Movie Box Review

Grimm is now up to 240 promo seconds over the last week, and the return of Chuck has worked its way up to 75 seconds.  Now, NBC has to hold its breath that Texas wins tonight and ends the World Series.  Otherwise, these two shows will face an additional headwind on Friday, a Game 7.  Rock Center has had 80 seconds over the last week, and Wednesday featured a topical promo for the premiere telecast Monday, highlighting a story by Harry Smith about a town where jobs are plentiful.     

ABC's #1 priority over the past week was last night's Halloween-themed Wednesday comedy block, a bet that paid off because stunts like that work and because the episodes faced mostly repeats on the other networks.
 
 
FOX is shifting most of its limited time to "animation domination" on Sunday, particularly The Simpsons "Treehouse of Terror" episode and the premiere of Jonah Hill in Allen Gregory. 

To make the chart easier to read at a glance, there is now a "Cliffs Notes" version below that just lists the top four priorities for each network, making it easier to compare each network to the other.  For greater detail, the chart at the bottom lists all shows each network has promoted in the last week in case you are interested in finding a particular series.
   
ON-AIR PROMOTION PRIORITIES
TOP FOUR SHOWS EACH NETWORK
Over the Last Seven Days 
(# of promo-seconds)
Dates sampled: October 20 & 23-26, 2011

ABC
  Wed Comedy Block   120
  Once Upon a Time   100
  Desperate Hswvs    95
  Grey's Anatomy     95
CBS
  Unforgettable      85
  Person of Interest 70
  Rules Engagement   60
  Late Show          60
NBC
  Grimm              240
  Prime Suspect      105
  Rock Center        80
  Chuck              75
  Thu Comedy Block   75
FOX
  Allen Gregory      75
  The Simpsons       65
  American Idol      60 
  New Girl           50 


ALL SHOWS PROMOTED
(# of promo-seconds)
Dates sampled: October 20 & 23-26, 2011

ABC
  Wed Comedy Block   120
  Once Upon a Time   100
  Desperate Hswvs    95
  Grey's Anatomy     95
  Pan Am             65 
  Man Up!            60
  Extreme Mak. Home  50
  Castle             45
  Body of Proof      45
  Revenge            30
  Private Practice   30
  Last Man Standing  30
  Modern Family      30
  20/20              30
  Dancing...Stars    25
  CMA Awards         10
  Great Pumpkin      05
CBS
  Unforgettable      85
  Person of Interest 70
  Rules Engagement   60
  Late Show          60
  Big Bang Theory    50
  The Mentalist      50
  2 Broke Girls      50
  A Gifted Man       45
  Survivor           40
  NCIS: LA           30
  Hawaii Five-O      30
  Amazing Race       30
  Two Half Men       30  
  NCIS               30 
  CSI: Miami         25
  CSI                20
  How I Met Mother   20
  The Talk           20
  Criminal Minds     15
  Good Wife          10 
  NFL on CBS         10 

Deadline reports that NBC has pushed the launch of its scripted Friday shows CHUCK and GRIMM by a week, from October 21 to October 28.  Supposedly this is to give the series the benefit of a 2-day Halloween marketing push to begin with the network airing holiday-themed episodes of its Thursday comedies on October 27, although both the Chuck and Grimm premieres have been in the can without Halloween content since before this idea came up.  (At least Grimm's genre fits in with a Halloween theme.)  One might wonder if NBC was happy with the solid (for a Friday) 2 rating Dateline gave them last Friday, and isn't in any hurry to move on to the untested Grimm and on-its-last-legs Chuck.  But we'll give them the benefit of the doubt...