V: "Pound of Flesh" 4/6/10 - Grading & Discussion

[Temis the Vorta]

The last episode has a rating of 5.79 million viewers.

What's wrong with the people and why aren't they watching this great show?

That's not the rating (advertisers don't care about that part) - the rating is actually 2.5/7.

TV By the Numbers has the comparison with the other two network shows that night - Parenthood and The Good Wife - V is in the middle but all three are very similar in rating. So ABC can't say V isn't pulling its weight in the timeslot.

The New York Times happens to have a story today that explains why total number of viewers don't matter.

Note how The Good Wife has twice the viewership of V, but a slightly lower rating. That means its audience skews too old. V has the benefit of locking in the younger-skewing audience the advertisers want.

Another important factor: How well is V hanging onto the Lost audience in the infamous post-Lost "deathslot" that has gotten so many other shows cancelled? This week, it's 67% (I think it was more like 70% last week.) Can't recall exactly what the figures have been in previous seasons, but it seems like 40-50% was more the norm - the audience bailed in droves.

Yet another factor: ABC seems to want to have some kind of cult sci fi series for next season. None of their candidates will replace Lost but anything halfway respectable will do. The competitors for renewal on this basis are FlashForward and V, and the former is definitely going to be cancelled.

ABC could also trot out a sci fi series next season and try, try again. The only sci fi pilot they have is No Ordinary Family, which is more in the superhero vein of sci fi, not so much the mystery/conspiracy focus of Lost.

All this means that if V doesn't lose any more viewers, it has a decent chance of returning. But the trend is worrysome.

As for why people aren't watching, heck people don't watch anything anymore. Every show just tanks in the ratings because there's too much to watch and everyone's confused. Networks advertise shows chiefly by ads on their own networks but when everyone is a) watching cable instead and b) zapping ads, then how can anyone find out about any new shows?

 

[stj]

ABC should flip V and FlashForward in the timeslots, to see what would happen. It probably won't, ABC was monkeying around with FlashForward and its showrunners before the show ever aired. This is almost certainly because of discomfort with thematic implications. The properly dumbed down version of FlashForward might pass muster as politically correct, but the resulting product has no strong loyalties either. Some shows are so bad the network execs can improve them, but the only improvement they seem to have accomplished is getting rid of David Goyer's five minutes til the end music videos.

As for ratings, the income demographics, which are not publicized, count for more than the 18-49 demographic. Those are proprietary. But the total number of viewers still counts, so The Good Wife is still the winner of the time slot.
Although one could imagine interest peaking as Lost and FlashForward end, one cannot imagine the same for V, which never did a really good episode. This sucker's got nowhere else to go but down. ABC has already killed FlashForward and they should put V out of its misery. They don't need a scifi cult "hit." Lost was not regarded as scifi when it had the huge audiences and only came out the genre closet when the audiences started shrinking.

 

[Temis the Vorta]

ABC should flip V and FlashForward in the timeslots, to see what would happen.

I suspect that nothing would happen (except that there would be some audience erosion caused by the timeslot change). Each show is losing viewers because the content is not hanging onto them.

But the total number of viewers still counts, so The Good Wife is still the winner of the time slot.

Not unless the old ladies watching that show are really rich old ladies and the advertisers are Lexus and that sort. And how do we know the viewers of V aren't richer on average than the viewers of The Good Wife?

They don't need a scifi cult "hit."

All networks know the benefits of trying to diversify their programming except for CBS, where success has bred complacency, and even in their case, their aging viewers aren't going to guarantee success forever. Which is why every pilot season, you see an avalanche of the usual cop show crap, and a smattering of attempts to glom onto that elusive new cultish sf/f show. ABC, NBC, CW and Fox all have at least one candidate in that field and the cable networks are starting to get in on that action as well now.

And that's a good thing, since the alternative is wall to wall cop/lawyer/doc/sitcom/reality garbage. Might as well throw your TV out the window.

 

[Aragorn]

Hey, don't be dissing CBS. Their new fall lineup of Criminal Minds: San Francisco, NCIS: Anchorage, The Chicago Mentalist and Beverly Hills Ghost Whisperer is NOT complacency! Just think of all the different Lost and Fringe shows we'd have if they were on CBS!

