NBC’s Trauma is dead, but Mercy continues to survive, at least for now. Is there any hope Mercy might not be canceled and instead be renewed for fall 2010?
Highly unlikely. Mercy’s two latest episodes each scored only a 1.7 adults 18-49 rating and only in freak circumstances do networks renew hour long dramas with such low relative ratings.
Note: The X axis scale isn’t the individual episode airdates, but instead the final day of each week the episode aired.
great show but im afraid it will get cancelled
Mercy is surely dead. I have no clue why NBC would pick it up except that it’s one of the few dramas they have and it was doing slightly better than Trauma. Now it’s doing worse than Trauma which is pathetic.
OFF WITH ITS HEAD!
Saveable. They turned around after the first episode, but I think that was too late. Maybe that can advertise it, and get that audience back.
NBC should be canceled. That would mean, the entire operation!
Dead. NBC will want to start over and I don’t see this being saved.
The CW need to be cancelled more. 8|
Eh…Though my first instinct is to agree it’s dead as I think more on it I’m leaning towards saveable. Two things…
1. There’s a limit to the number of new series NBC can develop. Since pretty much everything is falling flat they’ll have to hang on to a few shows.
2. It’s got to be cheap to make. They only have one cast member I even recognize from previous projects and Hospital sets are a dime a dozen in LA.
Given those factors I’m going to say “Saved by the Leno Rule” (which I am defining as a show that gets lousy ratings but still stays on the air because it can be produced for peanuts)
nahh, The CW is better off than NBC. The CW has MUCH lower expectations than NBC.. they set the bar lower and target a different audience. I’d say, all things factored in, NBC is in worse condition.. plus it looks even worse off because it was once on the top, which The CW has never been.. nor will it ever be.
P.S. Is Mercy cheaper than Leno to make? Given how much Jay is probably making and the fact that he’s doing 46 weeks per year (as opposed to Mercy’s 22) it might just be.
Tom, no. A full year of Leno may cost more than Mercy (though possibly not) but per hour, Leno is a fraction of the cost.
Networks, including NBC, have been known to renew shows even when the ratings suggest otherwise. As a function of RATINGS, “30 Rock” should never have survived the initial episode order of its first season, for example. NBC may see long-term potential in a show such as “Mercy” and give it a longer time to prove itself. Personally, I enjoy the show, look forward to new episodes and hope they’ll give it every chance to succeed.
Tom, there is no way Mercy is cheaper to make per episode then Leno. Also I don’t see why NBC would be limited on how much they can develop for next year, the only obstacle they have is how much they are willing to spend.
I think NBC needs to be bold and start with a clean slate. Cancel everything except The Office, 30 Rock, The Biggest Loser, and SVU. A move like that would bring attention to the network, and they badly need it. It would be a gamble, but if they are successful it can pay off big time.
NBC should started with a clean slate (i.e. canning everything, but the shows Tommy mentioned) this year, so I would not bank on them wising up in a hurry. This year they have tried reliable unoriginal drivel (Mercy) and reliable unoriginal drivel with special effects (Trauma). Next year they’ll probably renew crap like Heroes, P&R and Chuck again and supplement it with reliable unoriginal drivel with a huge star name and reliable unoriginal drivel with shaky cam and gratuitous sex scenes.
Either way you pin it, Mercy is toast.
@Julia & Tommy: I suspect you’re right on the “per episode” basis but I’m far from sure of it. Leno turned down an offer of $40 million a year from Sony (http://www.nytimes.com/2008/02/27/arts/television/27leno.html?pagewanted=print) meaning he has to be making around that much now. There’s no way the stars of Mercy are pulling in anywhere near that. Also Leno has to have a set writing team while dramas like Mercy can use freelancers. Leno has a multi-camera setup just like a drama would. And so on. Again, you might be right but I don’t think its a foregone conclusion.
@Tommy: On the amount of new shows being only limited by money you’re just wrong on that. Talk to any network exec and they’ll tell you there aren’t that many options available. There have even been articles about networks fighting to pickup various shows.
