3102 replies to this topic

[Nikki125]

For those of you who don’t already know, the two-episode premiere is August 29th @ 8pm. And according to The Futon Critic, Fox will air it again on September 1st and FX will run a marathon of the first seven episodes on October 23. Awesome. I guess this means Fox has a lot of faith in the show and are doing all they can to get it the exposure it needs.

Edited by Nikki125, Aug 22, 2005 @ 9:46 PM.

[BanjoSteve]

The first episode scheduled is called "Pilot; Allen". Isn't that just because it's two episodes played successively, and therefore there should be two episode threads, one called "Pilot" and one called "Allen"?

ETA: Thanks. Who knows, maybe the first episode prominently features a pilot named Allen.

Edited by BanjoSteve, Aug 23, 2005 @ 12:39 PM.

[sobell]

BanjoSteve, since the episodes are airing back to back in one two-hour premiere block, I'm treating them like one episode for now.

[Genius]

From what I can tell, the official programming grid from Fox shows that Prison Break will be replaced by 24 in January. Knowing Fox's schedule last year, they almost seem to program mid-season replacements expecting fall shows to fail. Like, North Shore was programmed to fail Thursday at 9 until Point Pleasant debuted last January, I believe. I'm trusting Fox will find a place for this show if it's successful once 24 rolls around. Or maybe Fox will pull a Desperate Housewives/Alias bump, and actually bounce 24 to a new time period if Prison Break improves on 24's average weekly ratings. Hmmm....

[jerusha]

Does anyone else think "Hard Time: Scheduling and Ratings Issues" would be a good name for this thread? No? Just me?

I hope they don't move it to Wed. 9pm if they cancel "Head Cases". I already have two other TWoP shows in that time slot! Thursday is not going to be a productive day at work this fall...

Nope: I did too. Thanks for the suggestion! -- sobell.

Thanks, Sobell. That made my day.

Edited by jerusha, Aug 25, 2005 @ 4:30 PM.

[dhb]

From what I can tell, the official programming grid from Fox shows that Prison Break will be replaced by 24 in January.

I think that the main reason for that is that Prison Break is only scheduled to run 13 episodes. If we get any more episodes, it wouldn't be until the second season.

[BanjoSteve]

I thought the plan was to have a full-length, but non-stop season. Now that I add it up (two eps in August, four in September, four in October, four in November, four in December) I see there's not enough time for that. Close though.

[Genius]

If Prison Break is successful, and expected to run a full 22 episodes, I'm sure they can plug it into the sure-to-be-cancelled-by-then Bones time period.

[filifiona]

Now that I add it up (two eps in August, four in September, four in October, four in November, four in December) I see there's not enough time for that

They can always schedule two 2 hours-episodes - sometime mid-season and the season finale. To my understanding the original plan was that the complete season airs before 24 starts.

[BanjoSteve]

When I did my original calculation, I forgot about baseball, which should mean a couple episodes are getting skipped (BTW, does anyone have any info on just how baseball will affect the scheduling?). Plus, even if they do double up a couple episodes, they'd still just be finishing during the holiday hiatus, which is the worst time to do a season finale. So it's pretty much impossible to do a whole 22 episode season before January.

Anyway, I think it'll be better that way. This is precisely the type of show that should have shorter seasons. Look at what happened to Lost in the early months of 2005: too much padding and adding more and more mysteries just to keep the ball in the air. I've been saying for a while that more network TV shows should have seasons more like Survivor, with three months on, then three months off and so on, with each season being a relatively self-contained arc. Prison Break looks like it might follow a similar plan.

[sobell]

I've been saying for a while that more network TV shows should have seasons more like Survivor, with three months on, then three months off and so on, with each season being a relatively self-contained arc.

You're not the only one who's been saying that: HBO's really showed how you can get a lot of storytelling bang for the 13-episode buck. And I hope that's the case with this show: I'd love to have 13 episodes that tell a solid story, as opposed to 22 episodes that string out the same story.

[sobell]

FYI: I don't think episode countdown posts add anything of relevance or substance to any thread. Please refrain.

[tvgal]

Anyone know what shows Prison Break is up against when all the fall shows come back?

[BanjoSteve]

Just Legal on WB, Two and a Half Men and Out of Practice on CBS, Las Vegas on NBC, Monday Night Football on ABC, and Girlfriends and Half & Half on UPN. MNF and 2.5 Men should be the main competition, though more the former than the latter.

[Pidge]

Unless Fox moves it to a different timeslot, PB will be toast. Despite all the glowing reviews and Wenthworth Miller, unfortunately.
Both Two and a Half Men and Football are Top 10 shows.

[pablito]

I disagree Pidge, Fox probably cares more about the 18-40 demo. While Monday Football kills in that category, I have a feeling that Prison Break will do amazing with the female 18-40 group in this timeslot.

