Back in the late 1990s, before DVRs and Netflix, summer TV was still a bit of a black hole. So NBC, in an attempt to get folks to watch repeats of "Friends" and "ER," used the tagline, "If you haven't seen it, it's new to you." Lame? Yes. Ahh... those were the days!
Anyway, I was on vacation last week so I wasn't able to report on some news at the time. If you haven't already heard about this, it's (ahem) "news to you."
Three scripted shows shot in Atlanta got renewals last week:
- MTV has given "Finding Carter" a second season of 12 episodes. The show, featuring a teen who finds out she had been kidnapped as a child and moves back with her birth family, averaged 1.25 million in overnight ratings with another 850,000 via DVR. That was by far enough to merit a sophomore year.
It's also the No. 1 new cable series for 12 to 34 year olds. The season finale is on Tuesday, Sept. 16.
"We're very excited," said Maria Grasso, an executive producer. "The network has been incredibly supportive."
She expects production for season two to start in January, 2015, in Atlanta. The show, set in a fictional Virginia town, was shot in the spring into early summer. By the time the episodes airing now pop up, it was supposed to be late fall. So outdoor scenes were a challenge, especially when the temperatures passed 90 degrees. This time around, it will be winter going into spring so the show won't have those issues for season two.
As for Carter herself, she's been trying to build trust with her biological parents as she struggles with her feelings about her kidnapper/mom. But betrayal is forthcoming and episode 10 (which I screened) features a nasty event and cliffhanger that will certainly change Carter. Her choices, I must say, aren't always the right ones. "She's 16, trying to find her way," Grasso said.
And why the heck is she attracted to the clearly troubled bad boy Crash? His broken family is familiar to her and "she wants to save him. Her intentions are good."
Fans, she said, have found the mother/teenager interactions realistic and relatable - just in a heightened dramatic way. "They seem to be eating up the twists and turns and projecting where it's going to go," she said.
The show ultimately complements MTV's slate of successful scripted programs including "Awkward," "Teen Wolf" and "Faking It."
Credit: Rodney Ho
Credit: Rodney Ho
- Sundance's "Rectify," produced primarily in Griffin, has been renewed for a third season. This was Sundance's very first scripted drama series.
The network doesn't really generate the ratings of bigger networks but clearly, the brass there is happy with the show's performance and critical praise. It's about a haunted man who was released out of death row in Georgia on a technicality and whose innocence is still in question.
- AMC, in the biggest surprise, gave its series "Halt and Catch Fire" a second season. Despite modest ratings (1.3 million with DVR use), it was able to justify a renewal based on its upscale demographics. (What I would call the "30 Rock" argument."). It also helps that AMC's slate of new shows have not performed all that well compared to their big-tent trio of "Breaking Bad" (now over), "Mad Men" (soon to be over) and "The Walking Dead."
Here's how AMC justified the move in its press release:
According to Nielsen data, the first season of "Halt and Catch Fire" was one of the most upscale dramas on ad-supported television, #3 among adults 18-49, behind "Mad Men" and "The Good Wife," and #4 among adults 25-54, behind "Mad Men," "The Good Wife" and "Parenthood." It was also one of cable's most engaging dramas among adults 18-49 (#3) and adults 25-54 (#4), according to Nielsen TV Brand Effect.
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