My Own Worst Enemy « multipleverses.com

Forbes Bankable Stars List – where do you favorite SCIFI genre stars rank?

Thursday, February 19th, 2009

By Kate Blake, Admin Multipleverses

Forbes released their list of bankable Hollywood stars recently with some surprises and some things are not so surprising. Lets break things down by our favorite shows first- then we will look at the top movie stars.

From our favorite action and SCIFI TV series:
Kiefer Sutherland (24) Rank 160
Mary Lynn Rajskub ( 24) Rank 1390
Edward James Olmos ( BSG) Rank 892
Mary McDonnell ( BSG) Rank 977
Katee Sackhoff ( BSG) Rank 1189
David Boreanaz (Bones) Rank 770
Emily Deschanel (Bones) Rank 870
Gabrielle Anwar ( Burn Notice) Rank 1166
Bruce Campbell ( Burn Notice) Rank 1091
Hayden Panettiere ( Heroes) Rank 438
Milo Ventimiglia ( Heroes) Rank 837
Ali Larter ( Heroes) Rank 815
Zachary Quinto ( Heroes) Rank 993
Harvey Keitel ( Life on Mars) Rank 336
Michael Imperioli ( Life on Mars) Rank 798
Gretchen Mol ( Life on Mars) Rank 682
Simon Baker ( The Mentalist) Rank 819
Robin Tunney ( The Mentalist) Rank 916
Patricia Arquette ( Medium) Rank 635
Anna Friel ( Pushing Daisies) Rank 998
Lee Pace ( Pushing Daisies) Rank 1033
Kristin Chenoweth ( Pushing Daisies) Rank 505
Kristin Kreuk ( Smallville) Rank 1401
Tom Welling ( Smallville) Rank 907
Erica Durance ( Smallville) Rank 1356
Jensen Ackles ( Supernatural ) Rank 1402
Jeffrey Dean Morgan ( Supernatural and Grey’s Anatomy) Rank 779
Summer Glau ( TSCC) Rank 1364
Lena Headey ( TSCC) Rank 1121
Anna Paquin ( True Blood) Rank 413

No big surprises – the highest ranked stars on the list all had done quite a few movies before coming to tv. Kiefer Sutherland ( 140) was a big movie star before doing 24 and most likely 24 has enhanced his movie bankability factor. Hayden Panettiere ( 438) did a series of kids films before coming a hero on Heroes and has been everywhere in the media so her visibility is very high in the media even with people who don’t watch the show. Kristin Chenoweth ( 505) won a Tony explaining her ranking – and that was before she was in Four Christmases which was a big hit in November. Anna Paquin ( 413) who won an Oscar in The Piano in which she costarred with Harvey Keitel (336) – I am honestly surprised her movie quotient isn’t higher since she was in all three of the hugely successful X-Men movies – X-Men made $296 Million, X-Men 2 made $407 Million, X-Men 3 made $459 Million- the franchise has earned over a billion dollars worldwide to date. She is part of a worldwide billion dollar franchise- and people are shocked that True Blood has been a huge ratings success for HBO. Go figure.

On the low end- the stars of the CW shows have fairly low rankings. Tom Welling (907) has only carried one film on his own and done a couple of other films which were ensembles so ranking in the top 1000 is pretty good. His 2005 starring role in The Fog made over 2 times the production budget at the box office- which is pretty decent for a horror flick. Jensen Ackles has not done any big box office films until this winter with his very profitable outing in My Bloody Valentine. MBV was made for about $15 Million and to date has brought in over $60 Million worldwide with rather limited release- look for big DVD sales. A box office return of 4 times the investment is very good. Jared Padalecki didn’t make the list at all- I am sure that will change for next year once the numbers for Friday the 13th are factored in. Friday the 13th was made for about $19 million by Michael Bay’s production company and had a big $55 million dollar box office opening weekend. Amanda Righetti from The Mentalist who was also in the film, also failed to make the list. Kristin Kreuk has been a couple of films in the past and her new Street Fighter Movie ensures her a good international box office. She currently is promoting her movie in Asia and doesn’t seem to be scheduled to do any promotion for it in the US. Neal McDonough and Michael Clarke Duncan who are in the film are doing the talk show circuit this week and next for the film. I find this odd- but it is related to Canadian stars not getting much play in the US. Jensen Ackles film My Bloody Valentine was produced by Lionsgate which arranged the promotion for his film explaining why he hit the talk show circuit last month. Jared managed to do some press interviews and was on Bonnie Hunt. Bonnie has been very good to SCIFI genre people- with many of our favorites appearing on her show since it premiered in the fall. Erica Durance was on Bonnie as well as G4 when she was in Los Angeles in the fall for the Emmy Awards. Erica’s rank is higher than Kristin’s- mainly due to her straight to DVD movies, a couple of TV movies and good exposure ( so to speak) on FHM and Maxim mens magazines.