The bottom line is that a TV show takes a lot to create. Everything has to be in place before the network picks the show up and lining up producers, stars, backing etc… isn’t easy. So there are a lot of ideas out there and a lot of talent but getting from there to pitching a pilot to one of the networks is very hard and most don’t make it that far (which in turn places a limit on the shows available to the networks)
Conventional wisdom is that Leno’s show is costing NBC $100 million per season, or about $400,000/hour. That gets 46 weeks of new episodes per year.
Conventional wisdom for costs for a one hour broadcast drama are $2 million/hour, for a 22 episode season. I have no reason to believe that Mercy is noticeably cheaper than this.
Tom, dramas are not multi-cam shows. And multi-cam means cheaper than single-cams.
Is that a typo Bill? Because if Leno costs $100 million dollars a season, that is a lot more than 44 million.
Mercy is just a fantastic show. The best show this fall on any network (broadcast or cable). I really wish people would give it a chance. I hope NBC sees the possibility that such a show has, and renews it.
Then again, what do I know. I just watched the first episode of Dollhouse’s second season, and it was fantastic. I had delayed watching it because of all the bad press.
Middling ratings aside, does Mercy offer anything to suggest it could bring cache to the network like EMMY wins (30 Rock), even upscale viewers (30 Rock), or some water cooler discussions (The Office), or discussion boards (Parks and Recreation)? — No.
It’s a competently executed, but conventional hospital drama. NBC could better spend the money on something else.
0megaparticle, Mercy fills one hour a week. Leno fills 5. If you want to compare them, either divide Leno’s number by 5 or multiply Mercy’s by 5. Or just compare the per hour cost, which is $400k for Leno vs $2 mil for Mercy.
@Bill – Right but most of the expense of a broadcast drama is in the star (Conventional Wisdom for a Cable Hour is $1 million and even cable shows have bigger stars than Mercy does). It’s also produced by a noname producer (BermanBraun’s only even been around since 2007).
Mercy is to TV drama what Albertson brand cereal is to the Grocery aisle. It’s generic in every way (stars, producers, obviously the writers based on the few episodes I’ve seen). Again, I do think it’s probably more expensive per episode but I wouldn’t be surprised if Mercy comes in at around $900,000 an episode which might be sustainable at 1.7
Tom, you would be very wrong. If Mercy were that cheap, there would be talk of how cheap it is. There is nothing to suggest that it’s any cheaper than a normal one hour drama, and certainly not under $1 mil per episode.
Conventional wisdom for costs for a one hour broadcast drama are $2 million/hour, for a 22 episode season.
In a recent “mailbag” column, Alan Sepinwall gave the standard at nearly $3 million. I have no idea whether he’s any more reliable than the other columnist that have quoted $2 million, but it would seem to make sense given the syndication rate for The Mentalist and NCIS:LA.
Mercy is a awesome show, and is developing really well, with some nice touches of non-cheap drama and natural comedy, with a great new cast. Veronica Callahan for me it’s a strong character, and the show definitely deserves more viewers, which is not getting.
I’m really crossing my fingers for Mercy, the best new show of the season.
Holly, Alan was talking about the actual cost to produce the episode not necessarily the license fees or the actual cost per hour.
the number Bill cites defers it among the repeats to compare to an hour of Jay Leno, though I think the # would look more like this if you used Alan’s numbers. My understanding is most license fees include the right to air each episode 3 times (original + 2 repeats).
I’m just using scrawling on napkin modeling (some shows cost more, some shows cost less, and some shows don’t air as many times in repeats, and some shows have more than 22 episodes)/ Anyway, let’s use Alan’s #s. Multiply $3m by 22 = $66 million, let’s say the show airs 48 times a year (in that example each episode airs at least once in repeats, with a few airing twice). That gets costs down to about $1.375 million per hour of primetime airing. Cost to the network per hour is higher if they air less reruns, lower if they air more.
So the conventional wisdom is either wrong on the costs, or more likely incorporates all the shows that air almost no repeats at all. And especially with canceled series and shows like Heroes that in the past, have aired very few reruns, it seems likely that conventional wisdom is across all shows.
