Comments on: Castle and Cupid are destined to be canceled

By: dubq

dubq — Fri, 01 Apr 2011 17:58:10 +0000

Great call on Castle there, chief.

By: Dawn

Dawn — Wed, 29 Apr 2009 00:34:38 +0000

First of all, these networks aren’t thinking about what they’re putting these shows up against. I’ve never been a huge t.v. person, but I love Big Bang Theory, How I Met Your Mother, and now I’m addicted to The Mentalist, Castle, and Dollhouse as well.

The problem?–I go to work and college full time. So I dvr most of the shows I can’t catch on time.

How about they get rid of something like Survivor?–It’s on it’s, what, seventh season (which would just be sad if its actually any higher) with its same ridiculous plot and drama (my bad, on a different island)? Or what about the Bachelor? I say drop these shows and keep the ones that actually have a great story with likeable characters and actors.

By: Maddy

Maddy — Sun, 26 Apr 2009 02:37:35 +0000

ABC is soo stupid. It’s cancelling all the good shows. Castle is really good. I’m tired of watching shows and just having them cancelled. Why they hell should I watch tv? I watched Pushing Daisies and Dirty Sexy Money too but Castle did not deserve to be cancelled.

Lets see what other show you guys bring out and cancel. I’m very upset at this.

By: Obloodyhell

Obloodyhell — Wed, 22 Apr 2009 03:14:17 +0000

P.S. you want “smart” programming”? Put Cupid on following Pushing Daisies. THAT would be smart programming. And maybe those two after Scrubs and something else. Then ABC would have a romantic comedy night going, which might get more people actually DECIDING to watch TV instead of flipping through channels. That’s what “Must See TV” was all about. Getting people to actually DECIDE that they wanted to sit down and watch all the shows one night of the week.

By: Obloodyhell

Obloodyhell — Wed, 22 Apr 2009 03:06:53 +0000

> Wow, from a certain point of view ABC is in trouble. They might not have any freshman shows coming back, and only one sophmore show might see a third season. All of their hits are 5 years+

I hope ABC dies a horrible death. These idiots can’t grasp that you have to find ways to capture an audience, and you don’t do that by making certain that most individuals won’t waste time with getting into a show and its characters if the nets won’t give it time to develop — and that their ATTITUDE towards a show is a good part of that development time.

When a show hovering on the cusp of cancellation with 2-3 eps aired, and friends are telling them that “Hey, it’s a good show, give it a chance” — what do you think is the chance that someone will actually do that if they think it’s toast anyway?

ZERO.

That happened two years ago with “Drive”. I pushed the show with a few friends, and one of them watched it, and said, “Yeah, wow, this IS good.” — how much attention would that have gotten then from the *other* people I recommended the show to? But it never aired again. Two whole nights is all it got. Stupid.

THAT’S HOW YOU BUILD AN AUDIENCE.

I’m personally getting really tired of giving a show time to catch my interest, then finding out it’s been cancelled after all of three to four outings. I’ve personally adopted a policy towards network shows that, for the most part, is “If it has been on for six weeks, then I *might* give it a chance.” I’ve made exceptions for some creators — Cupid and Dollhouse, for example — and might do so for some stars — but for the most part, if they think ANY new show needs “instantaneous hit numbers” to succeed and make it for a whole season, they aren’t going to be getting those from MY eyeballs.

If they aren’t willing to respect my time and attention, they don’t need it at all. There are lots of other things I can do besides couch potatoing. Games. Movies. Surfing the web. Why bother spending three hours of my life getting into a show and its characters only to have all that thrown away because Network Execs can’t figure out how to build an audience any more, and can’t be bothered to even try?

By: Holly

Holly — Tue, 21 Apr 2009 15:38:39 +0000

I echo your friend’s sentiments on Castle. It’s been a fun watch for the past few weeks and my husband and I will be sorry to see it go.

By: sarah g

sarah g — Mon, 20 Apr 2009 14:29:28 +0000

I know that I dont know all of the demo numbers etc; but I have enjoyed In The Motherhood. BoT I watch when nothing else is on, but it makes me laugh. Some more comedies are needed, that are aired around the Brothers and Sisters, Greys and PP. I’m tired of all of the reality shows etc. Bring back and keep the comedies. SS could be good if it had some better writing.

