Benjamonster's TV

Welcome to another season of Upfronts! This week, I will give my suggestions for each network. Next week will bring my schedule predictions and the following week will have the official schedules! I will make my usual caveat that I have not read or seen any pilots so my suggestions are based on the limited information I have on them and what I've been reading about buzz for them. In general, I tend to favor launching and picking up more pilots. I think it raises the chances for success and if things do work, well then some of the shows on the bench could be saved for summer. NBC's continued success with The Voice, This is Us, and the Chicago shows not to mention football masks the fact that they struggled to launch anything new this year with Good Girls probably the most solid and that's shaky at best. If you count Will & Grace as a new show, that would have been their biggest success but even that dropped from a 3.0 demo premiere to below a 1.0 demo by the end of the...

With Upfronts fast approaching, check back all week for my schedule suggestions for each network! Here's a look at Week #32! ABC ABC has an all new week starting with the season premiere of the short run of Dancing with the Stars: Athletes. The regular Dancing didn't run this year, but they will have this for a few weeks. It will be interesting to see how it compares to a regular run of Dancing . MONDAY 8:00 Dancing with the Stars: Athletes (Season Premiere) 10:00 The Crossing TUESDAY 8:00 Roseanne 8:30 The Middle 9:00 Black-ish 9:30 Splitting Up Together 10:00 For the People WEDNESDAY 8:00 The Goldbergs 8:30 Alex, Inc. 9:00 Modern Family 9:30 American Housewife 10:00 Designated Survivor THURSDAY 8:00 Grey's Anatomy 9:00 Station 19 10:00 Quantico FRIDAY 8:00 Once Upon a Time 9:00 Marvel's Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. 10:00 20/20 SATURDAY 8:00 NBA Basketball Playoffs SUNDAY 7:00 America's Funniest Home Videos 8:00 American Idol 10:0...

Here is the weekly ratings recap looking back at the week in ratings for Week #30. Please note no repeats, sports, specials, or Saturday airings are counted TOP 20 SHOWS (18-49 DEMO) 1. Roseanne (ABC, Tuesday 8:00pm) - 3.4     4th week 2. The Big Bang Theory (CBS, Thursday 8:00pm) - 2.4     21st week 3. Young Sheldon (CBS, Thursday 8:30pm) - 1.9     18th week 4. The Voice (NBC, Monday 8:00pm) - 1.8     20th week     Empire (FOX, Wednesday 8:00pm) - 1.8     13th week 6. Grey's Anatomy (ABC, Thursday 8:00pm) - 1.7     19th week 7. Survivor (CBS, Wednesday 8:00pm) - 1.6     20th week 8. The Voice (NBC, Tuesday 8:00pm) - 1.5     19th week     The Voice (NBC, Wednesday 8:00pm) - 1.5     Special Airing     American Idol (ABC, Sunday 8:00pm) - 1.5     7th week 11. American Idol (ABC, Monday 8:00pm) - 1.4...

Here's a look at Week #31! ABC ABC has a mix of repeats and new episodes this week. Tuesday brings repeats of four of the first five episodes of Roseanne followed by a special airing of Deception . It will be interesting to see how Deception does in a different slot. Wednesday brings two airings of Alex, Inc. with repeat lead-ins and a number similar to last week's 0.6 demo seems likely for this show which is sort of being treated like a burn-off. Thursday is the season premiere of Quantico , which did not do anything to deserve a third season last year and will probably be a big drop off from the already diminished Scandal . MONDAY 8:00 American Idol 10:00 The Crossing TUESDAY 8:00 Roseanne (Repeat) 8:30 Roseanne (Repeat) 9:00 Roseanne (Repeat) 9:30 Roseanne (Repeat) 10:00 Deception WEDNESDAY 8:00 The Goldbergs (Repeat) 8:30 Alex, Inc. 9:00 Modern Family (Repeat) 9:30 Alex, Inc. 10:00 Designated Survivor THURSDAY 8:00 Grey's Anatomy 9:00 Station 19...

Scandal ends tonight on ABC after seven seasons and 124 episodes and I have been all over the map with this show. I don't remember being super excited about Scandal when it was first announced at the 2011 Upfronts. Despite being a political drama, which I am generally interested in, I wasn't too excited about the idea of a "fixer" (remember, this was well before the Trump presidency when that was an everyday term). When it premiered in April 2012, I gave lots of praise to Kerry Washington as Olivia Pope in my  pilot review , but I didn't think it was a runaway blockbuster and viewers agreed as it premiered to decent but still modest numbers. Then came Season 2 and Scandal morphed from a fairly tame show that mostly followed a case of the week to a twist-filled, "OMG" moment drama that became must see TV every Thursday night. The show started a meteoric rise in the ratings and became one of the most talked about shows on TV. There was a ...

Here is the weekly ratings recap looking back at the week in ratings for Week #29. Please note no repeats, sports, specials, or Saturday airings are counted TOP 20 SHOWS (18-49 DEMO) 1. Roseanne (ABC, Tuesday 8:00pm) - 3.5     3rd week 2. The Big Bang Theory (CBS, Thursday 8:00pm) - 2.4     20th week 3. The Middle (ABC, Tuesday 8:30pm) - 2.0     19th week 4. The Voice (NBC, Monday 8:00pm) - 1.9     19th week     Empire (FOX, Wednesday 8:00pm) - 1.9     12th week     Young Sheldon (CBS, Thursday 8:30pm) - 1.9     17th week 7. Grey's Anatomy (ABC, Thursday 8:00pm) - 1.7     18th week 8. American Idol (ABC, Monday 8:00pm) - 1.6     5th week     Survivor (CBS, Wednesday 8:00pm) - 1.6     19th week 10. Modern Family (ABC, Wednesday 9:00pm) - 1.4     19th week       Mom (CBS, Thursday 9:0...

