This Season’s TV: Reassessing Our 2014-2015 Predictions

WEDNESDAY

CRAIG:  I wish Red Band Society had worked out. It did have a very likable cast, but, you’re right, especially with the dark subject matter, I think people may have been turned off. Who wants to fall in love with characters when at least one is destined to die young? As such, Red Band was also not the threat to The 100 that I expected it to be. (I do feel The 100’s fan base is growing rapidly, and The CW should take advantage of that by making episodes as available as they can make them.)

The Goldbergs on Wednesday definitely worked out well.

You mentioned that you will eat your shoe if Stalker was not one of the biggest hits, so would you like some toppings on said shoe? You also said that “next season” (meaning, this coming one) is when ABC should move Nashville, and I agree.

SHILO: My Wednesday predictions were especially off this season, as Stalker was not one of the 2-3 biggest fall hits. For that matter, it wasn’t one of the 2-3 biggest fall hits on CBS, which took me by surprise. Given its weak competition, I assumed that Stalker would seize control of its time slot fairly early and allow CBS to focus on other areas of its schedule; however, it turns out that even the most genetically designed lead-out cannot overcome poor buzz and a possibly off-putting marketing campaign. The extremity in its storytelling might’ve been too much, too soon for the CBS audience, which doesn’t tend to take to anything outside its comfort zone, while the toxic response to its controversial pilot likely prevented much sampling from any outside audience. Whatever the reason for its (likely) demise, I didn’t see it coming.

I will give The Mysteries of Laura this – it wasn’t the first cancellation of the season like I expected it to be. I assumed it would have a mediocre debut and fall apart afterward, becoming one of the bigger craters on the NBC schedule and forcing the network to make a move. While Laura became 2014-2015’s Harry’s Law, a show with strong total viewer numbers but an anemic demo draw, it’s been able to stay on the schedule thanks to NBC falling apart elsewhere. The NBC freshman class has been so disastrous that Mysteries of Laura has been rumored to be a possible renewal – a way for the network to save face and avoid cancelling every new show they premiered this season. With established players also falling apart (Grimm, The Blacklist, About a Boy), Laura fell down the list of NBC worries, so while ultimately I don’t think the show will be back, good for it for lasting a season and outperforming what I thought it would do.

Unfortunately, you were off the mark in thinking that Red Band Society could find a young audience. I understand why you thought that way, given that this was the same network that launched Glee and that Red Band’s premise set it apart from other shows on broadcast, but personally, I think two things were at the root of a Red Band Society cancellation. For one, the show’s hospital setting combined with its use of teenage actors likely kept people from getting too invested, for fear of watching kids slowly wither away and lose their battle with terminal illness; secondly, I think the show was marketed like the second-coming of Glee, which was a mistake given that A) it turned what could’ve been a broad hit into something niche-y and B) the goodwill surrounding Glee dissipated years ago. It was the right move to focus on the show’s lighter tone and quirky sense of humor, but I think FOX might’ve went too far in that direction and left the cognitive dissonance (a funny show about kids with terminal illnesses?) in the hands of viewers.