The FLASH TV SERIES

[Vibranium]

I tend to give more slack to a pilot than a standard episode

and pretty has been a part of The WB/now CW since the start...Dawsons Creek anyone?

[saul_on_the_road_to_damascus]

Smallville was dreadful. If they had made it about superboy and not superman then it would have been so much better. They could have used the teen titans minus robin

[Vibranium]

Smallville shoved itself into a hiding spot for about 5 or 6 seasons until Lois and GA were introduced and I enjoyed the show well enough

if you stay on TV 10 years, youre doing something right

[Jabare]

As for the topic of race, gender, ethnicity. I don't see why people get so up in arms. Their fictional characters, and the shows trying to appeal to a broad audience. Its just a very minor complaint/nitpick. That really doesn't matter. Is the show engaging/entertaining? Do the actors give good performances? How's the directing/writing? Those are the chief concerns. Fictional source material is always subject to change, heck so is non-ficitonal source material on these types of sensationalized shows.

Frankly I think they should release all pilots early. Give people a chance to judge them and decide which shows they will watch. I kinda wish that was how they would decide which shows went to series. Put them on line and let people vote.

They do this already its called the Up Fronts, for TV executives. And if you have a close friend or family member who gets a screener you can watch it there. Its actually not a bad idea to have the general public judge shows than network executives try and guess.

Its funny one of TV's most popular shows CSI almost didn't make the cut and we almost got some show about Tony Danza as a detective with his daughters. There's a little more to the story but thats the gist of it.

As long as those same people watch the pilot in October to support the show, I think it's okay with anyone who downloads the show.

I actually don't care how people watch stuff personally, legally or illegally it happens. I'm just surprised how many websites are openly publicizing that the pilots online. And People doing their own reviews and write ups. And I'm not talking about rinky dink blogs from blogspot but legit websites with high web traffic. Just a little surprising.


And once again this was not intentionally done I can almost promise you. At least not from the head honchos. If someone lower down the food chain working for the network or someone who just happened to get a screener did it thats another matter. Now hypothetically speaking if this was intentional that would be cause for alarm for a number of reasons.

[Vibranium]

Frankly I think they should release all pilots early. Give people a chance to judge them and decide which shows they will watch. I kinda wish that was how they would decide which shows went to series. Put them on line and let people vote.

the people are morons, to put it plainly

Seinfeld had the worst focus test that NBC has ever seen, and it resurrected NBCs comedy block

Amazon did that.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OABTCR9A5X8

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EX-DF...5JBLUq&index=1

Too bad that zombieland the series wasn't picked up

and then Zombielands creator whined about it not getting picked up

quoted as

"I'll never understand the vehement hate the pilot received from die-hard Zombieland fans. You guys successfully hated it out of existence.

[Jabare]

To be fair some people at the Up Fronts and pilot screenings are just a bunch of yes men, some afraid to voice their true opinions for fear of disagreeing with the boss or something.

And Focus Group testing is far from an exact science. Take it from someone that use to work in that business. Sometimes the data u get is worth while but a lot of times I question it. Especially since most people seem to have better things to do than come in for a few books and talk to some complete strangers about a product or a trailer etc. etc.






As for the CW, I'm sure the Flash series will get renewed for multiple seasons. CW's ratings are so bad its a joke compared to other networks. If a Fox show pulled ratings of an average CW show it wouldn't last more than an episode in prime time. CW misguidedly targeted the teenage girl demographic and its just backfired in their face for years. They've been trying to mesh in the fantasy/SyFy crowd but it hasn't really taken as well as they want. But CW's been content with what its doing so I expect Flash to be around for a long time. Who knows maybe Flash will break the mold and pull in some decent ratings comparable to the other "true" major networks. Also its really the demo number that matters not so much the actual ratings.