Question: I remember reading a very very short notice before upfronts that Prison Break was waiting in the wings for a summer release. Instead The Inside took that spot. Would this explain the short season? Or did I just read some notice wrong and prison break was always intended for the fall season?

If Prison Break takes off decently (time slot improvement) and it was originally supposed to be only a summer series, I have to give it to Peter Ligouri for changing it up and putting the show in the fall.

[dealan]

Assuming that this show does get picked up for the rest of the season, does that mean that it's going to have to move nights because of 24? Because I don't see this show running before 9pm, and the news is at 10pm.

Edited by dealan, Aug 30, 2005 @ 3:03 AM.

[sobell]

dealan, several posters have pointed out that this show is only 13 episodes long, so it'll have wrapped up prior to January 2006.

[calalily]

Anyone know if Fox is re-airing the pilot at any point before the FX reruns in October? I missed it last night, but it sounds good so I'd like to catch it sometime if possible...

[sobell]

Per the very first post in this thread:

For those of you who don’t already know, the two-episode premiere is August 29th @ 8pm. And according to The Futon Critic, Fox will air it again on September 1st and FX will run a marathon of the first seven episodes on October 23. Awesome. I guess this means Fox has a lot of faith in the show and are doing all they can to get it the exposure it needs.

Read the thread before asking questions. As we say in the FAQ:

I can't possibly read all these messages; I'd just like to post my own thoughts.

Oh, is that so? Well, that's rather rude of you. If you have time to post, you have time to read what others have posted before you.

We know it's a lot to read on some forums. Tough. Show your fellow posters the courtesy which you expect, and read what they've written to make sure you aren't repeating what dozens of other people have already said.

You are expected to read -- and not rehash -- the content in a thread from at least the last fifteen pages or the last fifteen days, whichever is greater.

[Whooter]

Anyone know if Fox is re-airing the pilot at any point before the FX reruns in October? I missed it last night, but it sounds good so I'd like to catch it sometime if possible...

Fox is re-airing the premiere on Thursday night @ 8pm ET.

[sobell]

Which ... I basically said in the post immediately above yours. Right before the part where I reminded everyone of the importance of reading the preceding posts in the thread.

Edited by sobell, Aug 30, 2005 @ 10:59 AM.

[para]

Mediaweek has the ratings up:

Fox got a boost last night, with the two-hour premiere of the action-packed Prison Break at a second-place 7.5/11 in the overnights from 8-10 p.m. Prison Break built as the night progressed as follows: 8:00 p.m.: 6.9/11, 8:30 p.m.: 7.4/11, 9:00 p.m.: 7.6/11, 9:30 p.m.: 7.8/11.

The 18-49 demo isn't available because Nielsen messed up.

[Dea]

So... I'm not good at analyzing ratings, as most of my favorite shows are not ratings winners. In my world a 3 share is da bomb, but I'm thinking this show is on a different scale. What I'm getting at here is - are these ratings good or disappointing? I mean "a boost" sounds positive, but maybe it's just Mediaweek's attempt at spin....

[marsbarchar]

Dea, sounds like you are a Veronica Mars fan...we would kill for these ratings.

[para]

The ratings translate into 8 million households and 11 percent of people watching tv yesterday around 8 and 9pm were watching the show. But nevertheless they are pretty non-descript, because PB didn't had a lot of competition yesterday, since all the new shows start in September. However the upward trend from one 30 minutes to another is really promising.

[BanjoSteve]

However good the ratings are now, they're relatively meaningless until the competitors' shows start their new seasons. Has MNF started yet? Is that what was first? Because if Prison Break is second place to a bunch of reruns, that's a bad sign.

ETA: Never mind. It was the second place show of the night, behind CSI Miami, and it won its time slot. So those are good ratings. It looks like it even beat a preseason MNF in the ratings.

Edited by BanjoSteve, Aug 30, 2005 @ 11:50 AM.

[Dea]

marsbarchar - heh, you got in in one. I am also a fan of Farscape, and many many other programs that died prematurely (Eyes, Karen Sisco, Touching Evil).

Basically I'm ratings poison as a viewer, so I just assumed this would do crap numbers as well. Glad to see I'm wrong, at least this week. Next week may show my true deadliness.

[CloudyNL]

Really good numbers:

FOX's 6.8 rating/11 share for the night tied CBS for first among households, but FOX was alone in first among total viewers, drawing 10.46 million people to CBS' 10 million. ABC took third at 5.4/9, followed by NBC at 3.6/6. UPN's 1.5/2 beat out The WB's 1.3/2 for fifth.

 
"Prison Break" also delivered a victory among adults 18-49 for FOX, which averaged a 4.6 rating in the key ad-sales demographic. CBS, 3.3, took second, and ABC was third at 3.1. NBC averaged 1.8, UPN 0.8 and The WB 0.7.

The first half of "Prison Break's" two-hour premiere posted a 6.6/10 for FOX at 8 p.m. "Prison Break" improved to 7.1/11 at 9 p.m. to keep FOX on top.

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