Now I watch quite a bit of TV so this was a VERY hard list to come up with. I found myself putting in some shows that may not actually be more favorable over others but I have to give props if they had an impressive year. I’ll try to keep summaries to a minimum but there are gonna be spoilers to give a little on why one such show was awesome last year.

12- Cougar Town – Title withstanding, the ABC show has really came into its own and improved significantly, and we’ve seen less of Barb, so that alone is a major improvement. 2nd season airs Wed. 9:30PM, ’til February, then returns again in April.

11- The Vampire Diaries – Yeah, it’s a bit on the soapy teen side, but it still has more sex and violence (at least what can be on broadcast, so no nudity, but that’s okay) than a certain (non)-vampire movie franchise (note, I’m basing that on the 1st movie). Plus, the introduction of werewolves, bringing in more witches, and the arrival of Katherine, the vampire who turned Damon and Stefan and who Elena looks like. The writing is much stronger and the storylines now are really making it a bit of a surprising drama series that I find very much worth watching. The 2nd half of its 2nd season returns January 27th at 8PM on the CW.

10- Modern Family – What’s not to love about this one of a kind comedy where you have a father who married a younger Colombian woman with a son, and a daughter with a man-child of a husband and three kids, and a gay son who adopted a Vietnamese baby with his partner. Add in a doc-style therapy narration and you have a unique comedy that not only does extremely well in demo, but it actually won an Emmy too for a comedy and get this, it’s actually funny. This ABC series 2nd season airs Wed. at 9PM.

9- Eureka – The Syfy series saw some real creative genius last year when Carter, Allison, Henry, Jo, and Fargo had traveled back to the past and arrived back to the present with a man named Trevor Grant joining, to find a very different Eureka (Jo and Zane never dated, Tess never left, Henry is married, Allison’s autistic son was surprisingly no longer autistic, and, Fargo is in charge of GD). Playing with time can be a tricky thing, but this show excelled (although I’m still not sure how a kid would no longer be autistic), but it was still a fun show to watch, and I look forward to more. Return TBD.

8- Sanctuary – This little Syfy gem may not get the press that the now canceled SGU and Caprica got, but it certainly tops my list from the net. And last year it got even better, picking up after the the Big Bertha storyline, Magnus and her team look for Hollow Earth, and the last ep of the year was a big “WTF” moment that still has me in shock. I look forward to its return this spring to finish out its 3rd season, and hope for renewal of such an underrated series.

7- Fringe – This FOX series, now in its 3rd season, is moving to Fridays, so spread the word ’cause this series must continue. The 3rd season opened us up more to the alternate universe with the first half switching between the ‘Fringe’-world we know and the alternate one, having our Olivia “over there” and Fauxlivia (the “over there” Olivia) “over here.” The once X-Files-esque show is going more in mythology and the deepness of it is a hard sell to average viewers, which is a shame, because this has been a truly great year. 3rd Season returns January 21 at 9PM on FOX (with an episode titled, get this, “Firefly”)

6- Bones – Oh last year saw the 100th episode with Booth telling Brennan he loved her and she rejecting him and then the last ep of the year in which Brennan saw herself in a victim and realized she made a mistake and her putting her heart out there, but because of, eh, Hanna, Booth then rejected her. I say, give the Emmy to Emily Deschanel, please. Oh, and Hodgins and Angela got married in jail and are now expecting. Really looking forward to the aftermath of Brennan’s tearjerking moment, plus, there are spoilers out there that a supporting character (possibly one of the squinterns) is gonna say hello to a bullet. 6th season returns January 20 at 9PM on FOX (yes, 9PM now, not 8PM, 9PM, don’t forget it).

5- How I Met Your Mother – The closest thing to a Friends replacement, this CBS comedy is now in its 6th season and isn’t slowing down. Any show that can take what should be a simple story to kids on how their parents met and make it into a non-stop force of comedy for 6 years running is a masterpiece. Now if only Neil Patrick Harris can get that Emmy for this series he so DESERVES, and maybe little more love for Jason Segel and Alyson Hannigan this year? Oh, and let’s not forget that almost a year ago was the 100th episode, with the wonderful musical number “Girls Vs. Suits.” This CBS series 6th season airs Mondays 8PM.

4- Smallville – Hey, it’s in its 10th and final season and they are giving us one hell of a season. The 10th season is now getting more into the Superman mythology, even that scene with the ‘Superman Returns’ costume in the Fortress of Solitude gave me goosebumps (got them again just thinking about that scene). And let’s not forget the wonderful 200th episode where James Marsters returned as Brainiac and Clark and Lois’s floaty dance at the end, it’s just, well, super. 10th season returns, with only 11 episodes left, of this epic series, on January 28 at 8PM on the CW.