[Vibranium]

To be fair some people at the Up Fronts and pilot screenings are just a bunch of yes men, some afraid to voice their true opinions for fear of disagreeing with the boss or something.

fair, but I don't think that is as prevalent as wanting something that advertisers will like and give you ad revenue for

As for the CW, I'm sure the Flash series will get renewed for multiple seasons. CW's ratings are so bad its a joke compared to other networks. If a Fox show pulled ratings of an average CW show it wouldn't last more than an episode in prime time. CW misguidedly targeted the teenage girl demographic and its just backfired in their face for years. They've been trying to mesh in the fantasy/SyFy crowd but it hasn't really taken as well as they want. But CW's been content with what its doing so I expect Flash to be around for a long time. Who knows maybe Flash will break the mold and pull in some decent ratings comparable to the other "true" major networks. Also its really the demo number that matters not so much the actual ratings.

CWs ratings are hardly "bad" for the distribution the network actually has, hell they had some nights this past year where they were right under NBC

[saul_on_the_road_to_damascus]

the people are morons, to put it plainly

Seinfeld had the worst focus test that NBC has ever seen, and it resurrected NBCs comedy block



and then Zombielands creator whined about it not getting picked up

quoted as

Seinfeld was horrible for its first three seasons. And people aren't morons. We get treated like morons though.

[Jabare]

CWs ratings are hardly "bad" for the distribution the network actually has, hell they had some nights this past year where they were right under NBC

Thats not true. CW ratings are very bad, even among their top shows, and this is a consensus. The shows your talking about had superior ratings and are getting cancelled.

CW makes money because it produces all tis own shows and can latter sell them for syndication. See Smallvill, Supernatural etc. Thats how the CW makes money.


http://insidetv.ew.com/2013/07/29/how-the-cw-survives/

How The CW survives with those ratings

he CW has the ratings of a cable network, the stagnant growth of a broadcast network and a schedule that’s pretty unique to itself, yet expensive — nearly all the network’s in-season shows are original scripted dramas, which is typically the most pricy kind of series programming.
So how does the network survive?
CBS Corp. CEO Les Moonves, addressing journalists at the Television Critics Association press tour on Monday, admitted the network itself “may lose some money.”
Yet he pointed out that the two entities that own The CW (CBS and Warner Bros. — The C … W …) produce the shows that air on the network. So as a whole, the owners still make money by selling programming to itself, and then to others. “The shows bring us more revenue than losses,” he says. The CW’s owners have further boosted revenue by making deals with digital distribution companies like Netflix and Hulu to help peddle its content using methods that may be more favorable to the network’s target younger demo.

here's an article from 2 years ago. And frankly not much has changed. Arrow's doing better than many CW shows but not that well compared to other networks. And the Tomorrow People's already been cancelled. And when a show gets cancelled from CW you know its done for. Outside of "The Game which moved to BET and is doing ok it was simply the wrong demographic and on the wrong network.

http://www.buddytv.com/articles/goss...ork-47879.aspx

Is the CW a Dying Network?


the CW is dying.

The netlet that combined the WB and UPN began six years ago, and it's been downhill ever since. Its place as the fifth major network has slowly disappeared and now it feels more like a joke than a serious broadcaster.

This is not a judgment on quality, just on ratings. Monday marked the season premieres of 90210 and Gossip Girl, and the numbers were dismal. Both shows were watched by less than one million viewers, with Gossip Girl turning in a series-low 780,000 for its final season premiere.

How bad are these numbers? They're about half of what shows like ABC Family's Switched at Birth, AMC's Hell on Wheels or Showtime's Homeland pull in. The CW's ratings for original scripted programming are lower than almost any other cable network, lower than shows on ABC Family, Lifetime, TNT, USA, FX, AMC, Showtime or HBO. New episodes of the CW's Monday shows got lower ratings than reruns of Law and Order: SVU on TNT. The only scripted shows on television that get worse ratings than the Gossip Girl season 6 premiere would be Kelsey Grammer's Boss on Starz and HBO's Treme.

