When Does It Start: Sunday 4^th March at 10pm EST on ABC

In A Nutshell: It’s Desperate Housewives in Dallas…

What’s It About: Back in her high school days Amanda (Leslie Bibb) was the Queen Bitch who made everyone’s lives a misery. Now years later she’s a single mom returning to Dallas where she grew up. But not everyone is happy to see Amanda. Her former victims are now ruling the roost, led by the new Queen Bee, Carlene Cockburn (Kristin Chenoweth). They’re all devout Christians on the surface but deep down there’s a whole heap of blaspheming and backstabbing going on. No wonder the show was originally called Good Christian Bitches.

Click here to view the embedded video.

Plus Points:  Let’s be honest, this is a Kristin Chenoweth vehicle through and through, The Broadway star dominates the show’s trailer and is clearly going to steal every scene she’s in, just as she did guest starring as April Rhodes in Glee. I’m a Chenoweth fan so I think it’s great that she’s finally landed a series to showcase her talents (I was never a Pushing Daisies fan). I just wonder why it took so long – the lady has serious star quality.

ABC are positioning GCB as a successor to Desperate Housewives, and with the Wisteria Lane saga on its last legs the time could be right for a new soapy Sunday night series. Plus soaps are hot right now with the success of Revenge (and many more due in the Fall). If GCB can get out ahead of the pack it could be a real hit. Plus the show’s mix of religion and hypocrisy is certainly timely as we enter the election season with moral values front and center in the campaign. I also have a feeling GCB might push some buttons and become a topic of hot debate (especially if ABC play their cards right!)

I think the GCB trailer looks like a lot of fun with some cracking one-liners and a very similar tone to Desperate Housewives in its heyday. I’m certainly going to give the show a shot, though Sundays at 10pm are made for DVR’s, rather than watching live!

Speaking of the ABC schedule, GCB will be inheriting the slot Pan Am recently vacated – so the bar has been set pretty low. Plus competition wise it will only be facing CSI: Miami and Celebrity Apprentice, neither of which should pose too much of a threat. There’s a lot of potential upside here for ABC.

On The Downside: Inheriting an audience from Desperate Housewives used to be a huge opportunity but with the ladies now struggling in the ratings I think it’s become a bit of a curse (last week’s Housewives pulled in just 7.55 million viewers – for a show that used to attract over 20 million people per week!) I think ABC would have been smarter to have launched GCB a few years back when it could really benefit from its lead in.

Housewives is also very similar in tone with its mix of black comedy and suburban values. Will audiences really want to sit through two hours of such similar shows? And it goes without saying that this isn’t a show aimed at male audiences! Plus GCB has more than a touch of Suburgatory about it – does Kristin Chenoweth remind anyone of a less sunny Cheryl Hines?

I’m still bummed that ABC didn’t stick to their guns – and use the superior original show title, Good Christian Bitches. That was such a great, attention-grabbing name for a series whereas GCB is totally generic. Nowadays new shows need to make noise any way they can. I wonder if the rest of the series will be similarly gutless and treat its religious hypocrisy with similar kid gloves?

Finally I’m always concerned when a show originally set for the Fall doesn’t debut until March. As a result GCB will only produce 10 episodes for its first season. But why did ABC keep the show on the shelf for so long? Does the show’s shiny surface hide a stinky series? Pan Am also looked great on paper – and in the teasers – and we all know what a drag that show turned out to be!

Prediction: GCB looks like a lot of fun but do 2012 audiences want a new Desperate Housewives? This really could go either way…

WINNERS

THE WALKING DEAD: Wow – who saw this one coming?

We all knew The Walking Dead was a monster size horror hit, but after a rocky Fall season (admittedly redeemed by a terrific end episode) and limited promotion for its February return I was expecting diminished returns for the return of the AMC zombie saga.

And yet The Walking Dead came back stronger than ever last week – roaring back to life with a terrific 8.10 million viewers and a 4.2 18-49 share. To put that in context, that’s better than EVERY show on NBC and The CW last week, barring The Voice. It’s also The Walking Dead’s best ratings to date – besting the season 2 opener which scored 7.26 million back in October. And the fact that the show aired during the second most watched Grammy Awards ever makes these figures even more impressive…

Now the question becomes – how big can The Walking Dead go… 9 million? 10 million? Who knows…!

UNDERCOVER BOSS: Friday night has long been a dead-zone for the broadcast networks but what do you know – suddenly the night is starting to show sparks of life…

Shark Tank recently scored its highest ratings to date and What Would You Do isn’t too shabby either. Now Undercover Boss has relocated to Fridays and is doing some pretty serious business as well.