By: michael

michael — Mon, 20 Apr 2009 03:22:44 +0000

Perhaps people like me are to blame. I dont have cable and only watch shows online after they have been broadcast. Maybe my tastes are unusual too. But I love Chuck and Castle, Life on Mars and Terminator, Kings and Smallville. I also watch Reaper, Dollhouse Lie to Me, and House and Cupid. Sorry but that is all I could find that is of interest for the entire week’s worth of network TV. When I look thru the CBS lineup, nothing looks good. (plus Im not sure how to watch their shows online) Eliminating the shows I mentioned just reinforces my resolve not to tune in further, whenever I think of cable.
Personally, I think Life on Mars was the only show that was fair to its viewers, and did the decent thing, by giving us closure on the meaning of a series. My sense is that they pretaped a closure sequence to run whenever they had their last show, and I just wish Eli Stone did the same.

By: s

Sat, 18 Apr 2009 13:59:21 +0000

i think alot of the ABC comedies will actually be back next season will probably get at least 13 episode runs next season
Samantha Who? has its 5 episodes already shot for season 3, Better Off Ted : ABC is only airing 7 / 13 episodes this season which = a cheaper next season Motherhood will also have 1 unaired episode which will i guess will be on the DVD since i doubt that would get renewed

By: s

Sat, 18 Apr 2009 09:58:42 +0000

Samantha has already shot 5 episodes for season 3

By: Julie

Julie — Fri, 17 Apr 2009 19:28:45 +0000

I LOVE Castle and I like Cupid, too. I watched about 1/2 of the first episode of Better Off Ted and I thought it was horrible! I loved Eli Stone and Life on Mars and October Road and even Pushing Daisies. It’s sad to see the fun stuff go off the air. Soon I’ll have to find a new favorite channel. The only thing I watch that’s NOT on ABC is American Idol. They never ask me for my opinion! I wonder where the ratings actually come from!

By: LJ

LJ — Thu, 16 Apr 2009 06:30:30 +0000

I like Nathan Fillion and all, but he’s really a ratings loser. He’s a good actor and he seems to have a lot of fans, but he’s like the anchor that carries shows to the bottom of the river.

By: ABCFanaticSpeaksToday

ABCFanaticSpeaksToday — Thu, 16 Apr 2009 04:31:16 +0000

I think Samantha Who should be cancel because it can’t stand on its own.

Better Off Ted and In the Motherhood are definitely goners with their demo numbers.

By: kellie

kellie — Thu, 16 Apr 2009 03:23:59 +0000

Better off ted is a pretty darn good show ok. it deserves to come back but knowing abc it’ll just shoove it aside. its smart and funny and if u don’t like it its quite obvious u probably need a laugh track to understand when and where to laugh.abc does horrible in the comedy department so they shud keep it around at least for a bit i mean it does get some critical praise. i like sam who doh i dont watch it all the time. i love the office and if u like that u shud give bot a try. it might grow on u

By: Tommy

Tommy — Wed, 15 Apr 2009 23:24:59 +0000

Jessica the reason that Samantha Who needs to prove that it can stand on its own is because if it can’t hold up in the ratings without a Dancing with the Stars crutch during it’s Network run, no one will be interested in buying the rights to it in syndication. Syndication is a cash cow for sitcoms so the networks take that into account when renewing/canceling shows.

By: chucksmom

chucksmom — Wed, 15 Apr 2009 22:07:16 +0000

I am really enjoying Castle. This is just really sad.
It’s nice to have some “lighter” TV shows like Castle & Chuck to watch. There is enough series-dark shows to watch. Furthermore, Nathan Fillion is just awesome in this series.

By: Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles, Castle y Cupid, al borde de la cancelación

Wed, 15 Apr 2009 22:02:49 +0000

[...] | TV by The Numbers Más información | The Ausiello [...]

By: Jessica

Jessica — Wed, 15 Apr 2009 21:56:11 +0000

I have a question, why do people always say that “Samantha Who can’t stand on its own” as if its a horrible thing. Yeah, I guess it cant stand on its own, but why does it have to stand on its own? Can’t they just leave it on after DWTS and just enjoy it there? They seemed to have a pretty good combo with the ratings. I mean instead they moved it to thursdays, and put surviving suburbia after DWTS and the same thing is happening, after DWTS it does well, when DWTS isnt on it does poorly.

Besides that, maybe Samantha Who would be doing better if they hadn’t pulled it off the schedule completely, delayed its return twice, and then stuck it randomly on thursdays…when GA and PP aren’t even on right now….

By: Meli

Meli — Wed, 15 Apr 2009 20:40:37 +0000

Adam Goldberg of The Unusuals was on the Late Late Show last night and while he didn’t say anything about renewal or cancellation he was acting like he wasn’t sure about its fate, either, therefore The Unusuals should still go in the ‘not sure yet’ category.

