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Showing posts with label Dexter. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Dexter. Show all posts

THE SKED: "Homeland" Finale Blows Up (In A Good Way)

4:13 AM | Labels: , , , , , , ,


All the buzz and acclaim for Showtime's HOMELAND started to pay off in the ratings for its season finale, which climbed from the show's usual 0.4-0.5 level to a 0.7.  That's still no blockbuster, but in the mostly tiny world of pay-cable ratings, an increase of 40-50% is no small deal.  The show also hit its stride in total viewers, rising from 1.1 million in the series premiere to 1.7 million.  (Numbers are for the initial airing only; additional viewers watched the later runs on Sunday and will continue to add up through the week.) 


The DEXTER season finale remained higher than Homeland, but more in keeping with its season average, with a 1.0 rating and 2.2 million viewers.  

Meanwhile, without THE WALKING DEAD as lead-in, AMC's HELL ON WHEELS has found itself on a railroad track leading straight off a cliff:  the 1.9 rating of its premiere has dropped by a jaw-dropping nearly 70% to 0.6 in both of its last 2 airings.  

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The Sked: Cable Ratings December 13-19

3:31 AM | Labels: , , , , , , , , ,

ESPN's Monday Night Football was back with a vengeance this week -- a 6.4 Adult 18-49 rating for the Pittsburgh Steelers at San Francisco 49ers, the highest-rated game since November 7 (6.9 rating for Chicago Bears at Philadelphia Eagles).   NFL Network was not so lucky Thursday, drawing the Jacksonville Jaguars at Atlanta Falcons.  The game fell well below a 2 rating and out of the top 10 for cable programs this week.

On the unscripted front, A&E's Storage Wars has been growing steadily over the past few weeks and has taken the crown of top unscripted cable program.  Almost as strong -- on less-viewed Friday night no less -- Discovery's Gold Rush continues to grow.  

Showtime's Dexter ended its season Sunday with a ho-hum 1.0 rating.  It should have been a series finale, but Showtime wants to grind out two more seasons of the once-great series that has become marked by wooden acting, predictable stories, clunky writing, and lazy narration.  Showtime can be proud of the Homeland season finale, which rose to a 0.7 (after spending most of the season in the 0.4-0.5 range).    

 

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THE SKED SEASON FINALE WATCH: The Girl With the "Homeland" Tattoo

5:16 AM | Labels: , , , , , , , ,


WARNING:  Spoilers Abound

That expelled breath heard around the country this evening was a collective sigh of relief:  HOMELAND's season finale didn't collapse.  On the contrary, it delivered a satisfying conclusion that resolved Season 1 storylines while setting the stage for an intriguing, and somewhat different, Season 2.

No recent show has walked a genre tightrope in the way that Homeland has this year.  You'd have to go back to the last season of Lost to find a series that held so many cards so close to its (explosive) vest for so long... and let's try to forget how that one worked out.  Was Homeland, ultimately, an action-adventure?  A political statement?  A family drama?  A psychological study?  The answer, gratifyingly, is that it's all of those at once.


The season finale, written by Executive Producer/Co-Creator Alex Gansa and Co-EP Chip Johannessen from a story by Gansa and fellow Co-Creator Howard Gordon, and directed by Michael Cuesta, announced that it was going to be abandoning convention from the very start:  there was no (over-elaborate) opening credits sequence, just the show title, white on black background, before we launched into Brody's pretaped message to the world, to be played after he exploded his suicide bomb.  Gradually, we finally learned the details of the plot:  Tom Walker's sniper attack would be a violent diversion just before the Vice President announced his presidential bid--Walker's shooting of adviser Elizabeth Gaines and other collateral victims would lead, via standard protocol, to all the VIPs (including Brody) being rushed past security to a small underground bunker, where Brody would be able to blow them all up at once.  (It was a nice touch that Walker didn't unnecessarily kill the woman whose apartment he used for the attack, and a sign once again that Homeland takes its violence seriously.)

We then headed into the real "thriller" part of the finale, as Brody proved himself willing to kill himself and everyone else... except that the bomb didn't go off.  But it was after the harrowing suspense of Brody's attempt to fix the loose wires in a men's room--while keeping up banal conversation--that the brilliance of Homeland's psychological intricacy came into play.  Because Carrie, recovered enough to realize that Brody was a terrorist after all, and unable to convince Saul to trust her damaged brain, made exactly the right move in her tortured chess match with Brody:  she went straight to his teenage daughter Dana.  