I think you can figure a show like NCIS costs more than $3 million to make, but even if they make 25 and they cost $4 million and CBS winds up airing them all twice it costs $2 million per hour of air time.
I hope they hold onto Mercy for another season and give it a chance. It has decent plot and character development and is an “easy” watch.
i tried watching the first 2 episodes and they did nothing for me. Did it get better in later episodes?
Well, since Mercy is on NBC, this info I am about to mention seems relevant. I haven’t seen this mentioned on this site; if I missed it, I apologize for being redundant, but there is an article about the sale of NBC/UNI to Comcast possibly going down this week. Tomorrow-literally-NBC/UNI partner, Vivendi, can sell their 20% of the company, and the article says that NBC will probably buy Vivendi’s part-which will include Universal, I assume, since Universal came with Vivendi as its property-and then turn around and sell 51% of the entire company to Comcast. Of course, NBC/UNI also owns the now Syfy channel, and oldie, moldie viewers of Syfy will probably rejoice if Vivendi is finally history, in terms of the channel, since it was Vivendi’s purchase of the channel way back when, when they really didn’t have the assets to handle it, that caused the first(at least public) programming bloodbath at the channel. Vivendi had already acquired Universal in its precarious financial dance, and then it buddied up with GE to further keep itself afloat, which blended the newly acquired assets with NBC to form NBC/Universal. So, if this comes about, then it will be an end of an era. Basically NBC has benefitted from its partnership with Vivendi and Universal. Not that I have a head for business, but the cable assets of Syfy, USA, and the others seem to have been a boon, and is mainly the reason that Comcast is interested. Sooooo, after all the above, I think it might be a reasonable assumption that the old, original broadcast NBC arm cutting costs and staying rather low key, in terms of its competition, might have been to its advantage in showing its possible future owner that, though times are hard, it is showing wise stewardship of what assets it does have. Maybe Comcast will give the old, historically significant NBC division a good shot in the arm, as there is still some benefit to having access to the “broadcast” audience-at least for the time being.
Just some thoughts.
Here is a link to that article:
http://tech.yahoo.com/news/ap/20091114/ap_on_hi_te/us_nbc_past_and_future
as usual tom can’t wait for another crew losing their job, so he can write another “see, i was right” article.
sooner or later even you will loose yours, tom.
It would take extreme circumstances for Mercy to come back, e.g. the NBC/Uni takeover languishing in legal hell for months, killing the 2010/11 development cycle. And at this point, especially with Zucker still in charge in the short term after the merger, I don’t see development being harmed in that way.
There’s no signs the show is exceedingly cheap; it is probably slightly below average, because of the lack of star power (again, this was a low hopes midseason show forced into Fall because of Maura Tierney). You’ve need a perfect storm of development misery (they go and cancel Leno AND can’t develop any new shows) for this to make it into next year.
I see a a bingo square or two so far.
Didn’t I read somewhere that Mercy is doing better than what NBC had on Wed at that time slot last season? It also performs pretty well, apparently with women.
Chuck, here are the ratings for the first seven episodes of Mercy vs Knight Rider:
Knight Rider:
2.4
2.4
2.2
2.3
2.2
1.6
1.5
Mercy:
2.3
2.1
1.8
1.9
1.9
1.7
1.7
Except for the last two weeks, Knight Rider wins out every week. (Note: Knight Rider is using fast nationals, Mercy is using finals.)
If NBC’s going to renew a show that’s pulling a 1.7 it’s much more likely it would renew Law and Order considering A.) L+O is pulling that on a Friday B.) Its history and loyal fan base C.) L+O SVU has been one of NBC’s few successes and D.) Much more accessible to new viewers
As for NBC’s problems as a whole (assuming they have no mid season successes) its best bet would be:
Cancel everything on Monday and get new shows (high quality serialized shows would have the best chance to compete since successful procedurals, reality shows, and comedies are already there)
Leave Tuesday alone
Pair Law and Order and Law and Order: SVU on Wednesday
Move Community+Parks and Recreation to Friday at 8 (Taking Law and Order’s spot) and put either two new comedies or a light drama (blue skies programming) in their place
Guaranteed success? Of course not Better than what they have now? Most likely
Don’t listen to anyone here who is defending Mercy. It’s poorly written low-concept dreck.