3- Chuck – This spy-action comedy series is very much adored by its close-knit of fans, and that dedication has helped bring this series into its now 4th season. But, hope for a 5th dwindles unless ratings can spike, and last year saw a massive amount of what they call stunt casting, but, though it didn’t hurt, Linda Hamilton, Lou Ferrigno, Summer Glau, Robert Englund, and Timothy Dalton didn’t help ratings either. 4th season returns January 17 at 8PM on NBC.

2- True Blood – Well, duh, my #2 show in general is the HBO hit with vampires, werewolves, and now fairies. Going into a 4th season this year, we should see more witches and, from what I hear, more vampire politics. The sex and gore didn’t stop in the 3rd season (the disturbing head twist sex scene between Bill and Lorena and Russell ripping the spinal column of a news anchor on live TV, great stuff.) 4th season airs this summer on HBO.

1- Supernatural – Not a surprise, it’s always been my most favorite show since it premiered. With a great mix of drama, action, and comedy, strong characters, excellent writing, we haven’t had a show this strong since Buffy. Last year we got the 100th episode, a showdown with Lucifer, and more crazy “WTF” moments (“fairies”?), a great Bobby episode, and you also had Castiel watching porn, I never laughed so hard in my life. Kidding aside, it’s still a strong serious show, and now that Sam has his soul back, with the unreliable “patch” from Death, what’s next for our favorite demon hunters? 6th season returns January 28th at 9PM on the CW.

BEST NEW SERIES from LAST YEAR:
Haven (Syfy) – The series will return for a 2nd season this summer (yay!) and is actually a quite intriguing show, much better than the highest rated scripted show on Syfy, Warehouse 13, which is good too, but I like Haven more. Taking place in a small town in Maine, it follows an FBI agent who found herself trying to unlock the mystery of the Troubles and a mysterious picture in an old newspaper of a woman that she believed to be her mother. It’s got a great cast, and when we last saw it, Audrey got more clues to her mother, that it might not have been her mother, but her! Plus Duke’s hunt to find out who is supposed to kill him, bringing in the mystery of the maze tattoo. Oh, and this is loosely based on the Stephen King novella ‘The Colorado Kid.’

Shows I Wish Weren’t Canceled:
My Boys – The highly underrated TBS comedy was a pleasant surprise to me. I started watching it when it was halfway through its 1st season since someone recommended it, and I’m glad I did. It was a smart and funny show, with a great ensemble.

Party Down – The Starz comedy by Rob Thomas (not the singer, the guy who gave us the wonderful Veronica Mars) was about actors, writers, comedians who work at a catering company called Party Down in order to pay the bills as their dream jobs aren’t going well.

Heroes – Yeah, ratings were low, blah, blah, but all I really wanted was some shorter season to tie up loose ends, as the last episode ended with a HUGE cliffhanger, Claire showing her regeneration ability on camera for everyone to see.

Stargate Universe – after a rocky start, the show really improved. It was canceled last year, but the remaining 10 eps of its 2nd season will air this year, and I believe I heard there’s a cliffhanger (of course).

Dollhouse – Of course I’m gonna have this on here. Those few eps last year were among the strongest. Guess it’s a good thing Joss Whedon pretty much knew the chances of renewal were slim, and the last episode at least had an ending, while Heroes did not.

NEW SHOWS this year:
The Cape (special premiere on January 9th at 9PM on NBC, regular time slot begins January 17 at 9PM) – Summer Glau returns to TV! NBC is promoting this more heavily than their other new shows, and it does seem interesting, but is it too soon after the fall of Heroes?

Mr. Sunshine (premieres February 9 at 9:30PM on ABC) – Chandler Bing! Yes, Matthew Perry is back on TV, 2nd time after the end of Friends and with a sweet timeslot after the super hit Modern Family. Though, that means Chandler is being mean to Monica, being it’s bumping Cougar Town for a little bit.

Camelot – Starz isn’t slowing down in an effort to go up against HBO and Showtime, and this further proves it. A retelling (yes, another) of the Arthurian legend, this version will primarily be using Thomas Mallory’s 15th century work, “Le Morte d’Arthur”, along with other Arthurian legends as its source. Premieres April 1.

RETURNING Shows looking forward to:
Primeval – It came back on New Year’s, after over a year since the 3rd season and news of a cancellation, the show was brought back with a deal of 13 episodes spread between two seasons. BBC America is currently showing this wonderful British series on Saturday nights for us in America.

Torchwood – The 4th season of this British show, which was missing last year, returns this year, now on Starz (for us). The series will take a slightly different direction as Captain Jack and Gwen Cooper will travel across the pond, as the series will now have US financing (thanks to Starz) along with continuing BBC love. The 4th series adds Americans Bill Pullman and Mekhi Phifer to the cast, as well as some big guns in writing, with former Buffy writer Jane Espenson, X-Files & Supernatural writer John Shiban, and House writer Doris Egan adding their magic touches to the season along with creator Russell T. Davies and John Fay returning. This will be one series not to miss.