Last Friday’s premiere scored big with a fantastic-for-Friday 10.73 million viewers and a 2.4 18-49 share. It’s pretty rare to see ANY show on a Friday night score in the 2’s in the demo, and for a cheap reality show CBS have to be thrilled! Undercover Boss also out-rated its previous timeslot inhabitant A Gifted Man aka ‘the show that wastes Patrick Wilson’s talents’.

Personally I think Undercover Boss is horribly contrived and fake – but hey, that’s what the CBS audience likes! So expect more of the same in the months to come…

LOSERS

COUGAR TOWN: Why isn’t Cougar Town a hit? It has a big name star, critical kudos and plenty of press… and yet still nothing! Hmm, I sense a post coming…

But seriously, three seasons in and the Courtney Cox starrer just can’t seem to catch a break with audiences. After sitting on the shelf for months Town finally returned on Valentine’s Day and still didn’t get any love. 4.88 million viewers and a pitiful 1.8 18-49 share isn’t going to win over the network brass at ABC who clearly aren’t Cougar Town fans in the first place (they held the show back for Work It for heaven’s sake!)

Enjoy it while you can Cougar Town fans – with ratings like this there’s no way the show’s getting a 4^th season.

THE RIVER: Speaking of Tuesday night ABC flops – what the heck happened with The River?

A few weeks ago the paranormal hit was looking like a big, juicy hit following in the footsteps of True Blood, American Horror Story and the aforementioned Walking Dead.

Yet The River premiere stumbled out of the gate and ratings have been falling ever since. This week’s episode managed just 4.96 million viewers and an awful 1.7 18-49 share. Perhaps the fact that The River is a pretty lousy show has something to do with it! Whatever the reason it’s another write off for ABC…

THE BIGGEST LOSER: Wow Tuesday night really was a bloodbath for the broadcast networks! Sure it was Valentine’s Day but even so – what the heck happened? (Actually the week as a whole was brutal for the nets with series lows across the board)

NBC has few hits to brag about these days – err, The Voice and that’s about it! But at least long running weight loss series The Biggest Loser was pretty stable on Tuesday nights.

But not anymore. Loser has been on a slide for weeks now and this week managed just 5.86 million viewers and a 2.1 18-49 share, a season low.  Personally I think the series should never have let Jillian Michaels go – and hiring Anna Kournikova as her replacement last season was a truly dunderhead move. But this is NBC and by their lowly standards The Biggest Loser is still a hit so I’m sure the show will stick around for a while at least…

REMODELED: Speaking of troubled networks – it’s been a truly terrible season for The CW with numerous flops (H8R), fading series (90210) and newcomers losing steam fast (Ringer).

A few weeks ago model agency makeover series Remodeled – one of the most unnecessary concepts ever to grace our screens – debuted with just 700,000 viewers. But network execs argued the show would soon take off as audiences discovered the format.

Well guess what – they haven’t! On Wednesday night Remodeled scored just 460,000 viewers and a truly pitiful 0.2 18-49 share. Yep, you read those numbers correctly! Those are terrible figures for a broadcast network, lower than many cable shows on the same night. You do have to wonder how much longer The CW can stay in business?

Here’s an idea for a show – how about a failing TV network that gets taken over by a series of TV execs to see if they can turn it around. Heck they can’t do much worse than the people currently running The CW, especially on the unscripted side…

When Does It Start: Thursday March 1^st at 10pm EST on NBC

In A Nutshell: Following a car crash a damaged cop switches between two alternate realities…

What’s It About: Police detective Michael Britten (Jason Issacs) regains consciousness after a car accident involving his wife Hannah and son Rex. But all is not what it seems as the broken cop finds himself living two separate realities. In one his wife is dead and his son is alive – and in the other Hannah lives and Rex is dead. But is Michael crazy… or is there more going on beneath the surface?

Click here to view the embedded video.

Plus Points: First up let’s just say that the Awake trailer is definitely intriguing. This is certainly not a cookie cutter show and I’d personally rather check out a high concept premise like Awake than any of the procedural slop doled out by CBS every week. The challenge of course is whether Awake can live up to the potential of its plot.

Lead actor Jason Issacs is familiar to Harry Potter fans as the evil Lucius Malfoy – but he’s also another Brit actor ripe for discovery like Hugh Laurie and Andrew Lincoln before him. If Awake succeeds we could be hearing a lot more about Issacs in the years to come.

