New Fall TV Tuesdays: Six Questions

CRAIG: How do you think Forever will do against the competition and with SHIELD as a lead-in?

SHILO: Forever is exactly the type of show that ABC should be pursuing – a light, repeatable character procedural in the vein of Castle. And it’s not in the worst situation to find an audience, as its competition will have lesser lead-ins (i.e. About a Boy for Chicago Fire and NCIS: New Orleans for Person of Interest) than they did last fall and SHIELD should benefit from the hot streak it went on at the end of its first season, as well as being placed in the higher-viewed 9:00 hour.

However, SHIELD might be too male-skewing a lead-in to properly boost Forever; there’s a chance that Forever could draw a fairly decent female audience and enough of SHIELD’s viewers stick around for it to survive, but the more likely scenario is that Forever, whose marketing campaign has centered on star Ioan Gruffudd’s physical appearance, turns out to not be the show that appeals to those who watch SHIELD. Additionally, should Selfie and Manhattan Love Story have an adverse impact on SHIELD, Forever could have a hard time getting sampled, as that lack of casual viewers is a death knell for something of its ilk.

Overall, I think that Forever will have decent total viewer numbers, but a slightly incongruous lead-in that might be deflated by its own lead-in and competition from another female-skewing procedural (Chicago Fire) will keep it from being getting much of a foothold in the demo. It might get a stay of execution due to the presumed difficulties in the 8:00 hour, but I can’t see it lasting past its initial 13-episode order.

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