True Detective

[FirstBlood]

I know, and I will never stop complaining about it. I mean, come on - they replaced their thursday lineup with DATELINE. are you telling me more people make it a point to watch Dateline than Hannibal? What about the benefit of active TV consumption versus passive TV consumption. (i.e., how likely are Hannibal watchers to add the NBCHannibal twitter feed, Facebook, tumblr, etc. versus a passive Dateline watcher who just flips it on in the background and doesn't make a point to interact with the media around it?)

My issue is this - first of all, the ratings mean zip. zilch, nada. People DVR, and then binge watch when the show is a few episodes ahead - the readings of who actually watch the show is so varied and ridiculous that i don't even know why they keep the original system. I know that there are some factoring in of DVR, but it's not universal, and its dependent on service, etc.

Second, clickbait articles from out-of-touch reviewers are absolutely killing "real time" shows. I saw this happen with HBO's "The Newsroom." A fantastically brilliant show that got squashed in buzzfeed and Jezebel "articles," until it was revealed that many of the reviewers didn't happen to watch past the first 2 episodes and were giving run downs of the entire second season based on pilot episode observations. This is basically what's happening with True Detective. Most of TD's first season buzz came AFTER the entire first season aired, when binge watchers could see it in full, without waiting. We're getting "final analysis" from people who tuned in the first episode of TD and didn't see Harrelson and McConaughey cameos and thus wrote off the entire season. tl,dr, hyper aggressive nerds, as usual, are ruining media.

Seeing the HBO dude defend his decisions is really refreshing. It gives me hope that perhaps he learned from the Newsroom snafu of canceling when the show was just getting legs. I absolutely hope they pursue a third season of TD, regardless of if this season ends with a bang or not.

I'm sure NBC has all kinds of analytics telling them how much draw Hannibal has outside of Neilsen ratings. It's just not popular. And yeah, Dateline probably makes them more money, easily.

Also, The Newsroom wasn't "fantastically brilliant" and the idea that it was destroyed by bloggers is preposterous.
And I'm not sure where you getting the idea that the TD first season buzz came after it was over when they've reported that the S1 finale was the most watched first season HBO has had since Six Feet Under in 2001.

[Satsuki]

No, I get that - I know Dateline gets them more money, I'm sure the advertisers pay triple for a show like Dateline. That's not my point - my point is if a broadcast (non cable) station only pursues the ratings shows, your station becomes obsolete and boring, DESPITE the good ratings. This is why so many people are unplugging in favor of netflix and online only media. It's expensive, bottom of the barrel garbage that we are paying an assload for. Sure, CSI and Law and Order spin offs are HUGE rating fetchers, but how many people would willingly pay HBO pricing to keep them? If channels don't pursue high intensity, unique programming, people will continue to unplug in favor of services that can provide it.

I'm not even going to answer about the Newsroom stuff, because it was out there, and Sorkin himself commented on the reviews having to do with its downfall.

Once again, if HBO is smart, it will keep TD in favor of the fact that people will keep tuning in, season after season, because they know they can lure people in with a unique program people will willingly pay extra for. If they CONTINUE to dump unique programs in favor of another shitty run-of-the-mill series, more and more consumers will continue to hop off the TV bandwagon in favor of other services.

[Jed]

Lame. Why'd it have to be Woodrugh???

[sedition]

Pretty good. I guess the finale is going to be 90 minutes. Really looking forward to it.

[Type Ryan]

Lame. Why'd it have to be Woodrugh???

My thoughts exactly. Thought he'd be the TD. There goes that theory.

Anyone else think Ani's father is the one who raped her as a child and gave her dude issues? He looks similar to the dude she saw while tripping at the party.

[Jed]

My thoughts exactly. Thought he'd be the TD. There goes that theory.

Anyone else think Ani's father is the one who raped her as a child and gave her dude issues? He looks similar to the dude she saw while tripping at the party.

I thought that initially too, but the dude in her flashback looked exactly like Rasputin, and her dad said they didn't sleep for four days while she was missing in the woods and searching for her.

[sedition]

Rust Chole/Ani Bezzerides cross-over season 3

[Satsuki]

I'd sign up for that.

my prediction of vince vaughn dropping an atom bomb on socal is not too far off.

[Drewbacca]

They really need to ditch Nielson.

Nielson is pretty indicative of humans watching a show though, from what I've seen. It's just been slow to catch up to new forms of consuming media (netflix, d/l's etc). You learn almost immediately upon data and user research that what people say they like and what they do can be two very different things. Half the people that say Hannibal shouldn't be canceled most likely never watched it either—I remember that statistic from when Arrested Development was on the bubble. Considering these vocal minorities make all of the noise too it's pretty damning.

If people like something they watch and talk about its contents. Not convince others of its merits. Fortunately for AD fans Netflix has a much more flexible business model (anything with even a semi-decent audience can make them money)

[YellerDog]

I like Hannibal, but I have never watched a single episode on NBC. Whoops.


I got a random letter in the mail when I was in college from the Nielson people, it had twenty dollars cash and a little booklet in it, to write down shows and send back in, presumably for more $20 bills. It bought beer and I continued not owning a TV.