But Fin is right–nobody watches the series that follows Lost because the audience is either trying to figure out what they saw, thinking about how it fits into the entire story mythology, or they’re online with others trying to do the same thing. Much like Tuesday at 8:00 and American Idol, ABC needs to look at 10:00 Wednesday as a spot to throw a series under the bus.

By: mary

mary — Wed, 15 Apr 2009 20:35:05 +0000

I think ABC should try to air a new dramedy after DH and move B&S because it can stand on its own. And when DH is on its final season it should have a spin-off and air after DH!

By: betty

betty — Wed, 15 Apr 2009 20:23:52 +0000

Isn’t ABC moving SS after DWTS ends?
I think that if it can stand on its own they should air SW? after! i love that show and it deserves better ratings

By: Hanzel

Hanzel — Wed, 15 Apr 2009 18:51:32 +0000

SW has to stand on its own and every show does for syndication value. There’s no point in keeping a show around that can barely perform during its network run.

I think the Castle and The Unusuals along with Surviving Suburbia are likely to return than Better off the Air Ted and Samantha Why She Still on Air?

By: dvikib

dvikib — Wed, 15 Apr 2009 18:25:22 +0000

HeroesForGhosts and Kalena – I think you’re absolutely right that Castle should be on at 8 or 9PM rather than 10PM. It’s a light-hearted mystery series that would be better in the so-called family viewing hours. I also think it’s difficult for new shows to attract viewers in the spring. A lot of people I’ve talked to don’t even know there is a show called Castle (despite ads) and seem to be set in their TV viewing habits.
Larry – As far as not being able to understand the dialogue, I am partially deaf in one ear but have had no problems with Castle. I usually watch it on my cable TV. In general, when I watch shows on my portable TV with the digital box (no cable), I lose some of the words due to the digital broadcast freezing up for a few seconds off and on.

By: Terrence

Terrence — Wed, 15 Apr 2009 18:21:03 +0000

Why does “Samantha Who?” need to stand on its own? If it does well after “Dancing with the Stars” and is a solid companion, why not trot it out along with “Stars”?

I knew “Samantha” wouldn’t be able to stand on its own, why did ABC?

By: Robert Seidman

Robert Seidman — Wed, 15 Apr 2009 18:19:29 +0000

jbs, Bravo/NBC Universal’s Television Without Pity used to run a game called TV Big Shot but stopped. I think it’s possible that we’d add such a feature someday, but someday will be the day there is a plug-in or other easy to install software that allows us to enter in the shows, and values/costs and then handles everything else (scoring, results, registrations, etc) automatically.

By: Dan

Dan — Wed, 15 Apr 2009 18:13:07 +0000

Castle and The Unusuals have 10 episodes, In the Motherhood and Cupid have 7 (maybe 6 for Motherhood since the order was cut in half). All of these shows originally had 13 episodes ordered, but were subsequently cut. The episode orders never should have been 13 to begin with, maybe with the exception of In the Motherhood (which was cut after the premiere). The episode orders werent cut because of bad confidence, just because of cost and not enough room on the schedule. Both Castle and Cupid will finish their runs in May while The Unusuals will burnoff its remaining episodes starting May 27. Midseason Better off Ted and Surviving Suburbia has already completed both their 13 episodes orders, which is why those shows could not be cut back. ABC has announced that Surviving Suburbia will move to May 27 to air alongside The Goode Family, to finish its first season. If the show is renewed, then its possible that the series episodes will be held until next year, and hopefully Better off Ted will burn off its remaining episodes. I think most midseason shows should get 8 episodes for their first seasons, that way if the shows do bad, they can end quickly and if they do good, production can continue and the networks won’t need to waste money.

By: Julia

Julia — Wed, 15 Apr 2009 18:09:47 +0000

jbs, I believe there is a game like that run by members of PIFeedback.

By: jbs

jbs — Wed, 15 Apr 2009 18:03:25 +0000

I love this blog. I love the information. I love the fact that Robert Seidman posts so actively and defends all his predictions. I only hope that one day I will have network show so Rob can prognosticate its fate as well. I am a believer. This site is fantastic!

- Side note: Rob, is there any chance you will start an online fantasy sports-like game for television shows and ratings? Likely not, I know. Bummer.

By: Julia

Julia — Wed, 15 Apr 2009 17:52:39 +0000

Lynne, considering when their seasons began, 10 episodes makes sense. They wouldn’t add any episodes to this season order, they would just renew them for second seasons. (Though I believe Cupid and The Unusuals both only have 7 episodes.)

By: Lynne

Lynne — Wed, 15 Apr 2009 17:47:28 +0000

Everyone also has to remember that ABC only ordered 10 episodes of Unusuals, Cupid and Castle. If the shows took off ABC would order more and possibly give them a second season. It seems ABC had low expectations for these shows from the beginning.

