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PREMIERE WEEK: DVR’s Power Grows, NBC Tops, ‘Revolution’ Leads Drama-Heavy Fall

By NELLIE ANDREEVA | Monday October 1, 2012 @ 3:52pm PDTTags: Modern Family, Ratings, Revolution, The Mindy Project, Vegas
Nellie Andreeva

Premiere Week used to be the ultimate make-it-or-break-it test for the broadcast networks, a barometer for which new shows will be hot that season and which will likely die. Today, more and more networks schedule their fall premieres outside of premiere week, diminishing the importance of the season’s opening week. Last year, some of the strongest new fall series — ABC’s Once Upon A Time and Suburgatory and NBC’s Grimm — all launched outside premiere week. This year, the list includes NBC’s Revolution and Go On, which premiered early, and ABC’s highest-profile new series, drama Nashville, which debuts next week.

Related: Fall 2012: As Broadcast Season Kicks Off, Where Do Networks Stand?

And then there is the rising power of DVRs, especially for returning series. During Premiere Week last year, four series — Two And A Half Men, Modern Family, How I Met Your Mother and The Middle – were up double-digits from the previous fall’s premieres. This year, only one returning show, ABC’s Grey’s Anatomy, posted year-to-year gains, a testament to the series’ masterfully crafted cliffhangers. But many series are expected to make up ground in Live+7 as pundits point to this season as the one where shifted viewing reaches critical mass for a major impact on ratings reporting. So far, only Live+3 ratings for series that aired Monday-Wednesday last week are in. They show an average of 26% lift in adults 18-49, up from 20% last fall, as DVR contribution has crossed the one-quarter mark only three days after the shows’ original airing.

Not surprisingly, top-rated comedy Modern Family is the biggest ratings gainer for now, adding 1.75 in 18-49 (31.6%) for a stellar 7.3 Live+3 demo rating. Somewhat surprisingly, as viewers tend to overwhelmingly favor returning shows for their season passes, Modern Family‘s gain is tied for No. 1 with that for new NBC drama Revolution. Overall, the 1.75 Live+3 increase for Revolution represents the largest percentage gain for any Monday-Wednesday series (50.6%) and vaults the futuristic series to a 5.19 demo rating, the second-highest behind Modern Family last week. It edged the series that helped launch it, NBC’s The Voice (5.18). The big DVR jump on top of already strong ratings (with a 3.5 Live+Same Day rating in 18-49, Revolution was already the highest-rated freshman series of Premiere Week) is an indication that the big premiere for the JJ Abrams/Eric Kripke drama the week before was not a fluke; viewers liked what they saw and put the series on their DVR lists. READ MORE »

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RATINGS RAT RACE: Fox Comedy Block Soft, ‘Vegas’ Premiere OK, CBS Tops Night

By NELLIE ANDREEVA | Wednesday September 26, 2012 @ 9:37am PDTTags: Go On, NCIS, Ratings, The Mindy Project, Vegas
Nellie Andreeva

UPDATE PM: In the finals, The Voice went up by two tenths to a 4.2 demo rating. Adjusted up by .1 were the Dancing With the Stars, the two New Girl episodes and Ben and Kate.

PREVIOUS AM: It was a ho-hum premiere week Tuesday with no standouts, no unmitigated disasters and mostly soft starts for new series. A slew of new and returning shows were schooled by veteran NCIS, the oldest program on the night, whose 10th season premiere beat them all to rank as Tuesday’s top show in total viewers and adults 18-49 with some of its best numbers ever.

Fox’s new two-hour comedy block was slow out of the gate. Anchor New Girl delivered a 2.7/9 in adults 18-49 in both premiere airings at 8 PM and 9 PM. That was down 43% from the fast national for the show’s big series premiere last fall and a tenth from its season finale. New Girl was used as a launching pad for new comedies Ben And Kate (2.0/6) at 8:30 PM and The Mindy Project (2.4/6) at 9:30 PM. Both were down considerably from the season premiere of Raising Hope behind New Girl last year (3.1/8 at 9:30 PM)

NBC’s lineup took a hit against increased competition. The Voice (4.0/12) was down 11% from its fast national last week. Facing first-run comedies for the first time, Go On (2.7/7) dropped 21%, while The New Normal (2.0/5) was down 9%. Go On tied New Girl as the highest-rated half-hour on the night. At 10 PM, Parenthood (1.8/5) was flat with last week.