—-

I don’t have much to say in terms of music and movies (I didn’t purchase that many CDs last year, getting only CDs from bands I like enough to get the day they come out (which is VERY few) and I don’t go to the movies, it’s been 2 years almost since I’ve last been.

But, going by albums released last year, I actually purchased 5 total CDs, and only 3 of them were new releases (Godsmack ‘The Oracle’, Disturbed ‘Asylum’, and Apocalyptica ’7th Symphony.’) So I guess there’s my top 3, but Apocalyptica would be my favorite of the three.

And, I saw newer movies in other ways (Netflix). So, movies that came out at the end of 2010, of course I haven’t seen yet, but for those available to rent and buy (I believe I only bought 2 movies – ‘Legion’ and ‘Kick-Ass’) but I’ve also eventually saw ‘Daybreakers,’ ‘Death at a Funeral’, ‘Alice in Wonderland’, ‘The Grown-Ups’, ‘Sorcerer’s Apprentice,’ ‘Hot Tub Time Machine,’ ‘The Losers,’ and ‘When in Rome.’ And when they are available to rent or when popularity dies down, I look forward to check out ‘Skyline,’ ‘Toy Story 3,’ ‘Inception,’ and hopefully in about 4-5 months, ‘Little Fockers,’ ‘Yogi Bear,’ ‘Tangled,’ and I kind of want to see ‘Gulliver’s Travels.’ Unfortunately, I haven’t seen them, so I can’t say anything about them other than that they look good from previews.

Anyway, of the ones I saw, I think people were too negative about ‘Sorcerer’s Apprentice’ ’cause I thought it was entertaining (even though there were some amounts of lameness, I mean seriously, Prime Merlinean?) ‘Hot Tub Time Machine’ wasn’t as funny as I thought it would be, but it was still funny, but ‘Death at a Funeral’ was HILARIOUS. ‘Legion’ wasn’t as good as I would have hoped, but ‘Daybreakers’ was actually pretty good (not the best vampire film, but is a better movie than the shit a certain studio is selling as vampire films (you know what I’m talking about). ‘Alice in Wonderland’ was, eh, okay, but eh, was a waste of my time, ‘The Losers’ was pretty awesome, and ‘The Grown-Ups’ was pretty funny (not the funniest Adam Sandler movie, but good). And ‘Kick-Ass,’ well, it KICKED-ASS.

As for what to look forward to in 2011 as far as music and movies:

MOVIES:
‘Cabin in the Woods‘ – Joss Whedon, need I say more

‘Super’ – limited April 1 – Rainn Wilson stars as a man who decides to become a superhero, even having a crazy sidekick played by Ellen Page. Nathan Fillion, Liv Tyler, and Kevin Bacon also star.

‘Super 8′ – June 10- not much is really known, but it’s Steven Spielberg and JJ Abrams working together on this, super secret movie.

‘Thor’ – May 6 – the kickoff of the summer blockbusters starts with a Marvel superhero. The movie looks good, and as much as I tend to prefer DC over Marvel, I’d be more inclined to check this out over ‘the Green Lantern,’ though I kind of want to see that too.

‘Your Highness’ – April 8 – It’s a spoofy movie on the whole like medieval prince/princess/dragons stuff which stars Danny McBride, James Franco, Zooey Deschanel, and Natalie Portman.

MUSIC:
One confirmed album I’m looking forward to: Within Temptation‘s 5th album ‘The Unforgiving.’ A concept album based on a comic book series by Steven O’Connell. Set for release in March.

Anything else is up in the air as the year just started, but Lacuna Coil are writing (stated on their Facebook page) and Tantric is also working on a new album (also mentioned on their Facebook page, but vaguely).

AND, let’s not forget VIDEO GAMES:::
First, ‘Mass Effect 2′ comes to the PS3, which is the console I have, so that means, if/when I get it, I can finally play it.

And on 11/1/11 we get the third ‘Uncharted’ game, ‘Drake’s Deception,’ which is available only for the PS3. HAHA, take that Xbox owners!

I couldn’t help but notice unscripted shows about auctions. You have Auction Kings which premiered on October 26, 2010 on Discovery. Funny thing, only a day later, Syfy premiered Hollywood Treasure. And then there’s Auction Hunters that premiered on November 9, 2010 on Spike. That’s THREE auction series that premiered in only a few weeks time.

First, I want to apologize for not picking up on this sooner. I was aware of the Discovery and Syfy ones (since I watch those channels often), but just recently saw ratings notes for Spike’s one. This is what made me wonder what the deal is.