In a supporting role, former That 70’s Star Wilmer Valderamma lends Awake some PR potential and the show also boasts 24 actress Cherry Jones, playing Michael’s therapist in one of his ‘realities’. Behind the scenes Awake is oversee by 24 and Homeland Exec Howard Gordon and Lone Star creator Kyle Killen. These names give Awake a lot more credibility than many of NBC’s other recent series (Lone Star bombed but critics loved it). So why on earth was this show left on the shelf until mid-season?

On The Downside: Okay first and foremost let’s be honest here – this is NBC we’re talking about and the network isn’t exactly in the best of shapes at the moment is it!

The networks ratings are totally in the crapper – last week only 3 scripted shows rated higher than a 1.7 in the 18-49 demo (Smash, Law And Order: SVU and The Office). That’s appalling. And the 2011–2012 has been a complete wash so far with The Playboy Club, Prime Suspect, Free Agents and The Firm all already gone – and we’re not even in March yet.

Most worrying for Awake is that two of those four shows aired in the now cursed Thursday at 10pm slot. Smash got off to a decent start because it followed NBC’s sole hit show, The Voice. But Awake will be airing after the comedy train wreck that is 30 Rock, Parks And Recreation, The Office and Up All Night. Not one of those shows scored over 4.5 million viewers last week. That’s bad.

With a bad inheritance and limited publicity – since no one is watching NBC no one is seeing the previews – Awake has an uphill struggle ahead. It’s also airing opposite The Mentalist, which is still strong, and Private Practice, which has never really been a hit but is at least stable for ABC. Awake has barely received a fraction of the press that The Firm and especially Prime Suspect received. Will this be NBC’s third timeslot flop this season?

Plus Awake has some challenges of its own to overcome. It’s a serialized and complex show in a TV landscape that favors the likes of NCIS over brainy, complex dramas. Revenge is a PR dream for ABC but still struggles to bring in more than 8 million viewers a week.

Awake is also one of those shows that could easily fall apart under the weight of its own complications. Just look what’s happened to Ringer recently – the Sarah Michelle Gellar saga has been on a ratings slide for months now and seems destined for the dumper at the end of the season. Will audiences be willing to invest in another complex drama that requires a weekly engagement?

Prediction: I think Awake looks potentially interesting but I just don’t think it will take off in the current TV landscape…

As you may know, I’ve had a complicated relationship with The Voice, ever since the smash NBC music competition series debuted last Spring.

At first I thought The Voice was going to bomb.  Then I realized the series was definitely here to stay!

And now I’m really trying to give the show a second shot. And I like it. Kinda. But I’m just not addicted…

So do any of you out there feel the same way.

I’ll be the first to admit I’m a sucker for a good competition reality show. I used to love Project Runway and America’s Next Top Model. I currently adore Face Off. And I sat through many, many years of American Idol before it drifted into utter blandness last season. But there’s something about The Voice that just doesn’t work for me.

It’s certainly not the cast. Christina, Adam, Cee Lo and Blake are a great team, sweetly needling one another, fiercely competitive and all bona fide stars in their own right. This is how The X Factor panel should have worked from the get-go, before Simon Cowell’s ego blinded his judgment and he stuck Paula and Nicole in there (a decision that felt wrong at the time and now just seems plain crazy in hindsight!)

Plus The Voice’s central device – the Blind Auditions – continues to work. It’s slickly handled and dramatic, especially when a singer doesn’t get any votes and has to walk off in shame.

No I think for me the problem with The Voice is that I feel removed from the process. I’m basically watching a group of music stars taking their pick from a pre-selected group of singers. The result doesn’t feel organic at all.

On American Idol you really get the sense that anyone can walk in the door and a star can be born out of nowhere. It’s what happened with Kelly Clarkson and Carrie Underwood and Fantasia and countless others. Now sure, Idol has featured several singers who’ve already been on the circuit a while – but not to the same extent as on The Voice.

On the NBC music show almost every contender is a former backing singer, has toured with musical theater or released a flop album and then been dropped by their record label. No harm in that – but it already means these people are to a degree who’ve been through the PR machine. They’re not fresh faces who came out of nowhere with bad haircuts, bad teeth and bad outfits! Just take a look at Carrie Underwood’s first Idol audition for example…

Click here to view the embedded video.

And just look at Carrie now!

For me it’s this polish that’s holding me back from truly loving The Voice. I don’t feel like I’m part of the discovery process so have no real investment in the results.

