Hauling Like A Brooligan

Stephen Gallagher

Can’t Let This One Pass

In a press release following the release of Thursday night’s viewing figures, CBS announced:

The second season premiere of THE MENTALIST on its new night improved the 10:00-11:00 PM year ago time period premiere of ”Eleventh Hour”

which is hardly comparing like with like… Eleventh Hour‘s number was for a new show and was the beginning of a rise, while The Mentalist‘s figure shows a fall in numbers from its previous season.

I’m not going to knock The Mentalist. I think it’s a successful, light-touch entry in the ‘brilliant amateur’ detective genre, at its best with straight cases, on less certain ground when it addresses its ‘Red John’ mythology. Creator Bruno Heller was responsible for Rome, one of my favourite shows of recent years. And their writers’ building is just across the street from here, so their people can easily find me.

But why use The Mentalist to knock Eleventh Hour? Especially when the argument doesn’t really stick.

And if you could only have seen the Eleventh Hour story we had lined up for that night…

Steve

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7 responses to “Can’t Let This One Pass”

  2. You have every right to not let this go. Those of us over at Planet Hood were quite livid.

    It is also interesting to me to see that no one mentioned that we were dealing with a CSI that was much more of a powerhouse when EH premiered than when TM returned. The loss of viewers from CSI to TM versus CSI to EH last year can not even be compared. And let's face it, many people used this "viewer loss" last year to sink EH.

    It seems that even now, EH continues to be treated unfairly. Incredible.

    And as for your last line….you are killing me!

  3. I just love the way networks try to spin things, going so far as to compare apples to oranges. Bottom line, their darling from last year posted marginally better numbers than the show they abused and ignored.

    Wish you could bring back Eleventh Hour, it was such a good literate series!

  4. I think Luvinx covered pretty much everything I was going to say. I truly miss the show and I still think about what it would've been to follow every week and enjoy the Hood and Rachel dynamic. And well, I have to say that there is no comparison. EH is very exciting (and watching it for a second time is much better) and I haven't been able to finish watching a single episode of TM. Just can't.

    And the only thing I can say about that last line is… Do tell, I'm dying here!

  5. Eleventh Hour was the best show on tv. So much potential cut short. Loved the relationship between the characters. Rufus Sewell was especially wonderful. Really miss this show and hope it will return to tv some day…soon.

  6. What a dumb comment by CBS. I find it laughable that Private Practice – one of the shows that some critics said was in danger of being cancelled last year – beat The Mentalist in the all hailed 18-49 ratings 4.5 to 3.7. Supposedly, that is the only number the networks follow now. Also, I think the premiere of Eleventh Hour was one of the show's lowest ratings. It started beating Life on Mars the following week and never looked back…How I wish we still had Eleventh Hour – sigh.

  7. The second episode of a new show is far more of a test than the premiere. The premiere's numbers only tell you how good the trailers and publicity were. Whereas the second episode's figure is a measure of who liked it, who came back, and who heard good word of mouth from others.