Solomon's Weekly Rant (10/13/07) Discussion: ABC's Tricky Promos

[Buffyboy323]

Originally Posted by roseanne88-97

That's what I've been trying to get at . . . personal taste.

Yep. And we all see that personal taste to you means tuning in to Desperate Housewives each week.

And Solomon, sorry your thread has been hijacked by all of us...again.

[Pavan]

The episodes of Pushing Daisies aren't connected though. You can miss an episode or watch an episode out of order, and still not be lost (and so far Private Practice is like that, too...so far, at least). The only ongoing story is the romance between the two leads, but that won't go anywhere, because if he touches her, she is dead.

[Dean Winchester]

Originally Posted by Buffyboy323

The crew were the one's to suggest George leave. They saw that he was becoming a huge star, and television was holding him back. He agreed. It wasn't one of those "I'm too big to do TV." It was a mutual deal. And one of the things I always praised about this was that when they saw he was getting big, they never increased his role on the show. He always remained a supporting player.

I am kinda surprised any show would purposely ask it's most popular star to leave. Most shows would be gracious to have an actual movie star in the cast. Family Ties ratings were at their peak when Michael J. Fox's movie career was at it's hottest. And The Office comes to mind for a current show, the fact that Steve Carell is a bonafide movie star is certainly helping the show right now, same thing with Zach Braff and Scrubs.

[JulieSomoski]

Originally Posted by Dean Winchester

I am kinda surprised any show would purposely ask it's most popular star to leave. Most shows would be gracious to have an actual movie star in the cast. Family Ties ratings were at their peak when Michael J. Fox's movie career was at it's hottest. And The Office comes to mind for a current show, the fact that Steve Carell is a bonafide movie star is certainly helping the show right now, same thing with Zach Braff and Scrubs.

I think they're 2 totally different things. They didn't ask Clooney to leave ER. They said it was probably best for him and his career if he did. But, it's not as if he was forced. In the end, it was his choice to leave.

Scrubs is only gonna be lasting 1 more season, which was the main reason Braff signed on for this last season. And Steve Carell is the office. The show's only in it's third season, so I don't think he's going anywhere anytime soon. The Office has already earned him multiple emmys and other awards. Again, 2 totally different things here.

[Dean Winchester]

Originally Posted by roseanne88-97

I think they're 2 totally different things. They didn't ask Clooney to leave ER. They said it was probably best for him and his career if he did. But, it's not as if he was forced. In the end, it was his choice to leave.

Scrubs is only gonna be lasting 1 more season, which was the main reason Braff signed on for this last season. And Steve Carell is the office. The show's only in it's third season, so I don't think he's going anywhere anytime soon. The Office has already earned him multiple emmys and other awards. Again, 2 totally different things here.

well, suggesting Clooney leaves ER did hurt the show in the long run. Clooney's last season on the show was its last season at #1.

Of course all shows eventually end, but I've heard that the clout and respect "Garden State" gave Braff has probably given Scrubs two or three additional seasons that it wouldn't have had before.

With The Office, the show was heading for cancellation but the fact that The 40 Year Old Virgin just came out in the theaters and became a huge hit (and then Little Miss Sunshine followed, and even while Evan Almighty didn't earn it's budget back, it still was a major summer release and grossed $100 million) got NBC to stick with the show because they knew Carell was about to become a big star, and they were right. His star exploded and so did the series. NBC may have not stuck with it if Carell's movie career didn't coincide with the series.

[JulieSomoski]

Originally Posted by Dean Winchester

well, suggesting Clooney leaves ER did hurt the show in the long run. Clooney's last season on the show was its last season at #1.

Of course all shows eventually end, but I've heard that the clout and respect "Garden State" gave Braff has probably given Scrubs two or three additional seasons that it wouldn't have had before.

With The Office, the show was heading for cancellation but the fact that The 40 Year Old Virgin just came out in the theaters and became a huge hit (and then Little Miss Sunshine followed, and even while Evan Almighty didn't earn it's budget back, it still was a major summer release and grossed $100 million) got NBC to stick with the show because they knew Carell was about to become a big star, and they were right. His star exploded and so did the series. NBC may have not stuck with it if Carell's movie career didn't coincide with the series.

I still think you're wrong. ER is still one of the highest rated series for NBC thus far. It gets around 10 million each week . . . which is completely normal for any TV series right now. Sure, when Clooney left, ratings fell, but it's not like it's the lowest rated series on telelvision. Give it a break.

The Office was never headed toward cancellation. It's only in it's third season. Right now, it's the highest rated comedy on NBC, and will still be around for awhile, IMO. Just because Carell portrayed great characters in great movies had nothing to do with him earning emmys for The Office. They're 2 compeltely different things.

[Pavan]

ER got 10 million this week because Without a Trace was not on. It is averaging 8.5 million this season, usually third place in its slot.

[Dean Winchester]

Originally Posted by roseanne88-97

I still think you're wrong. ER is still one of the highest rated series for NBC thus far. It gets around 10 million each week . . . which is completely normal for any TV series right now. Sure, when Clooney left, ratings fell, but it's not like it's the lowest rated series on telelvision. Give it a break.

