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When Fox, last week, gave a full season order to “Dads” — a comedy averaging just 3.4 million viewers — some industry watchers were scratching their heads.
In another puzzler, earlier this month the network gave its other rookie comedy “Brooklyn Nine- Nine” (averaging a 1.6 rating in the advertiser-preferred 18-49 demo) a full-season order — and awarded it the coveted post-Super Bowl slot in February.
Say hello to the new prime-time landscape.
Once upon a time, soft ratings meant a quick death — now they might buy a series even more time on the air. “The threshold for what’s considered a show that would sustain itself on the air is dropping,” says Billie Gold, VP/director of buying and programming research at media agency Carat.
“It used to be the threshold of success was a 2.0 rating in adults 18-49. It keeps getting lower each season.”
To whit: NBC has ordered more scripts for its sitcom “Sean Saves the World,” which is averaging 3.7 million viewers — when last fall’s ill-fated “Animal Practice” (also on NBC) was axed after averaging only 4.4 million viewers. ABC, meanwhile, has given additional script orders to “Trophy Wife” — averaging just 5 million viewers — along with the rest of its meh new comedy crop “The Goldbergs,” “Back in the Game” and “Super Fun Night.”
What gives? For one, networks can’t cancel all their new shows, and might not have anything better waiting in the wings. Fox already scheduled its midseason comedy “Surviving Jack” for Thursdays and cut down the order for its other benchwarmer, “Us & Them.” ABC has only one midseason comedy replacement on tap. And NBC has already axed one Thursday comedy, “Welcome to the Family” — buying “Sean Saves the World” some more time.
“It has to do not just with how the show is doing, but how the night is doing, how [the show in question] does compared to its lead-in,” Gold says.
Comedies are cheaper to produce than dramas, which explains why “Ironside” was axed with 5.6 million viewers while half-hour sitcoms get renewed with far fewer viewers. Relationships with producers can also play a role; “Dads” is from Seth MacFarlane, the prolific creator of Fox’s “Family Guy” and “American Dad.”
And “Sean Saves the World” star Sean Hayes’ production company has an overall deal at NBC’s affiliated studio, Universal TV.
Potential syndication interest also holds leverage, especially if the show in question is from the network’s own studio, as in the case of “Dads,” “Sean” and “Trophy Wife.” As shown by low-rated comedies like “Parks and Recreation” and “Raising Hope” that now have their own cable runs, it could pay off — literally — for a network to show a little patience.
And that patience matters even more if, in the case of “Dads” and “Brooklyn Nine-Nine,” the network is attracting a hard-to-find demo.
“They’re male-skewing, and besides sports, it’s really hard to find young men on network [prime-time TV],” Gold says. “So they might want to give [those shows] a chance.”
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