I don’t get it. I just don’t get it. Why is Revolution such a huge hit for NBC? There’s nothing to this show. There’s the bad guys (the militia), the good guys (the rebels), some people stuck in between, lots of shooting, and an illogical conceit that involves a loss of power. The acting is bad; the writing is atrocious, and they seem to fill 80 percent of each episode with generic action scenes in order to delay developing the plot. The writers seem to be saying, “How are we going to explain the science behind our central mystery?” “I have no idea. Let’s just have the Dad from Twilight beat up some more people while we think about it some more.” Plus, the only character in the show worth watching, the militia leader played by Giancarlo Esposito, is barely on the show.
Yet, it’s a huge hit. In fact, after DVR viewing is accounted for, it’s an even bigger hit.
After three-days of DVR viewing is accounted for, ratings for Revolution shot up 51 percent! That’s a record for an NBC show, bringing it up to a 5.5 in the 18-49 demo. That’s a huge, monster of a number. To put that in perspective, the finale of Lost had a 5.8 rating.
What is going on? I’m not alone in my dislike for Revolution, am I? I suspect I’m also not alone in disliking the show, but continuing to watch it anyway, although I’m finding that the “previously on” scenes are all you really need to see each week to properly keep up.
It is nice, however, that DVR viewership has become more important in the ratings game, and a lot of shows in premiere week had huge boosts when adding in DVR viewers. The New Girl, for instance, jumped 38 percent to a 3.8 rating, a solid number compared to the mediocre 2.7 rating from live viewers. In fact, New Girl — once DVR was accounted for — jumped ahead of its time slot rival, Go On. New Normal also had a 38 percent jump, which was not enough to push it ahead of The Mindy Project (which had a 22 percent jump).
Also, my favorite new sitcom of the season, Ben and Kate, only received a 15 percent jump, which doesn’t help its prospects terribly, although I’m gratified to find that the heinous new sitcom, Partners, only received a 9 percent jump. So far, the only solid new sitcom hit of the fall remains Go On.
Meanwhile, Modern Family grew from a huge 5.5 to a humongous 7.3; How I Met Your Mother grew from a modest 3.6 to a successful 4.4.
Across all networks, there was an average of a 26 percent increase in ratings after DVR viewership was accounted for during premiere week (we still don’t have DVR numbers for Parks and Rec). However, the increases were more significant for returning shows than for new shows and reality programming. More importantly, the DVR numbers demonstrate that people still are watching network television in large numbers; they’re just watching it on the DVRs instead of live. Also important: Nielsen announced yesterday that it will now begin to include web viewing in its ratings.
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If it helps you understand any, I’m on the verge of bailing and have been trying to give the series a chance without comparing it to the Emberverse books.
S.M. Stirling FTW.
It looks like a turd, but I hope it does well since it’s filmed here and maybe I’ll eventually get a small role on there.
Here is where?
Wilmington NC, home to other craptastic series such as Dawson’s Creek, One Tree Hill and Matlock.
Aha. Beautiful place to live.
Yeah, it sure is. I just wish we’d get a good series here. Season 1 of Eastbound and Down was the only tv series filmed here that we can be proud of. Of course I didn’t even get an audition
My friend Mike was in the second episode. NC is actually a great place to find acting work.
It’s called escapism. For your average American, this type of show is the perfect outlet. It’s that happy medium between the nihilistic nonsense of Honey Boo Boo or Jersey Shore and the in-depth, narrative tour de force emboddied by shows like Breaking Bad and Mad Men.
This is what the vast majority of Americans like watching when it comes to “drama”. It’s simple and entertaining. That is all.
Agree with you on the escapism angle.
It is the same thing that happened with ‘Jericho’.
Things have literally gotten so shitty in the present for a lot of people that living in some Kevin Costner’s “The Postman” world if for just an hour.
As for the show, I like the premise and where the plot could go. The acting is shit and the swashbuckling is getting old. Will give it a few more viewings during my lunchbreak, but won’t be using tv time for it in the future til the show can live up a little to it’s potential.
I will say, tip of the hat for “The Stand” reference last night.
@Paul, I tried like hell to like Jericho but the characters, like in Revolution, just don’t make me care about them. There’s nothing that makes me like them and they all do stupid stupid things. Consistently.
Yeah, you’re right. A lot of people watching this are the kind of people who fancy themselves master outdoorsmen but would crap large pieces of masonry if they actually had to live in the woods for more than a day.
OK, 12 minutes in to last night’s episode and I’m done. I was expecting Alderaan to explode after the rebel base’s location was revealed.
This made me laugh because my wife and I were talking about how this show seems to have kinda ripped off Star Wars. The chick is Luke, the British lady is Obi-Won, the uncle is Han, the fat bearded guy is C3P0/R2D2, the idiot brother is Leia. Giancarlo is Vader and the General is the Emperor. Got the Rebels and teh Empire sort of. I expected them to say she had to find her uncle in Mos Eisley instead of Chicago.
Revolution gets a solid ‘eh’ for me. The three main actors can’t act and look super awkward in their fight scenes, but I’m a big fan of Elizabeth Mitchell and obviously, Giancarlo. I’ll keep it on the DVR if I’m bored, but won’t be sad if I miss it.
That main girl Charlie can’t act to save her own life. She probably pulled an Olivia Munn to get that part. Shrimp probably not included.
Ehh. Its white noise.
People fucking love Arrows.
This has arrows.
I thought Hunger Games and Avengers already proved this.
Arrow on the CW will own our collective lives then?
Is this why Archer isn’t a bigger hit?
