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GW with a 2.0. I think their audience has fallen by about 800,000 in the last two weeks as well, if I'm not mistaken. Times are tough for the networks.
I'm really curious what CW comedies would reap on fridays and yeah even FOX's game shows and also ABC's reality shows and NBC's Life and FNL
That's a shame, as it was a very strong episode and the fans really enjoyed it a lot.
And by the way, the fans are still working hard at encouraging another network to take on Moonlight. For example, if the CW took it on, it would have a higher rated show than it's current ratings star "Gossip Girl". The fans (and their spending money) would be right there to watch the show, too.
If you want to know more about the fan effort, visit www.moonlight-united.com
Leeser
MoonlightLine
www.moonlightline.com
(562) 256-0910
Sorry to say, but there's no chance Moonlight airs on the CBS managed CW. Right or wrong CW is targeting younger demos, Moonlight doesn't draw them in.
I'll be happy to patronize a business that supports my favorite show.
After a few more years, there just may not be a desire for broadcast television anyway. Until this television season, I had gotten away from broadcast television and was watching mainly cable networks. This year broadcast offered some interesting looking series like Moonlight, Journeyman, Chuck, Pushing Daisies, etc. and so I tuned in again.
It just seems like between broadcast, cable, and the internet that a show like Moonlight with a loyal audience of seven to eight million viewers should be able to find a home.
The other networks and their advertisers seem to value adults 18-49 [although Les Moonves at CBS will say he targets 25-54 because that's what he gets].
Thing is, that's not new. That emphasis on the age demographic group has been around for a very long time.
You could argue that emphasis is driving folks outside the demo to cable, and you may be right. But I think the broadcasters are just trying to deliver the maximum number of what their advertisers want.
And those advertisers want adults 18-49.
The bigger point is that Moonlight also did better than every other non CBS show. That is another significant point. CBS's rationale that Moonlight didn't have the ratings I believe is simply bogus. I rather think that the cost of the show combined with the numbers didn't provide CBS the kind of rate of return they were looking for and they felt that their new show that will take it's place will do better. I highly doubt that. Only time will tell if I am right.
The problem now for Moonlight is threefold:
1) CBS is not going to let Alex O'Loughlin out of his contract commitments to allow him to continue with Moonlight. If they don't allow that to happen, then the show is dead.
2) The cost of the show is going to be a much bigger issue for the smaller networks than for CBS and given that the cable networks' viewership is far less than the big three, the possible return on investment for any network taking on Moonlight is going to be an issue, even if all 7.5m viewers go with the show...which I doubt will happen. I think a high percentage of that number, perhaps 50-60% will go with the show, but I don't believe that will be enough.
3) I am as much a fan of Moonlight (even though I'm a guy) as everyone else (can you say Sophia Myles??). However, the fans are thinking emotionally, which is a powerful motivating factor, but the harsh reality of business in the entertainment industry is that return on investment is everything. This drives every business decision that these people make...not what makes good television. This is the reason that some of the best television shows get cancelled...and Moonlight was not stellar, but it was solid and it had long term potential. The writers strike effectively killed it, since it couldn't recover from the dip in overall TV viewership, which did not return immediately when new shows returned. By that time, CBS I think had already made up its mind about the show, but held off until the last possible moment so that they'd retain viewership that they know they would have lost had they made the announcement sooner.
Taking all these into consideration, as much as I want Moonlight to come back and while I will continue to stand with the fans trying to bring the show back, I am enough of a realist (and a businessman) to understand that the chances of bringing Moonlight back from the dead are slimmer than me being turned into a vampire. A nice thought, but not reality.
It's very sad indeed.
Dave
Dave
If Moonlight gets a second chance, the writing and acting will have to be exceptionally compelling, since there will be a rather significant amount of skepticism about the show. I think they'll be up to the challenge, but it will also be a very long shot that they will ever get the chance.
Dave
The total viewers that week were consistent with the normal numbers (2.41m for Gossip Girl and 7.67m for Moonlight).
Jericho and Moonlight cost more to make and didn't attract the target youth demo, it's an equation that adds up to bad news for fans of those shows.
Too bad about Moonlight, it was a good show. I don't know that I'd want a second season. Revived shows never have the intensity they once did...
Katarzyna, the ratings are live plus same day DVR viewing. Figure the additional six days will add roughly another 500,000 viewers (a little over a million total, but half of them or so occur within the same day). Numb3rs and Ghost Whisperer both had more DVR viewers than Moonlight in the live plus seven day DVR viewing results.
Close To Home's season/series finale pulled 10.45 millions and 2.6 in demos
Last night's Moonlight episode, titled, "Sonata," was superb! The show is really hitting its stride now and this episode did not disappoint. Even my skeptical husband started watching these last four new episodes and he likes the show because it has action, drama and humor.
