During the Chuck Wondercon panel in San Francisco on Sunday, Chuck's Zac Levi said the best way to save the show is to watch it live, preferably with people who live in Nielsen households. Levi and co-creator and executive producer Josh Schwartz joked that there should be a way to hack Nielsen.
To his credit Levi explained that watching on DVR while whizzing past commercials or watching online where there were many fewer commercials to begin with really doesn't help much.
The episode originally intended as the season 3 finale before NBC ordered up six additional episodes airs tonight. Chuck will be in repeats the following two weeks before returning for the final six episodes.
I wonder if they've changed it slightly, seeing as it's not really the finale anymore because of those extra 6 episodes with hopefully lots of Scott Bakula and not so much of Brandon Routh?
wow. Chuck himself actually knows what's up. do his fans? that is the question.
Well unlike him and actors in general, people actually have to work.
But as the post says you aren't really relevant unless you are a Nielsen family. So I don't see how this advice would help anything. I'd say “if you want Chuck to survive buy it off iTunes”. I don't think that would be effective but at least it's a way for you to take money you have and put it into the hands of the producers who then might be willing to lower the rate at which it offers the show to the network.
Again, iTunes sales would have to be massive for it to make a difference but on a per individual viewer basis buying from iTunes creates more revenue for the studio than the various ad based options
NBC doesn't care about how much Warner Bros (studio) makes in ITunes revenue unless it makes so much that it can significantly reduce the price to NBC, which it isn't. So it's irrelevant to Chuck's renewal prospects even if it's not completely irrelevant to Warner Bros.
Does it matter if we watch it live if we don't have a Nielsen box? I always thought if you weren't a Nielsen family, it didn't matter what you did.
I usually record Chuck and then watch it after my other shows are over.
Right. But I can't see any way that a non-Nielsen fan can influence NBC one way or the other. Maybe if they watch it online so NBC can continue to put out those lame press releases about how they're website is so popular. But given the ad rates on streaming I doubt that's worth more than bragging rights to NBC.
In the end the iTunes route can at least influence Warner in some small way which is (slightly) better than nothing.
Px, no, it doesn't matter what you do if you're not a Nielsen family except to the degree that the Nielsen panel has people like you in it representing you. If they give up and say “screw it, why should I watch it live,” then it certainly matters.
Why “to his credit” ?
It felt like a season finale.
Don't think so, the whole point was they didn't want to change it but just add another 6 episodes (wonder if sarah and chuck will be split up again!?)
Does anyone know how many 'ordinary' viewers one Nielsen viewer is supposed to represent? Surely technology has moved on since the Nielsen ratings system was devised. I'm sure that software could be developed to send immediate feedback regarding what is actually being watched live (or at least, which channel the TV is currently tuned in to). The Nielsen ratings seems to be just an extrapolation from a few people's viewing habits – not necessarily a true reflection of the actual viewing figures.
All this talk of Nielsen, and that the hopes for our favorite show's renewal lay in the hands of people whom we will never meet, caused me to remember a certain song. So I tweaked it a bit (my sincere apologies to the original songwriters):
[i]Somewhere out there,
beneath the pale moonlight,
some Nielsen family is thinking of what to watch tonight.
Somewhere out there,
someone's reaching for the remote,
my hope is that they'll choose what I'm watching, accurately reflecting my vote.
And even though I know how unique we all are,
it helps to think we might enjoy the same Networks, programs or stars.
And when the night wind starts to sing a lonesome lullaby,
it helps to think tomorrow's numbers will be enough for my favorites to survive.
Somewhere out there,
if Nielsen can see us through,
then our shows will continue for another Season, out there,
out where dreams come true.[/i]
It's to his credit that he's not pretending that things that don't provide revenue to NBC might save the show. Compare to Ali Larter who contributes to mass fan delusion by suggesting that fans of “Heroes” might save the show by tweeting about it.
What is NBC going to replace Chuck with? More cheap garbage entertainment?
I think Nielsen has Nielsen dvr ratings not sure, but if the Network showed the show with 30 second commercials they would probably be able to have more show and plenty of brief commercials to sit through. Just a thought.
http://www.eonline.com/uberblog/watch_with_kris…
Thought they were funny at wonder con each one of them. This show is the best show on tv. (to me at least).
loved them at wonder con they were funny. I love this show its the best show on tv.(to me at least anyway)
loved them at wonder con thought they were funny. I love this show its the best show on tv. (To me at least anyway)
Roughly 4,580 though on a 1-to-1 comparison but it's a little more difficult than that since people aren't evenly distributed among demographics. In other words an 18-49 year old in Los Angeles might represent 600,000 people like himself where as an identical person in Rock Springs, WY (pop. 18,700) might only represent a few thousand.
As for technology moving on it isn't like Nielsen has been using the same methodology since it began. The reason it's used pretty much universally is because they are considered the experts in the field and they adjust their methodology accordingly. Keeping in mind that companies around the world pay millions of dollars each year based on these numbers so Nielsen is under a fair amount of scrutiny (and there have been more than a couple attempts to replace them)