Better Off Ted

[prescient63]

Originally Posted by Elurin

I don't know how to interpret the ratings, but they don't look good. I compared them to Pushing Daisies, since it's a recent show I can remember getting canceled despite winning awards.

Pushing Daisies averaged 9.42 million viewers in season 1, and 6.10 million in season 2.

Better Off Ted has 5.64, 4.69, 4.71, and 4.21 million viewers for the first four episodes.

As another comparison, Life on Mars. It started the season with around 8-11 million viewers every week. It started slipping into the 5 million range around episode 10 (of 17) and I believe around then was announced as canceled.

So what you are saying is, "Yet another good show goes down the drain, and we'll fill the slot with more terrible reality TV and cop/lawyer/doctor dramas"

[Elurin]

Yes, or dancing/talent/reality show.

[Dynalisia]

It doesn't look like this show is very expensive to make though. Pushing Daisies had lots of location filming and Life on Mars was all over the place.

[Bizanich]

Due to being addicted to the Internet and, a lesser extent, my 360, I just do not see advertisements for shows anymore and am becoming completely reliant on forums like these to know what's going on (plus some friends who are not as addicted to online life as much as I am).

Thanks for the heads up on this one, although if the ratings are that bad it looks as though I'll love it to watch it go away .

[Elurin]

I wonder if "smart" humor shows like this and Pushing Daisies have such shitty ratings because people who are more inclined to watch them (read: not morons) are more apt to download?

I watch a ton of shows but I hate commercials so I download everything. Obviously the networks don't garner any advertising revenue from people like me, but maybe that's the correlation with television becoming dumbed down so much.

[Kylax]

I watch this show only because it comes on before lost. The only episode I enjoyed was operation white shadow. Every other one seemed kinda meh.

[Talo]

I've enjoyed the last two episodes a lot, but there is something strange aboutthe way it is directed.

I don't know how to explain it properly, but it seems like the perspective of us as a viewer watching the events that go on in the office is different than how other shows do it, and not in a good way.

Anyone else get that feeling / know a better way to describe it?

[Hatorade]

The camera angle more often the not is somewhat below chin level looking up. Sometimes it is on the ground looking up, then a lot of the the shots start with full screen face shots. Sometimes the show reminds me of the Gilbert cartoons as well.

[Dynalisia]

I don't mind it, adds to the aperture science vibe for me.

[spronk]

Its also because its a single camera show so you don't get a lot of cuts when they focus on different people.

There was an article on yahoo about the top 15 shows in terms of advertising dollars, the only show on it I watch is 24. American Idol is of course #1. The top comedy show is 2 1/2 men, and I suspect the only reason The Big Bang Theory does so well is that it follows 2.5 men - if was programmed on any other night I bet it woulda been cancelled after first season. It also felt like 10-12 of the top shows all basically draw the exact same ~10 million people, which seems kind of idiotic if you are an advertiser.

Hopefully advertisers wake up someday soon and realize that the way people watch TV today is nowhere close to where most people watch it 30 years ago and demand more from networks than retarded Nielsen ratings.

[Qhue]

Watch these using ABCs go.com episode player viewer thingy with its imbedded commercials and you can show support and ABC gets money. Yeah you get 1 interactive commercial per commercial break instead of none, but its better than watching it off the TV.

[Haus]

OK, I checked out a couple episodes of this based on the word around here. Damn. Probably one of the funniest thing to me since Earl. (and Earl only because it's essentially my unauthorized biography)

As to why it will never survive. I have two words for you. "Police Squad"

[Hatorade]

Latest episode was awesome.

Spoiler Alert, click show to read:

*Salt and pepper shakers on the table to simulate the black and white scientests*
"Which one am I? Oh the pepper because I am spicy." Fucking lol, swear some of the jokes are right out of the Dilbert comics though.

[Elurin]

"We were all playing in the mud. So I get into the shower, obviously totally nude...and guess who's in there? My two sorority sisters...oh my god, there were just vagina's everywhere!

"Man, I love those"

"I know, right?"

[Qhue]

I've actually considered making a jump to Human Resources just to see if its possible to have a HR dept that is capable of not sucking.

Its sad that ABC really hasnt gotten much milage out of Ted