On top of this I still think the show’s main format is flawed. While the Blind Auditions are entertaining the series doesn’t really have anywhere to go after this first stage. It’s a show that hinges on a gimmick that’s essentially over after a couple of weeks. At least on Idol you’re invested in the contestants – following them from open auditions through to Hollywood Week and then through all the different stages of the contest.

By contrast, The Voice is all about its coaches – who you certainly can’t call B-listers or hasbeens. But shouldn’t the series also be about FINDING a new star?

At the end of the day, Season 1 winner Javier Colon saw his post-Voice album debut outside the top 100. By contrast, judges Adam and Christina scored a number one single with Moves Like Jagger. Kind of says it all doesn’t it…

But what do you think? Are you a Voice fan? And why do you love the show? I’d love to hear your comments…

WINNERS

THE VOICE: Watch out American Idol, you’ve got some serious competition now!

Yep, while the long running Fox music competition show continues to hit new lows in its troubled 11^th season, NBC’s hot new hit came back scorching.

Obviously The Voice got a LOT of help from its plum post-Super Bowl slot, which attracted over 37 million viewers, predictably higher than last year’s Glee extravaganza. But to be honest, post Super Bowl inflated numbers don’t count for a huge amount in the long run – aside from bragging rights.

Nope, the real test for The Voice came on Monday when the 2^nd season ‘officially’ debuted. And the numbers were great – 17.84 million viewers and a 6.7 18-49 share. To put that into context that’s nipping at the heels of Idol’s Thursday episode (18.13 million) and well ahead in the demo (5.8 18-49)

However, once again the question remains – how will The Voice fare in the long run – especially once its biggest novelty, The Blind Auditions, are over?

SMASH: Monday night proved a good night for NBC generally, as the troubled network actually finished the evening FIRST in total viewers and in the demo for the first time in forever!

The Voice obviously did the network’s heavy lifting, but heavily hyped newcomer Smash also performed pretty well – pulling in 11.44 million viewers and a 3.8 demo rating.

Okay that’s still quite a drop from The Voice. And worryingly Smash went from a 4.2 to a 3.4 18-49 rating across its hour, indicating that a lot of people weren’t too impressed with the show. This week’s ratings will be crucial. But at least Smash didn’t out and out flop like ABC’s The River. Finally some good news for NBC… well until Wednesday night that is…

SHARK TANK: At last America is catching onto the best reality show currently on any of the broadcast networks.

After two seasons in which Shark Tank largely flew under the radar (in fact it was almost cancelled after season 1), the new series is scoring some hefty numbers on Friday night at 8.

The season 3 debut 2 weeks ago started strong and last Friday the trend continued with Shark Tank pulling in its highest ratings to date. In preliminary figures the ABC business show scored 5.91 million viewers and a 1.8 18-49 share. Sure the total number of viewers is dwarfed by CBS’s Friday night line-up – but Blue Bloods scored twice the number of eyeballs (11.77 million) and yet was still stuck at the 1.8 mark.

Personally I think Shark Tank has found its groove – and its time. In a post-recession America the idea of starting your business and being business savvy is more timely than ever. Plus it doesn’t hurt that Shark Tank is authentic, dramatic and fascinating TV. This is how you do reality guys!

LOSERS

ALCATRAZ: Uh oh, looks like Fox has another problem on its hands.

With Idol slipping, House now officially on the way out, Fringe a Friday night disaster and The Finder a disappointment, Fox had high hopes for its new J.J. Abrams series inspired by the iconic prison island.

Alcatraz certainly started strong a few weeks back – but like many freshmen series the true story is in the week 2 and 3 numbers. Sure enough, Alcatraz is now officially struggling.

Last Monday’s episode took a BIG hit from The Voice and plunged to just 6.91 million viewers and a 2.3 18-49 share. Those numbers aren’t terrible for Fox and indeed are in line with the ratings for the hugely expensive Terra Nova (whose own fate remains unresolved). But Alcatraz isn’t an inexpensive show either. You think J.J. comes cheap?

Plus in total viewers, Alcatraz scored the lowest numbers of the night of any show on Fox, CBS, NBC and ABC. Ouch. Somehow I doubt that Fox will be as patient with Alcatraz as they have been with Abrams’ Fringe.

WHITNEY / ARE YOU THERE, CHELSEA: Monday night may have been a return to the glory days for NBC but just two days later and the network’s usual woes are on full display.

