I happened by pure chance to catch Convictions a few days ago. Got the feeling it wasn't the normal night for it. Naturally it was a real hoot seeing August not only acting but staring down other characters and being suave and intimidating and smart. He's just good at that whole staring contest acting thing he's got going. His character seems a little dour though. He needs an opportunity to show more of his range.

I couldn't stay for the whole episode though. Even having it on in the background as I did other things on the computer was just grating on my nerves after awhile. It's great to see August working again, but I can't stand court dramas. ...Except for Perry Mason.

ZachsMind | March 29, 22:44 CET

Man, apparently April 10th is just going to be Whedonverse night on TV.

kishi | March 29, 23:33 CET

The name of the show is Conviction, not Convictions. The show is okay if you're into the whole "Law and Order" type show. I've watched a few episodes and its slowly growing on me and they've gradually given J's character more screen time. It's not the type of show I'd normally watch, but I do love seeing J on my tv screen on a regular basis again.

killinj | March 29, 23:36 CET

Not my kind of show, either, but yay August! :-)

billz | March 30, 01:38 CET

Same goes for me. I wish J all the best but i've got zero interest in courtroom dramas ... unless that drama happens to include lawyers from Wolfram and Hart. Then i'm more interested.

This though? Not really for me.

Kaine | March 30, 01:44 CET

Isn't this show dying in the ratings?

Simon | March 30, 02:05 CET

Is it? I've managed to tape a couple of episodes and they were ok but I haven't gone out of my way to make sure I watch it. If J was in it more, I might have.

Lioness | March 30, 03:18 CET

Conviction won its time slot last week and practicaly tied for first the week before (which was an improvement over the previous week). I would say that it is holding its own in a ugly Friday night at ten spot.

TamaraC | March 30, 03:40 CET

Isn't Friday night where networks send programs to die?

ZachsMind | March 30, 05:28 CET

Yep, getting a Friday night slot is pretty much the kiss of death for shows on the networks. However, Friday night is the most successful night for the Sci Fi Channel by a long way which just goes to show that there is a viewing audience there waiting to be entertained. Makes you wonder why the networks have so much trouble making that night work for them.

Kaine | March 30, 05:36 CET

The important comparison is whether or not Conviction is an improvement over what was in that timeslot a year ago.

This last episode had a 11 share and was the #3 show of the night and improved significantly on the L&O show that preceeded it. In comparison last year in that time slot on NBC was an episode of Medical Investigation that had a 9 share, was the #4 show of the night, and fell markedly from its L&O lead in.

Seems to me that Conviction is doing quite well for NBC.

[ edited by TamaraC on 2006-03-30 04:14 ]

TamaraC | March 30, 05:46 CET

Why it's hard for shows, especially genre, to succeed on networks on Fridays has bugged me for a while too, Primeval. X-Files before its move to Sunday, Millennium, Firefly, all tried and died on Friday night, but BSG and Stargates do great. Maybe it's the difference of what cable wants and what networks want; if you have (I'm guessing at figures here) 5 million viewers of a network show, it's not enough and you get cancelled, but the same 5 million (or even less) watching cable would be a huge hit because they expect a smaller audience. That's my guess.

ETA: Good point, TamaraC, that the success of a show relative to the previous show in that timeslot is important to consider.

[ edited by billz on 2006-03-30 03:50 ]

billz | March 30, 05:47 CET

I get what you are saying, billz, but if you compare the Sci Fi Channel's ratings on Friday night to its own ratings for the rest of the week you see a definite increase due to them showing their most popular, successful shows, proving the point that a Friday night schedule can do very well if done correctly.

Therefore, even though the figures would need to be significantly higher to please the networks, as you pointed out yourself, you would think that they could use the same basic idea to secure decent ratings on a Friday. Put together a quality show package and people will tune in. If the Sci Fi Channel can make Friday its most watched night of the week then why can't the likes of Fox or ABC make it work for them too?

Kaine | March 30, 06:22 CET

Primeval, Friday night is the only night Sci Fi runs original programming. If they ran original programming 7 nights a week their ratings might look a lot different. It simply isn't a fair comparison.

