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With the Upfronts kicking off Sunday May 13 and the broadcast networks (NBC and FOX so far) announcing the shows they are ordering to series, The Hollywood Reporter’s Tim Goodman (@BastardMachine) reacts to the impending hype. Don’t call him cynical though, maybe cranky (his words).
AMC released a minimalist poster for the fifth season premiere of ‘Mad Men’ on March 25. The near-empty canvas (a clean copy can be found here) features the title sequence’s falling man. Now with a little help from the public, he is can seen breakdancing, bouncing on a trampoline, eaten by sharks and even being saved by Superman. Not all images are original subway art—the full size images included in this post hopefully are. Read more
Depending on your source, AMC will imminently renew or has already renewed its freshman western drama ‘Hell on Wheels’. According to leading man Anson Mount’s tweet, renewal is here:
Good news. AMC just exercised my 2nd season option! Thanks 4 all ur support, guys! #hellonwheels
— Anson Mount (@ansonmount) December 23, 2011
Thus despite critical disdain—you’ll be hard pressed finding ‘Hell’ on any TV critic’s favourite list for 2011—and steadily declining viewership—’Hell’ debuted with 2.4 million viewers ages 18-49 and only managed to hold on to 767,400 viewers in that all-important demo by the seventh week (source)—the cable network is allowing the series to gather more steam. Now I can already hear the ‘Rubicon’ fans clamouring in the distance. However, to be fair to ‘Hell on Wheels’, the ‘Rubicon’ finale garnered a mere 255,800 viewers (and to AMC’s credit they cancelled ‘Rubicon’ only cancelled after the finale). Besides, ‘Hell on Wheels’ is proving to be a valuable property internationally. If the Western drama’s viewership doesn’t go any further south (pun intended), it is comparable to AMC’s other recently renewed show; 895,300 viewers ages 18-49 watched the finale of ‘The Killing’. Speaking of which, here’s hoping ‘Hell on Wheels’ doesn’t face the same backlash as ‘The Killing’ once the audience discovers the transcontinental railroad won’t be completed by the end of season one.
HBO has renewed Mike White’s and Laura Dern’s comedy ‘Enlightened’ for a second season. The Golden Globe nominations for Best Comedy and Best Performance by an Actress in a Comedy were probably a big boost, because ratings were low even for HBO standards (210,000 total viewers for its premiere and 263,000 for its finale). At the same time ‘Hung,’ ‘Bored to Death,’ and ‘How to Make It in America’ have been cancelled. This news is maybe less of a surprise knowing which shows HBO has waiting in the wings, such as ‘Veep,’ ‘Girls,’ ‘Luck,’ Ricky Gervais’ ‘Life’s Too Short,’ and lest we forget Aaron Sorkin’s still untitled newsroom drama.
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