 

[Joel_Kirk]

Kenneth Johnson has nothing to do with this version of "V."

I stand corrected...

 

[Temis the Vorta]

Hey, don't be dissing CBS. Their new fall lineup of Criminal Minds: San Francisco, NCIS: Anchorage, The Chicago Mentalist and Beverly Hills Ghost Whisperer is NOT complacency! Just think of all the different Lost and Fringe shows we'd have if they were on CBS!

Too bad V isn't on CBS. They could have a V series in every city where the spaceships are. Maybe Tokyo or Rio would be a bit more exciting or at least original?

 

[FreezeC77]

Hey, don't be dissing CBS. Their new fall lineup of Criminal Minds: San Francisco, NCIS: Anchorage, The Chicago Mentalist and Beverly Hills Ghost Whisperer is NOT complacency! Just think of all the different Lost and Fringe shows we'd have if they were on CBS!

hah. If you think about it next season on CBS if they do that Forest Whitaker spin-off of Criminal Minds they'll have 7 out of 15 weeknight hours of programming spent on 3 franchises.

 

[JD]

Is it wrong that I'm mostly likely going to be watching 6 out of those 7? (I don't watch CSI:Miami)

 

[Temis the Vorta]

Is it wrong that I'm mostly likely going to be watching 6 out of those 7? (I don't watch CSI:Miami)

It's wrong that you watch one of those.

 

[The Habs Fan]

Excellent

I love the fast pace and twists this show has. I also liked seeing Krycek as the kid's Dad.

 

[DarthPipes]

I had some things to do so I wasn't paying full attention to it but I like what I saw.

The guy who plays Ryan does a very good job but I can't find him sympathetic. What he's doing to his girlfriend is wrong and inexcusable and he's a coward for not telling her the truth.

 

[Maestro]

I am quite pleased with the number of genre actors on the show:
Morena Baccarain
Alan Tudyk
Rekha Sharma
Lexa Doig
Nicholas Lea
Laura Vandervoort

That list is about to increase.

Do share.

 

[Aragorn]

I am quite pleased with the number of genre actors on the show:
Morena Baccarain
Alan Tudyk
Rekha Sharma
Lexa Doig
Nicholas Lea
Laura Vandervoort

That list is about to increase.

Do share.

Spoiler: Cast addition

Michael Trucco

And maybe you can add Charles Mesure to the list too since he had a recurring character on Hercules and Xena.

 

[DarKush]

Better episode then previous weeks, but I gotta say the biggest dick on this show has to be Ryan. So you keep from your girlfriend that you're really an alien, then you knock her up with a human/lizard hybrid baby when she has a heart condition and not knowing the effects of this type of pregnancy on her.

Then you keep it from her by having her go to your lizard-buddy Doctor and use fake ultrasounds and to top it off you start slipping lizard phosphorus or whatever supplements into her tea?

This guy is a grade-a jackass.

I don't see it that way at all. As another poster pointed out, Ryan didn't think he could have children with a human woman so he didn't get her pregnant on purpose. He was shocked and troubled when she told him she was pregnant.

I think he is a man caught up in a bad situation, largely of his own making, but he's trying to figure out the best way out of it without revealing his true nature. By keeping it quiet he thinks he's protecting her. Of course that's messed up, but I don't think that makes him a jerk or creepy. He loves his girlfriend, he doesn't want to hurt her, even though he has by lying to her and impregnating her with a hybrid fetus. He's trying to 'solve' the issue quietly, and he's trying to save her life.

If he told her would that change anything? She's already pregnant. Granted it does take away her right to make decisions, and he never should've lied to her in the first place, but admitting you're an alien is a hard thing to do, just look at Clark Kent on Smallville. If Ryan told her now she might run from him and definitely put her life in danger or go to the Vs for answers and that can't be good for her, her child, Ryan, or maybe the Fifth Column. Ryan has been selfish, but in his attempt to protect the woman he loves at almost all costs that's pretty human. And I think Morris Chestnut's acting has portrayed that fairly well.

 

[Amaris]

Just finished watching it on Hulu. I gave it an Excellent, although it's a "lower" grade of Excellent. Now it's starting to get to the point where the episode draws to a close just as I'm getting geared up and getting into it.