Commercial Impressions: Wow, Vampire trend - how original. And the two guys are going to fight over the girl - You know, I'm surprised this plot lines isn't used all the time because this happens to me all the time. I'm sure Seventeen magazine gets thousands of letters from girls asking for help with 2 really attractive guys literally fighting over them. [Insert eyeroll here]
My take: This could be interesting. Elana's parents being dead gives her character some interesting depth. I like her best friend being psychic. I'm still having trouble staying interested in the show, but I kind of want to keep trying. If nothing else I feel obligated to support Degrassi actors when they go off to the big scary Lala land world.
Ratings: Vampire Diaries has the best ratings on The CW, the show's probably safe.
Commercial Impressions: Ok, dead person. Sex. (Of course) Blackmail. Interesting. Prostitution. Oh, good lord, what dramatic element did they not cover here? [Insert dramatic montage] Ok, that's kind of over the top. Fun!
My take: The show was fun. I want to like it, but I'm really not drawn in to keep caring about it. I don't recall being given a reason to care about the lady that was murdered. It seems like they just showed how bitchy she was then killed her off - probably not the best idea when there's an underlying story line to find her murderer. I get the feeling that just when I start to like a character on this show I will then be shown that they've really done many things that would then make me hate them.
Ratings: Majorly sucking. Especially since the show came on after 90210, it was expected to do better. TV by the Numbers has the show on their "Likely to be canceled by May 2010" list.
My take: I only got to watch about half of the first season (before the CW freaked cause their ratings were majorly sucking and they decided pulling all their episodes off the internet was a good idea. This, obviously backfired on them.) I just wish the show weren't so easy to make fun of. Some of the writing seems sort of realistic, (as in I could see teens saying something similar,) but when it's actually said - it just sounds awkward. For me, I think I'll wait a little while then marathon the episodes when they break in December. I think it'll be more fun that way.
Ratings: Not as good as they were last year, but pretty solid.
My take: Seemed like a typical season. But after seeing 2 episodes, I see why I usually just waited for the marathons on VH1. I've never been super into ANTM, and I don't watch much reality TV, but this season just seems absurdly over the top and badly scripted. (By which I mean, they're editing/scripting cheesy or ridiculously dramatic elements into the show. Particularly when they don't need to.)If I want to see some top model with insane drama I'd watch Australia's Next Top model - they keep getting in trouble for the way the contestants/hosts behave and sometimes their episodes are uncensored. (Bonus, I learned a ton of new insults and can occasionally say something in an Australian accent after watching a few seasons.)
Ratings: Not super great but, they seem to hold on to the ratings with women viewers. ANTM seems to be pretty solid.
Commercial Impressions:
When I first saw commercials for the Pilot last spring, My first thought was "Oh great, someone new is tying to latch onto the whole high school musical trend of crappy programming to make ridiculous amounts of money. Lame."
My take: It showed up as a free download on iTunes, and who can resist a free download on iTunes? I honestly ended up liking it. (Even though that was kind of annoying because even if the show was good, it probably got picked up in major part because of the would High School Musical trend that I find annoying.) But hating it simply because it's similar to HSM is probably just as bad as loving it solely because it reminds you of HSM. So after all of that, Glee is probably one of the best new teen-oriented shows this season. It's raunchy, hilarious, and has it's moments where the characters are painfully human. I'd give it a gold star.
Ratings: Awesome. It's been pulling in big numbers, critics like it, I've noticed it usually becomes the top trending topic on twitter on Wednesday nights - Glee seems to make everyone happy. (I pun.)
What are these "ratings" and why do that matter? "Ratings:" refers to how many viewers the show has. They're important for companies to keep track of. They can involve specific stuff like age group or sex of the viewers. Figurig this stuff out helps advertises know when and where they want their ads to run. TV Networks always want their ratings to be high so they have not only more viewers - but more companies wanting to buy up ad time. Ratings don't always mean a show will be renewed or canceled, but they play a pretty big part in the question. I recommend a site called TV by the Numbers to keep track of ratings or just check up on how your favorite shows are doing. They do a pretty good job of explaining ratings and what's good/bad for different shows.
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