In the category of huh….Summer Glau and Lena Headey are not in the top 1000 which surprises me in some ways, particulary Lena. Lena has a solid film history but most of it falls into the realm of independent films. She was in Brothers Grimm with Heath Ledger and Matt Damon- the movie she says almost made her quit actings- which was a huge flop- costing $88 million and only bringing in $37 million worldwide. This was more than made up for with the sucess of The 300 with Gerard Butler as her co-star which cost $65 million and brought in $210 million.
Hollywood has been upside down in how they make stars for years. You make these big budget films – they flop and you make more. Matt Damon and Ben Affleck have made more big budget flops than they have had hits. Yet- all it takes is one little film that makes a ton of money to make you a bankable star in Hollywood. Hugh Grant had been making small arty films for years before he made the ensemble Four Weddings and a Funeral which overnight made him an A-list star. The cost for the film in 1994? $4 million dollars to make and it earned over $245 million dollars internationally at the box office. Lena and her TV son Thomas Dekker have been actively continuing to make independent films while shooting their series Terminator the Sarah Connor Chronicles. All it takes is one small film to resonate with the critics and your ranking can change overnight. That or be an overexposed teenager. The stars from Gossip Girl all rank very high on the assorted bankability lists- even though the show only reaches a couple of million viewers per week. This is about the perception of who is a star- most of the people in action and sci-fi TV are not glorified as press objects. Hayden Panettiere who is still a teenager is the exception to that rule- of course her young age is part of what makes her the next big thing even though none of the people on the top 10 bankable stars list are under 30.

Favorite Stars from Retired Sci-Fi Series:
Jennifer Garner ( Alias) Rank 116
Sarah Michelle Gellar ( Buffy) Rank 267
James Marsters ( Buffy, Smallville, Torchwood) Rank 1114
Rose McGowan ( Charmed) Rank 443
Alyssa Milano ( Charmed) Rank 683
Jessica Alba ( Dark Angel) Rank 108
Nathan Fillion ( Firefly) Rank 927
Christian Slater ( My Own Worst Enemy) Rank 360
Jason Behr ( Roswell) Rank 1047
Katherine Heigl ( Roswell, Grey’s Anatomy) Rank 118
David Duchovny ( The X-Files, Californication) Rank 284
Gillian Anderson ( The X-Files, Masterpiece Theater) Rank 507

In the ranks of favorite stars from retired series who have made it big- Jennifer Garner has a high bankability quotient though the movies she has been the lead in have not done anything spectacular at the box office. Again- perception. Wallstreet is told she is a big star- the tabloids follow her so it must be true. Jessica Alba’s outings in the Fantastic Four series have done well but her comedies and thrillers have been misses. Personally I think Jess needs a good comedy on tv. She is funny as heck and would be great in a workplace comedy where she is the pretty ugly girl. Katherine Heigl may have started out as an alien on Roswell, but she did something very smart when the series was over. She made a series of TV movies for the Hallmark Channel that got critical acclaim and did a couple of comedies including a pre-quel to Romy and Michelle’s High School Reunion. This helped land her a job on Grey’s Anatomy which opened doors for the romantic comedy films she has wanted to make. Her onscreen brother and former boyfriend Jason Behr has been making small films that keep showing up on cable, and has dones some horror he was with Sarah Michelle Gellar in the Grudge. He is shopping for a new TV gig. Christian Slater has not had a hit film in years and his tv outing in My Own Worst Enemy was a mess. Rose McGowan did film before Charmed and has been back to making movies since it ended. Watch for her in Red Sonya coming out this year. Sarah Michelle Gellar was in the Scooby Doo movies and has done a lot of go nowhere comedies. She does well in horror but horror doesn’t make you a big movie stars.
David Duchovny and Gillian Anderson reprised their roles as Mulder and Scully this summer in The X-Files I Want to Believe which got creamed by The Dark Knight but still made back its investment by two fold when international box office was accounted for. David and Gillian have both been active in an assortment of independent films since the X-Files ended and David is riding high on the sucess of his comedy Californication on Showtime. Gillian has pursued theater and film since hanging up her badge and has brought new life to Master Piece Theater which she is now hosting.

