Post by Naj on Dec 3, 2005 10:40:33 GMT -5
Several good shows are slipping under the top-10 radar
Tom Dorsey
When "NUMB3RS" airs at 10 tonight, no rockets will go off and nobody will probably be writing about it aside from this column. Neither Jay Leno nor David Letterman will be chatting up Rob Morrow, the star of the show.
"NUMB3RS" is a top-30 Nielsen series and a moneymaker for CBS that draws more than 11 million viewers each week. A lot more has been written about why "Arrested Development," which is 99th in the standings, was canceled than about why "NUMB3RS" is a solid show.
To borrow a phrase from the late, great Rodney Dangerfield, some shows just get no respect, even if they have loyal, consistent followings. TV critics, this one included, are partly to blame. There's been enough written about "Lost" and "Desperate Housewives" to fill a set of encyclopedias.
If you're part of a top-10 show, you're the toast of the town. In fact, most entertainment reports and magazines only list the top-10 shows. No. 10 is hot stuff. No. 11 might as well be dead.
The best example of that is CBS' "Cold Case," which usually is No. 11 with an audience of more than 15 million. How many people could tell you that the star of that show is Kathryn Morris? Yet everybody knows who Donald Trump is and his "Apprentice" is 37th and headed south on the Nielsen charts.
Broadcasting & Cable magazine calls programs like "Cold Case" stealth shows, the kind of out-of-the-spotlight series that just keep chugging along in the media shadows.
There are lots of them, including "Medium" (21), "Las Vegas" (22), "Crossing Jordan" (24) and "Boston Legal," which might as well have gone into exile after being bumped by "Grey's Anatomy." It's still a very respectable 25th in the rankings. "Survivor" gets all the publicity, but "The Amazing Race" has a loyal following at 30.
People wonder how "America's Funniest Home Videos" has managed to stay on the air for 15 years. Because it costs a fraction of what it costs to make "Lost" and still draws a steady audience, at 40th in the season standings.
Not every series can be "American Idol," but there are lots of them succeeding under the media radar and putting money in the bank for their networks, such as UPN's "Girlfriends" and WB's "Charmed."
Chalk it up to America's obsession with being No. 1, or at least being in the top 10.
Runaway bride
Oxygen has a new movie tomorrow night that ought to improve relations with Mexico.
"Romancing the Bride" at 8 stars Laura Prepon of "That '70s Show" as a young woman who chooses a Mexican resort hotel as the place to get married. She wakes up the morning of her wedding day in bed with a stranger.
He's a Mexican hunk, played by Matt Cedeno, who is glad to be hitched to her. She takes off on a mad hatter's march to find out how it happened and to undo it before her fiancé, not to mention her controlling mom (Carrie Fisher), show up.
It's an amusing romp, if not a great movie, and a chick flick that should appeal to the channel's female audience.
Charles and Camilla
Too bad more of the Princess Di fans don't subscribe to digital cable's WE (Women's Entertainment, Insight 154), so they could see how the romance between Prince Charles and the other woman really happened.
"Charles & Camilla: Whatever Love Means," at 8 tomorrow night, is a TV movie that pictures how Camilla went after and seduced the shy, awkward prince long before Diana ever arrived on the scene.
He could let his royal hair down with her, who was his one true love, but Mom and Dad would never hear of it. They insisted on marrying him off to someone more like Snow White. Camilla was a good sport about it and even helped Charles pick out Diana as his wife.
We see him telling Diana before they're married that his long-running affair with Camilla will continue afterward even if Camilla is also married to someone else. The most interesting part of the film is Charles' relationship with his parents, Queen Elizabeth and Prince Phillip.
On TV today
Rick Springfield rejoins "General Hospital" as Dr. Noah Drake after a 22-year absence at 3 p.m. on ABC.
"The Happy Elf," at 8 p.m. on NBC, is a new animated Christmas special with Harry Connick Jr. doing the voiceover and music.
"Santa Claus Is Coming to Town" again at 8 p.m. on ABC, followed by a Christmas edition of "America's Funniest Home Videos" at 9.
There's a "Knots Landing Reunion" at 9 p.m. on CBS. Everybody is a dozen years older since the series left the air.
"Three Wishes," at 9 p.m. on NBC, travels the country fulfilling children's fondest desires, including one child who wants to see his wheelchair-confined mother walk again.