Moonlight fans are not giving up on this fantastic show. We are fighting to keep it alive by presenting it to other networks...and there ARE other networks interested. We will have to see what plays out but know that Moonlight fans are unlike other fans, we are determined, dedicated, "rabid" and do not give up easily. Almost 8 million fans WILL follow Moonlight to whichever network seizes the opportunity to obtain this terrific show!
Moonlight has also stayed more constant since the end of the writer's strike. Ghost Whisper lost 7.1% of its viewers from its post strike premier on April 25. Moonlight has only lost 5.4% of its total viewers.
Regardless of what you may think, ML's ratings aren't great, and they'd be much worse if it was not hamlocked between two hit-ish series. CBS's Friday night fortunes are stagnating and it's not going to turn that around by renewing the weakest show on the night.
This comment probably doesn't go on this post, but don't know where else to put it. Always enjoy the variety of links that you and Robert provide.
You may or may not be right regarding Moonlight going to TheCW, if as you said they are skewing a younger audience. However, I would ask you to read the following WSJ article about the state of TheCW
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB121089546043097...
Nina Tassler might say no to Moonlight going to TheCW, but wouldn't you agree that Dawn Ostroff, a longtime associate and protégé of Les Moonves, might see an opportunity to stop the bleeding (TheCW has lost $2 billion and 22% of its audience) since its inception.
Moonlight has a core audience of approximately 8 million fans. Even Nikki Finke, deadlinehollywood, reported that Moonlight has more than twice the number of viewers than Gossip Girl which could make Moonlight the most watched show on TheCW.
I believe I read someone commenting that the cancelling of Moonlight by CBS was a business decision. I contend that a network currently loosing money, viewers and one of its lynch-pin shows (Smallville), which will be going into its 8th and possibly last season, picking up Moonlight would make a good business decision. It's a production of Warner Bros which co-owns TheCW, Moonlight has an audience that will follow it to TheCW, regardless of the viewers age. I would suspect those numbers would attract advertisers and with Twilight hitting the theaters in December 2008, I believe TheCW could use Moonlight to piggyback on the frenzy that movie will create.
Just so you know, I've appreciated your support of Moonlight and look forward to reading your comments.
Nikki Finke's last report on Moonlight was that it's dead, dead, not coming back to life, dead. I wish I didn't agree with her and I'm sorry for the fans of the show.
This post isn't intended to mean-spirited, I hope it doesn't sound that way, I just wanted to get my opinion across...
Anyway, Moonlight was a phenomenon as far as developing a fandom, and is an entertaining way to spend a Friday night. I'm off the beloved demo, being much too old, but hey, and must wonder why don't advertisers want my money. My usual Friday schedule this season has been Moonlight at 9, taping Dr. Who; Battlestar Galactica at 10:00, taping Numb3rs, sometimes tape or watch the Sci-Fi shows after 11. The big 3 networks should take a scheduling hint from cable and show some of their shows more than once a week.
I feel your pain...the best we can hope for is another network picking the show up. That said, there are hurdles to climb, one of them being Alex O's contractural ties to CBS which could preclude him from participating in Moonlight. Another is the fact that the show is expensive to produce relative to programming on CW or SciFi (many shows made in Canada)...not to say it can't be done and so far, WB has yet to pull down the sets or told the organizers of the crusade to stop. Clearly, somebody is listening and there are efforts to save the show. We can hope, but we have to be real too, it's long odds.
That said, there's no point in even trying to get Moonlight onto the CW. First, it's owned by CBS, which is controlled by Les Moonves, who also therefore controls the CW, and who pulled the plug. Also, Moonves isn't going to make the same mistake twice, by listening to fans' clamoring and bringing back a show and then having them not tune in. Jericho fans gave every sci-fi genre fan a bad name. No thanks to them, we'll likely never get a network to respond to fan furor again. And secondly, the CW only has one more year in it. As I said months ago when the WB launched its own online streaming venture, they are going to pull out next year and that will be the end of the network.
By giving Dawn Ostroff control, Les Moonves ran the network into the ground. They aren't just targeting younger audiences--they are apparently targeting younger, STUPID, audiences. Farmer Wants a Wife? Even young people want quality program, not the trash the CW is spawning. Apparantly Dawn Ostroff & Co. is incapable of understanding this, and because of that, the network is doomed. Anything that moves to that station will die with it.
I will mourn the loss of Supernatural. However, I will not go nutso over campaigning to get it back. At the end of the day, it's just a t.v. show.
SHAME ON YOU CBS SHAME ON YOU ALL
Janice Swearengin
janice@gdssco.com
256-882-2361
JanSwear
janice@gddsco.com