Favorite Genre Stars:
Hugh Jackman ( X-Men) Rank 42
Famke Janssen ( X-Men) Rank 527
Christian Bale ( Batman Begins, The Dark Knight) Rank 29
Liam Neeson ( Star Wars, Batman Begins) Rank 120
Harrison Ford ( Indiana Jones, Star Wars) Rank 26
Megan Fox ( Transformers) Rank 347
Josh Duhamel ( Transformers) Rank 386

Missing from the list- Shia LaBoeuf who co-starred in both Transformers and the latest Indiana Jones chapter. His co-stars Megan and Josh made the list- Megan thanks to her being named sexiest woman on the FHM list and Josh married one of pop’s favorite ladies ( Fergie). Hugh Jackman needs to have Wolverine do well at the box office to cancel out the financial failure of Australia. Famke starred in the X-Men series but as a woman over 40 without a big critical pedigree- her ranking has dropped since last year. Co-starring in the box office sucess Taken with Liam Neeson should help. Liam is a venerable star who has been paying his dues in over 20 years on screen in all kinds of films. Christian Bale is proof that one big series can change your box office profile. Before Batman he was a fan and critics favorite but not considered a movie star.

Top Ten Movie Stars on the list:
1 Will Smith
2 Johnny Depp
2 Leonardo DiCaprio
2 Angelina Jolie
2 Brad Pitt
6 Tom Hanks
7 George Clooney
8 Denzel Washington
9 Matt Damon
10 Jack Nicholson

The funniest thing for me is that the list of the top ten stars includes Angie , Johnny Depp and Will Smith. Will’s most sucessful films have all been genre films and he never strays too far from them. Angelina Jolie has made a lot of movie- we are always being told what a big star she is, but the biggest movie she has made was Kung Fu Panda which she did voice work for. Mr and Mrs Smith grossed $478 million worldwide making 4 times what it cost, the first Tomb Raider movie made about twice what it cost, the second one broke even with a profit of about 50 % of what the movie cost to make. To date Changeling has critical acclaim and has done well overseas but it is not by any stretch a huge sucess. As for Brad Pitt- his films do much better overseas than at home.

Slated to break out- Jeffrey Dean Morgan. JDM is best known to our viewers as John Winchester on Supernatural , but as I can attest from my experience at Horror Fest last month, he is very well known for his role as Katherine Heigl’s dead boyfriend on Grey’s Anatomy. I overheard two little grey haired grannies commenting while pointing to the Watchmen posters ” Oh- its that handsome young man from Greys!” which made me laugh. The younger people at the theater were commenting on him being John Winchester. There is an age gap in TV viewing. JDM is playing The Comedian in the Watchmen and should become a household name if the movie does as well as I hope it does at the box office. The trailers are amazing and he is joined by a crew of talented and under exposed actors.

Hugh Jackman hosting the Oscars on top of his win as Sexiest Man of the Year for People marks him as a real movie star in Hollywood’s eyes. If Wolverine breaks 200 million US in a week he will prove he can open a big film on his own too. Zachary Quinto will be making a huge splash this summer in J.J. Abrams new interpretation of Star Trek. Quinto is playing Spock. I love him as Sylar on Heroes and find his intensity as an actor to be compelling- much like a young Jack Nicholson. If Trek does well his part will be a very big part of the sucess. Transformers is making another appearance- so Megan, Shia and Josh will all be back taking on killer robots. I will be very interested to see where our favorites rank at this time next year.

To see where your faves from other genres rank click HERE. You can also read the methodology that goes into determining the rankings. Box office numbers in this report from BOX OFFICE MOJO.

19.02.2009 24, Angel, BSG, Batman, Bones, Box Office Report, Buffy the Vampire Slayer, Burn Notice, Dollhouse, Fantastic Four, Firefly, Friday the 13th, Heroes, Horror, Indiana Jones, Life on Mars, Medium, Movies, My Own Worst Enemy, Pushing Daisies, Sarah Connor Chron., Sci-Fi Movies, Smallville, Star Trek, Star Wars, Supernatural, Terminator, The Mentalist, Transformers, True Blood, Watchmen, Wolverine, X-Files, X-Men 4 Comments

Why My Own Worst Enemy and Journeyman have failed to live up to their hype while other shows have succeeded

Tuesday, November 18th, 2008

By Kate Blake Admin Multipleverses.com

My Own Worst Enemy has been this year’s Journeyman for NBC. Both were highly hyped and highly anticipated series that failed to launch and catch the interest of viewers week after week. I think there is a simple reason why. Both series focused on family men in the midst of strange mid-life complicated twisty situations beyond their control. Both series have featured top notch casts and promising action week after week. Why didn’t these shows that sound so good on paper catch on?

