TVSquad

Well, it looks like my initial concerns regarding Fox's low ratings for the Friday night sci-fi double feature might be unfounded. It looks like the new Live+7 DVR data has given a 30% boost to Dollhouse's ratings and a 36% boost to The Sarah Connor Chronicles. The gains are considered very high, particularly for a Friday night.

This is a bit of a relief to me because it sends a signal to Fox that another season of either show (both of which I enjoy) would be a good idea. If anything, this information is further proof that the current ratings system is obsolete and should be replace by something else (damned if I know what, though. The trick is to get advertisers to trust whatever new system they adopt).

It's also a sign that, unlike myself, some sci-fi fans actually go out on Friday nights and can wait until later to watch their favorite Friday night shows. Good for them.

Remember when we wrote that Fox's Friday nights didn't do so well in the ratings? There is even more bad news. Dollhouse lost about 15 percent of its viewers this past Friday night from the previous. Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles remained about the same, falling only a tenth of a point.

These are the times that try a Whedon-fan's soul. Most of us knew in advance that Friday nights are the exact opposite of a ratings powerhouse. These are the circumstances in which we learn whether Fox was sincere in its agreement with Joss Whedon to try and let the show grow an audience.

On a more upbeat note, the decline in ratings for Dollhouse is consistent with the second episode of any new show. The network probably knows this and hopefully has factored this sort of slip into their plans for the show. I refuse to give up hope two weeks in.

The verdict is in, and it looks like both Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles and Dollhouse did pretty poorly in the ratings.

Did anybody expect otherwise? Given the timeslot and the relative lack of publicity (no matter how cool the trailers actually are), the shows still did pretty well. Hopefully the additional views from DVRs that are watched during the week will increase the ratings enough so Fox doesn't cancel within three episodes.

I can only hope that Joss Whedon's statements about Fox are true and they were expecting low initial ratings for the series and that they hope to make up for it in DVD sales and increased ratings over time. If this sort of programming succeeds over time, then folks like me will have a legitimate excuse to stay in on Friday nights.

Let us not forget that success stories such as The X-Files started on Fox on Friday nights. I'm not giving up hope yet.

That was fast. If this were a newspaper, the ink would barely be dry on my previous post about the dismal ratings for The Ex List. Now, the die has been cast: CBS has canceled The Ex List.

This Friday's show will be the end of the run. The four remaining shows in the can may be run off some time in the future, but more than likely they won't. For the immediate future, reruns of NCIS will fill the Friday 9 p.m. slot.

The Ex List is the first hour-long drama to be dumped this season. It's a sad commentary on CBS that they are so challenged when it comes to developing TV dramas that don't involve criminal activities.

Okay, show of hands. How many of you are going to the upcoming San Diego Comic-Con to see all of the panels being held by the many television studios and shows? Uh-huh, a good amount. Now, how many of you are going to be perusing the booths and dealers down at the exhibit hall? Ahhh, not so fast!

If you're a fan of all things television and you think you'll have some time to see what else is going on during this, the world's largest science fiction and comic book convention, you may want to re-think your plans. This isn't your grandfather's, father's, or even older brother's comic book convention.

Starting last year this convention has become the biggest television event between the TCA's the week before (which we are covering, by the way) and the Emmy's at the end of the summer. This year is no exception as the days are packed with shows varying from Stargate Atlantis and Battlestar Galactica to Big Bang Theory and Bones.

NBC is going classic, with a twist. The network has ordered 13 episodes of a new drama series based on the Daniel Defoe classic Robinson Crusoe. This is far from the first time Defoe's 1719 novel has been filmed. The most recent incarnation was a 1997 Pierce Brosnan feature. In 1964, it was the basis for a French TV series.

This version is going to be a new take on the old story of a man who sets sail from England, his ship is wrecked in a storm and he's thrown overboard winding up alone on a deserted island where he has to fen for himself. In time, he is joined by an escaped slave whom he names Friday. Ben Silverman, NBC's head honcho, described the proposed series in this way: "It's part MacGyver, part contemporary morality tale about race and personal discovery, part comedy and part Castaway meets Survivor." As envisioned, this Robinson Crusoe will need to be clever indeed. It's going to keep the time period 1650's, but when Crusoe finds Friday, he'll presumably be treating him as if it were today with regard to race relations.

Great news for Adult Swim fans who wanted an extra night to watch episodes of Family Guy and Futurama for the three-hundredth time: the late night block of (im)mature cartoons now airs on Friday evenings, which means you'll never be without it again, shivering cold and alone in the corner praying for tomorrow to come so you can watch all your favorite shows again.