Next, in my quest, let me pick apart what the difference between these series are. Starting with Auction Kings, it revolves around one auction house, Gallery 63 in Atlanta. It’s rise came about after the success of History Channel’s Pawn Stars, which are similar when it comes to old antique items and them being appraised and sold. In this case, at an auction. I don’t watch either, but from what I gathered from, yes, Wikipedia, Auction Kings follows a similar format to that of Pawn Stars. There are experts to appraise items of historical significance and a multiple choice question (for some reason). Syfy’s Hollywood Treasure, goes a more fun route, it follows a California-based appraiser who looks for, well, Hollywood memorabilia, check authenticity of the items and auction them off. Spike’s Auction Hunters, which deals with storage-unit auctions (’cause, from what I hear (I saw it in a Criminal Minds episode, “Limelight”), if someone rents a storage unit and it’s neglected, they can legally auction off the units after I think 6 months or something?). Anyway, this being on Spike, it’s seems to focus more on finds of antique guns, baseball cards, and guitars.

So, the shows offer there different attributes to the table. A big history buff looks like they would enjoy Auction Kings on Discovery more (which doesn’t focus on specific types of items, so it may be more appealing in general), and a guns and ammo guy, would probably love watching Auction Hunters on Spike. And pop-culture and media buffs, especially sci-fi fanatics, would get a kick out of Syfy’s Hollywood Treasure.

Now, I can see the appeal, things like these can be very interesting. I just find it strange on how they all premiered within a month of each other. Then again, people in general get into things, love them for a year or two, so the popularity stays high, then they are phased out. One network does a competition reality show, and then all the others jump on board. But, most end up goner, while in the end, a few (like Survivor) well, survive. This idea of either people put into one place, and then one is voted out, was just a huge thing. It moves on to talent competition, having FOX bring in American Idol, other singing competitions follow, same goes for dancing. But in the end, only one still ends up being the bigger ratings powerhouse. And reality shows aren’t the only ones doing this. Scripted show fall victims to this as well. We have two shows where the lead is pretending to be a psychic, not to mention had two shows where the leads were actually psychics, all within the last five years. There’s been a slight bump on Moonlighting-esque crime dramas, and now it seems every show wants to do a musical episode.

Remember when court-room drama were the “it” thing? Law and Order lasted for 20 seasons, spawned four spin-offs (don’t forget, there was the failed Trial by Jury a few years back), but now, no one is watching them (Law and Order got canned last season, Criminal Intent, I think, has one season left, the new spin-off Los Angeles isn’t doing all that great, and SVU is still the more higher rated, but it’s not looking overly pretty, but still good in an NBC standpoint though. Plus, other courtroom shows, The Good Wife and The Defenders aren’t doing too great in ratings for CBS). Got two vampire shows in the US, one more on the way (which is the US remake of a British series, Being Human, I recommend the British series), mixed in a pool of vampire films (though, that seems to have died down a little, unless I haven’t heard anything, it seems to be existing franchises such as the most awesome of them, Underworld, but unfortunately, there’s still more of the horrible Twilight crap left that overshadows potentially good vampire films (such as Daybreakers, it wasn’t that bad), after that it was zombies (which I guess there’s still love for that, since The Walking Dead ended up being a big ratings win for AMC). Talking about films, let’s not forget the comic-to-movie surge, which is still going on, with a few big franchises, along with a few bad attempts).

I think the point is, the American TV/(and film) viewers seem to have a short attention span. The next big, what people call ‘fad’, will happen soon, and a whole slew of related projects will come about (maybe witches is the next thing, or there will be robot phase, and for TV, look for an increase in comedies, particularly romantic comedies, as TV.Com pointed out, there are five shows coming up in the midseason schedule, plus one on now, about couples in different stages of a relationship (such as one that are married, one that’s been together for years, and one that’s been going out for a couple of months)). Maybe one or two will live on another season, but I expect networks to keep trying as multiple-camera comedies tend to be as cheap as you can get for a scripted show. Afterall, both NBC and ABC are each having comedies go in the 10pm hour (ABC Wednesdays and NBC Thursdays are all comedy in the midseason).

Back to unscripted, I imagine there being a few more auction-related series, then a new thing will emerge. All it takes is one network to have success with a new (or semi-new) idea and then others will follow.

…HOLY SHIT!

(spoilery material)

I don’t typically write reviews, as I’m not really good at it, but this episode, the ending was just jaw dropping, I had to share it. I think Sanctuary is one of those amazing underrated shows that doesn’t get all the love it should.

That’s the only thing I could think of when the December 17th episode of the Syfy original series, Sanctuary, had its midseason finale. The third season has been truly amazing. With the exception of few stand along episodes, the first ten eps lead up to the finding of ‘Hollow Earth.’ It all began with a holographic map from Magnus’s father, of a hidden city. Magnus eventually became trapped in a building and there is where she came face to face with Adam (Jekyll and Hyde), a man she thought was dead. This lead to her finding Druitt, and more information on Hollow Earth.