Both shows had high concepts- so high that the weekly episodes didn’t always blend and offer complete storytelling. The action gets bogged down by the domestic storylines and the family drama never fully develops due to the other forces at play.

Compare this to Medium where Patricia Arquette’s character Allison DuBois and her husband Joe are at the center of each episode along with their girls and the mystery she is solving each week is secondary. Medium has been one of my favorite series from the get go. The very real family drama is completely middle class. Allison and Joe don’t keep things from one another- when they do no good comes of it. They have ups and downs but the love is constant. Even last season when their household was thrown into strife and uproar when Allison’s secret came out, the family came first with team DuBois.

The central issue of Edward vs Henry on My Own Worst Enemy has a big fat wedge in the marital dynamic from the beginning and the fact that alter ego Edward sleeps around makes the complete character a fraud and not something women wish to tune in to see week after week. Personally I thought that the wife in Journeyman was a bitch and did not care for her at all which was part of what turned me off on that series. The chemistry between characters has to be right. No matter how much high concept you work with, the key to every successful series is the characters. We as viewers tune into see people we like and find fascinating.

Life – another sophomore show on NBC is another example of a show with a concept that has managed to evolve beyond simply being a concept into a character drama. I really like the lead Damian Lewis as Charlie Crews. His character is quirky, layered and has depth. The police work is usually fairly predictable ( as it is on The Mentalist another series I have connected with) but that is ok. The characters are what make the show work. This year’s addition of Donal Logue has been great. He is so slimy and needy and just about everything Dani is attracted to- you just know they will end up in bed together. Charlie catting around after his ex has been nice this year after his pursuit of anything that came along last year. His live in financial advisor Ted played by Adam Arkin is another low key addition that rounds out a fine cast. And hey- he made moves on Charlie’s sexy step-mom played by Mad Men’s Christina Hendricks.

Back to My Own Worst Enemy and Journeyman. I think the take home message is that you need to have balance in every show. When Heroes premiered they balanced the family with the action and mythos serialized storytelling. MOWE and JM both had too much relying on the episode before it so you couldn’t drop into the middle and figure things out. Medium is no problem- each episode is its own unit. Yes things do link from episode to episode but you can watch without having seen anything in the past.

Law and Order and CSI and the army of police procedurals work ratings wise because you can watch any given episode from any season without having seen anything before it and jump right in. The most successful sci-fi series of all time The X-Files had a few mythos episodes per year but the rest of the time you tuned in to see Mulder and Scully solve cases and see them together. The key is figuring out the balance and not being too hung up on having every episode be about the ones before it. Fringe lost my interest after the second episode when I realized I couldn’t remember the characters names- any of them and really didn’t care.

Sloppy scripts with high concept plots do not win viewers over the way that clear stories with defined characters and good acting do. NBC has had some of the finest talent in the business on board- Kevin McKidd is an amazing actor and well- Christian Slater is the only reason I will watch MOWE through its last episodes but even great actors can’t make hits out of loser scripts. What I do give NBC credit for? Trying. They keep trying to find that magic series and they don’t go cheap when they do so. The NBC cable network USA has a big branded image campaign that is “Character’s Welcome”. I wish NBC would remember this- we want to see characters we like week after week. Heroes has gotten too bloated with people we don’t care about crushing thier ratings. If viewers don’t care- they won’t tune in.

18.11.2008 Medium, My Own Worst Enemy, TV, The Mentalist, X-Files 3 Comments

NBC says Good Bye to My Own Worst Enemy, Prison Break future up in the air

Thursday, November 13th, 2008

TVByTheNumbers.com is reporting that NBC has canceled the Christian Slater series My Own Worst Enemy after poor ratings the last weeks. Also cancelled is Lipstick Jungle which will air its remaining episodes- no word on MOWE as to whether it will air its final episodes. Last night’s promo for Monday showed it having a new episode airing on Monday- we will report if that changes.

