Hey folks, I read this today in the Vancouver Sun...
Cameron TV finale crashes
More viewers tuned into a CSI rerun than Dark Angel's James Cameron season wrap, leaving future in doubt
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Sorry, Jessica Alba. Your chances of returning next season are as slim as a Dark Angel plot thread following überaction film-maker James Cameron's crash-and-burn in Friday's U.S. Nielsen ratings.
Dark Angel's fate won't become official until the Fox network unveils its fall schedule for advertisers in New York next week, but the writing on the wall is none too promising after Cameron's 90-minute, $10-million US season finale placed fourth in its time period last week, behind American Bandstand's 50th: A Celebration, Providence and a rerun of CSI.
It's hard to tell what was more damning: the fact that Dark Angel pulled down lower numbers (4.4 million viewers) than a CSI rerun (6.9 million), or that it gained just five per cent on its lead-in, a rerun of The Simpsons.
Dark Angel's potential fall from grace is a double blow for Vancouver: Not only does the city lose a marquee production if Dark Angel fails in its bid for resurrection, but the local numbers show that Vancouver viewers like Angel just fine, thank you very much. Angel performed miracles in the Vancouver and Victoria market, equalling BC CTV's Law & Order: SVU as Friday's most-watched program, with 105,000 viewers, 18 or older.
Not only that but in the show's key demographic, 12- to 17-year-olds, Dark Angel cast its spell over 37 per cent of the teenage audience watching TV at the time, according to figures compiled by the Bureau of Broadcast Measurement. That means nearly four in 10 teenagers watching TV Friday night were glued in front of Dark Angel.
Vancouver numbers carry little weight in the U.S., however, where the key programming decisions are made. That annoys program buyers at Global (Dark Angel airs locally on Global BC) and CTV to no end, since their job is to find programs that people will watch. When they do find a popular program -- not easy in this day of 200 channels-- it's doubly galling to lose it because aging boomers in Fresno and Minneapolis would rather watch American Bandstand.
Dark Angel is a silly, juvenile and insipid program -- it won't be missed in my household, even though Alba was clearly better than the show she was in -- but enough people watched in Vancouver to suggest that it would find an audience in the U.S., if given half the chance. It probably won't get that chance, however. Not now. The devil, as they say, is in the details.
Doesn't sound good for us fans, does it?
Cameron TV finale crashes
More viewers tuned into a CSI rerun than Dark Angel's James Cameron season wrap, leaving future in doubt
Â
Sorry, Jessica Alba. Your chances of returning next season are as slim as a Dark Angel plot thread following überaction film-maker James Cameron's crash-and-burn in Friday's U.S. Nielsen ratings.
Dark Angel's fate won't become official until the Fox network unveils its fall schedule for advertisers in New York next week, but the writing on the wall is none too promising after Cameron's 90-minute, $10-million US season finale placed fourth in its time period last week, behind American Bandstand's 50th: A Celebration, Providence and a rerun of CSI.
It's hard to tell what was more damning: the fact that Dark Angel pulled down lower numbers (4.4 million viewers) than a CSI rerun (6.9 million), or that it gained just five per cent on its lead-in, a rerun of The Simpsons.
Dark Angel's potential fall from grace is a double blow for Vancouver: Not only does the city lose a marquee production if Dark Angel fails in its bid for resurrection, but the local numbers show that Vancouver viewers like Angel just fine, thank you very much. Angel performed miracles in the Vancouver and Victoria market, equalling BC CTV's Law & Order: SVU as Friday's most-watched program, with 105,000 viewers, 18 or older.
Not only that but in the show's key demographic, 12- to 17-year-olds, Dark Angel cast its spell over 37 per cent of the teenage audience watching TV at the time, according to figures compiled by the Bureau of Broadcast Measurement. That means nearly four in 10 teenagers watching TV Friday night were glued in front of Dark Angel.
Vancouver numbers carry little weight in the U.S., however, where the key programming decisions are made. That annoys program buyers at Global (Dark Angel airs locally on Global BC) and CTV to no end, since their job is to find programs that people will watch. When they do find a popular program -- not easy in this day of 200 channels-- it's doubly galling to lose it because aging boomers in Fresno and Minneapolis would rather watch American Bandstand.
Dark Angel is a silly, juvenile and insipid program -- it won't be missed in my household, even though Alba was clearly better than the show she was in -- but enough people watched in Vancouver to suggest that it would find an audience in the U.S., if given half the chance. It probably won't get that chance, however. Not now. The devil, as they say, is in the details.
Doesn't sound good for us fans, does it?