One of NBC’s continued problem is that they continue to persevere with series that have no chance of becoming hits. The net stuck by Prime Suspect for far longer than they should have, are tied to a 22 episode run of The Firm and let’s not even get into Chuck and its ridiculously long run.

Now we have Whitney – a disaster of a sitcom that’s still on air and killing Wednesday nights! Last week Whitney pulled in just 4.06 million viewers and a cable series level 1.5 18-49 share at 8pm.

But it gets worse. Following Whitney, the equally abrasive and critically reviled Are You There, Chelsea, managed just 3.63 million (and the same share).

My advice to NBC – cancel them now. You’d be better off airing re-runs in the slot at these ratings levels. Oh and next time, don’t give a full season order to a show like Whitney when it’s clearly a stinker from the start!

As you doubtless know by now I’m a huge Revenge fan.

ABC’s Wednesday night soap opera is just so darn addictive, fast paced and all round entertaining that it’s pretty much one of the TV highlights of the week.

But the next episode of TV’s best soap is also set to answer the show’s biggest cliffhanger to date. Who is the body on the beach? And are they really going to kill off one of the show’s biggest characters, Daniel?

If you’ve been watching Revenge from the start you’ll remember it began pretty dramatically with a mystery man shot to death on the beach while the show’s central villain Victoria Grayson hosted a Fire And Ice party just a few feet away. The party is in honor of our anti-hero Emily and her engagement to Victoria’s son Daniel. But of course we all know that Emily’s whole agenda is to bring down the Grayson family.

In the show’s opening moments we heard a gunshot, then saw a white tuxedo clad figure stumble and fall onto the sand. Moments later more gunshots followed, clearly at close range. Later we saw local bar owner Jack pulling the body across the sand before being disturbed by Charlotte Grayson and his brother Declan. Jack scampers, Charlotte sees the body and screams ‘Daniel!’ and then the partygoers rush out to view the mayhem. We finally see Victoria rush to the beach and scream her son, Daniel’s name. But is it really him? Take a look…

Here’s the deal. When Revenge first kicked off it was pretty widely assumed – and likely intended – that the body on the beach would be Daniel – thus setting up Emily’s whole journey of vengeance. But along the way something curious started to happen. Viewers started to really like Daniel’s character and bought into the Emily / Daniel romance. Plus it doesn’t hurt that actor Josh Bowman is so easy on the eyes!

You get the feeling it wasn’t meant to work out this way, that the producers wanted us to buy into the Emily / Jack romance and thus Daniel would become the obstacle towards this relationship. Plus Daniel was meant to be the spoiled rich kid, the former party boy. But he’s not. He’s actually really likable and has great chemistry with Emily. So I sense that the Revenge producers have now painted themselves into a corner!

On the one hand, if they DO kill off Daniel in the Fire and Ice episode it would be a pretty ballsy move – and a fairly disruptive one. Not only would they be losing a central star so early in the run, as well as the show’s number one pin up, but plot-wise I’m not sure that it helps the show. It would reduce our sympathy for Emily, who ultimately would have to bear some responsibility for the murder, and increase our sympathy for Victoria, who suddenly becomes the genuinely grieving mother. Seeing Emily continue to go after the Graysons after Daniel’s death would just seem wrong, no matter how legitimate her mission. Plus the move effectively ends the show’s central love triangle between Emily, Jack and Daniel. And let’s be honest – it would be quite a downer! This isn’t like the first season death of Ian Somerhalder on Lost, who was an expendable part of a large ensemble. Daniel’s death would be a game changer.

On the flipside SOMEONE has to die – and if it ends up being a minor character it will feel like a cheat.

Here’s what I think. There’s already been reports that crazy Tyler (Daniel’s former best friend) will be back next week, and my feeling is that he’ll end up being the body on the beach. But it’ll be Daniel who’s the killer – aided by Jack. We know Tyler has an agenda against Emily and both guys will do anything to protect her. And we also know that the murder will be followed by a lengthy trial. Seeing Daniel accused of murder puts Emily in a position of power, and also mirrors the trial of her own father all those years ago. It fits perfectly within the world of Revenge and takes the story into interesting new directions.

For the record if this is how the show unspools I think Emily will ultimately save Daniel in court. As much as she wants Revenge on the Graysons, it’s Victoria and Conrad she’s after rather than Daniel and his similarly sympathetic sister Charlotte. But who knows? Revenge has already been pretty twisty-turny this season!