The Hollywood Reporter is speculating about what is up with Fox and Prison Break. Prison Break’s back 9 episodes are not currently on their winter schedule but the net has ordered two more additional episodes. Will this be a 2 hour movie finale for the series or what? I always thought that Prison Break was supposed to have a 4 year run and then be done. Its ratings have struggled but so has every network show except for the CBS crime dramas and even those have seen erosion of ratings.

Personally I think that the time has come for the networks to re-evaluate how they program prime time and what they all do to maximize viewing. Encore showings are a great strategy and help introduce people to a show that maybe runs when there is something else on that they watch.

13.11.2008 My Own Worst Enemy, Prison Break No Comments

My Own Worst Enemy Episode 104 Trailer

Friday, October 31st, 2008

Does anyone else wonder if Henry’s wife is really in on the secret? Loved him arguing with himself via the phone messages this week.

31.10.2008 My Own Worst Enemy No Comments

My Own Worst Enemy 103 Hello Henry Episode View online and recap

Tuesday, October 28th, 2008

Online episode to view plus 2 minute recap for My Own Worst Enemy

28.10.2008 My Own Worst Enemy No Comments

My Own Worst Enemy Episode 2 Hummingbird

Tuesday, October 21st, 2008

2 Minute recap and full length episode to view online

21.10.2008 My Own Worst Enemy No Comments

What is the deal with scheduling all things action against Monday Night Football?

Tuesday, October 21st, 2008

By Kate Blake, Admin The Sarah Connor Society and Multipleverses.com

Every week this fall the ratings for the top sci-fi and action shows continue to take hits. The ratings blogs and entertainment publications are in a quandry wondering what is going on. The answer is simple. MONDAY NIGHT FOOTBALL!

Long long ago, in a time far off in distant memory when there were only three big networks and few or no cable choices ( the 70s and 80s) nobody put anything on Monday nights that was considered male oriented viewing. What shows were on Monday nights? NBC had Little House on the Prairie for over a decade opening its Monday night line up. A show that attracted families, kids and older viewers alike with heartfelt drama. Comedies have always done well on Monday nights for CBS. Mash was a Monday night show. Today, How I Met Your Mother and The Big Bang Theory are drawing strong young audiences with programming that is definitely NOT aimed at the sports enthusiasts crowd.

What do NBC and Fox do? They put their biggest action/ sci-fi shows on and then wonder why they aren’t getting ratings. Hello! I am currently not a huge NFL viewer simply because my team – which will continue to be the SF 49ers yeah though they suck and have for a long time- has not had a team of note in a decade. Last night the New England Patriots who entered last year’s Superbowl undefeated and lost- played the always popular Denver Broncos. The game brought big ratings to ABC and pretty much meant that football fans weren’t going to tune in to anything else.

For those of you outside the US- American football as played by the NFL is unique in the world of professional sports. Unlike Baseball, Basketball and Hockey which have unending seasons, the NFL only plays 16 games with a couple of pre-season games and a couple of post-season games culminating in the Superbowl. The entire football season runs from training camp in July through the big event in January. With this compressed time frame is it no wonder people find it easier to religiously follow football than other sports? Football dominates high school sports across the country. Here in Phoenix where we have a major university that is always recruiting top football prospects and is scouted by the NFL ( Arizona State University) – this big city of over 4 million people usually runs high school football news roundups and coverage on the weekend sports along with the professional and college news.

Football is not restricted to men anymore either. More and more women are attending games and are

counted in the ranks of rabid fans- I say it is because of those tight pants they wear- but purient interest aside there is a reason Alyssa Milano is designing a line of women’s NFL garb. Men and women both watch football. Women are even starting to play football. Girls football is one of the fastest growing high school and college sports along with women’s hockey. Women in the US like to go out and kick ass as much as men. Who would have thought that almost 40 years after title nine we would see this happen?

Back to our discussion of TV ratings. A lot of people in the media have a pre-conceived idea of the average sci-fi fan. They see us as geeks, dweebs and dorks who go to comic book conventions. That may be but we are also the most educated and diverse group in the tv and movie viewing landscape. We watch sports- some of us even have season tickets to our favorite teams home games. We also like good music, good food and we tend to have hobbies. We tend to be more educated than the typical viewer and thus pickier and more critical of poor writing and sloppy storytelling. We don’t watch blue collar laugh track sitcoms. We do miss Frasier. When we want to see action it must be coupled with compelling stories and top level acting. Our vernacular includes BSG, TSCC, SGA and for some Trek.

