Well, I messed up taping the first episode of Head Cases. The second episode is sitting on a videotape upstairs, waiting to be viewed. But it seems kind of pointless now… this poorly-reviewed show is the first one of the new season to get the ax. No more episodes are scheduled to air.
Let the death derby begin
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Somehow I don’t think this was what you had in mind when titling this entry:
“Would ya believe…” Don Adams has died.
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Also, in the context you actually meant for this entry’s title, I finally found an online site that shows the complete list of Nielsen ratings for prime shows on the six major traditional networks. Go to the L.A. Times CalendarLive TV page and then click where it says “>> complete RANKINGS” to go to the current list. The URL you end up at is complex and date-specific, so it doesn’t make sense to bookmark the page directly. Supposedly, the list gets posted on wednesdays with the most likely exception being holiday weeks when it would likely be posted on a thursday. The current posted list is for the week of September 12-18.
You’re right. I posted this before Don passed away. He’s been known to be ill for a fair while.
I haven’t gone to look at the obits. I presume they all focus on Get Smart (perhaps including its lackluster revival Get Smart Again and maybe even the theatrical release The Nude Bomb.) However, I wonder if any will bother mentioning Don Adams’ Screen Test, a game show where the competition was performing acting scenes, and the prizes were small walk-on roles in movies. I wonder if anyone every really went anywhere from that. Don certainly made an interesting choice for host; he had the comedic delivery chops for a host, but was not then (rightly or wrongly) though of as an all-around actor.
And it should come as little surprise that Mark Evanier discusses Don Adams’ Screent Test in his comments on Don (and notes it as a “series which almost no one remembers and which is not in any of the obits”.)
Yes, an enjoyable remembrance of Don Adams by Mr. Evanier. Thanks for pointing it out. (Just thought I’d post the link though since you accidentally left it out. You’re welcome.
)
Oops. Posted the wrong link myself! (Went to the right web page, but the entry AFTER the one I wanted.) Pardon me while I wipe myself down from the egg on my face.
Here’s the proper link to Mark Evanier’s remembrance of Don Adams.
And I guess as per Mr. Evanier’s comment promising “No ‘Would you believe…’ jokes” I should apologize for my initial comment in the same vein. I suppose it was a tad on the obvious side, I’ll admit. What can I say, I’m just not terribly original or creative. Oh well, consider it an homage—sounds classier that way.
Well, if you will excuse a comment that may be in bad taste, when I first heard the news, I was reminded that the long delayed release of Get Smart on DVD was announced for later this year (or early next, can’t recall for sure). The Adams/Smart quote I thought of was, “Missed it by that much”.
Thanks for the catch on the messed-up link, Rich.
And Michael: the hope is that they got some comments or commentary from Adams, even in his weakened state, before he passed. Not that commentary is always needed (I’m a bit commentaried out in general), but it’s better to have it available for those who want it.
Even better than many commentaries on TV series collections are new (or recent) interviews with cast members and others. The interviews on the Seinfeld Season 4 collection I just finished were much more interesting than the commentaries. I think Mark Evanier had a comment recently that he hoped that studios would try and interview folks for DVD sets that weren’t firmly scheduled yet to ensure that contributions from people like Don Adams can be obtained before it’s too late.
It looks like the L.A. Times full list of Nielsen ratings for last week has been posted. My link goes directly to the list page. The text there still says they’re for Sep 12-18 (mon-sun), but that’s gotta be a mistake since the link path itself shows “Sep28″, so the prior week should thus be Sep 19-25. Besides which…
The list includes the following significant show debuts of last week: (4) Criminal Minds, (9) Invasion, (15) My Name Is Earl, (22) Out of Practice, (27) Ghost Whisperer, (28) Surface, (30) How I Met Your Mother, (39) E-Ring, (47) Three Wishes, (71) Inconceivable, (82) Killer Instinct, (88) Kitchen Confidential, and (113) Twins. I probably missed one or two, but those are most of the notable ones.
Of course, I’m sure everyone knows that one week does not make or break a series, but it’s somewhat interesting to see what did well and what didn’t out of the chute. And I know the “netlets” of UPN and the WB draw significantly less viewers for their “successful” shows than do the big three of CBS, ABC, and NBC, with FOX perhaps just a rung down from those three, so mere rankings are not necessarily indicative of which ones might make it and which will get axed. Still, I was surprised that Criminal Minds did so well (opposite Lost). I figured Invasion would be the top debut with ABC’s hype and the cushy time slot following Lost.
Looks to me like (43) Threshold, (53) Prison Break, and (63) Bones are all significantly leaking viewers.
As a personal aside, I tried Bones again last night (after not watching the second episode the previous week), but I wasn’t able to stick it out—shut it off halfway through. Also, I’ve still been watching Prison Break, but almost as a sitcom really just to chuckle at some of the absurdities. I’d kind of made up my mind, though, that this monday’s was gonna be my last viewing and then it ended with ye olde “To be continued…” So I’ll probably still watch it next week too just to at least get the full installment, but then I definitely think I’m bailing. If it hadn’t been for the chuckle factor, I’d have bailed after the first episode.
I made a boo-boo. I was thinking Criminal Minds premiered opposite Lost and then was moving to another slot. But of course that just wouldn’t make any sense! No, it debuted last week on thursday might at 10 and now moves to it’s regular slot opposite Lost starting tonight. So I look for CM‘s numbers to drastically drop from it’s Nielsen debut at #4. The #4 ranking beating out #9 Invasion still surprises me somewhat, but not nearly as much as I thought.