That’s my theory but what do you think? Are you a Revenge fan – and who do you think will end up being the body on the beach? And where will the storylines go next? Comment away…

Uh-oh, it looks like ABC’s new supernatural suspense series is already taking on water.

By now you’ve probably heard about the ratings for The River, described as Paranormal Activity in the Amazon. In its Tuesday night premiere the Steven Spielberg produced series managed just 7.59 million viewers and a 2.4 18-49 share.

Now those aren’t horrible numbers. I mean we’re not talking NBC here (whose Parenthood pulled in less than 5 million at 10pm) – but there are troubling signs ahead for TV’s new horror show. For starters The River came in third in the demo in its time slot, behind New Girl and NCIS: LA. Then there’s the fact that it will likely lose viewers in future weeks. And most alarming of all – The River lost almost a million and a half viewers over the course of its 2 part, 2-hour premiere. And honestly – who can blame them!

I checked out The River as I’m a huge horror fan! I love True Blood, Walking Dead and American Horror Story. Heck, I’m even producing a TV show about horror movies at the moment via my production company, Savannah Media. But for me The River was all a bit noisy, frantic and banal. Did you feel the same?

By now you know the plot of The River – ABC have trailed the darn thing enough. The plot concerns a group of rescuers who head up the Amazon searching for a famed TV explorer who’s gone missing. But deep in the jungle all is not what it seems… And that’s kind of about it really.

I only watched the first hour of The River – and I understand the second hour was better. But in the ultra competitive broadcast TV landscape you simply don’t get a second chance to make a first impression. Part 2 is now sat on my DVR and there’s really little point in watching it. In a couple of weeks time The River will likely be below the 5 million mark and heading for cancellation – just like last year’s other ABC jungle set series, Off The Map.

For me The River kicked off with some pretty serious pilot flaws. The cast were charmless – especially male lead Joe Lincoln, who was kind of gawky and hard to warm too. There’s a young Spanish girl who doesn’t speak English but appears to understand it perfectly and who keeps gibbering about the supernatural presence lurking in the jungle. Plus let’s not forget the brooding weapons expert who clearly has a secret agenda and the hot babe who turns up in a sweaty vest and acts with her cleavage.

Then there’s Paul Blackthorne (of Lipstick Jungle fame) who plays a stereotypical mercenary TV producer. One the key conceits of The River is that it’s filmed documentary style and we’re now looking at the ‘found footage’ from the group’s expedition. The explorer’s lost boat is also decked out with cameras enabling us to view the action Big Brother style. It’s all very contrived and leads to scenes like the one featuring the two cameramen running around the ship filming the supernatural menace. Except the menace is unseen. So unfortunately what we’re watching is a lot of running, shaky camerawork and trees rustling.

And that’s ultimately The River’s biggest problem. The threat isn’t tangible. True Blood has scary vampires, The Walking Dead has flesh hungry zombies and American Horror Story has the ‘rubber man’. By contrast, The River has wobbly cameras and a threat you can’t see. And chances are when we do see the threat it a) won’t be very scary and b) there will be a whole heap of new mysteries to unravel down the river. It’s just one of those shows. A lot of work for not very much pay off.

I think audiences are a bit more savvy in this post-Lost TV landscape. The ABC hit strung viewers along for years with little reward and was followed by Heroes which also started well before declining to a glacial pace. Since then both Flash Forward and The Event have come out of the gate big but lost viewers fast, leading me to believe that audiences have become wary of high concept series built on a mysterious premise.

Maybe I’m wrong. Maybe The River will grow audiences in the weeks to come. But somehow I doubt it. Personally I think this new ABC show is already sunk.

But what do you think? Do you agree? And what did you make of The River’s premiere? Comment away!

It was a big night for NBC last night, with The Voice and Smash both officially debuting hot on the heels of Sunday’s record Super Bowl numbers.

I’ll be talking about The Voice down the line – but first up let’s chat about Smash. After months of hype and non-stop adverts (I mean seriously, how much have NBC paid to promote this thing!) did the final product actually deliver? My verdict – kind of…

First up I have to mention that I actually watched Smash last week after downloading the pilot episode on Itunes. So I’ve had a few days to think about the show now. And my overall reaction is that I liked the pilot, but didn’t love it. But then to be honest I think it’s very difficult for a debut show to totally succeed straight out of the gate There’s always so much scene setting and character establishment that needs to be done in the first place. So I always give shows a few episodes to settle in.

