Alcatraz, canceled

Detective Madsen and Hauser looking for another job;
"Doc" Soto was smarter and kept his.

I knew it, you knew it, everyone knew it, but an official announcement was yet to be made: Alcatraz has been canceled.

No surprise there, as ratings were terrible, didn't even reach the 5 million viewers' mark on its last episode, which is pretty awful for a Monday night, and even more awful if we're talking about a short season (13 episodes) and not a full season (22 episodes).

Well, Alcatraz won't be alone in the void, as it will join several other shows that were canceled this week, among them are The Secret Circle, Ringer, Harry's Law, The Finder, Are You There, Chelsea?, A Gifted Man, Awake, and more.

But there's hope for other shows, as they were renewed for another season: Gossip Girl (a short final season), Body Of Proof, Whitney, Nikita, Suburgatory, Castle, Parks & Recreation, The Office, Once Upon A Time, The Middle, Modern Family, Grey's Anatomy, Parenthood, 30 Rock, Community, among them.

Fringe has been renewed for a fifth and final season

"Hey, this newspaper says we've been renewed for a 5th season!"

It was about time! Warner studios and Fox took their time to reach an agreement, but they finally made it: Fringe has been renewed for a fifth and final season of 13 episodes.

The good news have been announced by showrunner J.H. Wyman through his Twitter account, and made official later by Fox via press release by Kevin Reilly, President of Entertainment, Fox Broadcasting Company.

I'm not going to post the whole press release, you can find it right here at Fringe Bloggers.

ABC asks for help to name a new series

The ABC network is asking for help to their fans/viewers to name a new show.

According to their own words,

ABC is naming a new adventure series, and they want your opinion. See below for the description and title options -
One man’s quest takes him around the globe to unlock one of mankind’s most riveting conspiracies.
ZERO HOUR
THE SEEKER

That's all they say and they're doing it through their Facebook page, check it out here:
http://www.facebook.com/ABCNetwork/posts/386350428075766

This is a unique opportunity, so let them know what you think. I hope they make it right this time, so they don't make it the new FlashForward, an expensive show that failed because of crappy attempts to build a conspiracy story.

Terra Nova, Alcatraz, or how Fox blows up its own series

Although all networks cancel shows because they didn't work, Fox seems to be enduring a karma of its own regarding this subject.

The course (or maybe curse?) of Terra Nova, seems to be the perfect example: a great original idea, a long delay on the series premiere for reasons that nobody explained but were pretty clear once the first episode started, cancelled after 13 episodes.

Right away you can see a problem: in the show's credits you see more executive producers than stars. Fox took the show away from its original producers and tried to make it more attractive. Another big reason of the show's failure can be seen right in the first episode and along most of the other twelve: what was promoted as a science-fiction show, ended up being a family show with teenage romance and a few mysteries nobody cared about.
Ratings weren't all that bad; the show had around 7 million viewers, a number that looked good for a second season.


A different case, although similar, is Alcatraz. Season 1 ended a few weeks ago with really slow ratings for its time slot, but the show has not been cancelled yet (April 7).
Alcatraz started in a big way, with a real legend of its own, a big mystery, and JJ Abrams' name on top of it. Sadly, that was not enough.

For starters, Elizabeth Sarnoff, creator of the show, left it because of "creative differences", which looked supicious as nobody leaves their own show becasue of that. Pretty soon we realised the truth, when many scenes were re-written and re-shot by Fox's producers, trying to make the show more attractive by dropping parts of the big mystery every now and then, and thinking that the very own name of Mr. JJ Abrams would get more viewers even if he actually has nothing to do with Alcatraz, besides beign his company, Bad Robot, credites as producers.

On the other hand, Alcatraz made the big mistake of thinking that the individual stories told on each episode would be enough, while none of the main characters developed a background; including the fact that Parminder Nagra's character was quietly shelved. All of this stopped the viewers from empathizing with the characters.

All of this made Alcatraz end its first short season with just a little more than 5 million viewers.

No Ordinary Family is just that

With the avalanche of new shows this season, a few of them already cancelled and many others likely to be cancelled sometime soon, there has been a lot of fuss about some of them. And one of the shows that took some hits was ABC's No Ordinary Family.

I've been reading different opinions and reviews about this show; many of them just said it looked too rushed out the door, and some others said it lacks something, and even more.

Last week (more precisely on Tuesday, October 12, 2010) the show got a little more than 7.7 million viewers for its 3rd episode (damn, I just realised it's being broadcasted in my region just one week after its original air date in the U.S.) and for ABC, that's good. At least for a show like this one with no big expectations.
Octobre 26 update: No Ordinary Family just got a full season order, according to an official ABC press release.


Well...
No Ordinary Family is just that. A No Ordinary Family.

This show is nothing more than a light comedy/drama for families, it's just that, no more, and no less than that. Critics seem to be missing the whole point of it; and by "critics" I mean not only the guys who usually write about this stuff for a living, but also anyone else.

And "the whole point" is: as I said, it's just a light comedy/drama for families. Of course, best part of the show are the main stars, Michael Chiklis and Julie Benz; but the writers and showrunners are clearly targeting at younger viewers with the couple's son and daughter (Kay Panabaker and Jimmy Bennett).

Chiklis and Benz are doing a great job as Jim and Stephanie Powell, and they're the main interest of the show. They are, not their powers. But we cannot leave their kids aside. Panabaker (Daphne) and Bennett (JJ) do their stuff just right for what they're supposed to be doing there: to make up the "family" part of the show's name, and as I said, to grab the attention of younger viewers. Older viewers and reviewers seem to be missing this point.

So, what's all the fuss about this show? Why is everyone expecting that every new show has to be the new big thing?

Yeah, No Ordinary Family is no big deal, but it's an hour of clean entertainment. Most other new shows failed miserably at it.