SMASH tanks in ratings- Page 3

[StageGuy99]

Posted: 2/7/13 at 11:28am

SMASH does have something that 30 Rock and the others don't... songs to sell on iTunes. Jordan's song already made the charts, so if the new songs continue to do well, then that's added income and more incentive for them to keep the show going.

[mridley2]

Posted: 2/7/13 at 12:08pm

"The difference is that those shows [30 Rock, Parks & Rec] have prestige. They're critical darlings with strong, dedicated followings. And 30 Rock has a wheelbarrow full of awards, both nominated and won. "

Don't forget 30 Rock (and Parks & Rec will follow behind) was sold into syndication for $800K per episode. That's major bank. Smash will most likely never generate that level of revenue. No matter how many seasons are a SMASH!

[Kad]

Posted: 2/7/13 at 12:26pm

I question whether the relative success of Smash's recordings will be able to offset the ratings and reviews. It's certainly no Glee, in terms of music sales.

[winston89]

Posted: 2/7/13 at 1:48pm

i think that there are a couple of issues at play here. First off, I find it mildly ironic that the reason for this show's midseason premier was because NBC stated that if they started it in the fall, then they would have to stop showing it for a bit due to the news around the election. That makes sense to me. However, I find it stupid to start the season (double episode or not) and then skip a week due to the State of the Union. I echo what others have said here, that they should have waited to start the week after the speech that way they could have shown all the episodes straight through. Not, create some momentum and kill it right away.

I only watched the first episode of the two episode premier, and I could notice a big change in the show, hard to describe, something that I can't quite put my finger on, but a difference in the show between the first season and this one. I think that if the first season were like this one, the show would be drastically different overall.

Lastly, I don't get this notion of putting season or series premiers online to stream from various venues. NBC isn't the only one that does this. To me, it's just common sense that if you're going to do this, don't expect great ratings for when the episode actually airs. As far as I'm concerned, that's just a sign of the networks wanting to shoot themselves in the foot. You can't give the premier to people in advance and then expect high ratings when it actually airs.

[suestorm]

Posted: 2/7/13 at 2:25pm

Lastly, I don't get this notion of putting season or series premiers online to stream from various venues. NBC isn't the only one that does this. To me, it's just common sense that if you're going to do this, don't expect great ratings for when the episode actually airs. As far as I'm concerned, that's just a sign of the networks wanting to shoot themselves in the foot. You can't give the premier to people in advance and then expect high ratings when it actually airs.


GOODPOINT WINSTON

all you have to do is look at the big newspapers and magazines... they are dying, why? you can get it online for free.

[jasonf]

Posted: 2/7/13 at 4:36pm

I have to say the season premiere was way better than last season's mess. I actually enjoyed the premiere and the music was pretty fantastic in these episodes.

I think a storm of things caused problems - the premiere being available online, a TERRIBLE lead-in, and the fact that it was two hours pretty much guaranteed bad ratings. How many people will watch two hours of any show in one night as it's live? Similarly, and I don't know if this has an impact, don't most professionals who work in theater actually WORK during that time? I don't know how big an impact that might have on ratings, but I'd assume some...

[cabaretman24]

Posted: 2/7/13 at 6:22pm

Well I dont think they needed all these new characters develop the ones you had breakups happen backstabbers stay around why write them off

[Borstalboy]

Posted: 2/7/13 at 6:49pm

Why did they move it to Tuesday?

I liked having a little SMASH start my week.

[chewy5000]

Posted: 2/7/13 at 7:17pm

If you're getting SMASHED that early, you should seek help.

[winston89]

Posted: 2/7/13 at 8:54pm

Borstalboy, I believe that they moved it to Tuesdays to give Revolution the timeslot that Smash had in its first season.

And, Jasonf, I am sure that there are people in the theatre community that watch the show, but I don't think that it's a big enough demographic to impact the ratings. Furthermore, season one aired at a time when people in the theatre would be working anyway.

[EricMontreal22]

Posted: 2/8/13 at 5:02pm

"@Luscious -- That article is incorrect. SMASH is definitely not the lowest rated show on Broadcast TV. Do No Harm premiered to a 0.9 rating and was the lowest series debut ever for any show. Plus Deception also rates lower as does The New Normal. "

Plus any show on the CW--what a weird article

[ucjrdude902]

Posted: 2/8/13 at 6:15pm

And just like that NBC cancels "Do No Harm". Is this a good sign for SMASH?

[beensince1987]

Posted: 2/8/13 at 8:26pm

So if SMASH's rating goes down around 20% (since DO NOT HARM went down 22% in second week) in 2 weeks NBC might pull plug on this?