In “Hollow Men,” Magnus, Will, Kate, and Henry are dropped off at the entrance by Druitt (Between Magnus, Druitt, and Tesla, only one can go as Tesla only made one shield, since they injected themselves with source vampire blood, they would be rejected by sensors). They proceeded to use the key they retrieved in the previous episode to open a door (well, it would’ve opened if there wasn’t a chunk of ice blocking it). Will chopped away at it while Henry had a little torch to melt some of the ice. Once inside, they had pass through the sensor (Will referred to as a “Vampire Detector”). Magnus goes through last using the device (Tesla called it a “Vampire Shield”), but it still traps her before letting her in (later, it is revealed that the sensor detected the cloak). After the scan, a slight quake occurs, separating them into pairs (Henry and Kate / Will and Magnus). The scan also followed Magnus and Will as they proceeded to a bridge with a gap. Instead of cross, Magnus just hangs below, Will follows, and the laser scan passes right above them. Then they get back up, jump the gap and follow.

I could go through a play by play, but at this point, Druitt is worried about them (as the tracker went dead) and he, Tesla and Adam work out a place where Druitt can teleport them to (well, he played a trick on Tesla, leaving him at the Sanctuary). Kate and Henry eventually find evidence of plumbing and follow it to where these dudes were, who ended up knocking them out with a energy blast of some sort, and finding themselves locked up. Will and Magnus run into a snake-like dragon creature, which only recognizes faces, so as long as one doesn’t look at them, then the dragon essentially doesn’t acknowledge them. They are saved and invited to someone’s home where they are fed and then shown to where they can get to the city. They arrive at a transportation system (which was pretty cool, it’s like there’s a large ball that can fit several passengers, and it’s in this tube-like structure, and it’s propelled really fast (really fast). They end up in the same ‘jail cell’ as Kate and Henry, and from then on, they are brought to the President of the city (a woman), who passes a sentence on them for being outsiders…

Before I get to that, back to Druitt and Adam, turns out, Adam is evil and it was a trap. Okay, the sentence, death.

[MAJOR SPOILER ALERT]
At the end of the episode, Will, Kate, Henry, and Magnus are hanging up and trying to plead with the President. In the end, a surge of electricity is used, and then there’s just their lifeless bodies, and we’ll see what happens when the last half of the season comes back in the spring.

If you have Netflix, I suggest you catch up on seasons 1 & 2 (available as Instant Streams, or I guess you could rent the discs too), and Syfy has 7 full episodes up from this season to stream.

And, because I suck at recapping a show, you can watch the full episode of “Hollow Men” online at Syfy.com (plus, as mentioned earlier, a few others of the third season. If it’s still listed, I suggest checking out the 4th episode, “Trial of Blood,” because that is when Nikola Tesla comes back, and he’s been one of the major positives to this season.

I rated this episode 5/5 or 10/10 or 7/7, however rating system makes sense to you, I give the fullest possible amount to, not just this episode, but for the whole series itself. It’s definitely one of the best shows you’re not watching.

Sanctuary for All

And on another note, there is no date for the return, but Merlin (another fun little series) will be on in its place (Friday at 10) starting Jan. 7. Since that is a 13-episode series (British shows don’t go higher, at least none that I’ve seen), if there is no breaks and its 13 weeks strait, then the season finale would be April 1 (but if there is at least one week off, then April 8), so unless Syfy is gonna go crazy with the schedule, there’s no reason Sanctuary can’t return by April 15th (tax day, hehe), and have the 3rd season finale on Jun 17, which means Haven can easily return to that spot in July. Again, no dates are said, this is me just figuring out one possibility of what could happen. I would also suggest that Eureka and Warehouse 13 being on Tuesday, especially since there one-time holiday episodes earlier this month did much better than what SGU did. It’s a shame that Smackdown hogs Fridays.

If you haven’t already heard, FX has canceled their freshman drama Terriers, which just aired its finale. Despite critical acclaim, the series had very poor ratings, even for a cable channel (averaging no more than 700,000 viewers). I myself didn’t watch this, but I’ve only heard good things about it. Based on several articles (one writer at BuddyTV claimed it the new Veronica Mars, in terms of writing).

