Big flops and breakout hits are equally rare on TV this fall

By Gary Levin, USA TODAY
Five weeks into the new TV season, it's clear that few new shows are tanking in the ratings. But breakout hits are elusive, too. The top new show is CBS' NCIS: Los Angeles. The spinoff follows the original NCIS, which has eclipsed CSI to become TV's No. 1 drama.

L.A. and The Good Wife, also on CBS, Fox's Cleveland Show and Glee, and ABC's FlashForward, Modern Family, Cougar Town and The Middle are doing well enough to earn full seasons. (Cleveland has already been renewed for next season.) CW's The Vampire Diaries also is expected to keep going.

That's not to say TV doesn't have its clunkers; far more series fail than succeed. ABC's Hank and Eastwick, NBC's Trauma, CBS' Three Rivers and Fox's Brothers and Dollhouse aren't likely to survive once initial 13-episode runs wrap up in January. But none seem in danger of imminent cancellation, a contrast to past years when itchy trigger fingers led networks to yank shows ahead of the November ratings sweeps period, which begins Oct. 29. Only one new show has been canceled outright — CW's The Beautiful Life, which lasted just two episodes — as fewer shows than usual have completely tanked.

New shows typically get 13-episode test runs; if successful, they get the go-ahead by November for nine more, enough to last through May.

Also safe for now: NBC's Jay Leno Show. The network says it's meeting expectations, even as some affiliates complain about the effect of the low ratings on their local newscasts.

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Delayed viewing boosts numbers for network series

By Gary Levin, USA TODAY

Viewers with DVRs are catching up with series in record numbers, brightening the picture for TV networks by easing yearly declines.

In new Nielsen data for the season's premiere week, many shows scored substantial gains from viewing delayed one to seven days after they aired.

The lift, bigger than ever, blunts early fears several top returning series had plummeted. Grey's Anatomy added 3 million viewers, climbing 17% from its initial total, and two others — CBS' The Mentalist and Fox's House —added nearly as many. In all, 36 shows added 1 million or more viewers, and ratings for 14 programs shot up 20% or more.

And it shows how DVRs — now in one in three homes, up from 27% last fall — not only shift viewing but also increase it; owners watch far more TV than those without. Yet because viewers can skip commercials, networks can't charge advertisers for many of those extra viewers. (Ad buyers do pay for commercial viewing up to three days later.)

Popular programs in competitive time slots continue to be the most heavily recorded. Grey's, CSI, The Office and Fringe, all airing at 9 ET/PT Thursday, are among the biggest gainers. ABC's FlashForward was the most heavily recorded new-series premiere, adding 2 million late viewers (16%); NCIS: LA gained 1.8 million (10%).

On a percentage basis, Fox's low-rated sci-fi Dollhouse was top gainer. It added 37%, which translated to just 914,000 extra viewers. Fringe, up 34%, was next, followed by four CW series up 30% or more. NBC's Heroes got a 27% lift but still ranked below last year's opener.

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WNBC's move away from news at 5 p.m. with 'LX New York' could make waves in New York market

By Richard Huff
DAILY NEWS TV EDITOR
Tuesday, August 25th 2009, 4:00 AM

If a new promo for "LX New York" is any indication, WNBC/Ch.4's 5 p.m. time period will have a whole new feel come Sept. 14.

The tease, while giving no details about the content of "LX New York," is clearly telling viewers that what's ahead won't remotely resemble their father's newscast.

The show, less than a month away, may be the most closely watched launch in New York in a long time because it's a major directional change that could affect every other newsroom in town. The launch of "LX New York" is the first time one of the majors has fully turned over the time to an organization outside of the news wing.

No doubt, there should be some lament at the loss of news, anytime it happens. And rival journalists worry that if Ch. 4's shift works, their bosses will think dropping news is okay, too.

The idea behind "LX New York" is that it is not news, and offers an alternative to audiences not interested in news at 5 p.m.

More important to the equation, however, is that since "LX New York" is not a news product, but entertainment, the producers are able to build tie-ins with advertisers. Word is the show is drawing in new advertisers to the time period.

By working in product placements, the measure of success changes for "LX New York" because it's possible to make money, even if the ratings aren't spectacular.

Read more: http://www.nydailynews.com/entertainment/tv/2009/08/25/2009-08-25_wnbc_moves_away_from_news_at_5_pm_with_lx_new_york.html?print=1&page=all#ixzz0QbvqjqG3

NBC puts Jay Leno on the spot in competitive prime-time slot

By Marco R. Della Cava, USA TODAY

BURBANK, Calif. — Jay Leno never got the memo. The one that read: After nearly two decades topping the late-night ratings with The Tonight Show, it's time to sleep in late and buy more cars.

Instead, Leno, 59, has spent the summer buried under the hood of The Jay Leno Show(premiering Monday), NBC's bold and controversial attempt to battle 10 p.m. scripted dramas with his broad humor.

"Maybe it's just me, but 10 o'clock feels like the new 11:30," says Leno. "People have kids and jobs; they just don't stay up. For them, we've got some of our Tonight stuff, plus a whole lot more."