Here's a look at Week #30! ABC ABC has a mostly new week with some repeats on Wednesday. A special airing of Alex, Inc. gets the post- Roseanne slot for the week which should easily help the low-rated Wednesday show get more exposure. Thursday night brings the series finale of Scandal but there seems to be little interest in the once very popular show especially since its 10pm move a few weeks ago. I'll have more thoughts on Scandal on Thursday so check back! MONDAY 8:00 American Idol 10:00 The Crossing TUESDAY 8:00 Roseanne 8:30 Alex, Inc. 9:00 Black-ish 9:30 Splitting Up Together 10:00 For the People WEDNESDAY 8:00 The Goldbergs (Repeat) 8:30 Alex, Inc. 9:00 Modern Family (Repeat) 9:30 American Housewife (Repeat) 10:00 Designated Survivor THURSDAY 8:00 Grey's Anatomy 9:00 Station 19 10:00 Scandal (SERIES FINALE) FRIDAY 8:00 Once Upon a Time 9:00 Marvel's Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. 10:00 20/20 SATURDAY 8:00 American Idol (Repeat) 10:00 20...

Here is the weekly ratings recap looking back at the week in ratings for Week #28. Please note no repeats, sports, specials, or Saturday airings are counted TOP 20 SHOWS (18-49 DEMO) 1. Roseanne (ABC, Tuesday 8:00pm) - 3.9     2nd week 2. The Big Bang Theory (CBS, Thursday 8:00pm) - 2.4     19th week 3. The Middle (ABC, Tuesday 8:30pm) - 2.2     18th week 4. The Voice (NBC, Monday 8:00pm) - 1.9     18th week     Young Sheldon (CBS, Thursday 8:30pm) - 1.9     16th week 6. The Voice (NBC, Tuesday 8:00pm) - 1.8     17th week     Empire (FOX, Wednesday 8:00pm) - 1.8     11th week 8. Survivor (CBS, Wednesday 8:00pm) - 1.7     18th week     Grey's Anatomy (ABC, Thursday 8:00pm) - 1.7     17th week 10. Black-ish (ABC, Tuesday 9:00pm) - 1.5     6th week     Modern Family (ABC, Wednesday 8:00pm) ...

Here's a look at Week #29! ABC ABC has its regular lineup all week except for Sunday night where the first interview with James Comey ahead of his book release will air instead of Deception and could draw a decent audience. Roseanne was down for week two but still easily TV's #1 show. It will be interesting to see how things go in week three. It will of course go down some more but probably less of a percentage drop than week one to week two. MONDAY 8:00 American Idol 10:00 The Crossing TUESDAY 8:00 Roseanne 8:30 The Middle 9:00 Black-ish 9:30 Splitting Up Together 10:00 For the People WEDNESDAY 8:00 The Goldbergs 8:30 Alex, Inc. 9:00 Modern Family 9:30 American Housewife 10:00 Designated Survivor THURSDAY 8:00 Grey's Anatomy 9:00 Station 19 10:00 Scandal FRIDAY 8:00 Once Upon a Time 9:00 Marvel's Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. 10:00 20/20 SATURDAY 8:00 The Crossing (Repeat) 9:00 Station 19 (Repeat) 10:00 20/20 SUNDAY 7:00 America's Fu...

THE CROSSING Starring: Steve Zahn, Natalie Martinez, Sandrine Holt, Tommy Bastow, Rob Campbell, Rick Gomez, Marcuis W. Harris, Grant Harvey, Jay Karnes, Simone Kessell, Kelley Missal, Luc Roderique, Bailey Skodje Created by Dan Dworkin and Jay Beattie Written by Dan Dworkin & Jay Beattie, Directed by Rob Bowman THE PREMISE The Crossing is a new sci-fi drama about a small Oregon town that is upended when refugees start showing up, fleeing a war. The sci-fi element to this is the refugees are escaping the United States from 180 years in the future and coming back to the "gold old days" of America, a.k.a. present day. At the center is local Sheriff Jude Ellis (Steve Zahn) who is clashing with Federal Agent Emma Ren (Sandrine Holt) while also working with one of the refugees who showed up later, Reece (Natalie Martinez). Rounding out the rest of the cast are agents and refugees, including some who may have special powers and others who may have been aroun...

Here is the weekly ratings recap looking back at the week in ratings for Week #27. Please note no repeats, sports, specials, or Saturday airings are counted TOP 20 SHOWS (18-49 DEMO) 1. Roseanne (ABC, Tuesday 8:00pm) - 5.2     1st week (NEW SHOW) 2. Black-ish (ABC, Tuesday 9:00pm) - 2.6     5th week 3. The Big Bang Theory (CBS, Thursday 8:00pm) - 2.5     18th week 4. Splitting Up Together (ABC, Tuesday 9:30pm) - 2.1     1st week (NEW SHOW) 5. The Voice (NBC, Monday 8:00pm) - 2.0     17th week     Empire (FOX, Wednesday 8:00pm) - 2.0     10th week     Young Sheldon (CBS, Thursday 8:30pm) - 2.0     15th week 8. Grey's Anatomy (ABC, Thursday 8:00pm) - 1.8     16th week 9. American Idol (ABC, Monday 8:00pm) - 1.7     3rd week     The Good Doctor (ABC, Monday 10:00pm) - 1.7     18th week     ...