TamaraC | March 30, 06:26 CET

Well, technically it is, TamaraC.

Regardless of what is shown on the rest of the nights of the week Sci Fi still runs its most successful shows on a Friday and massively benefits from that, proving that if good shows are on then people are there to watch.

In my opinion, it then follows that the same could be said for the networks. That if they actually bothered to try and schedule and promote a strong Friday night line up it would be a success. It just seems to me like they have given up even trying.

Sci Fi has shown that just putting new television series on on a Friday night does not automatically mean they will do badly. In fact, quite the opposite. I think the networks could learn something from that.

Kaine | March 30, 13:56 CET

Primeval, we will have to agree to disagree on that point, then. I think the networks can promote a strong Friday, but they will never get the numbers that they get the rest of the week.

TamaraC | March 30, 14:12 CET

Fair enough, TamaraC. I have to be honest though, i really cannot understand the way that the networks seem to treat that night as the scheduling bogeyman when all it would take is a little imagination and daring to get things back on track. Trust me, if Fox were to put American Idol on Friday night, people would watch.

The whole Friday night ratings issue is simply a television urban legend that has become a kind of self fulfilling prophecy. People now assume that there will be nothing of any worth to watch on a Friday and so don't bother looking. Therefore when a show gets scheduled there it automatically gets lost and forgotten about and the ratings show accordingly. It's all about the attitude the networks have, or lack of same, coupled with the knock on effect of what the viewers have come to expect.

It's not something they can change over night but it is also not a problem that cannot be solved if given the right attitude.

Kaine | March 30, 14:27 CET

Not stirring the pot but I think TamaraC has a point. Ratings are bound to be lower for repeat showings or shows from many years ago than they are for new episodes of Sci-fi's biggest shows (the Stargates and BSG) so a week-day comparison is probably a bit suspect.

I think Primeeval is right about the possibility of a successful Friday line-up though, but at risk of alienating sci-fi fans (and i've been one for over 25 years) I think shows like that are a special case and not indicative of the broader public. Sometimes people will actually stay in to watch them and they'll definitely be getting Tivo'ed otherwise. In other words, sci-fi and fantasy audiences are not just casual TV viewers they're fans and so i'm not sure the night of the week would mean much to them. I know that season finales of Buffy for instance would have me staying in regardless of day of the week as well as taking the phone off the hook to avoid interruptions.

Also, as billz says, networks are looking for _much_ bigger numbers (SG-1, one of Sci-fi's highest rated shows gets about 3 million viewers on a good week, that'd be the death knell for most network shows e.g. Veronica Mars is hovering on the cancellation bubble with about 2 million on even a smallish network) AND within certain key demographics (e.g. 18-34) in order to sell advertising at premiumn rates and many of those people are more likely to be out on Friday/Saturday nights.

Saje | March 30, 15:16 CET

Saje, just to clarify, it's not the fact that new episodes are going to do better than repeat episodes that I'm trying to point out. Again, as I said to TamaraC, that should go without saying.

The point I'm trying to make is that Sci Fi's decision to air those new episodes on a Friday, rather than making Monday or Thursday its new episode night, for example, has not been detrimental to the success of those shows. Proving that Friday night does not have to be an automatic deathwish for television series, providing that the promotion and scheduling is done correctly.

Basically, Sci Fi could have scheduled the new shows on any night of the week but they went with Friday night and proved that people will still show up, if there is something on they actually want to watch. Personally, I think that any of the networks should be capable of doing the same. They just choose not to and let Friday be the place they send shows to die.

As for numbers, well obviously the nets want higher numbers than Sci Fi gets on a Friday, but then if Sci Fi had the coverage that Fox has then i'd imagine it would get much larger ratings for it's Friday line up anyway. Speaking relatively and taking into account the actual potential audience for anything Sci Fi has to offer, it's Friday night schedule does very well indeed.

