
I think Ex-List's real problem isn't the fans of that show or the premise, it's whether people will find it on CBS. It's not CBS' usual fare, which is good because CBS does need to diversify but bad because it will struggle to find viewers.
Crusoe on the other hand, I think might work better as a mini-series. I can see it being difficult to keep the story going long term.
I'll try to sneak a comment in here before I get slammed by both sides. IMO, the coveted 18-49 demo is not a good Friday night audience. CBS's audience's tend to be older anyway and exactly what 'that' show drew given the time slot, the night and the Net. So CBS reaped what they sewed, when they aired, well you know. Then they pi$$ed them off when they cancelled it. So now CBS needs to start over and draw viewers they don't typically reach for a concept that sounds insulting for the younger women. Another CBS misstep, I dunno? Variety had a good article today about Nielsen discovering the graying of the TV audience and a quote from a CBS exec saying about the same thing. Maybe CBS should just embrace the grey side?
I didn't see the Variety story (and you didn't include the link!) but I'm guessing the “graying” story was related to the new Nielsen Universe Estimates where the 55+ was the fastest growing sector (albeit still only ~16% of the television viewing population, their % of total viewing, is much bigger. More here:
http://tvbythenumbers.com/2008/08/28/nielsen-an...
Oh Robert, I'm so sorry! I was rushing and just didn't think. http://www.variety.com/article/VR1117991318.htm...
By now I'm sure you must think I'm stuck in a one rut race but I'm gathering information for a paper I'm working on. I really do have more than just one interest in life.