Updated Bones Promo!

Here's the most current promo for 'Bones'. This is for Season 7, Episode 7: "The Prisoner in the Pipe".


Thanks, TVLine!  
Watch 'Bones' starting on Monday, April 2nd at 7/8C on FOX.

'Bones' Schedule Gets Reorganized

The networks giveth and the networks taketh away.

I'm talking (of course!) about the fact that while ABC is giving us an extra episode of 'Castle', FOX is reorganizing it's already shortened season of 'Bones'.

We were originally supposed to see the sixth episode of 'Bones' 7th season this Thursday (December 12th). Unfortunately, it occurred to the network that 'The Finder' (Hart Hanson's new show) would probably do better if it had a 'Bones' lead in so no new episode this Thursday. While this may be true, it doesn't make me happy.

'Bones' won't return until January 12th, and after that episode the show will be on hiatus until the spring.

There's not a new episode of 'Bones' on Dec 12th, it's a rerun!

Summer Television begins June/July: White Collar, Covert Affairs, Weeds and Rizzoli & Isles...

SUMMER TELEVISION IS COMING BACK...

what to watch & when to watch it

I am really, really ready for it to be summer. And not because I want it to stop being so cold in Boston (though that is obviously a major benefit) but because lots of my favorite shows are coming back on! I'm not sure why, but I find that there often tend to be far more must-watch shows in the summer than during the rest of the year. Here are the shows I'm most excited about:
White Collar
Another one of those ridiculous crime investigative shows that I'm about to make clear the cable networks are riddled with, "White Collar" is still worth watching. It centers around the relationship between a FBI agent (Tom DeKay) and a con artist (Matt Bomer). The show reminds me of a post-chase version of "Catch Me If You Can", if the Leonardo DiCaprio character had agreed to start working for Tom Hanks. I like this show because while it doesn't take itself too seriously, it also is intelligent enough that you don't always know where it's taking you. Certainly worth a try.
The 3rd season of "White Collar" premieres on June 7th at 9 pm


Covert Affairs
Despite that fact that this show is also completely ridiculous in premise, I find it incredibly addicting. The show focuses on the work/love life of Annie (Piper Perabo) a skilled linguist who has just (last season!) been hired by the CIA. In typical 'this would only ever happen on television' form, Annie goes on all kinds of secret missions. Is it kind of cheesy? Yes. But it also has enough depth that you really feel for the characters. And I want to know why Annie's ex-boyfriend, who she discovered at the end of last season is an ex-CIA operative, is, you know, an ex-CIA operative. Plus, the cases are the perfect amount of summer t.v. fluff.
"Covert Affairs" returns to USA on June 7th at 10 pm


Weeds
One of my favorite shows, and one of the reasons I am constantly hating the fact that I don't have Showtime, "Weeds" is a must-see. Mary-Louise Parker plays a widowed mother raising two teenage boys and a new baby. Oh, and because her husband's death leaves her destitute she makes the obvious decision to turn to drug dealing. With a sexy yet dangerous ex-husband chasing her, the love of her dead husband's brother getting in her way, and a son who may or may not be a sociopath, "Weeds" could be a pure soap opera. Somehow, it manages to avoid being completely cheesy and predictable, perhaps because it is willing to go to darker and darker places, sometimes avoiding humor all together.
"Weeds" is back on Showtime June 27th at 10 pm


Rizzoli & Isles
If you read my blog at all you know that I am obsessed with this show. It centers around a Boston homicide detective (Angie Harmon) and a medical examiner (Sasha Alexander) who have one of those "unlikely" friendships that television shows are so crazy about. The show mixes just the right amount of gore with humor, and it's more like "Bones" than "CSI". Still, its cases manage to be slightly less ridiculous in premise than "Bones", despite the fact that the star medical examiner has a giant pet turtle that wanders freely around her apartment.
"Rizzoli & Isles" returns to TNT on Monday, July 11th at 10 pm

TV Schedule during Spring Break

I want that show to be new this week...NOW.
Or
The Genius of Mid-Season Replacements

So, instead of analyzing a show, I'm going to write about television scheduling. I know, that sounds really boring. But, I promise you, some of the networks are making genius moves with their scheduling that you're probably missing.

I'm sure you've all noticed (if you watch any TV at all) that there haven't been new shows for the last couple of weeks. Why? Because it's Spring Break! Maybe not at your college (and definitely not at your work), but at some college, somewhere. And viewers age 18-24 make up a large percentage of the viewing demographic. They also have the capability of destroying a show. If you lose that demographic either because they're not watching, or because they're Facebooking/Tweeting/Commenting on the internet about how bad it is (59%). Well, your show could be off the air before you know it. As a network, it's important to count that particular age group.


It turns out, the higher your education level, the more likely you are to evaluate a show online. But it's not just the college-age kids the networks need to be worried about. While watching TV 42% of Americans are online, and many of them (61%) will have a social media site where they can post something about what they are watching.*

So, what's that genius move I'm talking about? It's taking a chance and introducing a brand-new show while all the popular/currently on the air shows are on hiatus. Some networks choose to do this during the summer, and then use the shows which are successful that first summer during subsequent summers. TNT did this last summer with "Rizzoli and Isles".

And ABC is doing it right now with "Body of Proof". The show premiered during the first week of this incredibly long and tedious 'spring break' hiatus. And they've released three new episodes already, while all the other networks are running mainly reruns (except for reality tv shows, but that's a whole other issue). So, what do you think the most popular current episodes on Hulu are? The first three episodes of "Body of Proof"! Now, this method of releasing TV shows during hiatus only works if your television show is good/successful (not mutually exclusive!) because you need to retain viewers after the other shows come back on air. Unfortunately, as I've said earlier, I don't think that "Body of Proof" will stand up to that test.



*"About the Data: This 24/7 Wall St./Harris Poll was conducted online within the US between March 11 and 15, 2011 among 2,526 adults (aged 18 and older). Figures for age, sex, race/ethnicity, education, region and household income were weighted where necessary to bring them into line with their actual proportions in the population. Where appropriate, this data were also weighted to reflect the composition of the adult online population. Propensity score weighting was also used to adjust for respondents’ propensity to be online". Marketing Chart