These are the facts. Gossip Girl's series premiere five years ago was watched by 3.5 million viewers, now the ratings are one-fifth of that size. 90210 started at 4.65 million viewers and now it's under one million. The CW was never a huge ratings juggernaut, but things have gotten dramatically worse in recent years. Now if a show on the network gets more than 2 million viewers, it would be considered a massive hit.

How much longer can the CW exist as a broadcast network? If the numbers keep going down, not much longer. Shows like NCIS are getting 30 times the amount of viewers as Gossip Girl.

Perhaps the CW's best hope would be to radically adjust its format and adopt the approach of cable networks like ABC Family, only launching original programming on one or two nights a week, targeting summer and winter instead of trying to compete with the major networks in the fall and spring seasons. It could fill the rest of its time with various specials, like Tuesday night's TV debut of the Internet sensation Dr. Horrible's Sing-a-Long Blog. If the ratings for it are better than the original programming the CW is offering, this could be exactly where it's heading.

Whatever happens, the CW needs to make a change. When an established franchise like Gossip Girl pulls in half a million fewer viewers than the iHeartRadio Music Festival special that aired in the same time slot a week before, the network has to take notice and do something about it.

CW's ratings were so perpetually bad it had to invent its ownr atings so it didn't look as terrible

http://www.tvweek.com/blogs/tvbizwir...-cw-is-dev.php

Tired of Low Ratings, CW Is Developing Its Own Measurement System

The CW has had enough of a Nielsen ratings system that the broadcast network has been complaining about for years, saying it undercount’s CW’s young viewers. TheWrap reports that the network has decided to do something about it by developing its own system of measurement.

The measurement system was just one of the news items to surface during today’s upfront presentation by the CW. Another one is CWD, an online initiative that will offer game shows, comedies and animation, along with other content.

“One of its features will allow viewers to choose the outcome of a situation, choose-your-own adventure style. Viewers might decide whether a character kisses someone or storms out of the room, for example,” TheWrap reports.

CW is keeping details about the new measurement system close to its vest, but CW President Mark Pedowitz said it will measure who’s watching online along with the real-time audience for the broadcast network.

Pedowitz reportedly said CW is working independently on the system, not with other networks. In contrast to the industry standard of targeting viewers 18-49, CW aims for the 18-34 demo.

The story adds: “Asked if he hoped the new system would become an industry standard, Pedowitz said, ‘I think everybody has to make their own choice. I have no idea. ... We may just be a very different network from everyone else.’"

for the record this didn't fool anyone. We all still know CW pulls terrible ratings by everyone else standards

[Vakanai]

As for the topic of race, gender, ethnicity. I don't see why people get so up in arms. Their fictional characters, and the shows trying to appeal to a broad audience. Its just a very minor complaint/nitpick. That really doesn't matter. Is the show engaging/entertaining? Do the actors give good performances? How's the directing/writing? Those are the chief concerns. Fictional source material is always subject to change, heck so is non-ficitonal source material on these types of sensationalized shows.

To be fair, there's more people getting up in arms over people making that minor complaint/nitpick than the ones making it. One person says he wishes the race was the same as in the comics and five people respond (something like that, I didn't count). And the one person said it was a minor nitpick. These are beloved characters by some fans, who've waited years to see they're fave characters done in live action, and any differences from that are going to bug them. Yes it's a minor detail in our multicultural world, but we've all had certain images of characters in our heads, so a little understanding is in order. Sure, a response here and there to such nitpicks is okay, but one should keep it in perspective and realize it's okay for people to make that minor nitpick. Being white isn't important to Batman's character, nor is being straight important for Superman, but I'd still complain about such changes if CW made shows with those changes. I wouldn't be super pissed about it, but it'd irk me that such changes were made, and that's okay.

Sorry for the rant, but I've been reading more posts from people complaining about those who complain that Iris is black than those who complain she is, and though I'm okay with the change I don't like it when something seems one sided or a legitimate nitpick, however small, is squashed. People have a right to be mildly irked. But only mildly so.