Starring Donal Logue (who previously was in the series Grounded for Life (which I believe had about 5 seasons across FOX and then the WB) and also the short-lived ABC series Knights of Prosperity, so no stranger to TV) and Michael Raymond-James (probably more known as Rene in the first season of True Blood), the series has nothing to do with dogs, despite the title. It’s actually about an alcoholic ex-cop (Logue) partnering with former criminal (Raymond-James) in an unlicensed PI business. If it weren’t for sites like BuddyTV, I wouldn’t even know what it was about, because, the name Terriers is an odd choice. Other possible issues could be the brief period when FX wasn’t on DISH, or it was too witty (?) for the network of typical push-the-envelope, serious drama you expect on the network. But, the likely culprit, that name. FX Cancels Terriers – Hollywood Reporter

Which has got me thinking, what other shows may have suffered because of their name. Think of just Veronica Mars, just having a female name for the title would have a person believe it to be feminine. Well, it was actually a very well-written drama, that, yes, had a very strong female lead, had appeal to anyone (young, older, male, or female). Though I liked the name, since she was the main character of the show. Almost any show of the WB/CW has feminine names, except the likes of Smallville and Supernatural, which explains why they have lower women 18-34 demo that CW targets more, but they do better (slightly) in overall adults 18-49 demo advertisers like (they are behind Vampire Diaries, which does well in both key demos, for scripted shows).

Another show, that I loved, was Dollhouse. The problems with the show was the title didn’t really tell you what it was about (though, it worked for what it was about), and most of the promo pics didn’t convey the plot of the series well (Echo pointing a gun, okay, it’s got action, but the name Dollhouse is still confusing). If you think it’s about prostitution, that assumption isn’t very far (people are essentially re-wired to be programmed for a client to take on a task (whether as a date, lover, hiking buddy, partner in crime, negotiator, whatever)). It was also on the dreaded Friday night.

Or maybe there are some shows that aren’t really suffering in ratings, but there are regrets for the name, such as Cougar Town. It doesn’t work, since the main character isn’t dating someone much younger than she is (probably only a few years, don’t think his age was actually mentioned, or I missed it), and her friend is younger, so no cougar-ness there, and her other friend is married. The only cougar would be that lady, Barb, that just pops up in weird places (kind of annoying). They even considered changing the name, before scrapping the idea since they couldn’t think of anything better (Cougar Town Keeping it Title – EW). Though, it’s a wonder if the series, which is quite funny, would retain more Modern Family viewers, had it had a better name.

So what titles do well? Well, on the cable side, The Walking Dead did VERY well, so maybe having ‘Dead’ in the title plus being about zombies, helps. Or have ‘Blood’ in the title; look at True Blood. One would say, on the broadcast side, look at Blue Bloods, which does fine in total viewers (over 10mil, so actually, it does well), but like everything else, not so much in demo (no longer in the 2s). Honestly, the older people are watching probably because CBS is part of their routine and, well, Tom Selleck. Titles that stand out work well too, like Big Bang Theory, it’s a unique, and geeky name, perfectly describes the show.

Other shows are more direct with their titles, such as How I Met Your Mother. It is a series about someone recounting to their kids ‘how he met their mother,’ and it’s a very long one. It would have to come to an end, but it is one of the funniest series since Friends, so hope it can have at least another season or two. And ratings-wise, it’s been solid.

But in the end, how much does a title really help/destroy a series? Are there people who are judging a book by the cover?  Did the title The Event made you want to watch the series (it did well in the beginning), but the show itself took you out of it (I’m even wondering it myself)?  I don’t think its the main factor for all cancellations, but it certainly was a factor for Terriers, and from what I hear, it’s a shame.

It’s no secret that in today’s world of television, ratings have been going down, pretty much across the board. Some networks have been getting it hard (ABC, NBC), the others are somewhat steady, though CBS is still trying to fight for Friday (though, it may as well just give up, it’s not gonna do any better than what it has been doing in the last two years).

Now, the demo rating (adults 18-49) is the number networks care about the most, because it’s the one the advertisers actually pay more for. But to put things in perspective, and because I don’t actually have a way to find what demo ratings were for shows back in the 90s, I remember the times of NBC being the #1 network with ER and Friends in the 1 & 2 spots (probably by their 5th seasons easily, so ’98-’99), but I believe it was total viewers. The point I’m trying to make, shows like that saw over 20 million viewers, regularly, if I remember well (Friends 4th finale (London) saw about 30mil viewers, season finales now of top rated scripted programs do not see those numbers). Now, NCIS has occasionally reached or topped a little, but sheds viewers in the late winter with the return of American Idol. And the finales don’t see skyrocketing ratings. The last episode of Friends scored over 50 million viewers, while ER, which was 5 years later, got, if I remember correctly, about 16 million (Though, I think the fault there was dumbass CBS airing the 200th CSI (a very disappointing episode, I blocked the ep from my memory and no longer watch the series) and the fact ER was an aging series, but the last episode was a very good way to end a series). Hell, this past year, the last episode of Lost barely got 14 million viewers (but it had a superb demo rating of 5.8: source: Zap2it).