CBS’ returning dramas were solid. NCIS (4.1/12, 20.2 million total viewers) was down only a tenth from the fast national for its season premiere last fall. NCIS: LA (3.4/9, 16.7 million) was down 6%. Both series had their second-most-watched openers ever. At 10 PM, new drama Vegas pulled in a 2.5/7 in adults 18-49. In the demo, that was down 14% from the premiere of Unforgettable in the slot last fall but easily topped the 10 PM hour. Given the subject matter — 1960s Las Vegas — and star Dennis Quaid, Vegas was expected to be older-skewing. In total viewers, it drew an impressive 14.7 million, the largest audience for a fall Tuesday 10 PM premiere in 10 years, since Judging Amy in 2002. In 18-49, it was CBS’ lowest-rated Tuesday drama premiere in 7.5 years, since Century City in March 2008. CBS swept Tuesday night, winning every hour of primetime in both total viewers and adults 18-49. Read More »

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Fox’s ‘Mindy Project’ Takes Weeklong Hiatus

By NELLIE ANDREEVA | Thursday September 13, 2012 @ 2:15pm PDTTags: Fox, Mindy Kaling, The Mindy Project
Nellie Andreeva

Production on the upcoming Fox comedy series The Mindy Project will stop for a week. The series, which is finishing up Episode 7 right now, was scheduled to continue shooting next week. On Monday and Tuesday, it was … Read More »

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Mindy Kaling To Return To ‘The Office’ For Guest Stint: TCA

By THE DEADLINE TEAM | Monday July 23, 2012 @ 11:00am PDTTags: Mindy Kaling, The Mindy Project, The Office

Ray Richmond is contributing to Deadline’s TCA coverage.

TCA 2012 Mindy Kaling ProjectUPDATED: The Office co-star/writer/producer Mindy Kaling, who left the NBC comedy at the end of last season to topline her own series, Fox’s … Read More »

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Fox To Preview New Comedies ‘Ben & Kate’, ‘The Mindy Project’ Online Ahead Of Debut

By NELLIE ANDREEVA | Monday July 23, 2012 @ 9:09am PDTTags: Ben and Kate, Fox, New Girl, The Mindy Project
Nellie Andreeva

Mindy Project FoxIn what has become a TV industry standard, Fox will preview new comedy series Ben And Kate and The Mindy Project in advance of their fall primetime debuts. The previews will be on Facebook and … Read More »

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Fox’s ‘The Mindy Project’ Adds To Cast

By THE DEADLINE TEAM | Wednesday July 11, 2012 @ 12:44pm PDTTags: Fox, The Mindy Project

Ike Barinholtz has been added as a recurring character on Fox’s The Mindy Project, joining stars Mindy Kaling and Chris Messina in the sitcom centered at a medical practice. Barinholtz, also a story editor on the freshman series, … Read More »

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UPFRONTS 2012: The Year Of Underdogs, Comebacks & Second Chances

By NELLIE ANDREEVA | Friday May 18, 2012 @ 9:43am PDTTags: Cult, Partners, The Mindy Project
Nellie Andreeva

In my decade covering American television I can’t think of a year when more projects that started as also-rans, or came back from the dead, or barely made it to pilot, or overcame major recastings, went on to land series orders. And some of them are among next season’s most buzzed-about new shows. It feels like almost all pilots that had recastings — once an ominous sigh for a project’s future — went to series, and those that went through hardship on average fared much better than their non-problematic counterparts.