ER was never out of the top two in the 90's, and now the show isn't even in the top 30. You love to bash Roseanne's ratings decline in season 9 and cited it as why the show sucked that season, but I'd say that ER's present ratings compared to it's ratings in the Clooney seasons are just like season 9 ratings compared to the first five or six seasons of Roseanne. Seinfeld, Friends and Cheers all knew when a downfall was inevitable and they called it a day before they plummetted, since they all had long, healthy runs.

Originally Posted by roseanne88-97

The Office was never headed toward cancellation. It's only in it's third season. Right now, it's the highest rated comedy on NBC, and will still be around for awhile, IMO. Just because Carell portrayed great characters in great movies had nothing to do with him earning emmys for The Office. They're 2 compeltely different things.

so you actually thought The Office was a hit at the beginning? Go back and re-read some of Pav's old blogs from 05 or so, he predicted the show would be axed by mid-season and had no idea why NBC kept it going. If you think that NBC didn't have faith in the show due to Carell's success in The 40 Year Old Virgin and knew he was going to be huge and would regret cancelling his series in a year or two, than I don't know what to say. NBC cancelled a lot of shows around the same time which had ratings similar to what The Office got AT THE BEGINNING.

[Buffyboy323]

Originally Posted by Dean Winchester

ER was never out of the top two in the 90's, and now the show isn't even in the top 30. You love to bash Roseanne's ratings decline in season 9 and cited it as why the show sucked that season, but I'd say that ER's present ratings compared to it's ratings in the Clooney seasons are just like season 9 ratings compared to the first five or six seasons of Roseanne.

ER never leaving the top 2 in the 90's, where it spent 6 years is great. Any show that can spend 6 years in that position (nowdays it belongs to CSI) is pretty damn good.

Yes, ER's last spot at #1 was Clooney's last season, but the following year it came in at #2. And years and years later, in 2003, it came in at #7 (as a matter of fact, if you exclude all the reality crap, ER was the #3 scripted series on TV...in it's 9th season, in 2003!). Again, that is excellent. There's hardly ANY current shows that will make it to a 9th season, yet alone still be in the top 5 by then.

And ER left the Top 30 for the first time EVER at the end of it's 13th year (it came in at #31, at that). And if it is only getting almost 9 million weekly, that's still good. There's shows that have been on the air for 5, 6, 7 years that have never even seen numbers like that.

And if we're comparing ER's ratings decline to Roseanne's; ER took more than a decade to even leave the Top 10. Roseanne was this big hit show, and took this drastic fall in a matter of a year or 2. That's all I know about that.

[Buffyboy323]

Originally Posted by roseanne88-97

I still think you're wrong. ER is still one of the highest rated series for NBC thus far. It gets around 10 million each week . . . which is completely normal for any TV series right now. Sure, when Clooney left, ratings fell, but it's not like it's the lowest rated series on telelvision. Give it a break.

The Office was never headed toward cancellation. It's only in it's third season. Right now, it's the highest rated comedy on NBC, and will still be around for awhile, IMO. Just because Carell portrayed great characters in great movies had nothing to do with him earning emmys for The Office. They're 2 compeltely different things.

ER was NBC's 3rd highest rated show, last season, behind Deal Or No Deal and Heroes. I don't know about this season yet, but I'm sure things pretty much stayed the same.

I dont know how this subject got brought up again. The bottom line is if your a fan or not, you know ER is still a money maker for NBC. It remains a history making show. And is one of the most respected series to ever be on Television. It has won 22 Emmy's and has been nominated for 117 (being nominated every year through 2007, excluding 2005). This is a great achievement, and something "new" shows like 24, House, Grey's Anatomy, etc can only dream of.

[JulieSomoski]

Originally Posted by pavanbadal

ER got 10 million this week because Without a Trace was not on. It is averaging 8.5 million this season, usually third place in its slot.

I was thinking about that after I wrote my post. But still, 8.5 is good for NBC, considering they haven't had many hit shows in years.

[Buffyboy323]

Originally Posted by Dean Winchester

I am kinda surprised any show would purposely ask it's most popular star to leave. Most shows would be gracious to have an actual movie star in the cast. Family Ties ratings were at their peak when Michael J. Fox's movie career was at it's hottest. And The Office comes to mind for a current show, the fact that Steve Carell is a bonafide movie star is certainly helping the show right now, same thing with Zach Braff and Scrubs.

Like I said before, the decision was mutual. George might have been getting a lot of attention from movies, but his character wasn't the most important on ER. It really wasn't that difficult to let him go. They were respecting him, if anything. They saw he was becoming a major player in Hollywood and didn't want to be the one's responsible for holding him back. The show was #1 for years, and people were not only watching for Clooney. Just like people don't only watch Grey's Anatomy for Patrick Dempsey (and even that show could go on without him, but that's a whole other discussion).

