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20060917 Sunday September 17, 2006
Television Predictions Television

A long time ago I made some predictionsthat mostly came true.  I was basically 11 for 14 on predicting which new TV shows would fail.  I was wrong about Numb3rs and very wrong about Grey's Anatomy and The Office.  That said, anything above 50% is good, so I'm happy with my 79%.  And I still think Grey's Anatomy is a dumb show.

So, let's see how I do with this next season.  These are only based on the title and a brief summary.  I looked at the competition and also the production cost.

"Guaranteed" Failures
Canceled by Christmas
Probable Failures
Might last the season, won't be renewed
Success?
Who knows...
  • The Game
  • The War at Home
  • What About Brian?
  • Knights of Prosperity
  • Standoff
  • Jericho
  • Six Degrees
  • Happy Hour
  • Brothers & Sisters
  • Justice
  • 'Til Death
  • Men in Trees
  • Vanished
  • Kidnapped
  • Twenty Good Years
  • Smith
  • Help Me Help You
  • Heroes
  • Friday Night Lights
  • Shark
  • Ugly Betty
  • 30 Rock
  • Studio 60 on the Sunset Strip
  • The Nine

 

Note: Green means my prediction looks good or came true and red means that I might be wrong.  The strikeout text means that a show has been canceled.  Bold means that it has been officially renewed.

The half hour sitcoms are the hardest to predict.  They are generally cheap to produce and even the lame ones can survive for several seasons.  Any sitcoms in the middle columns could make it.  At least there aren't any more "fat guy and hot wife" shows this year.

Update [10/06/2006]: Smith and Kidnapped were canceled.  Guess I gave them too much credit.  On the other hand, Heroes was given a full season greenlight, so it will at least live through this season.

Vanished was moved to Fridays, probably to die, and Justice was also moved, which means it will probably also die.  Any Fox show that moves due to the baseball playoffs usually dies.

"Studio 60" isn't doing so well.  While getting great reviews and confidence from the people who buy commercials, it's ratings are slipping and one cast member is unexpectedly pregnant, causing some behind the scenes changes.

Finally, Brothers and Sisters is doing better than I predicted.

Update [10/11/2006]: Six Degrees is losing 60% of its Grey's Anatomy lead in, which TV people hate, so I'm guessing it's in trouble.  Shark and Ugly Bettyare the two highest rated new shows, so that shuold be good for them (and me).   Some of these new shows haven't even debuted yet so I'll get more news next week.  Jericho is also doing mediocre, but it will likely last past Christmas.  The Nineis doing okay, but after watching the show I realized that, while it's an excellent show, it shouldn't last more than one season due to the nature of the story.  If they drag the story out longer than one season people will stop watching anyway (see Prison Break).

Update [10/12/2006]: I watched 30 Rockand it was kind of limp.  There were a couple of good jokes, but I can't see it being hit.  In other news, The Knights of Prosperityhas yet to even air.  ABC doesn't have confidence in it.  So, technically I might be wrong about it just because it may not even air by Christmas, but I'll still claim victory if it fails.

Update [04/04/2007]: 30 Rock received a surprise (and deserved) renewaltoday so I figured I'd check how I was doing.  I'm 15 for 24 on my predictions so far.  To be fair, I need to see which shows are renewed to know for sure, so I could do better, but for now I'll assume the shows that are still on in the second column will make it.  'Til Death should have died (it was failing) but it got lucky enough to last until American Idol gave it a big lead in and now it's thriving.  Oh, and The Knights of Prosperitydied a quick death when it finally made it on to the air, so I'm claiming victory on that one.  Heroescontinues to soar and flaunts my wrongness at me every time I see a promo.  :-)  I couldn't be happier to be wrong, however.

Update [05/15/2007]: ABC and NBC have release their preview schedules for next fall, so I was able confirm some correct, and incorrect, predictions.

Update [05/16/2007]: Jericho and The War At Home have been canceled.  'Til Death as renewed. 

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September 17, 2006 01:56 PM PDT Permalink | Comments [2] | del.icio.us technorati slashdot digg reddit facebook stumbleupon

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Comments:

My wife was just reading an article in the Merc about the top 10 shows of 2005, and unbelieveably Grey's Anatomy was like number 3 or something. I knew I could count on my man Chu to come down with some (rightfully) negative comments about the show. Ugh. Its just so annoyingly bad. On a related note, I think you should take another look at 30 Rock. I find it pretty funny. But it did take a couple episodes to get into. I can't even describe the role, but the way Alec Baldwin plays the boss is excellent.

Posted by Watt on December 28, 2006 at 11:09 AM PST #

I actually stuck with 30 Rock and it did get better. Alec Baldwin is the best thing and Tracy Morgan learned how to play that character better. Like "The Office" which also started weak, 30 Rock found its groove and is worth watching.

Posted by Kevin on December 28, 2006 at 02:17 PM PST #

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