Meaning that people are expecting arrows, and tune out because they aren’t getting any.
One should compare any crappy TV show to The Cape and see how favorably it looks.
YOU LEAVE THE CAPE OUT OF THIS, YOU HERETIC!
SHOWS GONNA LAST THREE WEEKS!
i just watched the 1st episode and it was very ehh to me too. i’m getting so sick of the usual format for network dramas. have a young white girl with long blond hair, she has to wear a small tshirt that doesnt quite expose her cleavage, she has to wear a fitted leather jacket that makes sure the small of her back is always exposed incase she thinks about gettin a tramp stamp. she has to be so stupid and illogical that her “i’m a young pretty girl therefore i have faith that nothing will happen to me” additude will cause the conflict on the show always.
and i was counting down till when we would see the black woman with a serious edge to her, while having short nappy hair and not so cute at all.
this stuff is becoming very predictable. but thats what makes great drama like breaking bad great right?
If I were producer I would…
Introduce a few better characters over the next few weeks. Have them intermingle with the old ones. Get good background stories on everyone and then…
KILL ALL THE OLD CAST. Seriously I could care lass about any of them. There has been close to zero development of any of them thus far and none of them can act.
The show has a good premise. Hit the reset button and do it right.
Some friends of mine tried to sell me on this show the other day, and it was the dumbest thing I ever heard. “That show is actually pretty good….. I mean the acting is awful and the main character is soooo annoying, but…..”
Yeah, I’ll still pass thanks.
How are we going to explain the science behind our central mystery?
Dustin whenever you notice something like that, a wizard did it.
Seriously though, they established that stupid little maguffin necklace thing early on. They defined their world pretty succinctly and now they’re telling their story, such as it is. For me it’s silly but entertaining enough. I can’t understand the nerd-rage coming from so many corners about the fucking science of this show, usually from the same corners that give battlestart galactica and fringe a free pass on their respective “sciences.”
NCIS and NCIS: LL Cool J are huge hits even though, in real life, 99% of NCIS’s job is trying to get officers to stop covering for the idiot seaman who bought some weed in Amsterdam and the idiot Marine MP’s who beat the idiot seaman to within an inch of his life because SEMPER FI!.
Personally, I blame Obama.
Damned buttons.
Anyway, you being upset because the science doesn’t track is silly. Reality doesn’t factor in to what people watch. The Revolution chick is pretty with a pouty mouth and she’s Greek, so you KNOW she’s down for whatever. That’s how ratings gold is made.
And CSI guys running around with guns, in shootouts, solving crimes? Seems legit.
Horatio Caine killed more people in Miami than Dexter.
More like they were killed by a HoraCaine…
YEEEEAAAAAAAHHHHHHHH
I admit it. I’m part of the problem. That show is the absolute worst but I find myself hate-watching it. Sorry.
People are confused and think this is an adaptation of the Hunger Games.
People still didnt learn their lesson from the first episode, eh? Oh well.
Tell me more about this “time shifting”. I assume it involves a DeLorean…or looping of some sort?
I felt stupid for even giving the second episode a chance. This show is bad like whoa.
It’s a show about a near-future apocalypse. And anything about a near-future apocalypse is popular. Why? Because most people (like, 99% of people) lead lives full of crap that they’d rather not have to deal with; complex relationships, jobs, bills, debt etc. On the surface, living in a post-apocalyptic world seems like a panacea for all these problems. I mean, you had relationship issues before? Those people are dead now so, you know, solved! You had bill collectors blowing up your cell phone? Well you’re pissing on their dead corpses the moment you stumble across them so…solved! All you have to worry about is living, man. L-I-V-I-N.
Of course, living through the apocalypse is probably going to be closer to The Road then it is anything in Revolution. Remember that scene in 28 Days Later when they see Manchester on the horizon and the entire city is in flames? Yeah, that. Who’s putting out the fires? No one. Who’s stopping all the really evil motherfuckers out there who will be literally raping and pillaging because they can? No one. Who’s going to be dead so fucking fast that it won’t even be funny? You. And me, probably. I work in advertising. What the fuck good am I in a post-apocalyptic society? I’m barely worth anything in the present society. I can’t hunt. I can’t grow my own food. I can’t make anything more rudimentary than a 2 x 4 with some nails in it….wait…a…minute. I’ve got a 2 x 4 with some nails in, motherfuckers. GIVE ME YOUR FUCKING FOOD NOW!!
Jesus, you must get invited to a lot of cocktail parties.
Revolution isn’t so bad if you pretend that it takes place directly following the events of “Escape From LA”. It explains the science behind it (HE PUT IN THE WORLD CODE! OH SHIT!), as well as gives the chance that Snake Plissken might show up…
I’m part of the group that gives the show that 51% boost by watching later. Really that gif up there sums up why I’m giving the show a chance – for the Lost-ness of it. I see the potential of the power going out being like the plane crash, the present day scenes being like the action on the island, and flash backs to the time between giving the backstory to give these stupid fights some greater significance. It has better potential for getting us more interested and making us care about the shows if it goes back in flashbacks to show how these folks got here. That would definitely help with the whole not caring about them.
But yeah, sword fights are getting old and muskets aren’t much more interesting.
Somebody read “Dies the Fire,” liked it, and decided they would just make it their own show but as crap.
I wish I could get away with such hijinks.
Haven’t gotten around to watching this yet, but while the premise is meh, the setting has enough potential that I hope the show survives long enough to improve.
Good news for web viewings being put in with the ratings because I watched the fuck outta some Community on Hulu+