Originally Posted By Autopia Deb Anyone else watching this? The two hour premiere was lots of fun and Hayley Atwell is just wonderful in the role. I just wish it were more than a seven episode filler series while Agents of SHIELD is on Winter Break.
Originally Posted By leemac I was going to post this as a thread - but I'm completely perplexed as to how MARVEL can have the highest and third highest grossing movies of 2015 with Guardians and Captain America 2 but both Agents of SHIELD and Agent Carter have struggled to attract viewers. Carter did okay but 6-7m for a high budget show like Carter isn't great.
Originally Posted By leemac And Hayley is an incredibly underrated actress. I saw her in a play in London last year and she was captivating. I hope her career goes from strength to strength.
Originally Posted By Autopia Deb I don't get the low numbers either, and your right about Ms Atwell, she is terrific.
Originally Posted By Dabob2 < but I'm completely perplexed as to how MARVEL can have the highest and third highest grossing movies of 2015 with Guardians and Captain America 2 but both Agents of SHIELD and Agent Carter have struggled to attract viewers. > Because Marvel's target demo goes to the movies in big numbers, but doesn't watch TV that much, relatively speaking?
Originally Posted By Autopia Deb Maybe genre fans are all watching HBO, Syfy and CW instead of regular network television.
Originally Posted By hopemax While we do have Agent Carter on our DVR, most shows we don't watch when they're new. We've been burned too many times with shows that we like that get cancelled. So we wait a season or two, listen to what people say about quality. Then binge watch it to catch up, if something is worth our time. Also with the way US shows tend to drag out their stories, binge watching makes it easy to fly through all the fluff, to get to the meatier episodes faster. Even with established shows, we're watching fewer of them one week at a time. We'll save up multiple episodes and then watch a bunch in succession.
Originally Posted By Autopia Deb I can understand that, I've binge watched plenty of TV myself. But with only seven weeks for the first season I think we're safe fro premature cancelation (bad pun intended).
Originally Posted By Kar2oonMan >>We've been burned too many times with shows that we like that get cancelled.<< Yep, this is an excellent point. As for the low numbers, maybe there's only so much non-super hero Marvel stuff people care to watch (that could be just me, I never could get into SHIELD). But also, do day-of-broadcast ratings mean still much in a DVR world, when so many people choose to record and view later? Fox has Gotham, another backstory without the super hero. Maybe there's only room for so much of that sort of thing?
Originally Posted By hopemax >But with only seven weeks for the first season I think we're safe fro premature cancelation (bad pun intended).> No, but at only 7 weeks, I'd rather watch all of them over a weekend instead of one per week.
Originally Posted By leemac <<Because Marvel's target demo goes to the movies in big numbers, but doesn't watch TV that much, relatively speaking?>> But MARVEL movies are mainstream - you don't get those box office numbers from being niche to comic book geeks. ABC give you a host of different ways to consume their shows so I'm not sure that accessibility is the issue. Personally I like the cinematic quality of the MARVEL franchises. They are old school event tentpoles - and reliable at that. I actually thought that the second Captain America was the best of all of them. I just think so much of what makes MARVEL movies so cinematic is lost on the small screen. I guess the real test comes with the reboot of Daredevil on Netflix.
Originally Posted By leemac <<I never could get into SHIELD>> You and me both. Terrible scripting, wooden acting and cheesy SFX. I think we gave it 4-5 episodes and then gave up. I can't fathom how anyone can find it watchable. <<Fox has Gotham, another backstory without the super hero. Maybe there's only room for so much of that sort of thing?>> I couldn't stand the first episode either - writing and acting were dire IMHO. I'm sure there is a saturation point - including Arrow and no doubt more on the way. However if network TV can continue to spin off crappy procedurals like CSI and NCIS I'm sure there is plenty of room left on the dial for comic book TV serials! One thing I am happy about is the attempt by network TV to bust the TV season apart. The rationale behind a 22 week run is purely to get to that magic 100 syndication number as quickly as possible. The networks can still decide how and when to screen the new episodes. I've always found it bizarre that you can have a handful of first runs and then nothing for weeks or months. Tighter 8-12 week runs mean that you have a unified writing team which I've always felt works best. UK TV is driven by how many episodes a team can churn out rather than you many episodes the network needs which is why so many great shows were only 6-8 shows per season.
Originally Posted By Dabob2 <<Because Marvel's target demo goes to the movies in big numbers, but doesn't watch TV that much, relatively speaking?>> <But MARVEL movies are mainstream - you don't get those box office numbers from being niche to comic book geeks.> You get those numbers from comic book geeks of all ages going multiple times, and young people who may or may not be comic book geeks going because they like "popcorn" movies in general. It's that large young movie-going audience that doesn't necessarily watch a lot of traditional TV any more and prefer to be gaming or online. So they'll go to the movies, but won't necessarily watch the TV shows. That's my guess, anyway.
Originally Posted By Kar2oonMan >>I couldn't stand the first episode either - writing and acting were dire IMHO.<< I am still watching Gotham, but I am not sure why. It is very uneven. There are some good performances and some not so good ones. It seems like scenes are written by teams of writers that work separately. I keep waiting for it to hit its stride and find a clear vision, but so far, that hasn't happened. For me, both series feel like Cracker Jacks with no prize inside. The elephant in the room on both series is that we REALLY care about catching some glimpse of other Marvel/DC characters, but the show is focused on the minutia that goes on before/behind the scenes of those more exciting characters. Instead of The Incredible Hulk, it's The Amazing Backstory of Dr. Bruce Banner's college medical professor.
Originally Posted By leemac <<For me, both series feel like Cracker Jacks with no prize inside. >> That is a perfect way to sum it up. I'm not a comic book geek but I like the accessibility of the MCU. Most of the DC characters I've struggled to have any empathy towards - Batman and Superman doesn't resonate with me at all.
Originally Posted By leemac <<So they'll go to the movies, but won't necessarily watch the TV shows. That's my guess, anyway.>> You may be right but I'm not convinced myself. If it was all about the MCU then they would seek it out no matter what. Guardian did $333m domestically - thats has to have attracted a wider audience than just the geeks multiple times. They obviously have high production values but it just doesn't seem to be enough. It doesn't have that grandeur that Lost had in its prime.
Originally Posted By utahjosh I'm glad I stuck with Agents of Shield. After the events of Captain America 2, the show has been much better.
Originally Posted By Autopia Deb The big problem with Agent of SHIELD is it spent over half its first season in a holding pattern waiting for the big Hydra reveal is Winter Soldier. The last few weeks of the season produced some really exciting television.