Now I’m not a huge musical theater junkie but I’ve certainly seen – and loved – my fair share of Broadway shows. I loved Chicago, Avenue Q and Hairspray and hated Wicked and A Chorus Line. But I’m also a gay man living in the New York area and I know my tastes aren’t universal. In fact I’ve already heard two or three people I know question whether a show about the theater world can actually succeed as a mainstream hit. Smash is certainly less accessible and viewer friendly as Glee, with its non-stop succession of chart friendly cover version. Maybe they’re right?

Smash is undoubtedly a much more grown up affair than Fox’s high school musical – which both helps and hurts the finished show. Personally I loved seeing Angelica Huston featuring in her first full time TV series – she brings the same gravitas and class that Jessica Lange lent to American Horror Story. These women have enjoyed long careers for a reason! And Huston is surrounded by a strong ensemble – Debra Messing (still enchanting post Will And Grace), Jack Davenport (seeking that signature role after flops like Swingtown and Flash Forward) and Katherine McPhee (proving that sometimes American Idol churns out better actors than singers).

On the downside some of Smash’s plotlines are already a bit of a yawn. I definitely found myself groaning over Messing’s ‘baby adoption’ plot, which felt tiresome 5 minutes into the pilot (I remember how dreary a similar storyline on Brothers And Sisters was). And some of the Smash stories are a bit of a stretch. Would a video of a half finished show tune really go viral? Would Messing’s character really force her co-writer to work with a director he hated? And the general speed and pace of the show’s development and auditions felt a tad too rushed for reality…

On the flipside Smash has lots of potential once it finds its feet. I enjoyed the way the show’s original songs slipped into Chicago-like fantasy (and to be fair the new songs were pretty good). Plus the pilot as a whole zipped along and set in place an interesting central battle between the two ‘Marilyns’ – played by McPhee and Broadway vet Megan Hilty. It’s obvious we’re meant to root for McPhee, who after all is the bigger name, but I wish her audition performance had had a bit more juice. Were we really meant to be blown away by a good – but not great – rendition of Beautiful, a song that itself has been karaoke-ed to death?

So those are my initial thoughts – but who knows how I’ll be feeling a few weeks down the line. Smash might soar like Revenge has done – or crash and burn, as was the case with Pan Am. But for now the show is definitely interesting enough to keep me watching…

But what do you think? Did you watch the Smash premiere and what did you make of it? Will you be continuing to watch – or are you one and done? Comment away…

WINNERS

GLEE: Hmm, maybe Glee isn’t quite as damaged as many of us suspected…

After a season featuring some pretty major ratings slippage, Glee this week bounced back with its much-hyped Michael Jackson tribute episode. Tuesday night’s episode brought in 9.07 million viewers and a 3.7 18-49 share.

Okay, so that’s still well down on the show’s Season 2 average, where the show rarely dipped below 10 million a week, but after weeks of ratings stuck in the 7 million range Fox have to be breathing a slight sigh of relief.

And how does the network choose to reward Glee for its ratings renewal… why they’re putting it on hiatus after the Feb 21^st episode for almost 2 months! Genius idea – especially when Glee lost almost 2 million viewers after taking a month off in March 2011. Hmm, maybe Glee isn’t quite out of the danger zone yet after all!

THE BIG BANG THEORY: Turns out CBS’s most valuable comedy franchise isn’t Two And A Half Men after all.

Yep, while the Ashton Kutcher starring series is still a terrific performer for the Eye network, it’s on Thursdays that the real magic is happening. Now in its 5^th season, The Big Bang Theory this week pulled in 16.54 million viewers and an amazing 5.5 18-49 share.

But there’s more. You see not only were those figures a series high for the CBS comedy, but for the third week in a row, Big Bang actually BEAT the weakening American Idol when the two shows went head to head.

For its hour long Thursday episode Idol did average 17.41 million viewers – but that’s down a whopping 30% year on year. And it also means that Idol is now no longer TV’s number one show – it’s now getting beaten by Big Bang, NCIS and likely Dancing With The Stars when it returns in the Spring. Somewhere Simon Cowell is quietly chuckling to himself…

PERSON OF INTEREST: More good news for CBS on Thursday nights – Person Of Interest, the network’s initially troubled J.J. Abrams series, has now blossomed into a pretty formidable hit.

This week the Jim Cavaziel starrer pulled in 15.10 million viewers and a series high 3.3 youth rating (surprise, surprise CBS skews old!). Okay, so those demo numbers are nothing to get too excited about – but you can’t sniff at 15 million viewers in this cable age. Plus with Rob surprisingly holding it’s own (11.06 million) and the Mentalist solid at 10pm (11.87 million), CBS has a fairly sturdy Thursday night line-up, even without CSI.

