theory. November 17, 2008
well, i was just perusing through stories in my google reader and have read a couple (both @ cliqueclack) in the past few minutes that were both about how much danger heroes is in of being canceled. one article (here) also noted how much better cbs’ procedural shows are doing than heroes.
now, i’m not quite clear because i have heard numerous times that the networks aren’t figuring in dvr numbers into the ratings. i had thought i heard quite some time ago that they were being added in or it was they were going to be added in soon. maybe i heard wrong or it isn’t happening yet. if they are in fact not being added in yet, which sounds like the case, then i’d bet many people who watch heroes and many other sci fi/kinda weird shows that i watch dvr MOST of the shows they watch. i don’t tune into ANYTHING live for the most part. why would i since i can watch @ my convenience? for me, getting a TiVo meant watching tv period. prior to owning that device i didn’t keep up w/ any shows because of the hassle of commercials and having to plan my schedule around it. i guess, overall, i still really don’t understand how ratings data is collected.
anyhow, i have a little theory on why procedurals get great ratings while all the shows i love appear to have no one watching them. procedurals, in my opinion, are a fairly old-fashioned style show…things like them have been around forever. if a show is old-fashioned, more than likely many of the people that watch it will be old-fashioned as well. i would wager many old-fashioned “types” are not really into having up-to-date technology in their homes. this means that the only people being counted in the ratings (again, i dunno exactly how the data is gathered, so i could be off completely) are folks who don’t record shows w/ a dvr. the people, like myself, who watch and enjoy shows like heroes are recording it and saving it for later, so it looks like no one is watching (watching live anyway, ’cause i dunno many people who do watch stuff live…@ least not people who have cell phones and use the internet). voila.
i <3 heroes.


