Idol Down, But Fox Still Wins

Much was made in the industry trades this spring that AMERICAN IDOL's ratings were down this season. While the finale's numbers were on par with last year, the ratings for the run up to the final showdown were, indeed down.

But somehow all the gleeful naysayers managed to miss something rather important in TV land.

FOX as a whole was UP for the season - and not just because it aired the Super Bowl. Scripted fare like BONES and HOUSE mixed with smartly programmed stuff like MOMENT OF TRUTH and ARE YOU SMARTER THAN A 5TH GRADER more than made up for IDOL's slippage.

For the first time EVER, FOX finished a season #1 in total viewers. Now, there were plenty of factors in the victory, not the least being the writers' strike. But - FOX had to deal with it just like every other network. And they did a better job by going to their bench and developing imaginative game shows.

While CBS relied heavily on reruns of their scripted dramas, FOX threw in new shows like NEW AMSTERDAM and THE SARAH CONNOR CHRONICLES.

And they won - without airing a single episode of 24.

Congrats to everyone at FOX. It took 20 years, but the revolution has finally arrived.

The tough news for the other nets for 2008-2009? Jack Bauer returns in November with a 2 hour TV movie, followed by 24 all-new hours starting January.

And word is, he's pissed.

Random Thoughts 050807

There may be SPOILERS ahead. Proceed with caution if you're not completely caught on your good TV watchin'.

May sweeps is upon us, but for myself, not nearly like it used to be.

GILMORE GIRLS is calling it a wrap in two weeks. Hope they go off into the sunset properly. This season seemed like so much filler, delaying the happy ending fans want by an entire calendar year for no other purpose than to waste TiVo space.

I'm enjoying THE RICHES. It's such a unique setting and I believe I would watch Eddie Izzard in just about anything (except for MY SUPER EX-GIRLFRIEND - cue Meatloaf "I can't do that!")

If I haven't mentioned it before, I recommend By Ken Levine - he wrote for M*A*S*H, CHEERS and FRASIER among others. He posts more regularly than I do - and he's a lot funnier. Every now and then he'll discuss some behind the scenes stuff from FRASIER or CHEERS - and sometimes he just vents about AMERICAN IDOL - just like 50% of all bloggers known to mankind.

I was stunned by what happened on tonight's 24. It sucked the life out of the last 15 minutes of the episode - literally. I was hoping to a lot more of Milo down the road.

I think maybe THE SIMPSONS is getting better lately. I caught Mrs. Kimosabe chuckling Sunday.

The producers of LOST have managed to convince Disney it's best to have a planned ending to the series, rather than go one season too long. Remember the final season of THE X-FILES? Not gonna happen to LOST. Three more semi-seasons, consisting of 16 episodes each. Expect LOST to return in Feb '08 and run without repeats through May.

Gotta admit - I got a bit excited seeing the SO YOU THINK YOU CAN DANCE promo Sunday night. Made me miss Gretel a bit. Wave, Gretel!

Holy cow - I COMPLETELY forgot to go see SPIDER-MAN 3 this week. Apparently, I was responsible for the single unsold seat in America this weekend. $151 million. And it's still in the $100 million in red.

All I need is maybe $10,000 to shoot my movie. You know, if everyone who reads this blog contributed just $1, I'd only have to come up with $9,995 on my own....

Odds are, if you're reading this, you've read FIRST AVAILABLE - but just in case you're an agent looking to hire a brilliant new writer - but are willing to settle for me, here's a link to the script.

Gotta run - Hollywood calling now! Nope, just a telemarketer. Stupid caller ID. It never tells me when Hollywood calls...they are going to call - right?

Hello?

Hello?

BONES - What To Do?

Sometimes the real world gets in the way of our TV watching fun.

FOX once had to re-edit the season finale of MELROSE PLACE because the explosion at the apartment complex came too close on the heels of the Oklahoma City bombing.

On the heels of 9/11, the series premiere of 24 had to be trimmed a bit to snip out a couple of shots of a crashing airliner.

And now, yet another tragedy has impacted yet another FOX show.

The episode of BONES originally scheduled for April 18th followed a murder investigation on a college campus. While the episode didn't deal with a mass shooting, it was rightly deemed inappropriate to air so soon following the recent events at Virginia Tech.

Unfortunately, it's looking like the episode may not air at all.

You see, there are elements of BONES that are part of a season long arc. I recently raked FOX over the coals for failing to air episodes in their correct order - and now it looks like they're expecting us to simply catch up, while having completely missed an episode that included some rather major plot developments for a couple of characters.

