Betty La Fea was a daily show, monday to Friday, which lasted little less than a year. It was popular because of the phenomenon, ugly girl making it to the fashion biz, then the transformation, then the love for the boss, etc. It was a HIT!

I watched Ugly Betty and the 1st season was amazing, but what happened is that viewers simply got bored. 4 years and Betty is still ugly. No change, no closure, the same storylines over and over. Betty la Fea was never meant to last 1 year, let alone 4. There’s so much you can do with that storyline, and that is why most of the audience already left.

Have Betty get a complete makeover and declare her love for Daniel, that should bring 0.8 more viewers back LOL and then close this show!

Castle – 60%
V – 50%
FlashForward – 20%
The Forgotten – 5%

In contrast the comedies have a much better chance
Modern Family 100%
Cougar Town 75%
The Middle 50%

…Although to be honest, I’m surprised it got a fourth season in the first place.

However, we are about to enter a new period for the Jay Leno Show. One when it will be against repeat or special (often weak) broadcast competition night in and night out for an extended period of time. The ratings in this period will perhaps be instructive as to his potential future prospects.

“For the past 11 episodes in a row, Leno’s program has either maintained or improved its adult demo rating compared to the previous week. Often, “Leno Show” has increased despite a declining lead-in as the holidays approach. And last week was Leno’s most-watched since mid-October.

The shift might represent a turning point for the industry-polarizing series, or at least signal that the show has managed to quit shedding viewers.

Leno is either finding strength amid a weakened playing field, or is discovering his groove.”

And I have to say…Keith does make one good point: TVBTN has been good with predictions in the past, but not 100% perfect. So, no need to have delusions of grandeur over here. You guys are still human like the rest of us.

Or maybe Bill and Richard are from Pluto.

Simply nothing else to put on? To keep Selma Hayek happy? Have a culturally diverse program on that appeals to Latin Americans?

Nah…It’s all about the money in reruns. Even Disney is that basic.

“UB is one of the Most Original and Freshest Shows to come on tv in years.”

Considering it’s just a remake of a South American telenovela, that statement is hilarious. Congrats to you for defining “most original” with “remake.”

“It just puzzles me the treatment that ABC has given it. its almost as if ABC wants the show to die.”

Yes, it’s a time-honored strategy to pursue poor ratings intentionally in attempt to cancel TV shows.

This is similar to the stock investor’s time-honored strategy of purchasing the stock of a corporation that the investor does not like in the hope that the share price will go down (preferably to a few cents and be deregistered and traded on the pink sheets) and the corporation will go bankrupt.

All of this makes perfect sense.

To morons.

By the way are there numbers for Legend of the Seekr 2 episode?

VAMPIRES DIE IN SUNLIGHT NOT SPARKLE LIKE A FRUIT CAKE.

…but a wickedly funny one

They could order the new drama, “TV By The Numbers”, starring all of us

You may say I’m a dreamer, but I’m not the only one.

i didn’t even think a new UB would be on this week… personally, i think it was a lame choice on abc’s part to bother with all new episodes on their wednesday and friday lineups…

1) Holiday (in this case, Thanksgiving)

2) Preemption or overruns or some other local shenanigans

3) The Renewal/Cancel index is flawed

Heh.

…just ask CBS about Medium (then again, syndication will play a part in any renewal decision there, as CBS produces the show).

It’s not proven that AFV will get the 2.2 demo it got two Sundays ago, or anywhere near that, if it moves to Fridays. Yes, it’s cheaper than dirt, but don’t forget the syndication issues with Betty will make Disney more money by airing the remaining episodes.

Is the .9 for Betty an outlier, or a huge negative trend? One data point does not a trend make – let’s see what happens next week…

..and she’s in hospice, I get that, I really do – can we please let her die in peace, not in pieces, before burying her?

My guess is no

If Betty started getting 3.0 demos from next week, the Index for Betty could:

a) improve, if all of ABC’s other shows improve less than Betty does,

b) worsen, if all of ABC’s other shows improve more than Betty does,

c) either improve or worsen, depending on the net effect of all of the changes to the demos of all of ABC’s shows, some of which may go up, some down, and some wander around like a drunken chicken in a tub of barbecue sauce (thank God I don’t have to figure that!)

Remember, the Renew/Cancel Index is based on the premise, “What if yesterday was the last day of the season, and the renewal decisions have to be made right now? Of course, now is too early for that final decision, but it indicates a trend…

…for instance, Betty is in County General, in the ER, and Gates and Rasgotra are trying to break the news to her gently – but they’ve got all the machines working, just in the (unlikely) case things get better for her…

…and if her sats (Index) gets over .80, as unlikely as that is, she may go orange, especially if someone at ABC says something positive about her…

…and if she makes .90, I hope Bill and Robert have a server load contingency plan…

…as I said before, the wake starts now on ABC – have a mimosa on me…

…and if Betty walks out like that supposedly dead, then misplaced, Luxembourgian soldier on M*A*S*H, give that girl a Blue Ribbon

…and the Index is not a law, or a theory, but a hypothesis based on economically obtainable data. (Bill and Robert would likely happily accept donations of either the cash necessary to get more info from Nielsen, or the cash needed so they can improve Nielsen’s backup generator system as an in-kind quid pro quo to get the better data – but they would probably need high seven figures to fund the endowment needed.)

Since they cannot get many data categories that could help explain why FOX would renew Til Death (a huge ‘boink!’), but have noticed a relationship (however imperfect, there is a relationship) between demo ratings and cancellation/renewal prospects, why not just enjoy the ride, like I do…an “B” ticket ride, for free…

…they wouldn’t mind us clicking an ad banner once in a while, either

The show deserves much better treatment from ABC.

Betty’s done after this season. Get over it.

…however, WGN America’s ratings aren’t exactly in Monk territory – the only real advantage is that it can fill in anywhere at a moments’ notice…

…and a further example – Minneapolis has a MyNet, a CW, an ion (main + 3 subchannels), an independent station, as well as the usual network affiliates, with a total of two subchannels…

…KSTP (ABC) has one subchannel, KARE (NBC) has one, and WCCO (CBS) and KMSP (FOX) have none…

…and AFV is nowhere on the broadcast schedule here – in the #15 market in the country…

And also, why would the demo audience stay home to watch AFV on Fridays? I can’t think of a show recently that has improved its demos when moving to Fridays. Yes, AFV’s costs would be lower than Betty’s, but the demo loss won’t help…

IMO, if ABC cancels Betty now, it won’t likely help them at all, as they will also take a hit on Betty’s syndication.

I foresee special after special on the broadcasters…

ABC needs to slot True Beauty at 10pm after The Bachelor since it can’t hold its own like Castle. (Anyone remember the special Tuesday 10pm airing of True Beauty earlier in the year?)

Episodes of AFV from 2001-present are syndicated on local broadcast stations and WGN; ABC does make back-end money from that show. First-run episodes of AFV would do fine on Fridays at 8pm and would outrate Supernanny in the demo and total viewers, but having AFV as a lead-in wouldn’t do much for UB since it’s serialized. That’s why Supernanny and Wife Swap should share the post-AFV slot at 9pm.