Hope not. It is a guilty pleasure (and really bad one at that) for me.

http://www.deadline.com/2013/02/do-no-harm-cancelled-after-two-airings/

[yankeefan7]

Posted: 2/9/13 at 9:03am

Makes you wonder. I enjoyed the first year even with it's faults. The first two episodes this year were much better and I like the elimination of several characters. I hope it catches on a bit and NBC gives it a chance. I don't like the way NBC scheduled the premier one week and then show will not be on for two weeks.I remember many years ago ABC killed a show I loved "Murder One" by erractic scheduling which cost the show its audience.

[East Village]

Posted: 2/9/13 at 9:15am

I think it's over. There's no way NBC can order more episodes with the ratings that low

[Phyllis Rogers Stone]

Posted: 2/9/13 at 12:12pm

[winston89]

Posted: 2/9/13 at 12:19pm

I don't think that the ratings for season premier spell out doom for this show.I still stand by the fact that they were stupid enough to show the premier in advance. And, that A, no one is going to watch two hours of a show (favorite or not) in the age of Tivo/DVR. And, that everyone who really wanted to see it, most likely saw it in advance. If they were smart, they wouldn't have put the season premier online before its air date. Not to mention that they are stupid enough to have this show go to the wayside for a week for The State of The Union. Maybe they should have waited to start the season until the week after the speech? I don't know.

[yankeefan7]

Posted: 2/9/13 at 2:06pm

Winston89 - excellent points. I believe a lot of series TV shows you can't see the episode on-line until 8 days after it airs. You hit the nail on the head about State of Union sppech also, why not wait until the week after. I remember in the early days of the FOX series "24", one of the keys they said to building and keeping the audience was that the show never missed a week once it started the season.

[winston89]

Posted: 2/9/13 at 7:43pm

Yankeefan, thanks. And, there is something that I wanted to add. I get NBC's reason for not wanting to start season 2 of Smash in the fall. They said that if they had done that, then they would have built up a momentum and had to stop it with the election coverage. Yet, that's the exact thing that they are doing. Not with election coverage, but with the speech. Now, granted, I do kind of get where NBC is coming from. A lot of the NBC shows that started around september that had to take a break for the election, aren't starting back up again till March. Not the same as missing a week, but still, not good either.

And, Yankeefan, I don't believe you're correct about watching TV shows online. Typically, most shows are available online/on demand the next day.

[AEA AGMA SM]

Posted: 2/9/13 at 8:06pm

Here's one thing to remember, though. The season 1 premiere was available for viewing online well in advance of the actual airing as well and yet it was still able to pull in much better numbers.

Let's face it, they lost their audience after the ridiculous inconsistency of the first season and are going to have to work pretty hard to win some of those folks back.

[beensince1987]

Posted: 2/10/13 at 12:19am

Wasn't last year that all the critics said premiere was great but it would take few episodes in to pick up the pace but whole season turned out to be pretty bad?
Sounds like exactly the same this season to me.

Not sure how many episodes NBC ordered for this season, but maybe they want season finale to be the last week of TV season and that's why they had to start on the 5th (includes the pre-empted this coming week)? It's usually first few weeks of May.

Not sure why NBC moved it to Tuesday, and is State of the Union on Tuesday every year?

[ucjrdude902]

Posted: 2/10/13 at 12:30am

Didn't they order a full season which for Smash is like 16 episodes?

Updated On: 2/10/13 at 12:30 AM

[Phyllis Rogers Stone]

Posted: 2/10/13 at 12:32am

I think we should call them Smashisodes.

[winston89]

Posted: 2/10/13 at 2:14am

While the State of the Union has been on a Tuesday the past couple of years, that is something that just by chance. For example, the 2010 one was on a Wednesday. But, it is always at 9.

NBC moved it to Tuesday because they wanted to air their new show Revolution to air after The Voice (Revolution picks back up again in on March 25th, the same day as The Voice starts.)

And, AEA AGMA SM, while I am not sure with you about the audience being gone, I do have this to say though about the fact that both season premiers being aired in advance online. That is that the pilot was so well reviewed that it even got people who missed the short online viewing period to give it a chance. However, putting the season two premier, of a show that spent a season going back and forth between being really good and horrible to watch is a bad idea for two reasons. First off, It's a bad idea because it allows what a dwindling fan base to watch it early and miss it live altogether. And, the issue was that they made it a two hour episode. No one is going to want to watch a 2 hour episode that late in the evening live, of any show. I understand that they wanted to have two episodes out since they are missing next week because of the speech, but still.

[yankeefan7]

Posted: 2/10/13 at 8:09am

Winston89 - Another good point you made was having the 2 hr premier start so late. If they are going to do 2 hrs, they should have done 8p-10p. I got my daughter to give it a try and she like the first episode but did not watch the 2nd because she had to get up at 6a for work the next morning.