I am on the viewer panel for NBC and get frequent surveys asking about my viewing habits and comments about what I like and dislike. The one thing nobody ever asks- do you follow sports? Sports is the one thing that exists outside of other TV programming and cuts across and into every type of TV series viewing. Once upon a time FOX knew this. Melrose Place was a break out hit for Fox as a non-sports fans programming alternative. If Fox and NBC were to shake up both of the schedules I think they would be shocked at what would happen.

Some ideas and thoughts for the networks and media in general to consider:
NBC- move Chuck and Heroes to Sunday night. Establish a night of fun family friendly action and sci-fi for your network. Put something new at 8 then run Lipstick Jungle on Monday nights. Make it female programming! Gossip Girl does well at 8/9pm- having Lipstick Jungle on after that should pull viewers in if you advertise correctly.

FOX- you need a night of soaps. Do the action Mondays in the winter and program Soap Mondays in the fall. How about a couple of strong family dramas? Don’t come back with your action shows until winter- they run them without any breaks or repeats. It has worked for 24 and works with the American Idol rollout.

Networks- there is no need to think every series has to have a 20-24 episode season. Cable has figured this out. You can offer more programming with more variety and higher quality by having fewer episodes with better storytelling. Don’t throw crap out at us and expect us to watch- we won’t bite. Heather Locklear’s recent troubles brought one of NBCs bigger failures to light again- the ill conceived LAX. A series dealing with security at airports- boring! Slick, shiny and boring doesn’t equal viewers no matter who is in the show.

Can we also see fewer reality TV series? The FOX show Hole in the Wall is idiotic and the ratings bear that out. The Japanese may find people doing strange humiliating things for money appealing- Americans needs more incentives than that. Personally the only reality shows I watch are American Idol- and usually not until they hit the top 24, and I watch the last episode of each season of The Greatest Loser on NBC. Who doesn’t want to see fat people cry about finally getting off the couch and blasting years of blubber away? I can say this as I am yet to find this initiative myself and think the prize money is not nearly enough for the weeks of public humiliation in prime time but can’t help myself when it comes to watching the final.

TV media in general- over 100,000 people attended Comic Con last summer. The number who wore costumes was nominal, most people were nice working people with jobs who enjoy some fan fun to support their shows which are also their hobby. I am personally tired of having people who follow celebs like Brittney Spears and her idiotic exploits as if they were really newsworthy call me a geek. My fandom and hobbies expand my imagination, they give me creative outlets and forums where I can discuss a lot of interesting ideas and theories and possibilities. In other words- we like using our brains. And when we need to get our ya yas off ( thank your Agent Scully for that memorable line from First Person shooter) we like to see things explode. Sometimes we like to see big guys beat the hell out of each other on a playing field too. Making us choose between our favorite shows and our favorite teams is just plain mean!

At the Sarah Connor Society we have launched a campaign to move Terminator ( which just got picked up for a full season- THANK YOU VERY MUCH FOX!) to Wednesday nights so it won’t be competing with football this fall.

At the end of the day- and this rant what does it all mean in the scheme of things? The television landscape has gotten more and more crowded with more choices and people watching a great variety of programming than ever before. We also watch on more than just television. Online viewings, video on demand, iTunes, Amazon Unboxed and yes lets not forget the bane of the studios- torrent downloads mean we as viewers have other places to catch our favorite shows. The issue is that for a show to be successful it still has to measure up in the standardized ways that the entertainment industry uses for metering success. To get the types of ratings that ensure continuation of a serialized drama it needs to be accessible to as many viewers as possible who would like to view it live. To make sure your maximum number of male and female action fans can tune in- Fox and NBC- you should really rethink how you program Monday nights. Or make sure you bid for Monday night football! NBC did a great job of snagging this year’s Superbowl and they are still riding high on their massive Olympics payday which garnered the network over a billion dollars in ads in two weeks.

Just some thoughts- feel free to post yours in the comments below!

