TV is About to Experience What the Music Industry Already Has

[Facelift]

Variety disagrees with you, too, Facelift, using words like "soaring ratings," "megahit," and "meteoric ratings."

So, no, not the ratings of MASH or Seinfeld, but for their time, Breaking Bad and The Walking Dead had far from "small, niche audiences" and "nobody watched it."

They *were* hits. They came from cable - cable standards are much lower, for ratings.

How can you call something a hit when virtually every network television show from the '80s and '90s had higher ratings? Variety was calling it a hit based on the new reality of TV today. If a cable show can do above 2 million viewers, it's considered a solid hit. If a network show gets 2 million viewers, it gets canceled mid-season and lots of people lose their jobs.

BTW, the variety article didn't say anything I didn't say in my above post. The first half of BB's final season averaged between 2 and 3 million viewers. The last season averaged between 4 and 5 million. Then, right at the very end, viewership sharply increased - to 10 million. And 10 million for a series finale, as shown above, is so far below the finale of any other hit show that it would be absolutely embarrassing to compare.

[Scott Bails]

Whatever.

[Facelift]

Whatever.

You should check out the show! It's pretty good.

[NogbadTheBad]

You judge shows of their time not against shows from a different era, it's like comparing HR hitters to the Steroid era or QB's now versus the 50's, makes no sense.

[Poisoned Youth]

People talk about any show. The term "water cooler show" came about for the most popular shows, because everybody was talking about them - people across different ages, sexes, ethnicities. It's a total joke to call Breaking Bad a water cooler show. Hardly anybody watched it. EVERY prime time network show in 1986, for example, had higher average ratings than the highest-rated Breaking Bad episode (the finale). Were they all water cooler shows? The (very) short lived "The New Mike Hammer" had ratings that tripled that of Breaking Bad's final season. Was that a water cooler show?

You both are right from my perspective.

Yes, hard to compare the last episode of MASH or even Seinfeld with Breaking Bad. If for no other reason because it was a different era where major networks ruled the market share.

However, while Breaking Bad's rating seem paltry in comparison, it doesn't take into account those who DVR'd or streamed the episode the days after the actual airing.

[Scott Bails]

You judge shows of their time not against shows from a different era, it's like comparing HR hitters to the Steroid era or QB's now versus the 50's, makes no sense.

...or like comparing record sales of the 70s and 80s to now.

[Paulie]

Mash? No shit Sherlock. There were three fucking networks.

[trurl]

The numbers on a broadcast of a show like Breaking Bad are meaningless now because so much viewing is time-shifted. As mentioned it's now watched DVRed, streamed, on DVD... it's like trying to factor in the pass-along factor on books and magazines. Just because everyone didn't watch BB live over the air didn't mean huge numbers didn't eventually see it. I don't think I watched a single episode until it hit Netflix sometime in its 3rd season and I marathoned every episode in about 5 days. I never watched 24 until after the seasons were over and I could watch the whole thing on DVR.

[Jerjo]

Look at the show Firefly. It was killed by an uncaring network that messed with its schedule and didn't even air the episodes in order. Actual ratings while it aired were abysmal. Its cult built until they actually made a movie of the thing to wrap up the major plot lines. You still see the DVD collection of its lone season in big box stores. Now I read that because Nathan Fillion's Castle keeps growing in viewers, there's been fans of that show that have gone back to Firely, fueling the cult even more.

I used to work at a company with a higher than average ratio of nerds manning the cubicles. There was one girl right out of college that sat near me. A friend gave her the Firefly DVDs and said, "by episode four she'll be raving." Sure enough, that's when it got under her skin. And the day she got to the end of the season she spent the next workday ranting about where the series left off. "What did he mean "that ain't a Shepard? What did he mean by that..." Yeah, that's what Firefly does to you.

[JKL2000]

^^ right, you have to take into account the demographics at workplaces. The place I work at has a very low average aged employee. There are lots of discussions of cable shows and shows on Netflix, but I haven't heard a single one about a show on NBC, CBS, etc.

[nosebone]

Who shot JR?

[TheLoony]

I don't know about you guys but both Dish and DirecTV equipment suck gonads. I just got a new box and some cable modifications a hour ago and it still doesn't work right.

It's a wonder they make money as I have never had equipment that worked for more than a year from either company. Considering there are no other options other than crappy cable and I do watch live sporting events so I kinda like having that option. Can't catch sports in real time without paying. The rest could be done online, most of it, but it's a PITA trying to keep up on the shows I watch and some I know aren't out there like NFL films presents.

The damned television just CANNOT work properly? Why the hell are we paying a boatload of money for something that doesn't work? Because my options are pretty much nil. I've had Dish for five years and about six boxes, DirecTV for a year and it still won't work properly and cable is just plain junk.

