New midseason shows miss the mark

It’s been a dismal midseason for new shows, which comes after a disappointing fall for new programs.

Just one midseason entry, Fox’s “The Following,” is a lock to be renewed.

The rest of this year’s midseason offerings will either finish up their orders without an extension or get pulled prematurely. Two already have been yanked.

“Following” is by far the best of the bunch. It’s averaging a 3.1 adults 18-4 rating, according to Nielsen, and adds an additional 1.9 when seven-day DVR playback is added.

The program, about a troubled detective chasing a serial killer, has quickly become Fox’s highest-rated drama and is sure to return next fall.

Fox devoted a lot of marketing to “Following” and also put it in a decent timeslot, Mondays at 9 p.m. where no other Big Four network has a drama. The network paired the show with a very compatible lead-in, the procedural “Bones.”

Clearly “Following,” easily the midseason’s most critically lauded show, had a lot going for it. Other shows have not been so lucky.

The CW’s much-hyped “The Carrie Diaries,” a “Sex and the City” prequel, and its dark drama “Cult” have drawn surprisingly low numbers, though that may be more of a reflection of the network’s struggles on Monday and Tuesday nights, where the new shows air.

CBS’s “The Job” premiered on the second-lowest-rated night of the week, Friday, and received less promotion than “Golden Boy” or “Rules of Engagement,” two of the network’s other midseason programs. “Job” was axed after two weeks.

ABC’s “Zero Hour” airs against broadcast’s two highest-rated shows, “American Idol” and “The Big Bang Theory.” It has drawn terrible numbers.

And NBC’s “Do No Harm,” a Jekyll-and-Hyde reboot that also received a lot of promotion, lasted just two outings, drawing disastrously low ratings in a timeslot where the network has not had a viable show since “ER” left.

Besides “Following,” the only other new midseason show that might make it to a second season is ABC’s reality show “The Taste.” Though it hasn’t produced great ratings, it’s also not doing much worse than the network’s other Tuesday night shows, and its cheap production costs could make it a nice filler next year.

Otherwise, don’t expect to see any of these other midseason shows again.

***

In broadcast ratings for the week ended Feb. 24:

Among adults 18-49, ABC was first for the week with a 3.4 average rating and a 9 share, followed by Fox at 2.1/6, CBS at 2.0/6, Univision at 1.6/5, NBC at 1.2/3, CW and Telemundo at 0.6/2, UniMás and ION at 0.3/1, Estrella at 0.1/0 and MundoFox and Azteca at 0.0/0.

Top five English-language Big Five shows (18-49s): 1. ABC’s “The Oscars” 13.0; 2. ABC’s “Oscars Red Carpet Live” 7.3; 3. CBS’s “The Big Bang Theory” 5.6; 4. ABC’s “Red Carpet Live” 4.3; 5. Fox’s “American Idol-Wednesday”4.1.

Top five English-language Big Five shows (total viewers): 1. ABC’s “The Oscars” 40.38 million; 2. ABC’s “Oscars Red Carpet Live” 25.53 million; 3 CBS’s “NCIS” 21.08 million; 4. CBS’s “The Big Bang Theory” 17.62 million; 5. ABC’s “Oscars Red Carpet Live” 16.50 million.

Show on the rise: ABC’s “The Bachelor,” Monday, 8 p.m. The reality show continued its late-season surge, jumping 25 percent week-to-week among 18-49s from a 2.4 rating to a 3.0.

Show on the decline: NBC’s “Parks and Recreation,” Thursday, 8:30 p.m. The comedy fell 30 percent week-to-week, from a 2.0 rating among 18-49s to a 1.4.

Tags: 2013, 50 million, Big Five, broadcast recap, marketing, midseason, midseason schedule, midseason shows, new shows, ratings, reality, reality show, TEL, the following, timeslot, TOP, tv ratings, UNI