So despite loyal fanbases, critical claim, and previous high ratings, what happened? Well, the most acceptable reason is the DVR. It’s simple. It allows you to skip commercials, advertisers not happy, nets not paid for DVR numbers. Plain and simple. But, going by the latest DVR ratings (source: TVByTheNumbers), take NCIS‘s total viewers before (19.2 mil) and then after (21.7 mil), is barely a difference of 3 million additional viewers who DVR’d the show. But, keep in mind, NCIS skews older and older people DVR less. It went from 4.3 to 5.0 in demo. In terms of a higher rated comedy, say, Modern Family, total viewers went from 12 mil to 14.9 mil, again, barely a 3 mil increase, and it didn’t have a total viewership that was that of Friends back in the day before regular DVR.

So, comparing in that manner, the DVR is not the only culprit. The next cause of the decrease live viewers: tons of more programming choices. This is most definitely the reason behind ABC, NBC, and even CBS now, have been struggling lately with the 10pm shows. The 10pm hour has become popular with cable shows, such as F/X’s Sons of Anarchy and Comedy Central’s South Park. Several cable nets have 9pm programming as well, such as Discovery which has brought in some very popular programs, especially with males viewers, such as Dirty Jobs and Mythbusters, but overall TBS, TNT, Comedy Central, Discovery, F/X, Syfy, and especially USA Network (BTW, Psych returns Nov. 10 at 10/9c on USA) all have popular programs, giving the TV audience more choices in programming than ever before. Let’s not forget AMC’s recent success with The Walking Dead (10pm), which has brought some more competition on Sundays, and after 2 eps, it’s averages about 5 mil viewers (which is a lot in cable!). Hell, even History has Pawn Stars which has found itself near 5 mil viewers as well, and that’s a Monday night show (10pm). Actually, for the week ending Oct. 31, Walking Dead‘s premiere and Pawn Stars were 1 & 2 for non-Sports programming for all of cable. (source: TVByTheNumbers).

Could there be something more than the increase use of DVRs (specifically the fast forwarding of commercials) and the increased amount of programming choices? Eh, some people may think it’s because people are going to sleep earlier, but people have been going to work in the morning way before DVRs, so I don’t see that is a reason (though it has affected me, now that I got a terrible retail job (I HATE IT) where I got to be there either 7 or 8am, but I’m not a Nielsen viewer, so what I watch doesn’t count anyway).

There is another factor, online viewing. Take a show like Heroes. It was highly popular, got great reviews in its first season, then dwindled (2nd season, I admit, not the best, end of the 3rd was an improvement, 4th was alright), but in the end, I hated that it was canceled, however, it was the most illegally downloaded show (mostly, probably by other countries, ’cause in the US, people could legally watch it free online at Hulu or NBC.com, with very few commercials). But that is one other problem, even with legal online views, as Nielsen isn’t gonna implement the new measuring system for online viewing ’til sometime next year (I think it was pushed back a little), which would measure series watched online as long as they have the same national commercials and were watched within 3 days after original airdate. But, they don’t make up a large percentage.

But, it more portable media present, many people could probably be playing online games, watching YouTube clips, or browsing the net endlessly, so there’s a slight decrease in TV viewing right there. If networks want to save themselves, they need to better utilize the Internet to their benefit (Conan did, and the premiere got a whopping 2.5 demo rating, with a median age of 30!), (Source: TVByTheNumebrs). There is power with online videos and using Twitter/Facebook (Conan tweeted pretty much everyday, and in the weeks leading to the premiere they had the Live CocoCam for 24 hours (introducing us to the Dancing Taco, a now new fave), the blimp, and for 7 days, they gave away a 1,000 shirts a day (I got one the first day, a nice blimp shirt), and when the ratings stabilizes (1st eps ratings are always bloated, due to ‘premiere excitement’) we’ll see how well that paid off, but so far, it has.

I didn’t know the best way to title this, but by ‘Specialty Channels,’ I mean what MTV used to be when it was actually ‘Music Television.’ I have mentioned it before on how they have officially removed the ‘Music Television’ part off their logo, a good ten years after we all already knew that they were no longer that station (MTV Finally Realizes the Truth). In that post, back in February 2010, I went into how I remembered MTV and how it sucked more every year after I finally got the station. I also briefly mentioned stations like Syfy, TBS, and TNT, but I want to add to that.

I was looking at the TV grid, and I can’t help but notice CMT (Country Music Television), which I don’t watch, but a few movies catch my eyes and then I see the station it’s on and it makes me go “What the fuck?” Now, showing TV shows like Dukes of Hazzard semi makes sense when it comes to country, being quite southern in theme and all, and I guess when they have showed the movie Son-In-Law kind of works too, with the whole “farm-living” and the square dancing, but The Whole Nine Yards? I have that movie, watched it a couple of times, and I can’t think of anything remotely ‘country.’ It stars Bruce Willis and Matthew Perry and it’s about a hit man. But CMT is really showing it, see it down for Oct. 26 at 8pm.

