if i didnt check my dvr I would have never know

I was excited about both Castle and the Unusuals and lasted 2 episodes of Castle and only about 3/4th of the first episode of the Unusuals. I thought my love for Nathan Fillion and Amber Tamblyn would have me supporting both of these shows but they just didn’t do it for me.

I’m not saying necessarily you want Castle specifically. Although making the (theoretical) supposition while saying to drop the better-performing Chuck is quite confusing. BOTH networks are in big trouble. It’s obvious on NBC’s part because they’re handing over 5 hours of primetime programming to Jay Leno. (partly to keep him off ABC, too, but still…) It’s obvious on ABC’s part since it hasn’t had a rookie show not be in trouble since even before the strike started. Private Practice is the only rookie or sophomore show not in trouble, and that’s only because of the Grey’s lead-in. Hell, DWTS + Grey’s = Leno’s 5 hours, so they’re in the same boat. The only real difference is that NBC keeps shooting itself in the foot with its decision-making. Every network gets failed pilots all the time; ABC is just on a really bad streak. That, or they have people making these decisions with no sense of taste, I don’t know.

Anyway, both of them need a combination of veteran shows with consistent numbers and rookie shows that will stick around. Like Julia said, ABC is in a better position to do so with the litany of pilots in its pipeline. NBC doesn’t have that luxury. NBC actually has a comedy pilot about a Stripes-esque group of underachievers at a community college. I wish I was making that up.

NBC is the one that needs to keep more of their current shows because there’s not much coming in for them. ABC really isn’t in a good position to trash their schedule and reset, either, but they’re in a better position than NBC.

Oh, but haven’t you heard, the Monday 8pm hour is the most competitive hour of the week.

“The Unusuals?…….whatever! Better Off Ted?……sounds stoopid! Lost?! Totally Awesome!”

That’s about as subjective as it gets. In retrospect Lost seems to have worked, but it’s a pretty average title, whereas I like The Unusuals and would wager a guess that the title is the last reason the show is tanking.

even though its definitely shrinking lost’s audience, it still wins the night as the #1 scripted show.

also, if it was to be moved, i say move it to 10pm.

and last night’s epi was great.

Bones is also a pleasent surprise.

I’m not even quite sure what or why you are arguing since you say you don’t think ABC actually has a chance of bringing back Castle.

I like JT idea of moving Castle to 8pm on Wedensdays next Fall.

Oh-Well….still crossing my fingers for Chuck.

Your basis is that you feel like NBC has SO many losses it must cut them all, and that ABC doesn’t have as many bad shows so it doesn’t have to cut all of them. But nonetheless, because you LIKE the show, you concoct an absurd hypothetical (for a show that pulled a 1.9 rating in the final numbers! ONE POINT NINE. HELLO!? ).

So you would, hypothetically find keeping a show that generates a 1.9, on ABC easier than keeping a show that pulled a 2.3 the same night, albeit in different time slots.

sorry, still completely absurd.

My point is I find it easier to see a scenario for a Castle renewal than a Chuck renewal because one’s on ABC and the other is on NBC. I don’t however expect Castle to come back.

I think its incredibly unlikely to say the least that there’s any serious consideration to bringing Castle back as things stand. However I find the various hypothetical scenarios surrounding a Castle renewal easier to consider because its on ABC and unlike NBC they’re going to have to plug holes in the schedule next year. Their slate of locks going forward next year isn’t much improved on NBC’s and at least one of their locks is entirely dependent on its lead-in at this stage and worse still their show launching ratio is arguably worse than NBC’s right now.

As it stands I think ABC will ditch all of their new shows (with the exception being that Surviving Suburbia might survive if it manages to hold steady next week) however I think something like Castle or even The Unusuals has to do a lot less to make itself renewal worthy than Chuck does. If by some miracle either of Castle or The Unusuals rebounds to a 2.1 or 2.2 before the end of their respective runs then I think ABC does consider bringing it back – purely because they’ll likely need something and want a ‘new’ show to carry forward to a second season. To me its much more conceivable that Castle or The Unusuals can rebound three tenths than Chuck rebounding basically an entire point (although after this weeks number it is slightly less than that), which is where I think it would need to be to lock in renewal. For met at least.

Basically right now its much easier for me to entertain the hypothetical for ABC than it is for NBC because their situations are different and the threshold for what a show should need going forward is different. I’ll also point out that I brought up Castle as the ABC show of choice in response to someone else questioning ABC needing to bring something back next year.

And Patrick I’m not entirely sure what you’re asking me when you ask ‘why advocate that for NBC when ABC in in similar trouble’. I get the impression that you think I’m advocating a Castle renewal and lets be completely clear on this now – I’m not. What I am saying is that ABC is in a different position to NBC right now. Without Leno then I’d have no real issues with NBC renewing Chuck and I don’t think we’d even be discussing them not renewing it.

I’d love to see ABC ditch everything on their line-up that isn’t working but realistically I don’t think we can expect to see that happen because without a Leno like deal to explain it advertisers would have an unholy freak out if you axe everything but Dancing/The Bachelor, Greys, Private Practice (as long as it stays behind Greys) and Desperate Housewives. Like I said above if by some miracle Castle or The Unusuals rebounds slightly then ABC probably take another look at it.