And while the spectacular performances of Claire Danes, Damian Lewis and Mandy Patinkin throughout this season can't be overstated, let's take a moment to sing the praises of Morgan Saylor, who plays Dana.  Dana started in the series as a typical cable-series teenager, smoking dope and F-bombing her folks, but in the last few episodes, she's started to realize there's something very wrong about her father.  And when Carrie told Dana her dad was a terrorist, Saylor did a superb job of absolutely denying it while making it clear that she was dreadfully aware it was very possibly true.  (The timing of Dana's call to Brody felt a second or two too gimmicky--the tap on Brody's shoulder at the very instant he was about to flick the switch, just minutes after his failed attempt to set off the bomb, came off as a bit too convenient.)

The pop culture touchstone that's usually invoked in connection with Homeland is 24, and for obvious reasons.  Not only do the series overlap in subject matter, but Gordon, Gansa and Johannessen all worked on the Jack Bauer express.  In the characters of Carrie, Brody, and increasingly Dana, though, the show also recalls the damaged, brilliant Lisbeth Salander in The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo series, especially as that character appears in the first book.  Like Salander, Carrie is fantastically skilled, able to make amazing intuitive leaps, but also genuinely impaired and incapable of "normalcy."  The tension between her abilities and her profound problems is richly dramatic, and using her conflicts and those of the other characters to fuel a thriller gives Homeland a depth and satisfying complexity that 24 never even attempted.

Brody's decision to come home and leave the bomb unblown resolved the season's main storyline, but came only halfway through the episode.  The rest of the 90 minutes set things up for next season:  Brody may be shifting into becoming a Manchurian Candidate-style political spy for Abu Nazir, at the very top of the US political ladder--or he may be playing a double game against Nazir, since his very personal motive for attacking the Vice President is so differeent from Nazir's political aims.  (But Nazir presumably has Brody's fatally incriminating confession video, sure to reappear in Season 2.)  And poor Carrie, according to Saul permanently out of the CIA, is almost certainly going to have her pre-shock treatment memory of Brody's nightmare about Nazir's dead son Issa wiped out by the electrodes.

All of which bodes well for an absorbing Season 2.  We're probably past the point of Brody launching a violent terrorist attack (although there could easily be a Walker-type story arc to provide some action sequences), but the psychological battle will resume, despite Carrie's vow to stay away from Brody and his family.  And thankfully, the show didn't kill off Carrie, Brody or Saul for the sake of a "big finish," so Danes, Lewis and Patinkin will all be back next season.  (Assuming Patinkin doesn't do one of his patented early exits from a successful show, a la Chicago Hope and Criminal Minds.)  Showtime may not have a giant ratings hit on its hands, but as the Golden Globe nominations this week showed, it finally has a drama fully worthy of comparison with anytihng on HBO.

Oh, and Dexter had its season finale as well.  This was a much more by-the-numbers conclusion to the season's lackluster arc, with Colin Hanks as a killer whose lavish murders were much more interesting than he ever was.  The only arresting moment came in the last 30 seconds, when the show finally pulled the trigger on the plot twist that's been in its pocket from the very start:  Dexter's sister (girlfriend?) discovering what Dex does in his spare time.  That's certainly a promising starting point for next season, but please... a more exciting Big Bad next time, too.

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The Sked: Cable Ratings December 6-12

4:58 PM | Labels: , , , , , , , , ,

The lack of schedule flexibility (as NBC has with its late season Sunday Night Football games) has hurt the Monday and Thursday night football franchises recently.  When match-ups feature teams with little to no playoff chances, ratings drift downward (although Monday and Thursday Night Football still sit atop the weekly cable ratings chart). 

Discovery's American Chopper and MTV's Teen Mom share the honor of being the top unscripted entertainment program on cable this week, with History's Pawn Stars and A&E's Storage Wars not far behind.

FX's Sons of Anarchy remains the top scripted program on cable.  HBO's Boardwalk Empire concluded a terrific season with a 1.3 rating (matching last week's season high).  While not True Blood or Sopranos numbers, the series features writing and acting that matches HBO's best dramas.  As Mitch Salem pointed out, the preview of Luck immediately following Boardwalk crashed to a 0.4 rating (below the threshold for the weekly chart).  Next week, Showtime's Dexter concludes its creaky season (mercifully) and should be able to crack a 1 rating with any luck.  



