I don’t know why people aren’t watching The Mole
It’s only the first episode, but people seem to be avoiding ABC’s new edition of The Mole like it was on The CW or something.
The first episode of the show this past Monday at 10pm got a 1.9 rating in the important 18 to 49 demographic. It came in third place in the time slot and lost a lot of the lead-in from The Bachelorette.
I don’t understand why viewers don’t make this one of the top reality shows on television. I mean, if you love reality television, why don’t you watch this show? Is it the time slot? Is it the fact that you have to figure things out on the show yourself? I think this is actually one of the most interesting parts of the show, that it’s actually a reality show that you can actually play along with. You don’t get that with The Bachelorette or Survivor. It’s actually a reality show mixed with a mystery/spy series. It’s a TV mystery series, where viewers have to guess who the bad guy is, mixed with a reality competition series. And it has great music and great Amazing Race-like stunts and worldwide locales and is immensely entertaining. Why aren’t more people, especially people who watch reality shows, watching The Mole?
TNT has 14 new shows in the works
It’s always intriguing when a cable network has two or three original shows they’re working on. But TNT has gone project crazy this year, with a whopping 14 shows in development.
It’s an interesting mix of shows too. You have your dramas, including a mystery series set in Boston, based on the novels of Tess Gerritsen; a drama about a family in 1950s Indiana; an espionage drama titled Leverage; a drama from Robert Redford titled Generations, which focuses on several families who have lived in the same house over the decades; and Truth In Advertising, which sounds a lot like a modern-day Mad Men (not that I’m complaining) and stars Eric McCormack, Tom Cavanagh, and Monica Potter. Comedies include a show about a single, middle-aged woman, from Betty Thomas and Elaine Pope.
There’s also a new version of Match Game in the works, for TNT’s sister station TBS, which we’ve talked about before, and The Genie Chronicles, which sounds like I Dream Of Jeannie, only it’s a bit more serious and has a female reporter finding the lamp (I’m assuming there’s a male genie inside). There are also a few reality shows in development at the network, but I’d rather not type those words so you can click on the first link above and read about them.
Monk returning for seventh season
Monk will be back for a seventh season. It isn’t an even number, a fact that would irritate the OCD detective to no end, but it is a lucky one. USA Network has ordered 16 new episodes of the idiosyncratic mystery series which has turned character actor Tony Shalhoub into an Emmy-winning star. USA has plans to run eight of the new episodes in July and August; then the other eight in January and February.
Before then, you can catch up with Monk, and USA’s other whimsical detective series, Psych, when they air on NBC in March. Although it has not be announced as yet, USA will likely pick up Psych, too, and they will continue running in tandem.
Despite a certain sameness to the Monk formula — primarily because it is a formula — the audience for the show has remained strong. According the network, Monk was up both 22% in the adults 18-49 demo and 15% in adults 25-54 in its most recent run vs. the same period a year ago.