I’ve noticed over the years as A&E changes from more artsy programming to more modern cutting edge with acquisition of off network rights to The Sopranos, Criminal Minds, CSI: Miami, then again, at the same time they have some reality series called Parking Wars. I looked at a description for an episode, it seems to be about traffic violations, seriously? The network also takes some cues from Discovery and puts in some shows that skew male, having Dog the Bounty Hunter and Steven Segal Lawman. It’s nothing like the A&E I remember not watching, now I sometimes tune in to an episode of Criminal Minds, and used to, I hate admitting this, but I did watch Criss Angel Mindfreak within the first three seasons of that, which was probably around the same time the network started changing its ways.

History channel (which just so happens to be owned by A&E) has some series that don’t look to be anything related to history. Then again, they kind of have a tagline now, “History Made Every Day,” that probably allows them to get away with it, because, afterall, tomorrow will see today as history, or something. One notable series that bothers me when I see an ad for it, Ice Road Truckers. Again, I bet it skews male, but it has absolutely no historic-related significance. At least there are some programs that are relevant, such as Cities of the Underworld, which I caught a few, it was some pretty interesting stuff. A bunch of truckers cussing at each other, no thank you.

Let’s see, I love Syfy, but even when it was The Sci-Fi Channel, it still had wrestling, which I never understood. Fiction, sure, yeah, but wrestling is not science fiction. Although, I think I really started looking down at the network more when they added some stupid Mary Knows Best, which was just too much, I think I’ll rather watch wrestling than some proclaimed “psychic” juggling family and her “work.” I’m not gonna be all geeky and complain about programs that aren’t “true” sci-fi, as I look at the network as a sci-fi/fantasy specialist, that is when they don’t air wrestling, other than that, it’s somewhat consistent, just wish it’ll get rid of Smackdown (which, yep, skews male). Seriously, is it something networks just want now?

Discovery isn’t all too bad. They used to be all nature documentary stuff, but they also like this skewing male (and younger as well) with shows like Dirty Jobs and Mythbusters, but for the most part, these shows, I think, work. They can be educational, especially Mythbusters (the science stuff), though I’m sure most people watch that because they like blowing stuff up. So, yeah, the network has changed from its boring days, but it still has the occasional documentaries, and hasn’t branched out to wrestling.

Although, its sister station, TLC (the Learning Channel), years ago looked like it was all about getting some younger viewers when LA Ink came into the picture. I never watched it, but I thought it strange for a show about a female tattoo artist to be on TLC. Maybe it’s just me, but mostly, the net seems to stay consistent with stuff I don’t want to watch, and again, I admit, shameful, I used to watch those home decorating shows they used to have, which I assume no longer have new episodes (I haven’t watch TLC in years, so forgive me if I don’t really know everything on TV).

Let’s see, what other one is there. Well, TBS and TNT still kind of don’t stick with what they represent fully. TBS has the “Very funny” tagline, but last week, I clearly remember seeing Titanic on the schedule (still proud of myself, I think I’m the only person in the free world that hasn’t see that movie), while TNT make knock out a few comedies or two, despite bragging that they “know drama.”

Oh, Cartoon Network, not so much. Live action is more prevalent now than it has been, even having an original new series, Tower Prep, which, according to TitanTV, it’s a drama. Yeah, things are changing there, though I think now it’s a matter of youth oriented programming, at least before the adult swim programming comes on at night.

Um, can I bitch that VH-1 Classic has gone rogue showing movies now, and not even music-related ones, like VH-1 and, well all of MTV has gonna down the toilet (though they have syndication rights to That 70s Show, which I like, and I know this being less than a week to Halloween, MTV will be showing Texas Chainsaw Massacre: The Beginning and also, Underworld: Evolution, but still MTV has gone down the toilet, just look at Jersey Shore; if you want to know why other countries laugh at us, that’s why, although, maybe some may start taking pity out on us? Not all of us are that stupid.). Anyway, I seem to be rambling again, VH-1 Classic still shows more music videos or music-related documentary shows (like Behind the Music stuff) in one year than MTV and VH-1 have in the last five years, combined. (I don’t really know for sure, it’s more of a mere observation, but I think it sounds about right.

ABC Family still has family friendly programming, but also, they got some stuff I could watch, such as That 70s Show also. Plus some movies such as Billy Madison and Robin Hood Men in Tights airing sometime in the next week, which I’m sure will have that little ‘Parental Discretion Advised’ warning before the show starts. But, as I said, the net, which years ago added the little more maturity to appeal to teens, I’m sure, still has programs watchable by five year old kids.

I think that does it, sure there are other weird programming choices among the cable nets, but this post is long enough.

LATER…-ish

Quickly want to note I was looking at the TV schedule, thanks to TitanTV, which is an online TV schedule I’ve used for years, and have been using more since I’ve become DVR-less in order to know when what is new, or even on.