21.10.2008 Chuck, Heroes, My Own Worst Enemy, Prison Break, Sarah Connor Chron. 7 Comments

My Own Worst Enemy- watch online, new trailer, video interviews

Thursday, October 16th, 2008

My Own Worst Enemy premiered on Monday night and it managed to get mixed reviews- I am not sure why. I liked the show. The premise of the guy with this whole world built on lies and you aren’t sure where things are going echoed and reminded me somewhat of one of my favorite 1990s cult-tv series- Nowhere Man which starred the uber talented Bruce Greenwood. Christian Slater is the series and he commands attention in every scene he is in- whether he is the mild mannerd Henry Spivy or the government operative EDWARD. There are some key points that are made in passing in the pilot to watch for in upcoming episodes- Edward was not the only person to undergo the procedure to give him the ultimate dual identity- there are others out there. It is clear that pretty much everyone in Edward’s life knows about his duality- except for Henry. I want to know- is Henry’s wife really in the dark? In Nowhere Man we ultimately learned the wife was in on the big conspiracy from the beginning- I am wondering if this will be the case here as well.

First episode Breakdown is online to view, we have the extended trailer for episode 2 for you to watch and some assorted video interviews that ran before the premiere.

Interviews:

16.10.2008 My Own Worst Enemy No Comments

Biggest DVR Gains for Premiere Weeks

Wednesday, October 15th, 2008

By Kate Blake- Admin MV and EH

The Hollywood Reporter analyzed the season premiere ratings for a slew of new and returning shows and looked at how much their season premiere numbers increased when you look at DVR numbers. The super competitive Monday night with Heroes vs Prison Break and Terminator vs Chuck saw big gains for those shows ( not Chuck- it was just outside this list). All 4 of these series are on against the number one rated Dancing with the Stars and Monday Night Football. Too many choices on Monday night is the bottom line!

Moving on to Tuesday- 90210 and Privileged are the big DVR winners for the CW. Both of these new female friendly dramas/ dramedy in the case of Privileged- saw significant ratings boosts from DVR viewings. I have a lot of friends with kids who are DVRing 90210 and watching it when the kiddies are in bed- so much for only attracting the youth audience!

Lipstick Jungle continues to struggle with live viewings but has significant gains when DVR numbers are added in. I am guessing by the number of hits on the trailers for the show that we have posted on The Entertainment Hotline that people must be watching it online as well.

Thursday night the CW and ABC both saw big increases with Smallville and Grey’s Anatomy getting DVR boosts as did NBC with The Office.

I don’t mention the Fringe numbers as those are a bit goofy. FOX as may recall did a HUGE encore of the series premeire which boosted its numbers way over what it is doing on a weekly basis. Bones and House continue with strong live viewings as well as DVR numbers.

What do the DVR numbers mean? Well for one thing they show a stronger reflection of what regular people actually watch. DVR numbers are not Nielsen family ratings which have been for decades the only marker used to quantify a show’s success. DVR numbers come from anyone who is a cable or satellite subscriber who has authorized their provider to collect viewing date about thier DVR habits. You do this when you set up your system- if you have any questions ask your provider. I am a DirecTV customer and have opted in on all three of my DVRs when I set them up initially.

DVR numbers have several sets of viewing statistics that are collected. First is time shifted viewing which is where you watch the show while it is still on but come in say 20 minutes late, or you watch it within a few hours of it airing. Next round of numbers- how many people watch the show they recorded within 24 hours. Then they collect within 7 days and then within 14 days. Also collected- how many times do you repeat your viewing- say re-watch a show.

The power in the DVR numbers is that day time dramas like Days of Our Lives which for years was the number one recorded soap but not the number one show with live viewings- can now quantify how many people actually tune in to their series. You are seeing all of the television landscape change as a result of fewer people watching ads. Product placement is key. Smallville was downright obnoxious last season when the entire episode 713 Hero revolved around a magic version of Stride Gum- but everyone knew the name of the product by the end of the episode. Gossip Girl’s premiere was brought to you by Vitamin Water. Plenty of other shows have done the same thing- showing cars and all kinds of tech devices and making sure you see the logos. Terminator is being brought to you by Dodge this fall and My Own Worst Enemy just premiered with the new Camaro and some new mini-van thing from Chevy. Sorry- the mini-van did not do it for me.

Does this mean your show is safe even though its numbers were lower? We will have to wait and see but the networks are in a state of flux, having to change the business model they have used to measure success for a very long time. Sorry Hollywood- but technology has surpassed the once mighty Nielsen box. It is time to catch up with the rest of us!

15.10.2008 Bones, Chuck, Fringe, Heroes, My Own Worst Enemy, Prison Break, Sarah Connor Chron., TV, TV Ratings No Comments