 

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THE SKED: Monday Ratings - Network Scorecard

10:47 AM | Labels: , , , , , , , , , , , ,


Comparisons to last Monday may be misleading, since due to baseball overrun that night, many shows aired either out of their normal timeslots or against atypical competition.

FOX:  TERRA NOVA, for example, didn't begin until almost 9PM last week, and FOX can't be pleased that it didn't come back last night all the way to the prior week's number; it was down almost 15% from 2 weeks ago.  Making matters worse, the show will be preempted next week, either by Game 5 of the World Series or by a repeat if the Series only runs 4 games.  The network will be hoping the very expensive show can return with strength in November.  Similarly, HOUSE is still 20% off both its season premiere and last season's average.


CBS:  Even with declines since its massive premiere, 2 1/2 MEN is still running 20% ahead of last season's average.  Without having to face House in the 10PM slot, HAWAII 5-0 rebounded to where it had been 2 weeks ago.  The other sitcoms were all down a bit from 2 weeks ago, but still comfortably ahead of last season (or in the case of 2 BROKE GIRLS, steady with its hour-mate).

ABC:  Both DANCING WITH THE STARS and CASTLE returned to their levels from 2 weeks ago.  

NBC:  THE SING-OFF was actually down a sliver from 2 weeks ago.  The network's PRIME SUSPECT runs are more promo than genuine programming, and we'll find out when Suspect airs on Oct. 27 if all the effort has had any effect.

CW:  GOSSIP GIRL is still down about 30% from last season's average.  As Mitch Metcalf noted, the HART OF DIXIE number is likely inflated by Miami football viewers.

SUNDAY CABLE NOTES:  The rest of the numbers are in for Sunday's cable telecasts, and not surprisingly what was spectacularly good for AMC and THE WALKING DEAD was less positive for their direct scripted competition:  both BOARDWALK EMPIRE and DEXTER were down in the neighborhood of 20% from the previous week.  Of course, HBO and Showtime re-air their episodes all week, as well as making them available on other platforms, so this doesn't necessarily mean lasting damage to either series.  (For HOMELAND fans:  it held well against the last half-hour of the extended DEAD episode, although still significantly below its Dexter lead-in.)

Tonight ABC premieres MAN UP! and will hope LAST MAN STANDING sustains last week's strong premiere numbers to give it an effective lead-in, while CBS will continue to scrutinize the performance of UNFORGETTABLE.  

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The Sked: CABLE RATINGS September 27-October 3

12:45 AM | Labels: , , , , , , , , , ,

Sports dominate the top of the weekly cable ratings chart.  ESPN's NFL Monday Night Football was #1 again in the cable world, although down from a 7.2 demo rating last week when the more attractive Dallas-Washington game was on.  In addition, the early round of Major League Baseball's Postseason is scattered throughout the chart below. 

Naturally the highest-rated early round game featured the New York Yankees, a team with a huge fan base and a team others love to hate.  Program note: Wednesday night October 5, TBS will have the decisive Game 5 in the Detroit Tigers-NY Yankees series.  FOX and TBS executives are currently holding a vigil that the Yankees and not the Tigers advance to the next round.  FOX has to be pulling for a Philadelphia Phillies-NY Yankees World Series, as opposed to, say, Milwaukee Brewers-Detroit Tigers.


Another baseball note.  The "MLB Post Game" program in the chart below ranked #5 for the week, and capped ESPN's terrific coverage of the final night of the regular season (last Wednesday), when the wild card spots were finally decided in three close games in primetime.  The games themselves barely made the chart because the drama didn't build until the very end of the evening.  The post game rating shows the interest that did build like a crescendo. 

Boardwalk Empire and Dexter premiered against each other Sunday at 9 pm and tied at 1.1 rating, about a third of what True Blood routinely did in the time period.  Both episodes, by the way, were fairly slow as season premiere resets often are, but Dexter seemed especially uninspired and even lazy.  In contrast, the penultimate episode of Breaking Bad was filled with tension and excitement but failed to make our 1.0 rating cutoff for the chart (a 0.8 rating). 



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THE SKED: Emmy Odds - Theirs and Ours: Drama

2:25 PM | Labels: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

With the help of some online bookmaking sites, we have the latest "official" odds for tonight's Emmy Awards.  Let's take a look about what they say about the conventional wisdom, and make some adjustments where they don't make sense.



