I thought this was going to get cancelled?

Simon | October 24, 07:48 CET

I don't think NBC has anything to replace it with once Chuck replaces the very soon to be gone "Trauma".

TamaraC | October 24, 07:55 CET

NBC can't afford to cancel it, ultimately.

gossi | October 24, 07:56 CET

I thought so too. The ratings haven't been very good, at all. I tried watching the show, but could barely make it through the first episode. It was one of, if not the first show I dropped this season.

[ edited by goodridd on 2009-10-24 07:55 ]

goodridd | October 24, 07:58 CET

Hey, I love this show! So good news for me then.

Krusher | October 24, 08:12 CET

I reckon the ratings will improve... seems like one of those shows that will become a big hit if given enough time (i'm not saying that I like the show)

mortimer | October 24, 09:44 CET

The ratings have been a relative hit for NBC. I think it's a fun (albeit kind of lame) show, so I'm glad it got picked up. It was never particularly ratings challenged though. Check yo facts.

[ edited by marvelknight616 on 2009-10-24 10:30 ]

marvelknight616 | October 24, 10:33 CET

Nurses is an unbearable rip-off of Grey's Anatomy, only with nurses. I tried, but couldn't make it through the first episode. The ratings have been pretty stable, so I am not surprised that it got picked up for more episodes. I am surprised that people actually watched it.

Donnie | October 24, 10:34 CET

This is good news. I actually really like Mercy - not ordinarily the kind of show I would give a chance at all, but this one happened to have Michelle in it, so I thought I should watch a few episodes. The pilot was predictably bad, but every episode since then has been surprisingly good. All the rubbish soapy elements and cardboard cut-out characters that I was expecting (and which were present and correct in the pilot) disappeared, and it's turned out instead to be a really solid show. Structurally and emotionally sound, and frequently pretty funny too. It's only four episodes old, so maybe it will all go downhill sometime soon, but right now I'm enjoying it quite a bit.

I think it's actually my favourite new show of the season - albeit in a VERY weak year.

safetycanary | October 24, 10:51 CET

No, the ratings haven't been good. These were last weeks numbers.

Mercy (96% coverage, NBC normally 98%)
- 7.186 million viewers
- 4.7/8 HH
- 1.9/6 A18-49

goodridd | October 24, 12:22 CET

Mercy is awful, and I'm sad it got picked up for a full season. I was hoping for more Georgina Sparks on Gossip Girl this season.

seermagicx | October 24, 12:39 CET

NBC has a whole slew of mid-season replacements waiting in the wings, so the reason for keeping the show on has nothing to do with that.

Although the show gets middling ratings, it is relatively inexpensive to shoot (almost all interiors, very little location shooting, no stars) and NBC wants to see if they can nurture the show a little. They are in a state of flux as far as they strategy is concerned (they have been getting flak for killing the NBC brand in favor for short term financial gains) and are trying to see if nurturing shows that can improve will work (think shows like MASH, Cheers, Seinfeld. ALl of these shows did horribly in the ratings their first year or two - but were nurtured buy their respective networks and became huge hits).

While I applaud the effort - I would rather they bring Chuck back in December than make us wait until Jan or Feb - which is the current timing for season 3 to start.

TartFuel | October 24, 18:52 CET

I'm having a bit of a difficult time understanding how "Mercy" is awful or worse than "Gossip Girl"... but I digress.

J Linc | October 25, 12:48 CET

J Linc, I personally don't think Mercy is "awful". I do think it's unoriginal, predictable and the dialogue gets clunky with exposition and is on-the-nose too often. Are these things fixable - absolutely. Should the show get a chance to improve? Why not? Dollhouse was all over the map last season while it found itself. Joss & Co. were given more time because what they got to be was amazing and although the second episode was not up to par, the last two episodes have been just amazing and we are only 4 eps in. The show should move to another night before getting cancelled, with lots of promotion.

As for Gossip Girl - it is aimed at 16 year-old girls. Nothing to a 16 year-old is predictable or can have enough Hillary Duff. I, however can do without both.

TartFuel | October 25, 16:16 CET

I was referring to seermagicx... not you, TartFuel. Apologies for the mini-confusitory.

J Linc | October 25, 19:57 CET

Seriously? “Nothing to a 16 year-old is predictable or can have enough Hillary Duff.” Hold the ageism, please! Can’t we agree that people of all ages watch shows you and I might find boring and predictable?

pancakegirl | October 25, 20:39 CET

pancakegirl, the show is being marketed to teenage girls. That is who it is written for and that is who the ads are for. If others watch the show, that's great, but the producers and network are not aiming for adults - that's why the show uses predictable storylines. While they aren't predictable to most teens, most adults will get bored - which is fine, because, again - this show is not marketed to them.

TartFuel | October 26, 08:04 CET

What is in this "slew" you speak of? Parenthood?

And currently, according to NBC, Chuck isn't scheduled to come back until after the Olympics in March. People have been speculating that it may come back earlier if/when Trauma is cancelled.

Where are you getting your info, Tartfuel? Blogs? Somewhere a little more official?

[ edited by TamaraC on 2009-10-26 08:54 ]

TamaraC | October 26, 08:10 CET

I don't read speculative blogs written by people who are not actually in the industry. I work in television, in development. NBC has already been talking about moving Chuck up as soon as a place opens for it that makes sense, but the soonest they see that happening right now is around January - but things are very fluid when it comes to mid-season replacements.

Every network has a bunch of shows in the wings for when some of the fall shows fail. They have to. Shows don't stay on the air because there is nothing to fill the time period. They only time a network didn't have any mid-season replacements was on FOX back in the early 90's, because they couldn't afford it yet, so shows were run as long as possible while other shows rushed into production.

TartFuel | October 26, 16:12 CET

How is 7.186 million viewers "bad" ratings for NBC? I'm pretty certain Glee has been pulling in roughly the same amount of viewers in its timeslot and is being hailed one of the biggest new breakout successes for FOX...

jiggyfly | October 26, 18:42 CET

TartFuel, I don't mean to compete, but I work in the industry too. :) When I look at NBC's available shows for replacement (you can easily find a list on thefutoncritic.com) the only dramas they have are Parenthood (which will have to air very late after all the casting changes), Day One which has been reduced to a miniseries (for now), and Persons Unknown (which I have seen and ummm no).

I really don't think they had a choice as to keeping Mercy or letting it go. They simply didn't have anything better to replace it with right now. As always, YMMV.

jiggyfly, no one except CBS cares about the overall viewer number. What they care about is the number in the 18-49 demo and whether than number is an increase of decrease over other shows in that time period currently and whether it is an increase or decrease over what was in that timeslot previously and the year before. Or, in other words, it's complicated. :)

[ edited by TamaraC on 2009-10-26 19:11 ]

TamaraC | October 26, 19:11 CET

I'm afraid Futon critic does not have a complete list of what's in the wings. They only get what's the networks are willing to release to the public or what is leaked.

Trust me, Mercy is being nurtured. They can replace it right now if they want, but are giving it a chance. There's nothing wrong with that. In fact they can replace it with Chuck if they wanted to. Chuck is on it's third chance even though the ratings were dismal. The show creatively is strong, which is why it has fans in programming who were, and are, strong enough to fight for a show of quality. That is not common at networks right now.

TartFuel | October 26, 19:18 CET

Well, if it starts to get any reviews that are at all positive, I might have to check it out. I wish luck to whoever is trying to nurture scripted drama. :)

TamaraC | October 26, 20:00 CET

I do too. :)

TartFuel | October 26, 20:16 CET