Stuck in the Mid-season with you

Entertainment Weekly - a really solid publication, I might add; check it out if you're not in the habit already - is currently running an article picked up from Reuters (and, let's face it, anyone who notices TV patterns), asking the ever-elusive question: why ain't there no love for mid-season shows? You know, those programs that get premiered some time in January and rarely live to see the light of September. Some are good (Canterbury's Law, New Amsterdam, Eli Stone), some are great (Raines), and most, like the rest of network TV, are just, well, there - but that's not necessarily the death of a show. A lot of people really enjoy averages and mediocrity; they're often entertaining. But I digress.

As far as the bad shows that premiere mid-season, the cause of death seems obvious: they suck. They're too bad even to be on Fox. As far as the great, the good, and the average go, let's look at the alibi given by the networks: the boogeyman of bad ratings.

What's a good rating these days? Well, Fox seems pretty content to cruise on the success of American Idol, which averages around 25 million viewers per...episode? What do you call an "episode" of reality TV? A segment? Please toss in some ideas when you leave a comment, I'm very curious now. Anyways, 25 million. Million! That's like 25 Saskatchewans! Canterbury's Law is averaging just under 7 million (or 7 Saskatchewans) per episode, which is considered poor ratings and thus its unceremonious banishment to Friday nights and subsequent cancellation (personally, I fail to see how this makes sense when Fox has nothing better, numbers-wise, for that Monday time slot until Prison Break returns). And New Amsterdam is stayin' alive with 10.1 - though, as mentioned in my previous post, it too is getting the Friday night treatment when it returns, again in mid-season, next year.

Now, to myself, who admittedly has no knowledge of how ratings and advertising affect the life and death of network programming, 7 million fans seem like a good enough reason to keep a show on the air. And with Idol picking up any slack, you'd think there would be more cause to give mid-season a fighting chance. Also to consider is the fact that Canterbury and NA are attracting viewers who aren't necessarily watching Idol - there are some completely different audience factors going on here. Which raises another question: if Fox wants to focus on attracting the audience that watches Idol and The Moment of Truth, why are they even picking up dramas anymore? The network clearly doesn't have the patience to see whether or not the new shows will catch on, when they won't even distribute complete half-seasons anymore.


I'm trying to write a half-decent opinion piece here, but, as you can tell, I'm having a really hard time today, because good and great shows being given the shaft due to what I perceive as nothing more than old-fashioned impatience and greed makes me angry - as and artist and an appreciator. So, my apologies for this rant-y little thing,; I promise I'll give you something next time. In the meantime, I'll be sure to enjoy tonight's new episode of New Amsterdam, and await your comments, or lack thereof. Rachel, you wanted me to start this blog-thing...where are you??? Ah well, it feels good to get this stuff off my chest, even if no one's reading. Isn't that what blogging's all about?