By: cool

cool — Wed, 15 Apr 2009 17:43:19 +0000

I think Better Off Ted was only picked up to air with Scrubs, without Scrubs next year, the show will be canceled.

By: Dan

Dan — Wed, 15 Apr 2009 16:33:22 +0000

Despite being low rated, I think Better off Ted, could be in consideration for renewal. After this season, it will have 6 episodes left for next year, along with a 6-13 episode second season could make a full year. Cupid will be gone. Don’t bother looking at retention, because in the end it all comes down to what the network thinks will work out best for next year. The only reason Castle will be kept is so that ABC doesnt have to dump their full year of failures, not to mention a sophomore slump (Pushing Daisies, Eli Stone, Dirty Sexy Money) along with the ending of veteran shows (Jim, Scrubs, Boston Legal).

By: Kalena

Kalena — Wed, 15 Apr 2009 16:26:29 +0000

Castle is NOT a 10 pm show. Never has been. Either 8 or 9 pm would be better. It reminds me of Bones (when it was new) which was doing great in the 8 pm hour but then American Idol came back and they pushed it to 10 pm. Massive ratings drop. They quickly moved it to another night at the 8 pm hour. ABC take note.

By: Larry

Larry — Wed, 15 Apr 2009 16:12:17 +0000

Castle might as well be cancelled because half the time the listener can’t understand what is being said. The music is in the forefront and the voices are in the background.

By: Riff Rafferty

Riff Rafferty — Wed, 15 Apr 2009 16:08:38 +0000

If we’re talking quality, “Better Off Ted” is the only new ABC show that deserves renewal. If we’re talking ratings, “Surviving Suburbia.” Of course, “Suburbia” has a lead-in that people, you know, watch. “Ted” has both the best lead-in… and the worst lead-in.

“In the Motherhood” is gone (no big loss), but of the dramas may get a “What About Brian” stay of execution. Everyone thought that show was finished back in 2006, and low and behold, it rose from the dead to stink up both the airwaves and the Nielsens for another year. “Castle” got a ton of advance promotion and an overnight DVD release.

Mind you, I wouldn’t bet money on any of ABC’s new scripted shows returning, only on “True Beauty” — the closest thing they had to a hit this season.

By: thedemonhog

thedemonhog — Wed, 15 Apr 2009 15:10:57 +0000

S., I definitely see the logic behind its cancellation, but I also wonder if ABC would have made the same decision today.

By: Julia

Julia — Wed, 15 Apr 2009 14:40:54 +0000

dumont, retention in one slot doesn’t translate to the same retention in another slot. Look at Life on Mars. It wasn’t getting great retention out of Grey’s, but then it moved behind Lost and got even worse retention. And I am a Rob Thomas fan, but I tried Cupid and did not like it. Lost fans being fans of Veronica Mars (which is a pretty big assumption on your part to begin with) doesn’t mean any of them will like Cupid.

By: evah

evah — Wed, 15 Apr 2009 13:52:06 +0000

To: dvikib & John T. Holden

OH,how I do agree with both your thinking….& John’s is worth repeating:

(quote)I had a lot of high hopes for The Mentalist but the stories really haven’t improved over the season. I mostly enjoy it now simply for the cast. Castle, otoh, seems to have better writing and I enjoy the witty banter more. I have to wonder how they would be doing if their positions were reversed.(unquote)

By: Fennerbender

Fennerbender — Wed, 15 Apr 2009 13:17:59 +0000

NO NO No not my Castle.This ruins my Monday TV night of Chuck/Rewatch Chuck/then Castle.

By: dumont

dumont — Wed, 15 Apr 2009 12:27:50 +0000

Julia says:
April 15th, 2009 at 12:46 am
dumont, retention doesn’t count for anything when you are pulling 1.6. Absolutely nothing at all.
—
Well sometimes a higher rating is entirely due to being out of a higher-rated lead-in. ABC needs to give ‘Cupid’ a one-off out of either ‘DWTS Performance’ on Monday or ‘Lost’ on Wednesdays.

I’ve always thought ‘Cupid’ would flow well out of ‘Lost’, as many of the Lostie’s share an affection for Mr. Rob Thomas’s projects (‘Veronica Mars’).

By: S.

S. — Wed, 15 Apr 2009 10:15:40 +0000

thedemonhog, you are forgetting that those low 2 ratings fod Boston Legal where for a 5 year old show, with all the licensing costs associated with that, and a very expensive cast. They now look nice, but it could still mean a very red balance sheet at the end of the year. All loss with no expectation of it ever trending up. It was one of my favorite shows, but I can see the logic beyond the cancellation.