Few TV-world experiments are being as closely watched as this one. Leno is venturing into a territory dominated by dramas such as CBS' CSI: Miamiand The Mentalist as well as ABC's Private Practice. Such programs have the advantage of scoring well among the desirable 18-to-49 demographic, and the disadvantage of being expensive, says Chuck Ross, managing director of online trade publication TVWeek.com.

"Scripted dramas dominate with viewers, but each episode costs many millions, or likely a week's worth of Jay's shows," says Ross. "Leno's other advantage is he'll have 46 weeks of fresh programming going against reruns."

Ross adds that Leno faces two hurdles: earning ad dollars from a less lucrative audience (ages 50-up) and delivering that crowd to 11 p.m. newscasts and O'Brien.

An easy way to plug an advertiser in an era when TV commercials are at the mercy of the DVR. Leno describes himself as "advertiser friendly," and NBC has already struck a deal with McDonald's, whose Monopoly-based promotion will find Leno announcing the chain's ad featuring NBC stars. Visitors to McDonald's will be steered by placards to Leno's program.

Today's challenging economy could well rewrite the old ad playbook, says Brian Steinberg, TV editor at Advertising Age magazine. "We'll see how much he can weave into his show. Because when the ads are part of the program, you're less likely to hit the fast-forward button," he says.

Find this article at: http://www.usatoday.com/life/television/news/2009-09-07-jay-leno_N.htm

Reluctant students of the classics, lend me your earbuds!

By Greg Toppo, USA TODAY

Kids, remember this name: Jenny Sawyer.

She may soon be American education's next "It" girl. Actually, make that its first and only "It" girl.

Only 24 and barely out of college, Sawyer has undertaken an audacious task: writing and shooting, with the help of a small band of filmmakers, more than 1,000 free, one-minute videos that help students understand and enjoy commonly assigned classic works of literature.

It'll take two years, thousands of hours on a Boston soundstage and countless outfit changes for Sawyer, the only person appearing on camera.

Her website, 60secondrecap.com, is scheduled to go live Tuesday with the first of 100 or so videos covering 10 universally loved (read: hated) works that teenagers have struggled to appreciate since English teachers first walked the Earth. Titles include: The Scarlet Letter, Of Mice and Men, Great Expectations, Hamlet and To Kill a Mockingbird.

U.S. Ad Spending

U.S. ad spending took a tumble during the first half of 2009 falling in almost every media and product category, according to Nielsen. A total of $56.9 billion was spent on advertising in the first six months of the year, more than $10.3 billion less than the same time period in 2008. Despite a 31% y/y drop, automotive remained the top product category, totaling $3.68 billion in spending through June. Sunday Supplements, Spot TV ads in smaller DMAs and magazine placements were among the hardest hit outlets. Cable TV was the only media category to see added spending with a 1.5% surge overall and a 0.6% increase for Spanish Language Cable TV. There were some growth categories, however, as ad spending on multi-function cell phones more than doubled to almost $233 million

Year-to-Year Change in Ad Spend, by Media
Media Category First Half 2009 vs. First Half 2008
Change
Cable TV 1.5%
Spanish Language Cable TV 0.6%
Internet -1.0%
FSI Coupon -5.5%
Network TV -7.0%
Network Radio -9.0%
Spot Radio -9.1%
Spanish Language TV -10.1%
Syndication TV -11.6%
Local Newspaper -13.2%
Outdoor -14.9%
Spot TV Top 100 DMAs -17.4%
National Magazine -21.2%
National Sunday Supplement -22.4%
National Newspaper -22.8%
Local Magazine -25.4%
B-to-B Magazines -31.8%
Spot TV 101-210 DMAs -32.1%
Local Sunday Supplements -45.7%
Grand Total -15.4%
Source: The Nielsen Company

It's all in the 'Modern Family': Comedy that's not so 'snarky'

By Gary Levin, USA TODAY
The classic sitcom family is about to get a makeover.
Modern Family, the centerpiece of ABC's new two-hour Wednesday comedy block, centers on three clans: a "traditional" family with mom, dad and three kids; a gay male couple who have just adopted a baby; and an older man (played by Married ... With Children's Ed O'Neill) and his much-younger Latina bride with a child of her own.

Family weaves stories about each of the families with mock-documentary "interviews" of them in a format similar to The Office. It isn't groundbreaking, but it reinvents a genre largely absent from network TV, where sitcoms have lately centered on groups of buddies and sex jokes.

Many of the situations in this situation comedy came from real life, says executive producer Christopher Lloyd. "Seventy-five percent of our stories are triggered by something that happened to us or writers in the room."

A fun surprise is that the pilot episode veers between the three separate family stories, revealing only at the end that they are connected: O'Neill's character is the father of Bowen's Claire and Jesse Tyler Ferguson's Mitchell, one of the gay dads.

The network's research revealed viewers would be more inclined to watch if they knew the show was about one big family rather than three separate ones, so promo spots airing for the last several weeks have already spoiled the surprise.

That "robs us of what we consider one of the greatest moments in the pilot, and that's a particularly tough thing for us to adjust to," Lloyd says. "We're not thrilled about it, but we fully understand why they're doing it."