TV

This week marks one of my favorite and least favorites times of year for the network TV world. One minute we will be like "yay, FOX just picked up Touch for another season" and then the next "Boo…NBC just cancelled Awake and now I will never know which of Britten's realities is the actual one. Fuck them." Now, we have no official word on Awake yet, but when looking at the ratings, I fear this is coming and we are going to be sad…very sad. Touch, however has officially been picked up for season 2 and while it has yet to grab my heart, I am happy to know that it will still be around to tune in to every once in a while.

We have rumors that the NBC comedies 30 Rock, Community and Parks and Recreation will be coming back for shortened seasons, but nothing official yet. The shortened season is kind of lame, but since I was worried any one of them could have been on the chopping block, happy they are alive at all.

Cougar Town is also officially going to TBS now, which is a pretty smart move as the show has a cult following, but not one that is big enough to bring in network sized ratings.

Yet, on the other hand, this week is pretty exciting because we find out what pilots are actually going to series and we get a whole new crop of shows to get excited about or instantly hate. From the looks of it so far, I think there are actually some new entries that could be pretty great.

Networks are still in the middle of decision making and giving their formal announcements so a full report will follow... stay tuned!

Awake Really? thats Sad I mean what a cool show :(

Is Awake even through its first season yet?

@FinalDasa: Not yet....season finale on May 24th.

@Watcherg44: I agree...I hope I am wrong about this one and NBC surprises us with good news, but I'm sure it is an expensive show so with the low ratings it might be difficult to sustain.

They best not cancel Awake, it's amazing, way better than Touch

@FinalDasa said:

Is Awake even through its first season yet?

It still has 3 episodes to go

Awake never stood a chance, should of been on TNT,FX or even USA (though it wouldn't fit the tone of the network). Those ratings were bad even for NBC which is a shame since I liked that show and the piolt is probably one of my single favoirte episodes of TV.

Community needs to have their own movie imagine the riffing they could do on that? I wonder if the move to TBS will mean the Cougar Town Community bromance will die.

Looking at the viewership for Awake, I can't imagine it ever coming back for another season. That sucks because it's a damn good show.

So is NBC still hanging on to The Office? Seems like that is the one to let go and let one of the other comedies fall into that timeslot.

@mmgreenmms said:

So is NBC still hanging on to The Office? Seems like that is the one to let go and let one of the other comedies fall into that timeslot.

The Office is one that is still very up in the air. I agree with you, but It has to make a lot of money in syndication so could go either way. However, I would hope they would give it a proper ending and not just cancel it with no "big finale". It has gone hill, but at least deserves that.

I'm going to go ahead and call bullshit on the Nielsen company. I never hear anything but good comments from people about shows like Community and Parks and Rec but week after week the numbers come back saying no one is watching them. I don't know all the ins and outs of how they get their ratings (I do understand the basic idea) but they constantly seem to be off from whats going on in the real world.

Know what they need to do? They need to take a night (say a Saturday) and air all of their pilots they are thinking of picking up. Remember a few years ago when they had that summer preview of Glee and it really helped their ratings? Also, as each year passes by I believe more and more that TV execs have no idea what they are doing. Can you imagine if they did run pilots and got feedback from the audience they are trying to please rather than getting the opinions of a small focus group full of people from major metropolitan areas. Outside the box thinking like that is what could really help NBC save themselves.

Fox also cancelled Breaking In and I Hate My Teenage Daughter. No I hadn't heard of those shows either.

@mmgreenmms: It is one of NBCs best rated scripted shows, in some weeks actually THE best rated scripted show for the network. It aint going nowhere.

@The_Patriarch said:

@mmgreenmms: It is one of NBCs best rated scripted shows, in some weeks actually THE best rated scripted show for the network. It aint going nowhere.

NBC just announced that they made deals with Ed Helms, John Krasinski and Jenna Fischer for another season so while it isn't "official" yet, you are right and it isn't going anywhere.

I regularly watch Awake and want to know where it was heading . . . maybe to revival by NETFLIX. Never watched Touch, nor plan to. It's sad that the SyFy network really has been laxed in being a SciFi network, and a sister network of NBC, Awake could/should be over there with its premise. One less NBC show to watch . . . I guess it finally made it to the point where I can remove it from the DVR favorite list and skip over it every night.

TV is at such a divide right, all the shows are either brand new or really old. The old shows have been on for 5 to 6 years already and everything else is getting green lit to pilot, given a half-season or full season order and then cancelled. There isn't many shows that in that middle ground. I feel afraid to start watching any new show and get invested in it only to have it get cancelled. But then again, I guess I'm part of the problem to an extent.

@RockinKemosabe: Great observation about the gap in the age of shows. It really shows the hunger of the business to find the next great thing. Good isn't enough.

Oh, thanks for admitting that this was all your fault. We were all thinking it but no one wanted to say anything. :)

30 Rock and Community are coming back. 14 episodes for Community.

@RockinKemosabe: unless you have a Neilson box its not all your fault. I share your fear though. Network TV is just sooo boring 90% of the time and feels like its mainly there to have gaps between the ads we are shown.

@MrMazz: Well I'm also in Canada so I guess I can't really contribute that much anyway. Besides Canadian TV shows are kind of lousy...