One cable company and two satellite companies is all I have to choose from. Isn't this why Standard Oil was brought down so many years ago? It's basically a monopoly and I'm quite frankly tired of crap that cannot work properly yet my choices are next to nothing.

I'm not off my rocker. It should NOT play live television if I've had it paused for however long. The audio should not be garbled. It should not stop playing right in the middle of a program(like it did yesterday with the World Series, really pissed me off.) I'm paying for a service that doesn't service me and I don't have any choices. Dammit, when I'm serviced I want a happy ending and I'm not getting that, so hence I'm extremely pissed. They just called and who knows when someone will come out to fix what should have been already fixed.

It's not a hard thing to imagine why people ditch these services if they cannot work right. I've never had one work properly for more than six months and they tell me that because they are unable to make new boxes they just refurbish them. So call phone companies can make new cell phones for the millions who have to have them but I cannot get a new box from either Dish or Direct, I can only get a refurbed box. When I fast forward through commercials I have to watch them to see when the program resumes. I hit play after pausing for a few minutes and it automatically goes to live tv. That is not what it is supposed to do and I know I'm not the problem(user error) as I would have to watch it ff through many minutes of television.

If they cannot get it right I'm just going to have to go without as I'm tired of getting screwed. This is over a thousand dollars a year and if it doesn't work then I'll have to go another route or none at all.

I don't know how this will all shake down but it can't go on this way.I can't be the only one this happens to. This is crap and I'm ready, almost, to tell them all to go to hell. They have what basically is a monopoly yet if they can't get it right then they will fail, eventually.

[Scrotum Scissor]

Who shot JR?

Ask Quincy!

[Facelift]

I won a free month of Hulu+ from a Big Mac last week. Is this worth doing?

[Scott Bails]

It's a wonder they make money

Well....

Considering there are no other options other than crappy cable and I do watch live sporting events so I kinda like having that option. Can't catch sports in real time without paying.

The damned television just CANNOT work properly? Why the hell are we paying a boatload of money for something that doesn't work? Because my options are pretty much nil.

There's your answer.

[davis]

I won a free month of Hulu+ from a Big Mac last week. Is this worth doing?

There's a TON of tv shows and movies to watch on there - we use it to watch SNL. not really interested in anything else but Taxi reruns and will buy those. So, it depends on what you like to watch.

[Mikhael]

You judge shows of their time not against shows from a different era, it's like comparing HR hitters to the Steroid era or QB's now versus the 50's, makes no sense.

Not really; I think your analogy is flawed. When you consider the ratings of the older shows spoken of, consider the population at that time as well. A large percentage of the population was watching, and discussing, these shows.

Now, with an even greater population, the shows of today have ratings almost 1/10th of those. I'm afraid I have to agree with "the demise of the water-cooler show". The only thing talked about commonly in my workplace is sports. Everything else is not commonplace for all the worker bees, and discussions fizzle out pretty quickly (except for maybe "The Big Bang Theory").

Changing demographics may have something to do with it as well. Growing diversity in race and culture in the workplace tends to limit common experiences, especially in entertainment, it seems.

[NogbadTheBad]

It has more to do with the breadth of choices now available to consumers, you can't compare 3 channels to 300 plus internet plus streaming.

[Scott Bails]

It has more to do with the breadth of choices now available to consumers, you can't compare 3 channels to 300 plus internet plus streaming.

Plus on-demand plus DVR'd shows.

[jkelman]

To me, cable TV isn't worth paying for unless there are no commercials whatsoever. I am told this is not the case. So I have only broadcast TV. I'm still angry that most sports is now only available to see on cable. If it comes down to it, I can live without TV. I really have no desire to watch TV on my computer.

There are some good series that my wife and I like - Boardwalk Empire, Fargo (the biggest surprise for me this year), Hannibal, True Detective, The Following, The Killing, House of Cards (the U.S. one wirh Kwvin Spacey..a rare instance where the U.S. remake seriously tops the original British series) and The Walking Dead and Marvel's Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D.. As for general network, beyond Sunday nights with 60 minutes, Simpsons, Family Guy & American Dad, the only other stuff we watch is Law & Order SVU and South Park.

Most of the above series we either watch on Nwtflix or, if not available there, we buy on Blu Ray neither of us is into sports, and woth all those series and keeping up with movies, the couple hours/night we spend in front of the screen is plenty full...but rarely watching anything in real time as we prefer, if it's on network like L&O, to PVR it so we can skip past the ads.

Funny though. Up until the last year we thought we were running out of things to watch....but then suddenly a spate of good series has us busy following more than we have in years. Go figure.