Basically, there won't be anything new on Fridays, just the usual repeats and anime. Saturdays will still be anime night (with episodes of Astro Boy starting July 14) and Sundays, as always, will be home to original series and premieres. Look for the final two episodes of Harvey Birdman July 15 and 22, new Robot Chicken and Frisky Dingo in August, and the premiere of Lucy, Daughter of the Devil in September.

Check out the schedule grid here.

Las Vegas is one of those shows that I've always thought was in the same category as Wings and Just Shoot Me!, one of those nice little shows that never generates any buzz, but does just well enough in its timeslot to keep getting renewed. If you're around on a Friday night and there's nothing to watch, it's always good to stumble across the show; the beautiful triumvirate of Cox, Marcil, and Sims is always nice to look at, and they make good use of celebrity guest shots. Most of all, the show stars James Caan; 35 years after The Godfather, the man is still compelling to watch, even if he only seems half-interested in being on the show most of the time.

Anyway, the crew at the Montecito is going to get another year to distract us from our lonely Fridays, as NBC has decided to pick Las Vegas up for a fifth season, according to TV Week. "The cast and producers have consistently given us what we want from Las Vegas - pure entertainment," said NBC Entertainment president Kevin Reillym "and we're looking forward to another fun ride next season with the show." Ah the beauty of low expectations: the show is averaging a 2.8 rating for the season.

Saturday Night Live may put its Friday night rehearsals on the internet. Right now, the rehearsals can only be seen by NBC employees on closed-circuit television at Rockefeller Center. This revelation came from NBC Universal chief digital officer George Kliavkoff when he spoke at a conference in Los Angeles yesterday. Kliavkoff said of the Friday dress rehearsal, "Sometimes it's more interesting than the show." He says he was only joking, but there may also be a little truth to what he said. Not sure how SNL executive producer Lorne Michaels feels about Kliavkoff spilling the beans about something he is simply mulling over.

While you'd think I would be on behind-the-scenes overload for sketch comedy shows, since I watch both 30 Rock and Studio 60, I'd actually be curious to see the Friday rehearsals. It would be interesting to see which sketches make it and what changes are made to them before the live show. I guess the down side would be that SNL is giving away its sketches ahead of time. We could view the Friday rehearsal and decide whether SNL is even worth watching the next night. Although, at this point, I just always assume it's not worth watching.

Even though it totally slashed its staff, NBC is upping its order of Dateline to three nights per week. Most notably, it's going to air in the slot where Friday Night Lights currently sits on Tuesday nights. Now, FNL fans probably shouldn't worry! Even though its ratings haven't been outstanding, NBC did order a full season of the teen football drama and promises it is committed to the series. The network just hasn't announced where Friday Night Lights will land, but previous speculation puts it on Sunday nights.. Dateline will also air on Saturdays and Sundays, once the NFL season is over. The new schedule begins Dec. 26th.

According to the New York Times, NBC is planning to shuffle its schedule for the New Year. The network has said that it wants cheap shows (reality shows, news, and game shows) in its 8 pm time slots and dramas and comedies at later hours.

According to this Washington Post article, our corporate benefactors over at AOL have decided to retool their video site to put more emphasis on user-uploaded videos. Of course, they're doing this in an effort to capture a piece of the massive success experienced by YouTube and Google Video over the last year or so. The new video site is set to launch on Friday, and will have a seach function similar to that of the other sites; there will also be 45 on-demand video channels, including exclusive programming from cable channels like Comedy Central, the History Channel, and Nickelodeon. According to TV Week, the site will also have an iTunes-style paid video download component.

I wonder how many people are actually going to upload videos to the AOL site. AOL has a huge built-in audience, but many of them still use dial-up, which will make it hard for them to download videos. So that means our corporate parents are going to have to market this to non-customers somehow, which will be tough. I admire that their trying to modernize their content, but it makes me wonder if they're just reacting to a trend rather than blazing their own trail.

[via Lost Remote and Bloglines]

At one point last year, I remember being surprised to hear that Malcolm in the Middle was still on television. I watched it when it first launched on FOX on Sunday nights and I loved it. But, then it disappeared to Friday nights and, quite frankly, I forgot all about it. Well, it turns out the show is still on the air and it's actually in the middle of its fifth season! Since FOX moved Malcolm to Fridays, its numbers have dwindled down to about 3.5 million viewers, giving it the unfortunate title of being the least-watched show on FOX. Malcolm arrives in its new time slot starting on January 29 at 7 pm EST. Let's hope the Sunday night slot will give Malcolm new life! I know I'll be watching.