The Spin-off
Fall TV Fails to Excite, New Faces in Late Night
Fall TV is officially up and running, and while people are still turning up for linear TV, the general sense of excitement around this year's new shows pales in comparison to last year. And all the new late night hosts are now in place, most recently Trevor Noah replacing Jon Stewart on The Daily Show.
By Michael Schneider • • 33m ListenAfter the last big publicity push at the summer TCA gathering, we're finally seeing the fruits of all the networks' labor, and some of those fruits are looking like lemons.
There's a noted lack of pizazz around this year's crop of freshman shows. Last year there were lots of fresh faces and ideas coming to the small screen, but this year seems to retread a lot of concepts from many years past. In some ways, this season is highlighting the slow collapse of linear television.
Even ABC's The Muppets, a show many people were excited about, so far seems to be...just OK.
Not all is lost though. Ratings show people are still watching some shows in real time, especially Fox's mega-hit Empire. The hip-hop soap opera kicked off Season 2 with massive numbers, both in terms of how many people were watching, and how many people were tweeting about it. Though that big push for social media engagement fell flat for another Fox show, Scream Queens. Despite a weak debut, the show did pick up some significant numbers in delayed viewing.
For viewers who stick around after primetime, they're seeing some new faces on late night. Stephen Colbert has a few week's worth of hosting under his belt at The Late Show, while Trevor Noah is just settling into his first week as host of The Daily Show.
In Noah's first night as host, the show stuck very much to the familiar structure of The Daily Show as it was hosted by Jon Stewart. Time will tell if Noah sticks to that routine or breaks out to make the show more of his own.
End of show Downloads:
Libby:CSI has officially ended, and with it goes one of the most influential series in TV history. It's easy to forget that when the show originally started in 2000, it was something of a revolution, and helped kick off the science is cool movement.
Joe: Next month, the channel GetTV is adding a variety show block to their Monday nights. They'll show episodes of The Judy Garland Show,The Merv Griffin Show, and other vintage variety acts.
Mike: A shout-out to Emmy voters, who finally landed on the right winners this year. Jon Hamm finally got his Emmy, and Viola Davis made history as the first African American woman to win for best actress in a drama. Shows like Game of Thrones and VEEP were also finally recognized.