Been watching Mercy, it is nothing special but isn’t bad. Hopefully it will get a full season to see if it improves.
JohnW, Mercy already has a full season.
QUOTE: I think NBC needs to be bold and start with a clean slate. Cancel everything except The Office, 30 Rock, The Biggest Loser, and SVU. END QUOTE
I think NBC will save Law and Order too. It is putting a dent in Ghost Whisperer, and may beat it sometime this season. IIRC last week it tied Ghost Whisperer in the demo.
>”Don’t listen to anyone here who is defending Mercy. It’s poorly written low-concept dreck.”
That’s funny, I was just about to say that it was well written but poorly acted. Some of the secondary characters pull their weight, but the main character has no charisma, and black sidekick lady not only lacks charisma, but can’t act.
Some of the dialogue is really sharp, though– the situations are the standard medical drama crap though.
Mercy needs a lead-in. The only way it’ll be renewed is if NBC gets rid of Leno and pushes it back to 9pm and limits the initial order to 13 eps.
Mercy is a hospital drama, it’s not really an 8pm show, it would be better off at 9 or 10pm, ER was hugely successful, because it airred at 10pm, I just don’t think people are ready for that much drama that early in the night.
Mercy is a cheap watery version of Grey’s Anatomy. I don’t want to watch any more medical dramas that focus most on which charcter is sleeping with who. Trauma is twice the show that Mercy is and it is bull that Mercy got picked up and Trauma didn’t, NBC can’t afford to keep making stupid choices like this.
It looked the crap the little that i did watch.
But yeah, rid of all these bad medical drama’s.
For every ER, House, Grey’s there’s Trauma, Mercy, Three Rivers.
If Mercy doesnt survive, I’ll miss it:(
I would at least try and save it. Give it an Olympic push or something. You never know. Its worth the effort i recon. Its one of the better shows this season i recon.
I watched it for the first time this week and it really isn’t that bad. If they’re going to keep a show, it might as well be this one, at least it shows promise… although it’s probably costly with all those writers and scripts and actors they have to pay.
If all NBC is about is cost-cutting and producing shows that are cheap like Leno, then why do they keep any scripted programming on the air at all? Damn the affiliates, and the “lead-ins” they need for their late local newscasts… just cut a deal with YouTube and run random web videos all through prime time. Think about how much money they could save then!
There’s an applicable saying that was quoted somewhere, maybe even in a discussion thread on this site, from NPR’s Car Guys: “The frugal man spends more.”
“mercy” is the only new nbc show that can register and hover around 2nd to 3rd place on it’s timeslot. you dont see that in nbc everyday.
so big question for nbc , why dump your only new “hit” show?
Is csi is danger at all of moving to a new time slot???
@john I don’t think so because CSI is beating G.A in viewers but I have aways thought it would be a good post NCSI LA what do you think?
well atleast if it gets cancelled Georgina (michael T) can do more gossip girl.
i don’t want it to get canceled but i’m pretty sure it will be. that latest episode was really really good though…the best written episode so far…if only they had started with that quality
I have no idea if it will be saved, but I think it should and I’m usually a harsh critic — see a long post I did on Flash Forward. It isn’t a great show, but it is a good, enjoyable, light show. (Btw, I am not generally a fan of hospital shows — except HOUSE and ROYAL PAINS — never got around to watching TRAUMA, never even watched ER and stopped on GA after the first season.)
What people ignore is that sometimes you don’t want a ‘race against time to catch the killer’ or a world-wrecker show, or even another serial drama. Sometimes you just want to kick back, relax, and enjoy a pleasant hour with enjoyable people, having more or less the same type of problems you have in your job and your life. MERCY doesn’t tie its story to the patient of the week, or to the rush to save a life. It’s about simple, everyday things, like dealing with bosses, or romantic problems, or the like.
