The good news: More people are watching NBC live at 10 p.m. -- now that Jay Leno is in the time slot -- as opposed to recording the hour and watching it later, according to TiVo, which tracks how its 3 million customers are using their digital video recorders.
"While Leno is succeeding in reducing the amount of time-shifted viewing for NBC's 10 p.m. time slot, he certainly isn't 'Tivo-proof' as nearly 50% of viewing is still time-shifted," said Todd Juenger, vice president of TiVo Audience Research & Measurement. "Moreover, those time-shifted viewers are nearly twice as likely to watch within one hour, displacing NBC's 11 p.m. time slot."
Of course, anytime someone records a show and watches it later it means that they are not watching live TV at that moment (duh). Who's to say whether that 20% who are recording Leno and watching it later were Conan fans anyway or didn't get their local news from a different station? Who's to say they even usually watch television at that hour?
This is the problem with statistics. You can try to make them say anything. It's interesting to note how many TiVo users are opting to record Leno versus how many were recording NBC's dramas last season. To go beyond that and try to mind-read what those users are missing while they are catching up with Leno is a reach.
Just remember what Talking Heads once sang: "Facts all come with points of view, facts don't do what I want them to."
-- Joe Flint
Photo: Jay Leno. Credit: Matt Sayles
Sitcom vets head for 'The Middle' and 'Hank'
Not to be crass, but isn't Kelsey Grammer really rich?
Presumably a long career as a sitcom actor ("Frasier," "Cheers") left him with a tidy bank account. He also owns the production company behind shows such as "The Game" and "Medium." You'd think all that success behind and in front of the camera left him able to pick and choose his projects.
So why would Grammer settle for "Hank" (7 p.m. Central Wednesday, ABC; one star)? He's so much better than the unfunny show that has been built around him.
Grammer plays a corporate titan who has lost all his money and must move from a fancy pad in New York City to his home town of River Bend, Va. Melinda McGraw, who had a recurring role as one of Don Draper's paramours on Season 2 of "Mad Men," seems particularly unsuited to her role as Hank's wife. Chicago improv vet David Koechner plays Hank's brother-in-law, who is brashly amused at Hank's downfall.
Grammer does that "pompous nitwit" thing very well, and I suppose the downsizing theme is topical. But every joke in this pilot is creaky and awkward, especially anything involving Hank's pampered children.
The show leaves you wondering why Grammer doesn't find -- or come up with -- a vehicle that would be a bit more of a stretch, or at least a better use of his palpable skills. Comedy icon Ted Danson has reinvented himself nicely via "Damages" and "Bored to Death" -- why couldn't Grammer try to do the same?
Grammer's most recent sitcom, Fox's long-gone "Back to You," didn't survive, despite the ample skills he and his co-star, Patricia Heaton, displayed (I liked the show). Heaton returns this season with "The Middle" (7:30 p.m. Central Wednesday, ABC; two and a half stars), another show about a non-coastal family with a not-huge income trying to get by.
"The Middle" has a nice energy and Heaton and co-star Neil Flynn are pros; without overdoing it, they sell every joke, large and small. "The Middle" hits its comedic targets often enough, but its main problems is that it overdoes the quirkiness a bit and it also airs on the same night as ABC's "Modern Family," a new comedy that is much sharper.
"The Middle" makes a valiant effort, but "Modern Family" (which was created by the same team that came up with "Back to You," as it happens) is the only show on ABC's all-new Wednesday lineup (which also includes "Cougar Town" and "Eastwick") that I'll be making time for this fall.
Photos: McGraw and Grammer in "Hank"; Chris Kattan (who plays a co-worker of Heaton's character), Atticus Shaffer, Eden Sher, Neil Flynn, Charlie McDermott and Heaton in "The Middle."
IN TV SERIES, SOME REALITY ON WEIGHT
Lifetime's 'Drop Dead Diva' suggests willpower not only factor determining body size
Empire State Building Goes Green — For Good?
A $550 million renovation on the Manhattan landmark might seem like a lot of work — and a lot of money. But as Lara Pellegrinelli reports, in the name of long-run environmental efficiency, it may actually be easier being green.
CHILE: Preserving the Kaweshkar Language â€" In the Nick of Time
SANTIAGO, Sep 30 (IPS)Sound files containing recordings of spoken Kaweshkara nearly extinct indigenous language of southern Chile â€" have been put together thanks to the work of ethnolinguist Ã"scar Aguilera and anthropologist José Tonko, and donated to national and foreign institutions with the aim of preserving the culture of one of Chile’s nine native groups.
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