If the overnight ratings are any indication, NBC now has another drama they're not going to know what to do with.
The premiere of The Black Donnellys, taking over the Monday at 10pm slot from Studio 60, started off well, with 10 million viewers, but then it seems a lot of viewers didn't like what they saw and the number of viewers in the second half hour dropped to 6 million (though I think the rating was better than what Studio 60 has been getting).
It still amazes me that over 6 million viewers is considered a "failure," but I guess that's why I'm not a network exec.
It's not good when the premiere episode of a show starts losing viewers so quickly halfway through. I wonder what's up with Monday at 10pm. Is it the time slot? Are people worn out after Heroes? Is CSI: Miami that strong?
[via TV Tattle]















Reader Comments (Page 1 of 2)
2-27-2007 @ 3:26PM
Erica said...
I watched The Black Donnellys online. So I had no commercials to interupt the flow of the show. I again watched it on Monday because my hubby hadn't seen it, and I have to say it was different. It wasn't as good as watching it commercial free.
I also thought watching it again, that instead of having the next episode picking up from where Monday's ended, that it would be better if they were to go into the future by 10 or more years. That way their "organization" would be well established.
We could have the day to day dealing of them keeping their "organization" going, with the flash backs of how it all came to be.
But you just know NBC is going to screw it up, just like they did with Kidnapped, so I probably won't watch anymore because I don't want to be jerked around again.
Too bad....
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2-27-2007 @ 3:57PM
las6 said...
My guess is that most people though that the second half was too "dark" and moved over to the cheery CSI: Miami or whatever...
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2-27-2007 @ 3:54PM
Peter Lynn said...
I personally said "no" to The Black Donnellys because I've been inundated by promos for it, and it turns out I can't stand the sound of the narrator's voice.
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2-27-2007 @ 3:56PM
sharonlee said...
Bring back Matt & Danny. The only reason to watch Monday night maybe the ratings were the people saying stop screwing around with the shows and just let them play out. TNT did the same thing with Saved cliffhanger and no ending. When will you guys get it!!
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2-27-2007 @ 4:03PM
Audge said...
I tried getting into it (I really did!) because it received really good reviews from E!'s "Watch With Kristen". But I'll be honest, I'm not really into mob stuff with all the violence and shooting so that was one problem for me.
It started out well and reminded me a lot of the beginning of The Departed. But there was so much fast-paced exposition on all the characters and their stories, it was really hard to keep up. I'm not surprised that a lot of the viewers left halfway through.
I will say this, about three quarters through the episode, they finally introduced a budding romance storyline ... if I tune in again, it will primarily be to see this develop. I am a chick after all! ;)
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2-27-2007 @ 4:09PM
Porchland said...
I'm not sure when this happened, but 9 o'clock is the new 10 o'clock. The top-rated dramas used to be at 10, but now they're at 9. Desperate Housewives, CSI, Grey's Anatomy, Heroes. You could attribute Lost's slide to moving to a less desirable time slot (and it's still doing better at 10 than anything NBC has had in that slot in years).
Makes me wonder where ABC will place the Grey's spinoff.
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2-27-2007 @ 4:13PM
JSM said...
Studio 60 was averaging in the 6M+ range, so if that 2nd half is any indication NBC has done themselves no favors by dropping 60 and putting this on - plus they lose the value of promoting other content to that high value audience. As if there was ever any doubt the networks are run by the chimps from the monster.com ads.
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2-27-2007 @ 4:17PM
MJBF said...
I think you may have hit the nail on the head there regarding the relationship between what comes before (Heroes). Even with Studio 60, there was a jarring disparity between the shows not so much in quality but in subject matter and audience. I really think they would do better to move Heroes back an hour because frankly everything that comes after it will suffer from this problem. There is just nothing else like it. Let it be the last show of the night.
As for the Black Donnelly's, I didn't get a chance to watch it and I didn't really try. The promos were so-so and really didn't give me any idea if this would be a show I would enjoy. As a matter of fact, my husband and I decided it looked like a "Brotherhood" and since we already have one of those in our lives, we didn't really need another.
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2-27-2007 @ 4:22PM
JSM said...