FOX's summary for this week's episode includes this passage: "Meanwhile, thwarted in his previous attempt to propose to Angela, Hodgins tries a more traditional, romantic approach to winning her heart."

With the cancellation of DRIVE, I think FOX could have aired the skipped episode of BONES this Monday night, instead of airing a HOUSE rerun, while giving folks a chance to keep up. Or they could at least make it available online.

Again, this episode doesn't contain any plot points similar to Virginia Tech, other than it takes place on a college campus and someone dies. No gunshots, no loner student, no chained doors.

I think we could handle it.

Yippee-Ki-Yay!

Thought this was interesting - it seems the recent trailer for DIE HARD 4 is the highest testing action trailer ever released by 20th Century Fox.

Maybe in DIE HARD 5, John McClane could team up with Jack Bauer....

"Yippee-Ki-Yay!"

"Copy that!"

Edit: Here's a link to the trailer: http://www.apple.com/trailers/fox/livefreeordiehard/

Random Thoughts: 041207

Some random TV thoughts....

It took 17 hours for Jack Bauer to shake off whatever it was the Chinese did to him. I was feeling a bit disappointed with this season of 24 - until Jack killed this season's bad guy with his bare hands. 24 has 'unjumped' the shark and The Jack Bauer Power Hour is back

Starting to get pumped up about DRIVE. Captain Tightpants (Nathan Fillion from FIREFLY) and ANGEL's Fred (Amy Acker) headline a pretty good looking cast in another Tim Minear project - that FOX will probably toss on the ash heap before its time. I hope not.

'TIL DEATH has had its season finale. It's still not a great show, but it's getting better. My guess is that it will be back next year.

Last Friday the History Channel aired PLANET OF THE APES. Huh? It worked. I watched the whole thing - plus the special about Giganticus/Sasquatch that followed.

There a marathon of Eddie Izzard's THE RICHES on FX this weekend. Check it out.

I'm going to wait one more episode to comment on THE SOPRANOS.

Next week - Sanjaya WILL be in the bottom three. But he won't go home until we're down to the Top 5.

I've started pulling for Blake.

It's been a long haul over the past month - no new episodes of GILMORE GIRLS, SMALLVILLE or HEROES. If it weren't for the new subscription to HBO - and all the movies I don't have time to watch - my TiVo would be very bored.

What's going on on your set? What are you watching? What are you NOT watching?

7 Minutes of Emptiness

At 6:53PM local time today, something happened that I haven't seen in years.

My TiVo was empty.

That's right. Empty. Caught up on THE O.C., HOUSE, HEROES - you name it. Nothing left to watch.

For seven whole minutes.

And then, at 7, the better half triggered some home fix it show on HGTV. At 8, we grabbed THE SOPRANOS on A&E.

And after seven minutes that must have seemed like an eternity to the magic little elves in the TiVo box, they weren't alone anymore.

Just goes to show how little has been on TV over the last 2 weeks.

Coming soon - 24, IDOL, LOST, BONES, HOUSE, HEROES, THE O.C., THE SIMPSONS, tons of stuff I won't have time to watch live.

Even the TiVo deserves a break for the holidays, right?

Now, back to work, you!

FOX Juggernauts Return

It's got to be tough to be a suit at NBC, ABC or CBS this time of year. They all have to know they have but one more week of normalcy to enjoy before their world turns upside down. Again.

(Cue the theme to JAWS)

Yep, it's January and that means it's time for "24" and "AMERICAN IDOL" to return.

The Jack Bauer Power Hour is back following what I felt was one of its most disjointed, yet accessible seasons. Day 5 saw the show tweak its formula a bit, killing off several key characters and devising more payoffs within the 24 episode storyline.

These changes allowed new viewers to better understand the goings on. Complicated backstories were dispatched along with their associated characters. The multiple resolutions within the overall arc also allowed new viewers better access. Ultimately, I believe it was this new-found accessibility that allowed Emmy voters to award the show with its Best Drama trophy.

Day 6 promises Jack's return from Chinese custody and an outbreak of domestic terrorism that has claimed over 1,000 lives. You can see an extended promo for Day 6 here.

And then there's that other beastie, lurking in the distance - "AMERICAN IDOL."

Last year, I had my doubts about the continued growth of the franchise, but was ultimately proven wrong. This year, I'm expecting even higher numbers due to ABC's moving "LOST" out of the way. ABC's sacrificing of "THE KNIGHTS OF PROSPERITY" and "IN CASE OF EMERGENCY" stands as a spineless move by a network that has strayed from a very promising path.

Tons of promotional stuff, including downloads of previous contestants' new releases are available at americanidol.com.

How high is up for FOX? This may be the year we find out.