And as for The Office; It wasn't a big hit in the beginning. Steve's movie career may be some of the reason it's still on the air, but NBC had faith in the show from the start. Remember, they already renewed the show for a full second season even before anyone knew what The 40 Year Old Virgin was. And I think the show still only gets 5 Million or so (I could be wrong). It's not a powerhouse show, but it's still great. And that's my point about ER. They still see that it does decent, and that it's still a good show (which may explain why it had only 1 timeslot through it's entire 14 year run). If something is still good, and still working, why pull the plug?

[JulieSomoski]

Originally Posted by Dean Winchester

ER was never out of the top two in the 90's, and now the show isn't even in the top 30. You love to bash Roseanne's ratings decline in season 9 and cited it as why the show sucked that season, but I'd say that ER's present ratings compared to it's ratings in the Clooney seasons are just like season 9 ratings compared to the first five or six seasons of Roseanne. Seinfeld, Friends and Cheers all knew when a downfall was inevitable and they called it a day before they plummetted, since they all had long, healthy runs.


so you actually thought The Office was a hit at the beginning? Go back and re-read some of Pav's old blogs from 05 or so, he predicted the show would be axed by mid-season and had no idea why NBC kept it going. If you think that NBC didn't have faith in the show due to Carell's success in The 40 Year Old Virgin and knew he was going to be huge and would regret cancelling his series in a year or two, than I don't know what to say. NBC cancelled a lot of shows around the same time which had ratings similar to what The Office got AT THE BEGINNING.

Now you're just turning this into an argument. I tried to tell you why I thought what I did about ER and The Office, but you still are trying to insist that my opinions are wrong. And you're trying to compare ER, a show in it's 14th season I believe, to Roseanne, a comedy and completely different show, both material and ratings wise.

I still don't really get what you're saying about The Office. The first season wasn't the best for The Office, but it wasn't horrible compared to other NBC comedies. Plus, TO premiered in mid season right off that bat. So, what you said about NBC cancelling TO by midseason makes no sense whatsoever. I'm saying TO helped Carell's career. But, it might as well could have helped ratings for TO. What I think did it was the awards it began to win, which probably told viewers to tune in to see what they're missing. As of now, it's the biggest comedy on NBC, so they should have nothing to complain about.

I don't get what you're talking about when you say I love to bash Roseanne's ratings. I ama huge fan of Roseanne. Why would I want to bash it's ratings? Sure, the ratings sucked in the last season. We all know that. The last season of Roseanne in general wasn't good, IMO. But that has nothing to do with ER. It shouldn't have been mentioned. If NBC wants to keep ER around, let the. It's funny, because I don't even watch ER. It still does good for the network, considering competition at 10pm, and the lead in of 8.5 it has. It's always on par with it's lead in, and was even up this week, thanks to Viva Laughlin.

[JulieSomoski]

Originally Posted by Buffyboy323

ER never leaving the top 2 in the 90's, where it spent 6 years is great. Any show that can spend 6 years in that position (nowdays it belongs to CSI) is pretty damn good.

Yes, ER's last spot at #1 was Clooney's last season, but the following year it came in at #2. And years and years later, in 2003, it came in at #7 (as a matter of fact, if you exclude all the reality crap, ER was the #3 scripted series on TV...in it's 9th season, in 2003!). Again, that is excellent. There's hardly ANY current shows that will make it to a 9th season, yet alone still be in the top 5 by then.

And ER left the Top 30 for the first time EVER at the end of it's 13th year (it came in at #31, at that). And if it is only getting almost 9 million weekly, that's still good. There's shows that have been on the air for 5, 6, 7 years that have never even seen numbers like that.

And if we're comparing ER's ratings decline to Roseanne's; ER took more than a decade to even leave the Top 10. Roseanne was this big hit show, and took this drastic fall in a matter of a year or 2. That's all I know about that.

Thankyou for supporting me on this one. You're absolutely right with all your points. Clooney was only in the show for it's first 5 seasons. You have to think that ER is still running strong, 9 seasons after his departure. So in the long run, it should be made clear that ER was popular no matter who were the stars. Who cares if the show was number 1 on year, and the net year number 2. Wow, that's such a huge loss-LOL. Who cares! 8.5 million for a show (on NBC) is excellent in this day in age. Some networks are happy with 6-8 million for a show, and Dean's complainging about horrible ratings at 8.5. It doesn't make any sense.

[Buffyboy323]

Originally Posted by roseanne88-97

Thankyou for supporting me on this one. You're absolutely right with all your points. Clooney was only in the show for it's first 5 seasons. You have to think that ER is still running strong, 9 seasons after his departure. So in the long run, it should be made clear that ER was popular no matter who were the stars. Who cares if the show was number 1 on year, and the net year number 2. Wow, that's such a huge loss-LOL. Who cares! 8.5 million for a show (on NBC) is excellent in this day in age. Some networks are happy with 6-8 million for a show, and Dean's complainging about horrible ratings at 8.5. It doesn't make any sense.

Exactly! We can all see that I will defend this show until there's no tomorrow. But I do have facts to back it up. And everything you said here is indeed a fact.

And why do I get the feeling you snapped your fingers at the screen after you typed this?