Is it a ’soap opera’? Sure, that was obvious the first show, but as my wife and I — both of whom usually hate soap operas — said to each other that night “Yes, but it’s a GOOD soap opera.” It’s funny, touching, and easy going.
Another year, one filled with ‘breakthrough shows’ and maybe it would be already toast. On another network it’s bye-bye. But on a year when the new shows included TRAUMA, FLASH FORWARD, THE FORGOTTEN, THREE RIVERS, this stands out as — except maybe for NCIS:LA, which we are saving up for a marathon, but which the first two episodes gave little sign of anything more than simple competence — the best drama of a very bad year.
I think, and hope, that if they just give it more time, it might find an audience that will wind up sticking around. It’s happened before, in plenty of areas.
If it dies, it won’t be a major loss, nothing to start campaigns over, but, as i said before, it deserves to make another year.
i think it depends on how Parenthood,Chuck and Persons Unknown do
Mercy is very cheap so it has less expectation than most 1 hour dramas on NBC..Persons Unknown is cheaper but is not owned by NBC
they proably want to keep a certain number of dramas for next season
of course they will renew it because they have nothing… oh im sorry. i must be mistaken: they have the BIG HIT IN VIEWERS AND DEMOS jay leno show!!! UHAUHAUHAUHA
the show is great! im watching it since the premiere, its funny and not so complicated in the storyline.
I’m astounded. Tom said, “it was a midseason show forced into the fall because of Maura Tierney.”
Because she got cancer, you mean? It’s not like it’s her fault..
Tom writes, “Right but most of the expense of a broadcast drama is in the star (Conventional Wisdom for a Cable Hour is $1 million and even cable shows have bigger stars than Mercy does). It’s also produced by a noname producer (BermanBraun’s only even been around since 2007).”
(facepalm)
” Again, I do think it’s probably more expensive per episode but I wouldn’t be surprised if Mercy comes in at around $900,000 an episode”
(double facepalm)
Mercy is so bad I’m surprised it surived this long.
Julia – I know it was picked up for the season, I was referring to giving it a full season of air before deciding to renew it or not.
forget mercy–nbc should’ve just renewed Life–it would’ve been more compatible alongside any of the law and orders and it rarely if ever pulled below a 2.0. (also it had a devoted fan base that could’ve grown exponentially by just letting reruns air on nbc owened USA–which it easily could have done—they could’ve easily inserted reruns of it alongside reruns of house or ncis and potentially developed a quiet fanbase which could’ve helped their ratings for first run eps. but whatever cancel it and throw something new at the night and time cause that’ll help.)
“Persons Unknown” will be airing in the summer or possibly taking “day one”, now a miniseries, spot after the 4 episodes aired
and i dont see “Parenthood” being a hit, a new show against the mega giant “American Idol”
and “mercy” if your saying it’s bad show after seeing 2 episodes, your wrong, ‘mercy’ is an okay show that will go either way
so right now “mercy” will be renewed despite the ratings
it rarely if ever pulled below a 2.0.
….
I think you mean it rarely, if ever, pulled above a 2.0. For its first season you would be correct, but take a look at its second season ratings: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Life_(TV_series)#US_television_ratings
Four episodes the entire 21 episodes were at or above 2.0.
Well if Jay Leno is gone next year, NBC will need five additional hours of programming and with other holes on their schedule they would need about 7 shows. If Jay stays, Mercy goes. If Jay goes, Mercy stays.
@matt stechel- “life” doesnt make money for nbc and went downhill in the ratings during season 2, despite the easy competition last fall 2008
RJ, Leno isn’t going anywhere. They still have to pay him for a second year even if they don’t air the show. And considering how the show would be massively profitable at 1.5 demo rating, the 1.4 that it’s getting probably still means profits.
As of now Leno isnt going anywhere. What happens if he falls below a 1.0 demo on some days? (Friday, possibly Monday)
It’s the average that matters, not the individual days.