Related: Upfront 2012: What Pilots Are Still Alive

TV Upfronts 2012When a pilot script is passed on by the network that developed it, in 99.99% of the cases that means the end of the road, with the script headed to the writer’s drawer as its final destination. But in the case of Mindy Kaling’s medical comedy The Mindy Project, a pass by NBC where it was developed led to a pilot pickup at Fox, where the project quickly emerged as the network brass’ darling and landed on the fall schedule in the plum post-New Girl time slot.

Related: 2012-13 Fall Broadcast Primetime Grid

Cult CW MidseasonLike rejected scripts, dead pilots also hardly get resurrected. Sci-fi veteran Rockne S. O’Bannon wrote Cult for the 2005-06 development season when he landed a pilot order at the WB but the project became a casualty of the UPN/WB merger and the pilot was never made. Six years later, O’Bannon’s updated Cult script got a pilot order at the CW, the pilot was shot and took another step forward, landing a midseason series order.

Partners CBSIt took Will & Grace creators David Kohan and Max Mutchick about as long to get a comedy inspired by their real-life straight man-gay man friendship on the air. The idea’s first incarnation was at CBS during the 2006-07 development season and the second at ABC the following season. Both times, Kohan and Mutchick’s scripts went to pilot starring Jay Mohr and Brian Austin Green (CBS) and Alan Tudyk, Josh Cooke and Ty Burrell (ABC). Both times Kohan and Mutchnick felt there were script, casting and other issues. The two had moved on when last year CBS approached them about revisiting the idea but getting it right this time. The result is Partners, which also went to pilot. Read More »

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Fox’s Fall Schedule: All-Comedy Tuesday, ‘Glee’ Moves To Thursday, ‘Touch’ To Friday

By NELLIE ANDREEVA | Monday May 14, 2012 @ 5:00am PDTTags: Fox, Glee, The Mindy Project
Nellie Andreeva

Fox Fall 2012 ScheduleAfter testing the waters for an all-comedy block on Tuesday this spring, Fox as expected is making it a permanent feature next season with Raising Hope and New Girl returning as a 8 PM and 9 PM anchor, respectively. Also as expected, Mindy Kaling’s new office comedy, which had been groomed as a companion to New Girl, will launch behind the Zooey Deschanel half-hour. (It has been renamed from It’s Messy to The Mindy Project). Sandwiched between Raising Hope and Mindy Project Fox SeasonNew Girl is new adult sibling comedy Ben And Kate. With Tuesday taken over by half-hour comedies, musical dramedy Glee, which anchored the night for the past two years, is relocating to Thursdays to air after The X Factor results show in the fall and American Idol results in midseason. This marks a reunion of sorts as Glee‘s preview and first season aired behind the Idol performance show on Tuesdays. The series that is airing after Idol‘s results show now, midseason drama Touch, will relocate to Fridays, paired with another paranormal drama, departing Fringe.

Previous: Rumored Fox Schedule: ‘Glee’ To Move To Thursdays, ‘Touch’ To Fridays?

Kevin Bacon FollowingIn addition to the two new comedies on Tuesday, Fox is introducing a new drama series in the fall, medical drama The Mob Doctor, which is taking over the Monday 9 PM slot currently occupied by Fox’s departing medical drama House. Fox’s other newly picked up drama series, Kevin Williamson’s The Following starring Kevin Bacon, will also premiere on Monday but in midseason. Per Bacon’s deal, the series will film 15 episodes a season, making a midseason launch a logical option. Also held for midseason is a second new comedy series about siblings, The Goodwin Games. After being benched for sports in the fall, veteran Cops is slated to return for its 25th season in midseason, which is when Fox’s new animated Saturday late-night block is also eying a launch.

Related: ‘American Idol’ To Undergo Creative Changes Next Season

Here is the schedule with synopses of new series:


MONDAY
8:00-9:00 PM BONES
9:00-10:00 PM  THE MOB DOCTOR THE FOLLOWING (new) joins in midseason.

TUESDAY
8:00-8:30 PM RAISING HOPE
8:30-9:00 PM  BEN AND KATE (new)
9:00-9:30 PM NEW GIRL
9:30-10:00 PM THE MINDY PROJECT (new)
THE GOODWIN GAMES (new) joins in midseason.
Read More »

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