James Hibberd at the live feed reports that Betty White will guest star on the season premiere of NBC's Community.
Can the TV ratings magic that Betty seems to bring to everything she touches help Community stand up to it's anticipated premiere competition with CBS' ratings heavyweight The Big Bang Theory? (no premiere dates have been announced by NBC or CBS)
The conventional wisdom is that against The Big Bang Theory, the ratings lightweight that Community is would suffer next season, but Betty White has a way of turning conventional wisdom on its ear (although in this case, perhaps for just one episode).
no
Betty take a break! I love you to death, but you have now officially overexposed yourself.
We'll be tuning into TBB no matter who is on Community
I wish people would let Betty White use her star power to do good rather than simply seek to rub it all over their own shows for attention. I liked SNL – but I think a lot of the sudden Betty White-ism is just me-tooism and not done out of respect for Ms. White.
If her appearance on the season finale of The Middle got only a 2.5 demo, how on earth is she going to help Community's season premiere? While both shows are single-cam, Community (along with all the other NBC comedies) is a niche one and gets low 2s in the demo. I can tell you this: it won't be like 2008 when the Tina Fey obsession going around helped 30 Rock's season premiere get very nice numbers. I'll be downright shocked if Community's season premiere gets over a 2.5, considering the competition from The Big Bang Theory.
What's NBC thinking putting up Community against Big Bang Theory? I guess that's why the dvr was invented.
I'm pretty sure that Betty can handle herself just fine.
What's NBC thinking? Community was there first!
I wouldnt be surprised if NBC premieres Community on September 16th. Im sure TBBT will premiere on the 23rd so it may not even matter. NBC premiered their comedies a week earlier than everyone else and may do it again.
In 2001, Fox put Family Guy (in its third season) up against Friends (the #1 show in the country). While Family Guy had time to build an audience, Community has been stuck without a decent lead-in and it will be heading into its second season. I don't think one season is enough to build a loyal fanbase that can take on a similar-appealing CBS sitcom (The Big Bang Theory).
Let's all recall how big a help Betty White was for The Middle: None at all. She definitely is ratings gold for certain things, but I don't think guest spots on sitcoms seems to be one of those things.
Yeah, I don't mean I feel bad for her – I just think she is talented more so, than say, the creators of Community.
I agree. And EW is reporting that The Apprentice premieres September 16th, which might suggest that the comedy block will be premiering then as well.
I don't think her guest starring on single-cam sitcoms like The Middle and Community is helping out much, but I bet she would increase the ratings of a more traditional sitcom like How I Met Your Mother if she guest starred there.
She won't hurt. She's been gold on everything else she's done this year. I do think however, the Betty White craze will wear off eventually.
She's been gold on everything else she's done this year.
Except the one other comparable appearance to a guest spot on Community, which is a guest spot on The Middle.
What NBC should do is swap Community / 30 Rock with The Apprentice and thus avoid the whole comedy competition and maybe take a few of those Survivor viewers. Why are networks so afraid to program comedies at 10?
I don't think you can really compare the two though. NBC is sure to promote the hell out of her appearance on Community, something ABC didn't do all that much. And The Middle and Community are two very different shows with different audiences. Community appeals more to the younger, internet-savvy audience that seems to love Betty right now.
It won't matter. Community has no chance of surviving against TBBT. Maybe Betty White will help elevate the ratings just for that one week, but they'll drop like a rock after that.
We'll know better when CBS and NBC release their respective schedules. If NBC knows what's good for 'em, they'll wait to see CBS' schedule first before releasing their own. After the Betty White-pumped episode, I expect Community to stabilize at about 1.6 (probably a little higher in the fall, before the holiday season). And I hope NBC knows they have four more comedies to premiere during the year, so if they hold 30 Rock until mid-October again I'll be really pissed.
I just assumed aok was referring to her performances, rather than her effect on ratings.
I don't think she'll give the show much of a ratings boost but the woman is effortlessly funny so I'm looking forward to her appearance. Plus, since anthropology is the course the group decided to take together so they can still be a study group, it leaves the door open for her role to be recurring.