Viva Laughlin - series premiere 10/18/07 (1 Viewer)

[Patrick Sun]

Just a quick reminder that the series premiere of Viva Laughlin is tonight at 10 p.m. EDT on CBS, and then it moves to its regular 8 p.m. EDT timeslot on Sundays (sure to experience timeslot overruns due to NFL games on Sunday, along with 60 Minutes, Cold Case, and Shark).

 

[JohnS]

I might give this a try to see what it's like.
Not sure if I'm going to like it though.

I'm a casino pit boss here in Vegas, and I can only take so much of Vegas action

 

[Dave Gorman]

Yikes, I'll have to hope I don't like it. My DVR is already double-booked at 9ET Sundays. I won't be able to record it if it starts late...

 

[Marty M]

Since I usually watch Without a Trace at this time, I will watch this show. I remember watching the BBC version of this show - Viva Blackpool.

 

[Steve Schaffer]

Saw the pilot last night and honestly don't know what to think. Plenty of star power on display for sure and the storyline kept me watching in spite of the musical numbers.

 

[Malcolm R]

I wouldn't count on this one sticking around too long. From TVGuide.com:
Plus, its lead-in, CSI, had an audience of over 20 million, so it gave up more than half of that.

I fell asleep part way through, so that can't be a good sign.

 

[Chris]

It's the biggest hour-to-hour drop CBS has had of any show, new or repeat, in that time slot in 2 seasons. That generally doesn't bode well.

When you've got the #1 total viewership on a night in CSI, and the #2 show in the big 18-49 demo (only bested by Grey's) then you drop like Viva.. woof.

It's not just that the show didn't do so hot, it's that it's that low. It pulled a 5.8 total share, down from 12.7, and in the key demo, you went from 6.4 to 2.5..

That's just a staggering loss. The next closest to this in the last 24 months at CBS was a repeat "Shark" which had a 2.6.

(NOTE: Credit where Credit is due, some of this analysis drawn on FutonCritic, Variety, and TVGuide)

The drop is going to get lots of notice, because for a premiere ep, there will be tons of hand wringing at CBS.

 

[Chris]

Hollywood Reporter has a good article, which thinks "Viva" may go down in flames in the same spirit as "Cop Rock"

http://www.hollywoodreporter.com/hr/...51121a926f19b7

 

[Rocky F]

http://www.variety.com/VR1117974484.html

And now it's gone. It pulled a 1.2/3 in 18-49s last night. Amazing Race will be back on Nov. 4.

 

[Marty M]

In the Jericho thread I predicted that Viva Laughlin would be the first to be cancelled. In that thread we were discussing that Jericho might replace the first cancelled show, but I see that won't be happening with Viva Laughlin, though.

 

[Rocky F]

I also thought (and hoped) that Jericho would be the show to replace Viva Laughlin, but on another forum, folks pointed out a couple of reasons why it's good that CBS is holding Jericho a bit longer. One, they need to be able to have a few weeks to really hype the season premiere and make sure everyone is aware of it. Secondly, and probably more importantly, with the possibility of a writers strike only a couple of weeks away, Jericho is a good show they can save for the possible coming drought of scripted shows.

 

[Jason Seaver]

Well, I can't say it's not deserved. I'm watching the second episode now, and this show is awful. It's hard to imagine the musical numbers being handled more ineptly.

Weird scheduling for The Amazing Race, though; it's unusual for an unscripted show to cross the holiday break.

 

[Malcolm R]

Any effort that tries to weave in musical performance numbers built around contemporary hit songs always seems hopelessly awkward to me. I like musicals with original compositions, but have never warmed to those that just repurpose the hits.

Plus, it was based on a British show and we've seen how well those adapt to American audiences.



.

 

[Joseph DeMartino]

Yeah. After bombs like The Office, All in the Family, Sanford and Son, Three's Company and every second game and talent show on the air, what were they thinking? Granted some shows haven't travelled well, but I suspect that has more to do with execution than point of origin.

Regards,

Joe

 

[Malcolm R]

As far as scripted series, I think The Office is the exception to the rule (making the cut-off this century). And I agree it's probably mostly poor execution. I love British television (and cringe at the thought of Kirstie Alley's proposed adaptation of "The Vicar of Dibley").

 

[Jason Seaver]

It's been done well enough before - Moulin Rouge and My Best Friend's Wedding stick out as recent examples of it working; Ally McBeal actually had a fun episode like this - but the problem here was that the producers seemed to be terrified of the device. It was as if they wanted to be have the option of cutting the episodes so that it was just background music, and the sing-along style where the original version was so loud just destroyed any chance the characters might have had of using the songs as self-expression.

I half-suspect this show was doomed from the start; Blackpool was only a six-episode miniseries which likely didn't have to shoot on as tight a schedule as an ongoing US series. Viva Laughlin looks like it didn't have time or budget for much in the way of choreography or original songs, so it just wound up being half-assed: Just strange enough to put people off, but not enough invested to be a really good musical.

I wonder if original songs and noteworthy choreography would even be possible on a weekly basis; the musical Buffy and Xena episodes required a lot of prep time and expense. Cop Rock only shot eight or nine episodes, and I'm not sure how many had original songs (Randy Newman did wind up re-using some of the ones he wrote there for Faust).

 

[Chris]

I worry a lot about "The IT Crowd" which I love translating to the US.

But why don't simpler, funny news magazines so popular in England translate? I mean, a show like "Top Gear" seems like something that could be a great riot done on the US as an irreverent news type show..

In the 80s, there were several US shows that were on weekly that did that kind of semi-news "incredible stories", or weird kind of news program, damn, bring one back.. Give me "Top Gear" US instead of "Viva Laughlin"

 

[Chris]

One other thing: the musical "Buffy" and even "Xena" etc. came WAY down the line in the series (season 6 for Buffy) where the characters had built a lot of credibility with the audience, the story was well known, and so the burst-into-song came across as irreverent and a great play on the way the show was generally written. Meanwhile, a show that is based on song is harder to get because you don't get enough time to buy the character without song.

This sounds stupid, but a show that will rely on song has to have extremely strong scripting. Ally McBeal relied on Vonda Shepherd, and some weirdness, but it started out as a cute concept kind of show, and once viewers "bought in" it was able to go out on a limb more often.

Just the way it works, I think, for the American audience.