BEST DRAMA

Bookie Odds:

Mad Men - 1:2
Boardwalk Empire - 11:4
The Good Wife - 5:1
Game of Thrones - 14:1
Friday Night Lights - 16:1
Dexter - 33:1

ShowbuzzDaily Odds:

Mad Men - 1:1
Boardwalk Empire - 7:5
Game of Thrones - 5:1
The Good Wife - 8:1
Friday Night Lights - 11:1
Dexter - 20:1

Mad Men has won 3 years in a row:  can it match The West Wing and Hill Street Blues with 4?  Maybe so, but it's going to be an awfully close race against HBO's Boardwalk Empire  Mad Men's not-so-secret weapon may be its episode The Suitcase, the 2-hander for Jon Hamm and Elisabeth Moss that was one of the best hours the show has ever aired; but this being an industry award, it could be hurt by the extended and very public AMC/Matthew Weiner travails that didn't leave a good taste in anyone's mouth.  Boardwalk could also be hurt by the support for HBO's other nominee Game of Thrones (although that's probably too much of a genre show to win outright).  The Good Wife, a marvelous show in its own right and the only pure network nominee (Friday Night Lights being an NBC/DirecTV share), is a possible dark horse here.  Friday Night, which richly deserves a statuette, is probably getting an "attaboy" pat on the back on its way out the door.  Dexter's season was markedly inferior to its previous one with John Lithgow as the monstrous Big Bad, and is probably out of the running.



BEST DRAMA ACTOR

Bookie Odds:

Jon Hamm, Mad Men - 4:11
Steve Buscemi, Boardwalk Empire - 23:10
Kyle Chandler, Friday Night Lights - 14:1
Michael C. Hall, Dexter - 14:1
Timothy Olyphant, Justified - 16:1
Hugh Laurie, House - 20:1

ShowbuzzDaily Odds:

Jon Hamm, Mad Men - 8:5
Steve Buscemi, Boardwalk Empire - 3:1
Kyle Chandler, Friday Night Lights - 6:1
Timothy Olyphant, Justified - 12:1
Hugh Laurie, House - 14:1
Michael C. Hall, Dexter - 20:1

The most important name here is the one that's absent: because of AMC's scheduling, Bryan Cranston wasn't eligible for Breaking Bad after 3 wins in a row, opening the way for what will probably be a tight race between Hamm (who's never won) and Buscemi.  The knock against Hamm has been that his Don Draper is too self-contained to appeal to Academy voters, who like their Oscar counterparts prefer their performances big; here again, Mad Man's Suitcase episode may make the difference.  If Friday Night Lights has a chance for any surprise win, it's would be Chandler here.  Olyphant was even better on Justified this season than he was the year before, but it's not an award type role.  Laurie will have a better shot next year if this turns out to be the show's last.  Hall will be hurt by Dexter's sub-par year--and by the fact that he plays, you know, a serial killer. 

BEST DRAMA ACTRESS

Bookie Odds:

Julianna Margulies, The Good Wife - 15:20
Elisabeth Moss, Mad Men - 3:2
Kathy Bates, Harry's Law - 6:1
Mireille Enos, The Killing - 12:1
Connie Britton, Friday Night Lights - 16:1
Mariska Hargitay, Law & Order:  Special Victims Unit - 25:1

ShowbuzzDaily Odds:

Julianna Margulies, The Good Wife -1:1
Elisabeth Moss, Mad Men -2:1
Kathy Bates, Harry's Law - 8:1 
Connie Britton, Friday Night Lights - 12:1
Mireille Enos, The Killing - 25:1
Mariska Hargitay, Law & Order:  Special Victims Unit - 40:1

The biggest shock of last year's Emmys was Kyra Sedgwick's win over Julianna Margulies; The Good Wife continues to be a superb show, Margulies is a well-respected former winner, and it's likely the Academy will make amends for its oversight.  Moss has the best chance of unseating her, once again because she's got that episode of Mad Men that could almost have been designed as an Emmy showcase.  One can never underestimate the Academy's attraction to performers of a certain age, which puts Bates in the running as a dark horse.  Britton has deserved this award every year Friday Night Lights was on the air, but no one ever said awards were fair.  Enos has little chance of winning for a show whose finale left many viewers angrier than they'd been since the end of Lost, and Hargitay has won already, with no one seeming to think she needs another.

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