[Mia]

Well, he was lying so a bit of nervousness or lack of confidence could be explained that way. And I'm not sure if nervousness/lack of confidence is all that tied up into maturity, plenty of confident immature children and plenty of mature, responsible adults who lack confidence in the world.
Anyways, I'm excited for this show.

I had a look at some of the pilot. I haven't finished watching the whole thing yet. It's not exactly the disaster that some people have made it out to be. The show is a seperate universe from the book and it isn't Shakespeare and it doesn't pretend to be Shakespeare. It's a drama aimed primarily at teens and 20 somethings so I'll take it for what it is.

While Gustin is still too Peter Parkery to me. For some reason watching him in the context of entire scenes as opposed to highlights from the trailer, really improved my viewing and my impression of him. Some of the jittery behaviour I saw on Arrow (and wanted to slap him for) was gone. He was nervous in some situations (ie. trying to tell Iris how he felt, being reprimanded in by Singh) but in others he was cool. I suspect that as the show goes on he will gain more confidence. I don't think that he will change my mind as Barry/Flash the way that Daniel Craig changed my mind as Bond. But at least this time I feel more apt to give the show a chance.

Yes some of the dialogue was cheesy. I liked Candice Patton, unfortunately she wasn't done any favours by the cheesy lines and the over-excited exuberance that she had to display. None of the wit in which I saw interviews was there. Not her fault of course, But I honest to God hope that the dialogue improves. I like Candice, but she is beginning to display some of the behaviours I hated Cloe for on Smallville. I don't see the relationship with Barry going beyond anything but friends. They should really have given her another name or just called her Patty Spivot. Not a bad start (from what I've seen). I figure that if I could watch the Tomorrow People. I can certainly give this a few episodes.

[Vakanai]

I had a look at some of the pilot. I haven't finished watching the whole thing yet. It's not exactly the disaster that some people have made it out to be. The show is a seperate universe from the book and it isn't Shakespeare and it doesn't pretend to be Shakespeare. It's a drama aimed primarily at teens and 20 somethings so I'll take it for what it is.

While Gustin is still too Peter Parkery to me. For some reason watching him in the context of entire scenes as opposed to highlights from the trailer, really improved my viewing and my impression of him. Some of the jittery behaviour I saw on Arrow (and wanted to slap him for) was gone. He was nervous in some situations (ie. trying to tell Iris how he felt, being reprimanded in by Singh) but in others he was cool. I suspect that as the show goes on he will gain more confidence. I don't think that he will change my mind as Barry/Flash the way that Daniel Craig changed my mind as Bond. But at least this time I feel more apt to give the show a chance.

Those actually sound like scenes he should be nervous in. Maybe it isn't that he's nervous in the role, but is acting nervous in scenes he thinks he should act that way in?

Yes some of the dialogue was cheesy. I liked Candice Patton, unfortunately she wasn't done any favours by the cheesy lines and the over-excited exuberance that she had to display. None of the wit in which I saw interviews was there. Not her fault of course, But I honest to God hope that the dialogue improves. I like Candice, but she is beginning to display some of the behaviours I hated Cloe for on Smallville. I don't see the relationship with Barry going beyond anything but friends. They should really have given her another name or just called her Patty Spivot. Not a bad start (from what I've seen). I figure that if I could watch the Tomorrow People. I can certainly give this a few episodes.

Agreed on the dialog being cheesy. But hopefully the writers will do better the rest of the series now that they've heard the actors speak the lines and know what they sound like, or something.

[Vibranium]

Seinfeld was horrible for its first three seasons. And people aren't morons. We get treated like morons though.

the millions of people that watch dreck like Big Brother, Kardashians, and other truly awful TV are why I disagree with you

[Midvillian1322]

Does anyone think you knw who will be in the show? or was the just a little easter egg for the comic fans? Cant think of a way they can do it without it looking stupid or costing a lot

[saul_on_the_road_to_damascus]

I hope so. I really hope so.