Person of Interest (Season 4) (1 Viewer)

[jcroy]

Unless the rating tank outright, I think we're just about guaranteed a season 5. Warner Bros. only needs thirty-two more episodes to reach that benchmark 100 number for syndication. At the end of this season, there will probably be about 10 or 11 episodes left to reach the magic number. I could see CBS ordering an abbreviated finale run but I couldn't see them not coming back.

Another option is to dump it onto Friday nights, like what happened to Hawaii Five-0. H50 season 4 was getting around 9 million viewers, and was renewed for a season 5.

 

[Matt Hough]

It's also only the first week of the season. Way too early to be thinking about ratings downturns and the like. And CBS has also announced that from here on out, they're more interested in Live +3 and Live + 7 ratings rather than overnights since half the country now has DVRs and time shift their viewing.

 

[jcroy]

CBS has also announced that from here on out, they're more interested in Live +3 and Live + 7 ratings rather than overnights since half the country now has DVRs and time shift their viewing.

The question is what advertisers are willing to pay for live+3 and/or live+7 ratings. Especially on network tv recorded to dvrs, where the advertisements can be easily skipped over.

 

[Matt Hough]

The overnight ratings include now not only live viewing but shows recorded on DVRs but viewed by 3 a.m. of the night of broadcast. So, advertisers are having to adjust to a completely different way of using the ratings for their own purposes knowing DVRs are operational at all times.

I myself rarely watch a show live any more. If I have two shows back to back, I start half an hour after the show has begun and speed through commercials so that by the end of the second hour allow me to catch up in real time.

On longer shows like the Oscars, I start an hour after the beginning of the program.

But that's just me.

 

[TonyD]

^VCR's? Live +3 and +7?.Is that plus business something new? Anyway I'm half way through last season still in my DVR. I'm not feeling the additional of Shahi.

 

[Matt Hough]

Yeah, I was thinking DVR and typed VCR. Oops!

Live + 3 and Live + 7 were added to the ratings vocabulary in the last year or two. I noticed in today's VARIETY reportage of the overnight ratings that Nielsen is also doing projected Live + 7 for advertisers

 

[Robert Crawford]

I never watch a show as it is being broadcast. All of my viewings come from my DVR. The segment of the population following my way of viewing is too large for the networks or advertisers to ignore as all of us watch our favorite programs according to the convenience of our individual schedule.

 

[jcroy]

I myself rarely watch a show live any more. If I have two shows back to back, I start half an hour after the show has begun and speed through commercials so that by the end of the second hour allow me to catch up in real time.

At the present time, there's only one show I watch in this manner: the 7pm EST broadcast of Person of Interest.

For pretty much everything else on my viewing schedule, I record it to the dvr and watch it later in the week or on the weekends.


At the present time, my viewing schedule is rather sparse. (ie. Dallas and Under The Dome are over, while The Strain has been rather mediocre and is almost over). The only shows I'm following closely are Person of Interest and Hawaii Five-0. I'll be checking out the first few episodes of Stalker and Scorpion. Though I thought the first episode of Scorpion was rather awful.

 

[NeilO]

Just saw the season opener - a nice beginning there.
Nice pause by John realizing whose desk he was going to be sitting at.

Were we supposed to know who Romeo and his van of people were?

 

[Walter Kittel]

Were we supposed to know who Romeo and his van of people were?

I don't think so. They kind of looked like they were up to no good though. I can imagine a scenario in the future where Romeo/Shaw vie with Fusco/Reese during the commission of a crime. Maybe. Of course, The Machine has her reasons for putting them (Romeo & Shaw) together which I suppose is part of the long term plan to deal with Samaritan.

- Walter.

 

[Citizen87645]

What was in the back of the van Shaw got into?

 

[Walter Kittel]

What was in the back of the van Shaw got into?

A couple of guys with gear for breaking and entering (a large portable drill with a hole saw bit and some kind of long metal pole with an attachment). One of the guys was pulling down a black ski mask over his face. I assume they were about to commit a heist.

- Walter.

 

[Bob Gu]

"..a large portable drill with a hole saw bit and some kind of long metal pole with an attachment."

Holy cats, Walter!! What eyes you have! I saw the ski mask go down and a white cylinder, after running it back twice. I so need a new TV and new glasses too!

I did see Scarface walk off with one of the new phones.

 

[Walter Kittel]

Holy cats, Walter!! What eyes you have! I saw the ski mask go down and a white cylinder, after running it back twice. I so need a new TV and new glasses too!

I still have the episode on the DVR. Pause / slow motion works wonders for these types of topics. I assure you that my eyes need all the help they can get.

As an aside, the advent of High Definition really makes checking details in a show much easier. A friend and I are currently viewing Lost on Blu-Ray (first time for him, revisit for me) and I am able to see minutiae in the show that eluded me during my original standard definition broadcast viewing nearly a decade ago.

- Walter.