I try not to let promos discourage me - after all the original hbo promos for the Sopranos were flatly the worst promos ever created, "it's a bad mob comedy folks, come watch"
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2-27-2007 @ 4:44PM
Curt said...
Sure it dropped to 6 million halfway through, but how many of those people happened to just fall asleep with their TV on?
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2-27-2007 @ 4:54PM
gail said...
bring back studio 60!!!!!!!!!!!!
i wont watch this new show
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2-27-2007 @ 5:06PM
khamel said...
like i said in another post about this show, to me its as is Brotherhood had sex with Sleepers (book or movie) and the baby was 3 months premature. It had a chance to be great but will likely have problems its whole life if it even lasts very long.
studio 60 is just the grandkid of a genius and the son of a harvard professor who decided to forgo his family legacy and smoke pot and live with his buddies in williamsburg.
i'll take the stoner.
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2-27-2007 @ 5:36PM
christina said...
Am I the only person who thinks they should just put Medium back on Monday nights?
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2-27-2007 @ 5:45PM
scully1058 said...
I turned to the Travel channel. "No Reservations" was much, much, much more entertaining.
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2-27-2007 @ 6:35PM
Benjy said...
I've been saying this for weeks. As dopey and campy as CSI:Miami has become (I used to watch it but now refuse to.), it is still a juggernaut! It's evolved into the Miami Vice of the 21st century. (Actually it's a really high-gloss parody of Miami Vice, but it's still a ratings powerhouse.)
And unfortunately, like all of those campy, over-the top shows (such as Baywatch), it's become a worldwide phenomenon! I read an article that said that CSI:Miami is currently the most popular show in the world based on aggregate domestic and international ratings and revenue! Good grief, say it isn't so!
Really, as bad as it has become (it isn't even in the same ballpark quality-wise as CSI or CSI:NY), you still can't put anything offered by another network against CSI:Miami... except perhaps a new episode of Grey's Anatomy -- another show I don't really get (but that's just me). But even that might take a backseat to the CSI:Miami powerhouse!
I guess there's just something to all those darling fashionistas, drug lords, over-the-top David Caruso one-liners, and beautiful crime lab techs with which people really seem to identify! Every week Caruso or some other member of the team is off on some personal vendetta. It's like watching episodes of "Acapulco H.E.A.T" with good actors!
That being said, after seeing part of the Black Donnellys last night, I'd rather see "Studio 60" back! At least move S60 to another night where it can't get wiped out by CSI:Miami...
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2-27-2007 @ 6:47PM
MacGuffin said...
I watched the broadcast version. With 18 minutes of commercials and breaks coming every 6-8 minutes, it is pretty hard to tell a story decently. With my ADD, I get bored pretty fast with that shitty pace.
I pretty much watch everything on Tivo or DL sites where I can watch the show in its entirety without the obnoxious commercials.
That being said, I'm not sure this show is going to make it. Nothing new here that you couldn't see done better at HBO or Showtime without the commercials.
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2-27-2007 @ 7:00PM
MIke said...
The formula is simple folks: In order to create a successful show(s), add "CSI" or "Law and Order" to your title, the sheep will follow. Also, dance/singing contests seem to do well for some reason. As great as TV has been the last few years (Arrested Development, The Shield, The Wire, The Sopranos, Entourage, The Office, etc), it's a goddamn shame that the mass population supports such crap. Also, no more procedural dramas. Ok, I'm getting off my soapbox now.
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2-27-2007 @ 7:17PM
Tim Hess said...
Actually the show scored a 30% smaller audience than ther premiere of STUDIO 60 - which did not have a HEROES lead-in at the time. (HEROES premiered the following week.)
Also of note, part of DONNELLYS number for the first half hour is due to the fact that HEROES ran over by 3 minutes.
Not good news.
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2-27-2007 @ 7:43PM
TomB said...
It started at 10:03pm. They're up to their old tricks again. I will not be manipulated!!
I DVR'd it, but with those numbers I'm not going to watch it. They'll just keep dropping so why get invested?
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2-27-2007 @ 7:50PM
David said...
Bob you yet again miss the point, not that that's surprising now.
Maybe it's just that Studio 60 and The Black Donnellys are crap? Medium did great in the timeslot and two meh shows haven't. So it's definitely the shows and not the timeslot.
For the 1,000th time NBC...
Move Medium back to Mondays at 10.
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