I want to take my wifes personally signed last book of the series by Terry Goodkind and wipe my bottom with it.

What a complete duffer of a series.

Legend has fare greater coverage (nearly 100%), its gets multiple airings in many markets (and those are added together for its weekly total). It airs typically without direct competition from original network programming.

To get an accurate comparison to a network programming you would need to find a market where it plays during primetime against original programming. And compare that one broadcast (not including any others later in the week) to those network programs.

Oh and stop talking about Xena and Hercules because while they were successful in first run syndication that weren’t king by any means at all. That belong to Star Trek. With The Next Generation and the majority of Deep Space Nine outperforming those shows. WIth most airings of TNG getting a HH rating typically between 10- 13 (series low of 8.9 and a series high of 17.4), were taking about viewers between 12 to 20 plus million. Deep Space Nine averaged a HH rating of 7.2, (series low was a 3.7, but series high was a 18.8 which is the syndication record for original fare and I would guess about 22 to 25 million viewers). And Trek was often broadcast during Primetime on Monday’s through Thursday in direct competition to the network’s big guns.

Now Legend is doing good though (considering that original first run has been dead for a few years, and it is certainly nice to see some life into that potential broadcast platform. SO I hope it continues.

I had a conversation on this very subject with a fellow writer this afternoon who noticed, not too kindly, that the idea of taking two struggling networks, mashing them together and supposedly creating a stronger single net has flamed out spectacularly. I don’t think even Smallville is doing the numbers it did on WB. You’re really in the dumper as a network if you can beat the numbers UPN was putting up. Honestly, I don’t know if firing Ostroff would do any good at this point. I think the netlet is either doomed or doomed to be absorbed by something else. They can’t keep renewing Smallville forever. Welling’s got to be pushing 30 at this point and every season they don’t let him fly & don’t strap that big “S” on his chest just cheats the viewers that have stuck with it for 8 seasons.

Alde: Syndication does run differently than network. In syndication, you’re selling a series to individual stations and / or station groups. When you take your package in, you have to guarantee a certain number of original episodes, usually 22 but sometimes a little more or a little less (Star Trek, for example, usually did around 25 new episodes per season). They also have to guarantee a minimum rating and some other things. In return, the stations guarantee a certain range of timeslot, promotions, etc. If the series really tanks, stage one is usually that the stations start to move the series to overnight death slots. Syndicators have cut original series off mid-season but they usually produce the guaranteed number. As a producer, this is a nice luxury since you know how many episodes you have to play with in advance instead of the current network model of “you’ve got 7 episodes to impress us, then we *might* order more”. There’s also a lot of responsibility because you still have to grab viewers and you have to do it without the weight of a network’s PR machine behind you. Having worked both sides of the street, I’d probably lean a little more towards preferring the syndication model over network for creative reasons but there’s more money, at least initially, in working for a network.

There. That should completely confuse everyone.

But on subject. I’m not familiar at all with the inner workings of syndication, so I don’t know how reasonable it is to ask this, but.
How are the cancellation rules within syndicated television? More lax than broadcast, more or less the same?
Because I’ve already read that LotS has full season order (22 episodes).

Consider that the last episode of THE SOPRANOS was watched live by 11.9 million people and compare that to the 2.7 million that watched last weeks TRUE BLOOD. That SOPRANOS episode was watched by about 28 million of the subscribers.

JOHN FROM CINCINATTI which was canceled was watched by 3.4 million people on its premiere. It would average about 3 million viewers per episode. It was watched by around 8 million people per week.

The real reason JOHN was canceled had more to do with the new president of HBO wanting to have as little productions around from the previous president as possible. To make a name for themself.

Or compare it to CARNIVALE another canceled HBO series from the previous establishment. The series premier was watched by 5.3 million people. It would lose viewership but still average about 3.2 million over its two season run and over 9 million overall viewers for the week.

In reality TRUE BLOOD is barely besting DEXTER over on showtime despite having nearly 4 times the amount of subscribers. If this was the previous establishment at HBO this show would have been canned by now and not picked up for a 2nd season.

HBO is starting to lose subscribers and bringing a show like TRUE BLOOD back is a major mistake that won’t get them subscription retention or new subscribers.

Could you please explain this to me. Don’t know if it is good or bad.

http://mobile.broadcastingcable.com/index.asp?layout=article&articleid=CA6611411

Been looking out for ratings on true blood, found this, but does it matter when all viewing is taken into account, or just viewing audience watching the show in its timeslot? Is this just fluff?

Love True Blood, I hadn’t given LOTS a chance lately, I’m glad it is doing so well, will take a look at it again come this week and see what all the fuss is about.

NEVER MISSED AN EPISODE OF XENA OR HERCULES. Tapert and Raimi were touched by god.

The numbers posted for Xena would be much more impressive today and would blast LotS out of the water when adjusted to the current audience. Look at the rankings for the last two series of Xena – it was the #2 series in syndication (Hercules was out of production by then and Sorbo had moved on to *shudder* Andromeda). If you compare the raw numbers for the same period for syndicated series like Jeopardy!, you’ll see different numbers but a similar market share. I’m not trying to downplay the ratings LotS is getting – if anything, it shows that there’s a market for scripted syndication and maybe we can get away from half hours that have “Judge” in the title. But we also have to look at numbers rationally. I also wouldn’t just jump up and down that it’s Raimi and Tappert at the helm. They had a number of television bombs as well so we’ll just have to keep an eye on how Seeker’s future plays out.

Have you seen Crusoe (another co-Uk production)? How does Merlin compare?

My theory on ratings for LotS holds up fine. How many of the CW affiliates that runs on are secondary affiliates, meaning they are also another network affiliate as well? Also, how many of those stations are being managed by larger stations that are larger network affiliates and either cross promote or even run one of the two plays on that station? The syndication game has changed a lot since Herc & Xena ruled scripted syndication. FYI – at one point, Herc & Xena were second only to series like Wheel, Jeopardy! and Oprah in syndie numbers.

As for the quality of the series, I watched the pilot and two other episodes. The series has dropped to the bottom of the viewing list, which means I’ll watch it only when I’ve exhausted all other viewing possibilities, including America’s Next Top Model (that we’ll never hear from again). And I stopped watching that series when they bounced the transsexual. That bet would have paid good money if she’d won, dammit….

I heart you!

I guess those numbers wouldn’t be as impressive today as what LOTS just pulled in.

BTW, Raimi & Tapert are developing “Spartacus” for Starz.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Xena:_Warrior_Princess#U.S._ratings

Season Highest U.S. ratings Network Rank
1 1995-1996 6.1 million Syndication #12
2 1996–1997 7.8 million Syndication #7
3 1997–1998 6.6 million Syndication #9
4 1998–1999 4.9 million Syndication #13
5 1999–2000 4.1 million Syndication #2
6 2000–2001 3.9 million Syndication #2[28].

There didn’t seem to be ratings data on Hercules, but I could just have missed it.