Save it and give it a chance to grow. Remember this is NBC.
well, if it slips any further, they will definitely cut the order from 22 to some more manageable number. If it stays at 1.7-1.8 they will probably cut the order anyway. If it can get to the 1.9-2.1 zone, it’s a surefire for the rest of the season. If it gets above a 2.1 (which will basically be a miracle) it has a shot at a second season.
That’s my prediction. I expect it to show some growth further along, but not enough to justify a second season.
NBC’s next big innovation:
Jimmy Fallon at 9 p.m., 5 nights!
I hope they take a chance on it. It really is the best new show of the year, and getting better all the time.
I am honestly shocked that people prefer Mercy to Trauma,I’m also shocked people think Mercy is good… I’ll be honest i had interest in neither when they first previewed, and was still feeling kind of blah after the pilots, but i warmed up to Trauma after the first episode…i’m really going to miss it, i think it’s a solid show, good actors, characters etc…but i get NBC cancelling it b/c it’s expensive.
I keep watching Mercy to see what everyone else’s fascination is with it, and i just don’t get it…i really don’t…i still feel the acting and story lines are horrible.
Most of the complaints i see about Trauma are it not being real/accurate from EMT or allied fields, but for me as medical professional i’m looking for entertainment, not a repeat of my work day, and i really feel Trauma is the better show.
on another train of thought, NBC keeps killing good shows, it’s been a trend for years now…honestly the only thing i go to NBC for now, is Trauma, L&O + SVU. I will watch Hero’s while i’m waiting for Trauma to start…but it’s more like the TV is on than me actively participating…they lost me after the 1st season…
Doubt it’ll get a 2nd season unless it starts trending back upwards. Or unless DirecTV underwrites the cost. But I don’t think the camera shakes enough for DirecTV to do that.
Speaking of things in trouble, I’m told “Lie to Me” is hanging by a thread (to use a Bill axiom). Anyone out there who likes the show and is measured by A.C. Nielsen in any way, shape or form, you might want to make sure your viewership is counted tonight. Wink, wink, nudge, nudge. Besides, it’s a very special episode about the best holiday in the world. Which reminds me, don’t go shopping at Wal-Mart next Friday…
DUMP LENO, Mercy is terrible,Dump Mercy and put it outof our misery.
Mercy has a full year but thats only because, NBC wouldnt axe their only 2 new dramas, especially after cancelling Southland. My bet is Mercy will go the way of Knight Rider. It sucks because ER is gone and NBC needs a medical series, so that gives them a reason to keep it around, yet the series is plummeting and will only get worse when Idol arrives. Looks like NBC has another repeat of last season. The only difference is now they have Leno.
Mercy’s dead. I cannot imagine NBC picking this up for a second season. Besides that I want Michelle on GG! I want Mercy to die ASAP!
Cancel it and bring back American Gladiators!
traumagrl: did you have any Trauma? the show(mercy) is one of the best acted and well developed this season. trauma is just BOOM-BANG-DEAD PERSON- CAR INCIDENT-HELICOPTER-BOOM-BANG. i didn t see anything good in the premiere.. and yeah, its just really expensive..
I like this chart, you guys should make one for all shows!
Mercy is also getting its low ratings in a timeslot when just about everything gets low ratings. The first hour of Wednesday primetime hasn’t had a genuine hit for a long time, on any network.
I LOVE this show.
I liked the plot, but they lost me the moment they showed a nurse beating a raccoon to death with a crutch. Women are rarely that violent, and the writers blew it on that one. There was no reason to kill the animal in the first place, let alone bring it to the hospital. NBC is really starting to suck big time! I even gave up Law and Order for Ghost Hunters on Syfy!
I’m sorry for all of you that do not like the show but that is what I look forward to when I get home from school and work. I Love the show! Im dying to see what happens between Mike and Veronica. This is one of three shows that allows me to relax after a stressful day and if it is canceled NBC will be receiving a very angry letter! Keep making new episodes NBC!!!