 

[jcroy]

Not surprisingly. Ratings went up in live+3

http://tvbythenumbers.zap2it.com/2014/09/28/person-of-interest-gains-3-46-million-viewers-in-live-3-viewing/307675/


Person Of Interest (P) added +3.46m viewers (14.04m from 10.58m), +1.2 rtg pts in adults 25-54 (3.9 from 2.7) and +0.8 in adults 18-49 (2.5 from 1.7) live plus three day lift from live plus same day.

 

[Robert Crawford]

Not surprisingly. Ratings went up in live+3

http://tvbythenumbers.zap2it.com/2014/09/28/person-of-interest-gains-3-46-million-viewers-in-live-3-viewing/307675/


Person Of Interest (P) added +3.46m viewers (14.04m from 10.58m), +1.2 rtg pts in adults 25-54 (3.9 from 2.7) and +0.8 in adults 18-49 (2.5 from 1.7) live plus three day lift from live plus same day.

Another thing is that hurts POI is being in the 10:00 p.m. slot after two NCIS shows. Just too many such shows in one night even with the AI aspect of POI that differentiates it from the other two shows.

 

[Adam Lenhardt]

Another episode where this week's number intertwined with the larger mythology of the Machine versus Samaritan. So far, this season is off to a much more interesting start than last season, where things felt a little too status quo.I like that the new plot framework continues to mean that the numbers are all extraordinary people. Quinn Shephard first came on my radar when she played Toni Collette's daughter on last season's limited series "Hostages." A lot of teen actors just play the emotions that are written for the line. When that's the case, there's no depth to the performances. Shephard stood out to me because you could feel the gears turning inside her character's head. It was a very internal performance, with very little emotion that made it to her face.All of which made her great casting for Claire Mahoney in tonight's episode. She had to simultaneously as reflexively closed off as Harold and as irresponsibly brilliant as Root. As it became more and more clear that she brought to the table qualities already represented by the team, it became more and more grimly inevitable that the team wouldn't save her. When she was on the roof and the switch was cut, I thought Samaritan had set her up to be executed, eliminating another possible threat to its existence. Then when bullets rang out of the darkness and took down her opponents with lethal efficiency, I had a moment of hope that Reese and Shaw would step out of the shadows, dropping a dryly humorous one-liner. But then the phone rang, and I knew that Samaritan's game was far more insidious than a simple execution. The Machine has Root, and now Samaritan has Claire. I wonder if Samaritan came online before or after Claire's parents died. It wouldn't surprise me if Samaritan engineered the accident to manipulate events toward this outcome.Either way, I hope we see the character again down the road. An interesting character, from an interesting young performer. The show continues to develop its excellent recurring players.

 

[Walter Kittel]

She had to simultaneously as reflexively closed off as Harold

That quality made it difficult for me to have much of an emotional tie to this week's 'number'. I did like how once again the case of the week tied into the larger Samaritan plot including the double bonus points for the antagonists - eliminating another fledgling monitoring service while simultaneously recruiting a talented asset. Of course, Claire has seen Harold and Reese - Will that factor into future events?

I enjoyed Michael Emerson's performance quite a bit in this episode. Particularly the scenes dealing with Claire's freedom to choose her own path.

I'm not certain that the timeline supports Samaritan manipulating events to eliminate Claire's parents. (I could be wrong but I thought the parent's deaths pre-date Samaritan becoming operational.)

I was kind of hoping that the new headquarters would be a bit more spacious but perhaps we haven't seen it all just yet. Or perhaps it will become more augmented as time proceeds.

- Walter.

 

[Adam Lenhardt]

[background=#f2f2f2]That quality made it difficult for me to have much of an emotional tie to this week's 'number'.[/font]

I can definitely understand that.

[background=#f2f2f2]I'm not certain that the timeline supports Samaritan manipulating events to eliminate Claire's parents. (I could be wrong but I thought the parent's deaths pre-date Samaritan becoming operational.)[/font]

Certainly could be. I often have trouble keeping track of the timeline for this show, especially since Samaritan's interface doesn't display the dates as prominently as the Machine's did. The show definitely operates in a fixed timeline, which can sometimes fall months behind the air date, and then occasionally features time jumps that re-sync the show to the present day.

I was kind of hoping that the new headquarters would be a bit more spacious but perhaps we haven't seen it all just yet. Or perhaps it will become more augmented as time proceeds.

I think the smallness of it was a deliberate choice on the side of the showrunners and production designer. It emphasizes how diminished their resources are, and it makes sense that a smaller operating base would be easier to hide from Samaritan.

 

[Walter Kittel]

It emphasizes how diminished their resources are, and it makes sense that a smaller operating base would be easier to hide from Samaritan.

True enough.

I know that there has been some question as to what sort of resources would be available, which was at least partly addressed when Harold had to pay for the shot out rear window. I suppose I shouldn't expect the new headquarters to be on par with something that Bruce Wayne might have at his disposal. Still, pretty clever having a virtually untraceable power source from the third rail. (I am uncertain how practical that would be in the real world. Certainly power rectification would be required to get 110 / 220 VAC from such a source.) And I like the idea of them being underground as a metaphor for how they have to operate.

- Walter.