"Monk," at 10 on USA, has a Christmas episode with the nervous sleuth battling mall shoppers, caroling and even going undercover as old St. Nick to solve a crime.
source: courier-journal.com
Tom Dorsey
When "NUMB3RS" airs at 10 tonight, no rockets will go off and nobody will probably be writing about it aside from this column. Neither Jay Leno nor David Letterman will be chatting up Rob Morrow, the star of the show.
"NUMB3RS" is a top-30 Nielsen series and a moneymaker for CBS that draws more than 11 million viewers each week. A lot more has been written about why "Arrested Development," which is 99th in the standings, was canceled than about why "NUMB3RS" is a solid show.
To borrow a phrase from the late, great Rodney Dangerfield, some shows just get no respect, even if they have loyal, consistent followings. TV critics, this one included, are partly to blame. There's been enough written about "Lost" and "Desperate Housewives" to fill a set of encyclopedias.
If you're part of a top-10 show, you're the toast of the town. In fact, most entertainment reports and magazines only list the top-10 shows. No. 10 is hot stuff. No. 11 might as well be dead.
The best example of that is CBS' "Cold Case," which usually is No. 11 with an audience of more than 15 million. How many people could tell you that the star of that show is Kathryn Morris? Yet everybody knows who Donald Trump is and his "Apprentice" is 37th and headed south on the Nielsen charts.
Broadcasting & Cable magazine calls programs like "Cold Case" stealth shows, the kind of out-of-the-spotlight series that just keep chugging along in the media shadows.
There are lots of them, including "Medium" (21), "Las Vegas" (22), "Crossing Jordan" (24) and "Boston Legal," which might as well have gone into exile after being bumped by "Grey's Anatomy." It's still a very respectable 25th in the rankings. "Survivor" gets all the publicity, but "The Amazing Race" has a loyal following at 30.
People wonder how "America's Funniest Home Videos" has managed to stay on the air for 15 years. Because it costs a fraction of what it costs to make "Lost" and still draws a steady audience, at 40th in the season standings.
Not every series can be "American Idol," but there are lots of them succeeding under the media radar and putting money in the bank for their networks, such as UPN's "Girlfriends" and WB's "Charmed."
Chalk it up to America's obsession with being No. 1, or at least being in the top 10.
Runaway bride
Oxygen has a new movie tomorrow night that ought to improve relations with Mexico.
"Romancing the Bride" at 8 stars Laura Prepon of "That '70s Show" as a young woman who chooses a Mexican resort hotel as the place to get married. She wakes up the morning of her wedding day in bed with a stranger.
He's a Mexican hunk, played by Matt Cedeno, who is glad to be hitched to her. She takes off on a mad hatter's march to find out how it happened and to undo it before her fiancé, not to mention her controlling mom (Carrie Fisher), show up.
It's an amusing romp, if not a great movie, and a chick flick that should appeal to the channel's female audience.
Charles and Camilla
Too bad more of the Princess Di fans don't subscribe to digital cable's WE (Women's Entertainment, Insight 154), so they could see how the romance between Prince Charles and the other woman really happened.
"Charles & Camilla: Whatever Love Means," at 8 tomorrow night, is a TV movie that pictures how Camilla went after and seduced the shy, awkward prince long before Diana ever arrived on the scene.
He could let his royal hair down with her, who was his one true love, but Mom and Dad would never hear of it. They insisted on marrying him off to someone more like Snow White. Camilla was a good sport about it and even helped Charles pick out Diana as his wife.
We see him telling Diana before they're married that his long-running affair with Camilla will continue afterward even if Camilla is also married to someone else. The most interesting part of the film is Charles' relationship with his parents, Queen Elizabeth and Prince Phillip.
On TV today
Rick Springfield rejoins "General Hospital" as Dr. Noah Drake after a 22-year absence at 3 p.m. on ABC.
"The Happy Elf," at 8 p.m. on NBC, is a new animated Christmas special with Harry Connick Jr. doing the voiceover and music.
"Santa Claus Is Coming to Town" again at 8 p.m. on ABC, followed by a Christmas edition of "America's Funniest Home Videos" at 9.
There's a "Knots Landing Reunion" at 9 p.m. on CBS. Everybody is a dozen years older since the series left the air.
"Three Wishes," at 9 p.m. on NBC, travels the country fulfilling children's fondest desires, including one child who wants to see his wheelchair-confined mother walk again.
"Monk," at 10 on USA, has a Christmas episode with the nervous sleuth battling mall shoppers, caroling and even going undercover as old St. Nick to solve a crime.
source: courier-journal.com
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