David Kronke was appointed Mayor of Television after a bloodless coup in 2000. Since then, he has improved infrastructure, championed greater educational opportunities and fought for reforms that have utterly erased corruption and incompetence from the television industry. Since Mr. Kronke has ascended to power, Television is a far better place. Sundry strike stuff, from "Dexter" to "American Gladiators"
The networks seem to be having trouble convincing people that their shows aren’t already primarily in reruns, given the semi-desperate tone of the “All new!” promos I’ve seen. (Forget whether it’s any good, the spots suggest – the important thing is, you haven’t seen it before.)
So last night, ABC premiered “Cashmere Mafia” while NBC debuted its loudly touted “American Gladiators,” and the numbers were, like everything else affected by the strike, mixed. “Cashmere Mafia” had 10.7 million viewers, but retained only 54% of its “Desperate Housewives” lead-in and lost 12% of its audience from its first half-hour to its second. “Gladiators,” on the other hand, was pumped-up: No. 2 from 9-10 p.m. (against “Desperate Housewives”) and No. 1 from 10-11 p.m. (against “Cashmere Mafia”), building viewers from one half-hour to the next in both hours, averaging 12 million viewers overall.
Elsewhere on the strike front:
As expected, CBS will air episodes of Showtime’s great serial-killer drama “Dexter,” beginning Sunday, Feb. 17 at 10 p.m. They’ll air the first season, when Dexter (Michael C. Hall) was engaged in cat-and-mouse games with a serial killer even more twisted than he. CBS says it’ll edit the series for broadcast, which means some episodes, emptied of their gore and cruelty, will probably only be a half-hour long. Nonetheless, a frothing-at-the-mouth Email from the Parents Television Council will be hitting my Email in-box in 3 … 2 …
Oh, and The CW has rearranged the deck chairs, moving its comedies back to Sundays, where they failed spectacularly last season but not nearly as horribly as what’s in those time slots currently. They’ll juggle wrestling, repeats and reality (more Pussycat Dolls, plus a thing called “Farmer Wants a Wife”) for the rest of the season. (Friday’s wrestling is the only night they didn’t tear up.)
Low-rated “Gossip Girl” is moved to Monday, without a lead-in; low-rated “Reaper” is moved to 8 p.m. Tuesday, and then to Thursdays following “Smallville” repeats. Somehow, that’ll bolster these shows with some much-needed juice. You’ll just have to take The CW’s word for it.