The good news is, it will be coming. The bad news could be that it won’t matter for our purposes. While the plan does call for inclusion of online commercial viewing into the C3 numbers advertisers and networks use to buy and sell advertising, it’s not clear to me what we will see in terms of program viewing. It is clear to me it won’t influence the Live+SD program ratings we report for the overnight results, and I’m not sure yet whether Nielsen will do anything differently with the weekly (currently Live+SD) program viewing numbers or even with the Live+7 program viewing numbers. It will be verrrrry interesting to see how that all shakes out.

The nets do track online viewing. It’s not reported in the numbers we get here, but the networks know how many people are watching online. The problem is, it simply isn’t that many people, relatively speaking. Compared to TV viewing, online viewing is basically a rounding error.

I actually got my first real laugh out of “Hank” last night, but sadly it came at the expense of Hank’s brother in-law when he went to fry the turkey and things went boom. Other than that it was another episode that required intravenous Novcane to get through. Since they broadcast the Thanksgiving episode I’m guessing that they may not burn through all 13 episodes much to the chagrin of the accountants.

I’m reminded of the Fall of ’84 when CBS had a can’t-miss new sitcom inspired by the breakout success of MTV and produced by the people who did “Flashdance.” “Dreams” starring John Stamos and Jami Gertz as a wannabe rock band. This fake band had a real major-label deal with Columbia Records (owned by CBS), a soundtrack album, a 7″ single (written by Billy Steinberg and Tom Kelly, who would soon be responsible for a string of #1 hits), and a music video for the single playing on MTV. All those tie-ins and CBS shitcanned the thing after 4 broadcasts.

“Castle” isn’t a Bottom 5 show like “Dreams” was, though, so I imagine the tie-in money from it is more likely to tilt the scales.

“But the network said they like it.”

But th eproblem is this, people don’t know about the show or they think it’s a bad show without giving a chance.

Doesn’t Castle get some slight help from the extra money ABC is getting from the Book that was released too? or does ABC get nothing from that?

You would think ABC would get a cut from any books based on the series. It is their show.

And Eastwick isn’t nearly as bad as people are trying to make it sound. It’s a fun show with a sexy cast and I’m enjoying every episode. Most of the negativity seems to be coming from a few individuals with a lot of web presence who are trying to condemn the show without watching it.

I know what the difference is between Ugly Betty and Scrubs. For the record, Scrubs has some hefty paychecks to write for the low ratings it brings in, but it still makes more than it costs. Meanwhile, ABC has found ways to cut back on UB expenses and make the show more profitable by airing instant repeats on TVGuide Channel and moving the entire production to NYC for cheaper production costs and tax breaks last year. Therefore, regardles of if it is a 30 comedy or an hour drama, it all comes down to if it makes more money than it loses. On a side note, ABC or any other network will drop a drama, like CW did to TBL, just as effortlessly as they would a sitcom if it doesn’t go with their plans.

I did some searching and it looks like Romantically will be premiering midseason. But that’s just more incentive for ABC to keep Hank until it’s finished it’s Episodes and then replace it with Romantically Challenged in the beginning of the year.

Tommy – ABC axed the trio on November 20, but they did let the series run out and I think (and hope they do thesame with Eastwick and let the show wrap up airing its eps (like what FOX is doing with Dollhouse & Brothers and what NBC is doing with Trauma). ABC usually lets its comedies run out but since they will have 6 on the air by the time Ted premieres they may just pull Hank from the sched. ABC has pulled underperforming comedies from the sched around that time before (Help Me, Help You and Cavemen) and since the other comedy trio has been given a full year Hank being pulled can come at any time. Romantically Challeneged can be announced soon if ABC plans to premiere the series in January. The show can also air in March, but I dont think ABC will hold it to 2010-2011. The problem is it wont fit in with the rest of ABC’s new comedies any better than Hank.

Now..it’s in the middle.

…given ABC’s midseason success from seasons’ past, I can see it now – think Wacky Races at Disneyland, as eight or nine ABC programs are chased by a dozen ravenous bears from downtown Anaheim to the unemployment building in beautiful downtown Burbank, with sixteen news copters filming in HD…

…it may be possible that none, not even Katic or Heaton, will survive (although I wouldn’t want to cross either of those two ladies, even if I did weigh 1600 pounds and had eight inch claws and teeth)…

…they could always expand Tom Bergeron to five nights per week, after all

The show isn’t an outright disaster, but it does need to show some improvement (or at least not lose the audience it has now when “Dancing with the Stars” wraps on November 24). Certainly, it needs creative improvement. The women on the show are all wallpaper.