And Veronica Mars *was* a great show. And probably cost under $1mil an episode. At least initially.

Its too early to see a trend for Jericho with only 1 episode. The history of Jericho is that it steadily bleeds viewers until it bottoms out. If ratings somehow went up to 2-3 million, there might be some hope for it. Odds of that are Slim and None and Slim left town on the 7am train to Whoville. And just because it did better than what was there doesnt mean CW will keep it around. It depends on what the arrangement with CBS Paramount is and what the advertisers are paying. In any case its not enough to justify any new episodes.

There is a rumor in Jericho circles that a failed deal with Comcast involved lowering Jerichos cost from nearly $3 million per episode to $1.4 million and that still wasnt low enough (probably wanted under $1 million). That kind of budget cutting would produce a hollowed out crappy version of Jericho as the $3 million for each episode of Season 2 was noticably lacking in quality and the rating went down 25% from Season 1’s finale. To cut another 66% would gut the show – most of the cast would be gone, effects would be all cheesy CGI and the writing would be even worse than Season 2. Quality cost $$$$. Of course the Comcast deal is unconfirmed and could just be a rumor not based in fact.

I was just pointing out that JERICHO which was first good ratings for the situation is now looking good compared to both 90210 and PRIVILEGED last night. That is crazy but not unexpected.

Compare last nights to Thursday Night. Reruns on Thanksgiving by Smallville & Supernatural did better! What would happen if the CW promoted that Thursday Night line up like they do GOSSIP GIRL or 90210?

Hell what am I saying, we’ll never know!

BTW, had you been reading this site for the long run, you’d know I always have questioned Dawn’s strategy and execution. I don’t really question the goal of trying to build the niche with 18-34 — and not even 18-34 females necessarily, but reruns are actually a big, big problem there. *Of course* reruns of shows that are targeted at both genders will do better than shows only aimed at one.

Whether that was factored in and they said “screw it” or the realization is an “oops” I have no idea, but leaning towards oops!

Wow, that was a bit of a rant, but I had to get that off my chest!

I know that, and I wish it would. But unfortunately that isn’t happening right now. I was just saying that despite Fringe being declared a “hit,” I don’t think it’d be able to do all too well if it didn’t have Fox’s biggest show leading into it.

By the way, what show lead into Terminator last season? I can’t even remember.

I am not saying as a first year show it shouldn’t have lead-in support, or that it’s not doing about okay. It certainly is in no danger of cancellation. All I am saying is, it’s not a hit by any stretch of the imagination. It might become one after Idol, but considering its retention rate out of House, that’s far from a safe bet.

Mel,

House was a monster hit, and still is in the demo. ‘24′ has had that status before as well, so has Prison Break (season 1 & 2), and X-Files.

As for TV viewing as an “investment” – my time is a valuable investment, wherever I spend it. When it comes to Eli Stone, which I LOVED at first, I won’t stay up for it. I am DVR’ing it, but I’ll be one of those Live+7 people advertisers don’t care about. I no longer make the effort to catch the appointed timeslot viewing.

And this is the reason I’m so glad Fringe is NOT on CBS, it hasn’t pulled the nubers that network requires, so it would have been yanked by now. But on Fox, its a good fit.

And yes, House did have a minute over run, but Fringe still hung with the big boys in the demos, which is important.

I read where They would like Fringe to be a “tent pole show” next year, so lets hope it gets ome new veiwer influx from AI in the spring. But Looking at Bone’s sagging ratings lately, I would have to say it’s tent pole has been a little flacid lately. And I quit watching Bones because the characters have been invaded by pod people and the writers started smoking crack sometime during S3.

Fringe’s numbers are still very strong, and after the cliffhanger and freaking BRILLIANT episode last night, I’d wager that the numbers will be up again come Jan 20.

Teminator should be standing on its on. Come on it’s TERMINATOR.

Finge is lucky their getting American Idol as a lead in. The plot is becoming more convoluted, and seralized. The show could start to loose viewers fast, if the writers aren’t careful.