The same way I can make the case for Castle not being renewed on the steady downward trend of its demo. It is not only that the demo now is bad, it is that people that tried the show don’t come back. Last season, with a better start, and a better demo, Bionic Woman got canceled for the same reason.

By: ABCFanaticTalksABC

ABCFanaticTalksABC — Wed, 15 Apr 2009 08:36:55 +0000

Castle will survive, you guys are giving the show a hard chance to survive.

Surviving Suburbia/Samantha Who should be cancelled

By: Julia

Julia — Wed, 15 Apr 2009 07:46:50 +0000

dumont, retention doesn’t count for anything when you are pulling 1.6. Absolutely nothing at all.

By: dumont

dumont — Wed, 15 Apr 2009 07:23:58 +0000

I published this over at Mr. Marc Berman’s site, and I am copying it over here because no one else has made this observation yet.

When retention of ‘tentpole’ 9 pm lead-in is measured, ‘Cupid’ keeps the most A18-49s watching ABC from the Monday to Wednesday ABC ‘tentpole’ series.

1st: ‘Cupid’ A18-49 Retention:
-> out of ‘DWTS’ (2x) = 61.4% 2 airings (finals)

2nd: ‘Surviving Suburbia’ A18-49 Retention:
-> out of ‘DWTS’ (2x) = 60.8% 2 airings (finals)

3rd: ‘The Unusuals’ A18-49 Retention:
-> out of ‘Lost’ (1x) = 55.2% 1 airing (finals)

4th: ‘Castle’ A18-49 Retention:
-> out of ‘DWTS’ (4x) = 50.7% 4 airings (finals)

As ABC President Mr. McPherson contemplates which of his midseason experiments is a keeper for the fall sked, there are two categories.
1. The series that have had to self-start, such as ‘Better Off Ted’ (which I completely agree with Mr. Seidman is definitely interesting and worthy of renewal consideration) and ‘In the Motherhood’.
2. The series that have been given juicy ‘tentpole’ lead-ins to retain and keep watching ABC, such as ‘Surviving Suburbia’, ‘Castle’, ‘Cupid’ or ‘The Unusuals’. In this second category, to date ‘Cupid’ has demonstrated the best A18-49 stickiness of the Monday to Wednesday tentpole lead-ins.

If I had the ear of Mr. McPherson, I would advise him to issue renewal slips to ‘Better Off Ted’ and ‘Cupid’, and let the other series slip away into obscurity.

By: thedemonhog

thedemonhog — Wed, 15 Apr 2009 05:30:30 +0000

I wonder if ABC is regretting cancelling ‘Boston Legal’. Those reliable low 2 demos are looking pretty good right now a la ‘Ugly Betty’.

By: dave

dave — Wed, 15 Apr 2009 04:50:39 +0000

I thought heard something somewhere(can’t remember where) That scrubs could return despite the last season rumblings. Maybe even without JD and the gang, and instead focusing on the new interns. Anyways numbers wise, it kind of makes sense.(but could go either way)

By: Holly

Holly — Wed, 15 Apr 2009 04:42:47 +0000

^Just over 7 million, but the demo means a lot more in renewal decisions.

By: Dan

Dan — Wed, 15 Apr 2009 04:36:42 +0000

How many total viewers did Castle get last night? I know the show is dropping but I still think ABC will keep it around until next year. Its likely to be axed after the show performs badly next year, but atleast ABC will have a renewed drama that can tide them over until hopefully they get some new dramas in for next fall. I know I seem to be over confident, but I see theres a pattern every year in terms of what happens with midseason dramas.

By: Holly

Holly — Wed, 15 Apr 2009 04:23:35 +0000

but they still aren’t nearly as bad as ABC’s other cancelled series. Eli Stone, Pushing Daisies, Dirty Sexy Money, Life on Mars, and soon to be cancelled Cupid and The Unusuals all are doing worse.

Castle is not too far off and it hasn’t stopped dropping yet. Last night’s episode garnered a 1.9. DSM bottomed out with a 1.7, PD with 1.6. Eli Stone did hit a 1.2, but that was on 12/30, when everything else was on hiatus. A few dips aside, LOM was hovering around 1.9, 2.0 after its move to Wednesday. While I have no doubt it will drop this week, The Unusuals premiered at a 2.1, which is worse than Castle’s premiere but still better than the last two weeks.

By: andrea

andrea — Wed, 15 Apr 2009 04:16:51 +0000

I really like Cupid. It’s a cute, clean story. We need something instead of all the violence and some of the stupid reality shows. Why can’t viewers enjoy a show without guns and blood.