So again, i'm not talking comparative ratings or the difference between what a new episode or a repeat episode is likely to achieve. Both those issues are open to individual debate, obviously. I'm talking about the basic positive attitude that Sci Fi has and that the networks lack regarding the way Friday nights are treated and that Sci Fi has shown that it's not an inherent problem to the night itself, just to the way it is dealt with. Put good television on and people will watch.

Kaine | March 30, 15:47 CET

Yeah, I think I get you Primeval and I'd dearly like to know why Sci-fi chose Friday above any other day of the week (maybe partly lack of competition ?) but I'm still not 100% convinced it's just a matter of scale of exposure and good programming.

Which is to say, I think (as I say above) there's something materially different about sci-fi fans which makes them more likely to follow a show to any day of the week, at any time, and on any channel (even watching them instead of going out and socialising for instance) and this makes comparisons between Sci-fi and other channels a bit shaky. As you probably know (from your profile), here in the UK sci-fi and fantasy shows are (or were at least, things seem to be slowly changing) routinely pre-empted (e.g. for snooker of all things ;), moved around the schedules and cut, yet, for the most part, their ratings hold firm. I'm not sure you could do the same to even a ratings juggernaut like Eastenders and get the same result.

It'd be interesting if a network would be willing to experiment and _move_ something fairly bullet-proof (e.g. House and American Idol) to a Friday night just to see what happens. To be honest, I'm amazed no-one's done this yet since if it worked they'd absolutely clean-up in the ratings (as you say, most US networks don't make much effort on Fridays) and could, presumably, pretty much name their price to advertisers.

Saje | March 30, 17:02 CET

And you just hit the nail bang on the head for me, Saje. You pointed out the exact way that the networks could not only please the science fiction loving portion of their audience but also actually create a worthy Friday night schedule.

The first choice would be the obvious one we have both mentioned. Move a proven ratings winner to that night. To stick with Fox as an example, there is no way that American Idol viewers would stop watching, regardless of what night it was on. Follow that up with a good drama, such as House, and in my mind Fox could annihilate the competition.

The second choice would be more complicated and take longer to establish (not to mention a network actually learning from past mistakes, so this might actually be impossible) but they could learn from Sci Fi that there is a demographic that would eat up a decent Friday nights viewing on a network channel. The science fiction and fantasy fans that you mention are obviously more than willing to stick with their shows no matter what and, whilst the numbers may not equal American Idol figures, they would ensure a loyal and dedicated viewership for a night that currently struggles to maintain an audience.

The only reason that network based sci fi shows don't do well on a Friday at the moment is because of the feeling that there is no point getting into a series scheduled on that night. Fridays spell doom on the nets and so any show that is stuck there is clearly going to be axed, sooner or later. Therefore only the dedicated few bother to tune in and the ratings really do suck. Self fulfilling prophecy, as I said before. That is where decent promotion and a change of attitude is going to be necessary, to get people to give these new Friday shows a chance in the first place.

All I'm saying is that, if I happened to be handed a network like Fox to run, it wouldn't take me an awful lot of brainpower to realise that the exact audience that I could attract on a Friday was the one I've been driving away for all these years. Treated with respect, the science fiction genre crowd are an extremely loyal bunch who will provide the decent, steady numbers that Friday night ratings have lacked for a long time.

Oh yeah, and straight after that I'd give the green light to a Spike/Illyria series, the second season of Firefly and a third Joss project that he has yet to bless us with, but that should go without saying, lol. :)

Kaine | March 30, 17:27 CET

Yep, I'd say a loyal, dedicated 5-6 million has to be better than the constant quandary they have filling Friday evenings. They'll never learn though.

And while you're re-writing Fox history, don't forget to bring back Wonderfalls ;). Also, make it 3rd, 4th and 5th Joss project. The guy's not happy unless he's juggling 3 shows and a musical and it'll help towards our ultimate aim of having a 24/7 Whedon Channel.

Saje | March 30, 18:28 CET

Done, done and done. C'mon, Fox, just let me run things for a year. I dare ya! ;)

Kaine | March 30, 19:04 CET