What TV Show Did You Last Watch
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Re: What TV Show Did You Last Watch
Watched the Shameless season premiere on Sunday. Enjoyed it.
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Re: What TV Show Did You Last Watch
I tried watching The Firm. I got as far as him running down the steps of the Lincoln Memorial and then all of a sudden being in front of the Capitol Building and said, "Yep, this isn't for me."Come to the Dark Side -- There's cookies!
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Re: What TV Show Did You Last Watch
I tried to watch it on and off and it seemed boring. Pretty good cast, but the writing and plot seems like who cares.
Too bad, it is probably a pretty expensive show.
The ratings were horrible for the premiere and last night, so it won't last long.
The Firm was a decent movie an OK book, but I just don't know why anyone ever though it should be made into a TV showComment
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Re: What TV Show Did You Last Watch
Interesting that you bring that up...
Why NBC's 'The Firm' Won't Get Canceled
Dorothy Pomerantz, Forbes Staff
The network television business is tough. Studios buy dozens of scripts each season, spend millions to turn some of those scripts into pilot episodes and then put a few of those pilots onto TV. When a show finally makes it on-air, it needs to do well fast or else it can expect a quick death. Just look at the shows that were quickly canceled this season like The Playboy Club, Free Agents and How to be a Gentleman.
One show that stands a good chance of making it though is the mid-season NBC addition The Firm. Based on the 1993 movie starring Tom Cruise (which was based on a popular John Grisham novel), the show premiers January 8th. It picks up ten years after the Cruise movie as lawyer Mitch McDeere, played by Josh Lucas, takes a job at another mysterious law film.
So far reviews for the show have been decent. It earns a 67 out of 100 on Metacritic, a site that aggregates reviews from around the country. Entertainment Weekly critic Melissa Maerz says, “The Firm‘s straightforward, one-man-against-the-system story still feels compelling.”
But in this case, the reviews won’t really affect whether or not the show stays on the air. In fact ratings will barely matter. That’s because Sony’s Television Network division, which is producing the show, has already committed to a full 22-episode season of The Firm.
It’s not necessarily that Sony has that much more faith in The Firm than in any other show it produces but that the show was financed using a new model that could influence the way TV shows are developed and financed going forward.
The idea for the show came from a production company called Entertainment One which also produces AMC’s Hell on Wheels. Sony was looking for original content for its overseas networks like AXN in Asia, Japan, Europe and Latin America. Normally those networks are secondary buyers of shows like Hawaii Five-O and Teen Wolf.
So Sony’s Television Networks division partnered with Entertainment One to produce The Firm. But instead of buying a script or even a pilot, Sony’s international networks paid upfront licensing fees for the right to air an entire season of the show. Entertainment One then presold the rights to the show in territories not covered by Sony’s networks.
It’s not unusual to pay for an entire season of a show outside of the U.S. where shows are rarely canceled before the end of the first season. But it’s unheard of domestically where a show will start with an order for as few as six shows and the order will increase from there if ratings are good or decrease if the ratings are bad.
Normally when a network like NBC buys a show, it pays a licensing fee covering roughly 70% of the cost of production. The production company carries a deficit for the remaining cost which it tries to cover by reselling the show in territories outside of the U.S. and selling it into syndication. Those secondary buyers pay a much-reduced licensing fee.
In the case of The Firm, when Sony and Entertainment One went to NBC with the show, almost the entire cost of production had already been covered by the international pre-sales and by tax credits the production would earn from shooting in Canada.
So NBC was able to pick up the show like a secondary buyer would, for a greatly reduced licensing fee.
That means that the network will have a much easier time turning a profit on the show than it would for something it was the primary broadcaster on. If viewership turns out to be less than expected and if future ad rates slip, it won’t matter too much because NBC’s costs on the show will be so much lower.
“This model makes a lot of sense,” says Andy Kaplan, president of worldwide networks at Sony Pictures Television. “It really helps to diversify risks and that’s important in the environment we’re living in.”
Going forward Kaplan says he expects shows to be made more with an eye toward a global audience than for just a U.S. or U.K. or German audience. Those kinds of shows will be able to replicate the model Sony is using for The Firm.
That could be a boon for cash strapped networks that are struggling to find shows that work. If The Firm turns out to be a hit, it will be a bonus for fourth-place NBC.
(FORBES)This is the darkest timeline.Comment
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Re: What TV Show Did You Last Watch
So the Giants/Packers game threw off Fox's schedule a bit and I caught a part of Napoleon Dynamite before Family Guy came on. All I have to say is what the hell is Fox thinking? This would have been funny maybe 7 years ago. What I really want to know who in their right mind would find this show funny.
Now Family Guy last night had me laughing for most of it. I love the episodes that center around Brian and Stewie.Comment
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Re: What TV Show Did You Last Watch
Rewatched the first season of Game of Thrones. I enjoyed it maybe twice as much as I did the first time around. It's The Wire for the 2010s (assuming they keep up the quality and funding).You Got The Tony!!!!!!Comment
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Re: What TV Show Did You Last Watch
Alcatraz. I really like the mystery and plot. A lot of questions that get answered with question. Abrams has brought a Lost feeling to this show.
Decent acting, although the former Indian E.R. doctor is in a coma. She is by far the most interesting character.Comment
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Re: What TV Show Did You Last Watch
Storage Wars- I have become addicted to it quickly and unfortunately have been using that mentality on ebay.Comment
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Re: What TV Show Did You Last Watch
White Collar.
Mid second season. Pretty good stuff so far. I like how episodes are pretty linear. I like shows like that. Rather than all over the place or just random.First time in a long time, I've been happy with the team that was constructed, and now they struggle. I blame the coach.Comment
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