Take note, NBC – this is how it’s done!

LOSERS

RINGER: It seems that absence doesn’t make the heart grow fonder after all…

After a painful 2 month hiatus, The CW’s Sarah Michelle Gellar twin mystery came roaring back to our screens – and once again hit a season low! Ouch.

Yep, Tuesday’s episode of the increasingly far fetched thriller, pulled in just 1.40 million viewers and a 0.6 18-49 share, a weak result even for the increasingly troubled CW.

Making matters worse was the fact that the network performed quite the marketing push for Ringer during its break, with a significant numbers of ads and promotions – and yet in terms of actual viewers Ringer was 200,000 DOWN on its last original.

Once again the lesson is clear – if you have a serialized show you HAVE to run it uninterrupted. ABC please don’t make the same mistake with Revenge!

LUCK: Uh-oh – looks like HBO didn’t get Lucky this time!

Check out the ratings for Luck, the premium network’s latest high profile / high quality series, featuring Dustin Hoffman, Nick Nolte and a whole heap of behind the scenes talent.

Unfortunately all those big names didn’t really help Luck in the ratings. Sunday night’s premiere pulled in just 1.06 million viewers – well down on the debuts of fellow HBO shows including Game Of Thrones and Boardwalk Empire, and a big drop from the 5-6 million viewers the network’s top show, True Blood, attracts in a typical week.

To be fair, Luck did have an ‘unofficial’ launch late last year, and pulled in around a million viewers for that airing – so maybe it’ll improve in the weeks to come. But for now, Luck definitely needs all that it can get!

When Does It Start: Tuesday February 7^th at 9pm EST on ABC

In A Nutshell: It’s Paranormal Activity in the Amazon.

What’s It About: Dr Emmet Cole is a famed TV explorer on the adventure of a lifetime, when he goes missing deep in the Amazon. Presumed dead, the doctor’s emergency beacon is discovered 6 months after his disappearance, prompting a rescue mission led by his wife and son. But all is not what it seems…

To fund the mission his family reluctantly allow Cole’s cagey producer Clark to film the rescue with a documentary crew. The result – lots of shaky camerawork and Blair Witch Style spooky scenes! But what else would you expect from Oren Peli, the creator of Paranormal Activity. Oh and Steven Spielberg is the Exec Producer. Between The River and Smash it’s going to be a busy week for the superstar director.

Click here to view the embedded video.

 Plus Points: Oh let’s be honest here, The River has smash hit written all over it!

TV Horror has never been hotter with American Horror Story, The Walking Dead and True Blood scoring record ratings for each of their respective networks. And if you’re going to produce a horror themed series having the guy behind Paranormal Activity and an Exec like Spielberg on board is definitely a great start.

The River has a definite Lost vibe to it, which is both a good AND bad thing! It’s a high concept show that looks intriguing and full of mystery. The question of course is can it sustain those mysteries series after series? Or will the show’s central premise start to run dry in a couple of years?

Critics have so far liked what they’ve seen and the show looks to perform a LOT better than ABC’s last jungle set series, Off The Map, did last year. Personally I’m not so sure about the show’s 9pm timeslot – isn’t this more like a 10pm series – but the competition shouldn’t be too intense: New Girl and Raising Hope on Fox aren’t smash hits, NCIS on CBS IS a smash but skews very old and NBC’s Biggest Loser is definitely on its last legs.

On The Downside: FX, AMC and HBO may have all scored big with horror themed shows but let’s not forget that these are all cable networks. The Walking Dead scores 6 million viewers a week. Great for AMC – but far from good enough to a mass-market broadcast network like ABC. Can The River pull in enough viewers or would it have been better off as a quality cable show?

Let’s not forget that the last time a network tried mainstream horror was CBS’s Harpers Island, a terrific stalk and slash limited series that was way too edgy for the geriatric CBS audience and was quickly exiled to a Saturday night death zone (the creepy Persons Unknown also suffered the same fate). The ABC audience is more open to new ideas than the CBS crowd but even so…

ABC is a great network when it comes to high concept ideas. But when it comes to the actual execution… oh boy! No Ordinary Family, V and Pan Am all debuted to terrific numbers, showing definite audience interest, before viewers discovered they were total turds and promptly tuned out. Can The River buck the trend and sustain audience interest week in, week out? It’s going to need to be darn good…

Prediction: I do think The River is going to debut huge. After that – who knows?