mrpayroll

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(Monday, November 07 09:43 AM)

LOS ANGELES (Zap2it.com) Annoyed, perhaps, that Friday was its only Jerry Bruckheimer-free night of the week, CBS is swapping freshman dramas "Threshold" and "Close to Home" for a November sweeps test run.
Starting this Friday (Nov. 11), "Close to Home" will move into the 9 p.m. slot after "Ghost Whisperer." The trial will run for two weeks. "Threshold" won't take over at 10 p.m. on Tuesdays until Nov. 22 (a two-hour "Amazing Race" is set for 11/8 and the CMAs are in place on 11/15), but will remain there the following week.

If these alternative time slots prove successful, CBS could make the moves permanent.

Neither "Threshold" nor "Close to Home" has been a failure for CBS, but neither drama has achieved quite the level of viewership the network had hoped for.

Expectations were that "Threshold," with its alien invasion themes, would play will with Jennifer Love Hewitt communicating with the dead. While "Ghost Whisperer" has been a solid hit with nearly 11 million viewers per week, "Threshold" has struggled to retain that audience, averaging just 7.8 million viewers.

"Close to Home" has averaged just under 10 million weekly viewers, holding on to most of the 10.8 million people who watch "Amazing Race" each week. That's not bad, but CBS cancelled venerable drama "Judging Amy" (nearly 10.6 million viewers) in hopes of finding a younger Tuesday night audience. "Home" has fallen short of that goal.

Best of all, the move will give CBS a Bruckheimer produced series on Sunday ("Cold Case"), Monday ("CSI: Miami"), Tuesday ("Amazing Race"), Wednesday ("CSI: NY"), Thursday ("CSI: Original Flavor," "Without a Trace"), Friday ("Close to Home") and Saturday (whatever procedural repeats CBS decides to trot out). That's pretty impressive.


Chris

Jadzia

I dropped Threshold after a few eps, but am still watching "Close to Home". However, these time slots weren't bad for me so this news won't effect me.

I really wish some networks would do something about Tuesday and Thursday nights at 9pm. I have my DirecTivos running on just about all 6 tuners then.

riley_dude

I really dont think this will help the show. Tuesdays are already pretty saturated.
Brent Spiner may be wanting to play Data one more time if this show fails.

mgoblue7

Since it is a new show they are trying to establish, I am somewhat surprised they did not swap it with Numb3rs. Numbers has been more than solid and has an established base in its second year. I also think Threshold fits better in the later timeslot. I hope the Tuesday slot works for it, because I really like the show and I do not want it to fail. The competition on Tuesday will be stiffer and that worries me. Even if the total numbers are not better than Boston or SVU, it will do fine as long as it skews younger.

mikehunt

are they stupid?
L&O will own threshold in the ratings

Cusm

And what SVU does not crush Boston Legal and Nip/Tuck will finsih off. I have kept Threshold, but it is gone now.

BlackCapTen

Since I've never watched Threshold live, no big deal. I think the show is ok, the wife really enjoys it.

Dr. DVD

Why does CBS just throw out repeats on Saturday, come to think of it, why has Saturday become such a death slot for any show? I remember when I was a kid NBC and other networks had some prime time hits on that night. What caused it to become the dead night for TV?

Patman

It's those damn Nielsen families, they don't watch nothing on Saturday nights!

mgoblue7

Just a reminder that Threshold is on tonight at 10 PM EST.

MrX

CBS announced the switch is permanent, atleast untill Threshold is cancelled, due to the ratings Close To Home was pulling in on Fridays.

Patman

Tonight's episode guest-stars Catherine Bell and Elizabeth Berkeley.

Hubcap

I thought i read somewhere that catherine bell will have a recurring roll in the show?

Patman

That would not be a bad thing!

Patman

I can't say I watched every frame of this episode tonight, but did I miss Catherine Bell in this episode?

mrpayroll

Link

CBS Keeps 'Home' Fires Burning for Full Season

Tuesday, November 22, 2005
11:48 AM PT

It looks like CBS' rookie series "Close to Home" has found a permanent home.
A change in time periods has resulted in substantially better ratings for the drama, and CBS has rewarded it with a full-season order. The pickup means that five of the network's six new shows this fall have earned full seasons.



Only the sci-fi drama "Threshold," whose Friday spot "Close to Home" took over two weeks ago, is still awaiting word on its fate. CBS has moved "Threshold" to "Home's" former Tuesday timeslot for the next two weeks in a bid to boost ratings.

Since moving to Friday nights, where it follows another freshman success, "Ghost Whisperer," "Close to Home" has averaged about 11.8 million viewers -- almost 2 million more than it did on Tuesdays, where it struggled against NBC's "Law & Order: SVU" and ABC's "Boston Legal." Its adults 18-49 ratings have also gone up a little, despite the fact that the TV-viewing audience is smaller on Friday than on Tuesday.

The Jerry Bruckheimer-produced series is also a good fit in terms of tone with its lead-in, as it balances its stories of crime in suburbia with family drama.

"Close to Home" stars Jennifer Finnigan as a young prosecutor and new mother who's super-tough in the courtroom but a big softie around her husband (Christian Kane) and baby. The series also stars Kimberly Elise and John Carroll Lynch.


Chris

LorenzoL

And this was last night ratings for Threshold:

A cancellation announcement will be forthcoming for Threshold.

bluesix

Too bad they can't whip up a quick 2 hour movie wrapup of this show before we are left hanging with its cancellation.

If youre going to give us a STUPID story about some lizard like alien species that lives on a planet where the surface is littered with glass shards and intends to colonize the earth through altering our DNA by playing annoying sounds, at least give us a STUPID series finale to wrap things up

I just hate investing so much time (even if it has only been about 12 hours) into following something and having it end without any kind of conclusion.

It would be kind of interesting to see what that damn alien looks like too only because they always cut away from it so teasingly...

mgoblue7

Well, that just plain sucks. The beginning of the show last night was bad. It made me want to turn the channel and I really like the show. After that, it got good. It had the feel of an episode that they tried to tinker with in order to make it splashier and that really fouled up the beginning.

riley_dude

I'll watch it again if they have a final episode where they actually find out what these Aliens are doing.

Poor Braga!!!

mikehunt

no catherine bell last night that I saw

LorenzoL

A fellow boardmember "Tazzwolf" posted this link from eonline.com, which indicates that Threshold has been officially cancelled by CBS. BTW, Kristin refers to "Watch with Kristin", eonline reporter.

http://www.eonline.com/Insider/Board...jspa?annID=271

Cancer Man

Hey, I was supposed to provide that link!

Anyway I have mixed feelings about Threshold, I thought it had a solid cast, I liked some of the characters and it was entertaining in places. But I knew Threshold was going to do badly since sci-fi never does well on very big networks like CBS. I mean even the far superior Dark Skies and Space Above and Beyond both did very badly on the bigger networks.

mikehunt

leaving it on fridays would have helped, not as much competition

OldDude

Before it gets cancelled, we need a Nim vs Theshold zombie vs Sheriff Tom pod cage match. The winner gets to eat all three casts.

I keep watching, but I'm having trouble relating to any of the three.