Nielsen: How would you measure up?

Just to expand a bit on my latest post, today I read this article on Media Post's TV Watch: "First week: Viewers don't sink their teeth in." In the article, Wayne Friedman talks about the decreased ratings for premieres this year compared to last year. He includes some insight about DVRs. As I've said before, Nielsen finally got smart and started factoring in DVR viewings to the ratings.

Nielsen uses three measures - live viewing, DVR playback within three days (L3), and DVR playback within seven days (L7). So that got me thinking - what would Nielsen discover about me, were I one of the chosen few to be included in their ratings? And what about you? What are your live shows, your L3 shows, and your L7 shows? And are you like me, with shows you're all backed up on? Those wouldn't make it in at all.

So here are mine, generally...

Live viewing:
- The Office
- 30 Rock
- How I Met Your Mother
- Heroes
- Bones
- It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia

L3:
- Grey's Anatomy

L7:
- House
- Pushing Daisies
- One Tree Hill

And unless I forgot something, I guess everything else falls off due to viewing after more than a week. At least so far. (But I need to get back into some of my old shows and also a couple new shows... that might change some things.) So what about you?

Strike fallout?

I've been saying from the start that the writers' strike would impact TV ratings this year. So far, my predictions are coming true.

According to Advertising Age today, in its article "Save the Serial Dramas, Save TV Ratings?", TV viewers turned to reality tv during the strike last year, and are reluctant to jump back in to serial dramas.

Shows like NBC's Chuck and Life have decreased viewership, while sitcoms and shows like CSI: Miami (blech) don't, and the theory is that it's due to the serials being difficult to come in to if you've missed a week, if you failed to see the premiere last season, or if you blatantly don't remember what happened before the strike because it was so long ago.

However, there are shows bucking the trend, including CW's Gossip Girl and One Tree Hill, both serials with increased viewership. But I have theories for that as well.

First of all, the CW's marketing of Gossip Girl was GENIUS. The OMFG ad was brilliant in itself to capture the teeny bopper crowd. But the campaign that used negative quotes from the Parents' Television Council and others is really the ace in the hole here. It even made my sister, a Gossip Girl hater, want to watch the show. The ads are shown here as well.



For One Tree Hill, I think the CW did a great job turning its storylines around from last season and making the show interesting again. It also helps that its lead-in program is Gossip Girl. What more could you want?

Regardless, I don't blame TV viewers for not wanting to get back into some of their old shows. I myself am having a difficult time getting involved in as many hour-long dramas as I used to watch, and for me it's absolutely about the writers' strike. As I've said before, I've gotten used to doing other things while I watch TV, or not tuning in at all, since all that was on in the second half of last season was reality tv. I'm trying hard to get back into the groove.

What say you Televisionistas -- are you having trouble like I am and like the Nielsen ratings show? Or are Nielsen ratings, this Wall St. Journal article, and my opinion just bogus? (Well, we know Nielsen ratings are.) Sound off!

Strike out

I'll keep this brief. If an actors' strike messes up my fall tv season, I'm going to be really really angry. Beyond angry. I might start a strike of my own. Against TV and all its overpaid blowhards. Sorry, was that too harsh?

Read about TV's imminent destruction: "TV Watch: Another TV Strike Could Mean Another Marketing Problem For TV Executives"

Grey's: no longer gray

I gave up on Grey's Anatomy back in December, but I figured I'd be back, so I saved all the episodes my DVR recorded between then and now. On Sunday, I sat down and watched them all -- and I'm so glad I did. Grey's. Is. Back.

I don't know why I was frustrated with it before. Maybe it was all the blood during sweeps in the fall. I didn't sign up to watch gross ER-like scenes. (Seth Green, I love ya, but the exploding artery storyline was dis-gusting.) But I honestly think the Grey's writers had gone a bit astray.

Why? Logically, it makes sense to blame Private Practice, Shonda Rimes' Grey's spinoff, for distracting Shonda from her moneymaker. Note that the eps are getting good again now that Private Practice is off the air. You could also blame the Isaiah Washington scandal for distracting the whole Grey's staff and screwing with the chemistry on the show. Or maybe Shonda lost sight of what Grey's viewers really want to see (Strong Cristina, Izzy the Fighter, Lovelorn/Psychotic Meredith, Humanized Bailey, Sensitive but Also Asshole-ish Derek, Unmarried George, and a lot less of the minor/new characters).

Regardless, we're finally back. There's less blood, a little humor, a lot more heart, and I heard that Derek and Meredith are getting together for real at the end of the season. Maybe this is one show that was helped and not hurt by the writers' strike. Seriously.

Bearded trainwreck.

I still love Conan, but I'm watching his writerless broadcast right now... I can't bear to see it. The man's got a beard, and it looks awful. More than that, he's so nervous that he's out of breath. And he's quite obviously trying to make it bad on purpose. Part of the shtick to get the writers' strike settled, and to get people to watch his show. Painful. He's spinning his wedding ring on his desk right now. I mean, I get it, but -- please. Conan. Come on. You're a writer.

That's why he's doing it though. You can tell he feels like Benedict Arnold.

Let's just get this strike settled, eh?

Waaaa

For the record, I'm getting pretty crabby about this writer's strike. I miss my tv shows.

Writers' Strike

Interesting thoughts about the writers strike, with some nice number comparisons to put things in perspective. Friedman rubs me the wrong way usually, but this is worth a read. From Media Post:

Writers And Networks: Internet Dollars With Less Sense

Speaking of the strike, Carson Daly was the first strikebreaker last night. Supposedly he didn't want his staff fired, which was set to happen today, but as the astute (and incredibly annoying and unprofessional) newscaster pointed out this morning, he probably didn't want his SHOW to get canceled. Since it's a waste of space. Didn't watch it last night, but I have little respect for his writers, so I'm sure it wasn't much different than usual. Terrible, terrible show.

Conan O'Brien: marry me.

Another man I'm in love with, even more than I was before. Move over Stewart and Colbert. Out of the way, Joss Whedon and Aaron Sorkin. Conan O'Brien is my man.

NBC was going to lay off Conan's production staff of 80 today because of the writers' strike, so instead Conan's going to pay all of their salaries.

Read the article here: "Conan O'Brien grows a strike beard"

Also, check this site out: Late Night Underground