Mr.Marcus wrote:9.6 for AI I just can't fathom. I'll never understand why these reality shows are so popular.
AI is terribly popular for two reasons - one is the "cinderella story" concept, of some ordinary joe becoming a super mega-star, along with fun music that most people can sing along to. The second is because of one person - Simon Cowell - people like his "character" on the show. It really IS a fun show to watch.
But frankly, I've had quite enough of these reality shows. There was a time when game shows were all the rage on primetime (AI is kind of a mix between these I suppose) - like Millionaire, Weakest Link, etc. Deal or No Deal did well, but it doesn't look like it's lasting (although one of the briefcase holder girls was the co-star in Fight Knight).
During these depressing economic times, it's good to have some escapist adventure shows like KR. The Law and Order series isn't really escapist - it's more like reality meets drama (since many of their cases are based on actual events). NCIS sucks, but is similar to JAG (which only had one thing going for it - Katherine Bell). But considering that KR brought in 3.3 despite NO episode last week and NO teasers during the past two weeks, you have to admit that such a viewership is impressive. I think for some reason NBC is intentionally either (1) trying to kill KR, or (2) trying to see whether it can hold it's own with no network publicity - which I think it clearly is doing.
As to the writing and acting, most first seasons of popular series had horrible writing and acting, including the original KR, Smallville, Star Trek TNG, ER and even the West Wing, to name a few. It usually took at least a second or sometimes even a third season for the writing and especially the acting to really get sharp enough to do well for itself. I just hope NBC remembers that.
Well, anyway, here's hoping for a second season.