'Alcatraz' Premiere Tops 'Terra Nova'
What does that mean for the dinosaur drama then?
The new Fox series "Alcatraz" seems to have won some points with viewers, earning a solid debut in its two-hour premiere that topped "Terra Nova's" attempt in the fall.
The series from "Star Trek" and "Star Trek 2" director J.J. Abrams averaged a 6.0 rating/9 share Monday, according to Fast National overnight ratings from The Nielsen Co. Those are the best numbers that timeslot has seen on Fox since "Terra Nova" grabbed a 6.3/9 on Oct. 10 -- a series high.
Its premiere was 7 percent better than "Terra Nova's" 5.6/8 in September, and a 46 percent jump from what "Terra Nova" got in its first season finale Dec. 19.
The strength of the premiere could possibly spell the end of "Terra Nova." Fox said it was waiting to see how its mid-season shows did before making a decision on Steven Spielberg's expensive dino-drama, but because of the time needed to produce episodes, indicated it would have to make that decision sooner rather than later.
One week, however, is not a good judge of a show. But airing two episodes back-to-back can give an indication of how much audiences may have liked what they saw. The second hour of "Alcatraz" lost just 2 percent of its first hour. It also beat "The Bachelor" on ABC and competed strongly with "How I Met Your Mother" and "2 Broke Girls" on CBS. All shows were up against a high-rated NBC special celebrating the 90th birthday of actress Betty White.
If the ratings held and were compared to where all shows stood at the end of December, "Alcatraz" would be Fox's top-rated scripted show ahead of "Bones" (5.6/8), and would be right behind "The X Factor," which managed a 6.3/10 in its first season.
"Alcatraz" will air Mondays at 9 p.m. ET on Fox, switching places with "House," which was the lead-out show for "Terra Nova" in the fall.
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by browncoat1984 | Tue, 01/17/2012 - 16:10 #1
Watched it. It was okay but I haven't made a decision on it yet. That, combined with the possibility of Terra Nova or Alcatraz getting canceled (after I watched Terra Nova) has made me decide not to get attached to it until I hear of renewal.
RE: Terra Nova - would it be possible for FOX to renew this as a summer series? Last I checked FOX doesn't have much of a summer lineup and Terra Nova might be the perfect show to start one with? It seems like it would be a great summer show. If it IS canceled though, would they shop it to another network? I mean, it didn't do amazing numbers but it did perform solidly. A show like Terra Nova might have life on a network like SyFy (though I doubt SyFy would have the money to fund it like FOX did).
Also, what other shows are FOX airing in the Spring? Its possible one of those shows could get canceled and Terra Nova put in its place, or one of FOX's other existing shows.
I hope it isn't canceled because it was just starting to get interesting at the end there.
by mhinman | Tue, 01/17/2012 - 17:36 #2
It's not a matter of room on the schedule ... but more about how much money it's making. There are not enough summer viewers to justify it though.
by Skylark Thibedeau | Wed, 01/25/2012 - 10:37 #3
This is very bad news for fans of 'Terra Nova'. Unless ratings for 'Alcatraz' slip precipitously the former is doomed as it costs more to make and has smaller ratings. We see the same thing at Syfy. NBC-U is ditching the expensive CGI laden shows for those that can be produced in local Hollywood or Cheap Canadian locations with modern clothes, weapons, and technology(or going to crappy 'reality' programming).