Who would have thought as recently as three months ago that once the 2011-12 television season got under way, ABC would deliver the fall’s one true night of Must-See TV? I’m talking about its Wednesday lineup, which consists of sitcoms The Middle, Suburgatory, Modern Family and Happy Endings, topped off by Revenge. In this era of time-shifting and alternate viewing platforms, it is exciting to know that with the right combination of shows a broadcast network can still entice an audience for an entire evening.
Every hit show starts with an exec saying yes to a pitch, and during the past few months, networks and studios have bought hundreds of promising projects, from original ideas like “mechanical-human dramas” to remakes of classics like The Munsters and The Rifleman. THR parses the loglines and pilot commitments to analyze what the networks are buying.
ABC is asking between $1.6 million and $1.7 million for a 30-second spot on its 2012 Oscars telecast. The recent contretemps over replacing former event producer Brett Ratner and show host Eddie Murphy has little to do with the prices, which would have been established weeks ago.
Surburgatory and The Middle are among the offerings that will be on Hulu and ABC.com.
ABC’s Grey’s Anatomy and Private Practice were the only primetime offerings to improve in the ratings on Thursday, when the majority of broadcast telecasts saw dips. Even so, Fox ended up winning the night with the steadiness of The X Factor and Bones.
ABC’s ‘CMAs’ See A Bump To Win Wednesday
The 45th annual Country Music Awards on ABC saw slightly jazzier ratings than last year. The three-hour program lifted the network to an easy win last night, averaging a 4.8 adults 18-49 rating from 8 to 11 p.m., up 2% from a 4.7 last year. CMA peaked with a 5.0 rating at 9:30 p.m. and boosted ABC to its best nightly rating so far this season.
Exclusives
‘Time’ Stays Hot, Not So Other New Shows
It was a mixed night for new shows on Sunday. ABC’s Once Upon a Time continued to post strong numbers, tying Fox’s The Simpsons as the No. 1 non-sports series of the evening. But Fox’s Allen Gregory and ABC’s Pan Am once again put up disappointing ratings. Time averaged a 3.7 adults 18-49 rating at 8 p.m., down 5% from last week but still finishing second in the timeslot behind NBC’s dominant Sunday Night Football.
AFTRA has set a Nov. 7 start date for negotiations with ABC, CBS, NBC and Fox on a new Network Television Code contract. It’s the biggest contract the American Federation of TV and Radio Artist has, covering $250 million a year in employee earnings.
ABC has given full season orders to Once Upon a Time and Last Man Standing. Additionally, the network has extended the episode count for Happy Endings to 22 and has ordered five more scripts for the 1960s-set aviation drama Pan Am.
Disney has re-upped a two-year-old deal with Netflix to stream older shows that aired on ABC, ABC Family and the Disney Channel. And it announced what is essentially the same deal with Amazon, which will make the shows available via its Amazon Prime streaming service.
A few years ago, sitcoms got little love in the ratings. Then along came the Emmy-winning ABC series. Its success has helped spawn a renaissance in comedy on TV.
With the extension of the existing license agreement, Netflix will also add new TV show episodes from ABC Studios, Disney Channel and the ABC Family to its existing library.
ABC has cleared the way for Katie to air in more than 60% of U.S. homes, sparking rumors that the longtime soap may be pulled from the lineup.
Even With A Rerun, ‘Modern Family’ Is Tops
How hot is Modern Family this season? Even a rerun can finish as the night’s top show, albeit against limited competition on the other networks. On a night littered with repeats, ABC’s mostly original lineup saw gains, but it was a repeat of Family‘s instant-classic Halloween episode from last year that led the way. Family averaged a 4.4 adults 18-49 rating at 9 p.m., its best-ever number for a repeat.
Strong Debut For ABC’s ‘Once Upon A Time’
For the first time in years, ABC has a new No. 1 show on Sunday night. The series premiere of the new fantasy drama Once Upon a Time became the first ABC program to outrate the network’s longtime hit Desperate Housewives since Grey’s Anatomy six years ago. Time averaged a 3.9 adults 18-49 rating at 8 p.m., 30% ahead of lead-out Housewives, which averaged a 3.0 at 9 p.m.
Users of Entertainment Weekly‘s Must List app will be able to click on an ad for ABC-TV’s Once Upon a Time to read the show’s pilot script from within the app. The show premieres Sunday, and the ad will be on the app until Oct. 31.The ad is seizing on the social TV trend, which combines viewing and social interaction as viewers try to deepen their engagement with shows.
‘Last Man Standing’ Falls In Second Week
Tim Allen’s new ABC sitcom Last Man Standing didn’t match last week’s lofty premiere but the show held up decently in week two. Standing averaged a 3.0 adults 18-49 rating at 8 p.m., down 14% from last week’s hour-long premiere, which averaged a 3.5 rating. Standing was still well ahead of last year’s timeslot occupant on ABC, No Ordinary Family, and it helped lead-out Man Up! to a so-so 2.4 in its debut episode at 8:30 p.m.
Some classics — even the cheesiest ones — are better left in the past, and Charlie’s Angels, it seems, is no exception: ABC is shutting down production the reboot from Smallville scribes Al Gough and Miles Millar.
ABC’s game show Million Dollar Mind Game (formerly The Six) is finally getting its day in the sun after almost a year on the shelf. But there is a twist — ABC is scheduling the series, originally developed and ordered for primetime, on Sunday afternoon. Million Dollar Mind Game will premiere Oct. 23 and air at 4-5 p.m. Sunday. The highly unusual move was made in light of NBA’s recent decision to cancel the first two weeks of the basketball season, leaving ABC with a hole to fill.
A Strong Return For Tim Allen On ABC
Tim Allen’s Last Man Standing, the comedian’s first TV venture since the wildly successful Home Improvement in the 1990s, got off to a good start in the 8 p.m. Tuesday timeslot where ABC has struggled the past few years. Man averaged a 3.5 adults 18-49 rating for its one-hour debut at 8 p.m., bettering the launch of last year’s timeslot occupant, No Ordinary Family, by 9%. The show finished second in its timeslot to CBS’s NCIS and also averaged 13 million total viewers.
Friday marked the 15th anniversary of the Fox News Channel, and after 10 years as the most watched network in cable news, what’s left? Having beat the original cable news channel, CNN, at its bread and butter of breaking news, Roger Ailes and his boys are going after Diane Sawyer, Brian Williams and Scott Pelley. “To be honest, we’re looking up to try to get to CBS or one of the networks at 6:30 during my timeslot,” Bret Baier, host of Fox’s Special Report, says.
ABC’s ‘Pan Am’ Dips In Second Outing
ABC’s new stewardess drama Pan Am took a hit in its second week. The new show, which had a solid debut last Sunday, fell 19% among adults 18-49 in its second episode and lost more than 3 million viewers. Pan Am averaged a 2.5 18-49 rating last night at 10 p.m., off from a 3.1 for last week’s debut against stronger competition on cable from the baseball playoffs.
