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Why Most TV Shows Peak by Their Third Season

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why most tv shows peak

You just never know where I great story idea is going to come from. While doing a Brooklyn Nine-Nine set visit at TCA summer press tour, I spoke with executive producer Mike Schur, who had some interesting thoughts on why most shows peak by their second or third season. I turned that into this Quartz story.

“Everyone’s favorite seasons of shows are seasons two and three, because you’ve had a year to get to know them, and then you’re still in the honeymoon period where you go, ‘This is great!’” Mike Schur, the creator and executive producer of the Fox comedy Brooklyn Nine-Nine, explains to Quartz. “And then after season three, everyone starts to go, ‘Eh, that show’s not as interesting as it was anymore.’ And it’s like, ‘Well you’ve been watching it for three years.’”

The night before, I’d spoken with Modern Family creator Steve Levitan, who is on the other side of that peak and is now dealing with a blacklash as it enters Season 6. Put those two interviews together, and you have one of my favorite TCA summer press tour stories yet!

Why most TV shows peak by their third season

Tony Goldwyn Tackles Political Scandal Again on ‘The Divide’

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tony goldwyn

There are lots of actors in Hollywood who become white hot, and then quickly flame out and are never heard from again. But very few get a second chance to grab the spotlight, which is why Tony Goldwyn — who rocketed back to stardom thanks to Scandal — is making the most of his comeback. In addition to starring in (and directing episodes of) Scandal, he also has co-created his first series, The Divide, on WE tv. I profiled Goldwyn at The Daily Beast, where he talked about juggling both shows, what’s next for President Fitz on Scandal and the joy of becoming a “sex symbol” at 54.

Out of the blue, to be hot again and have this resurgence and become this leading man in my 50s, this sex symbol… [Laughs]. He’s just a very sexy character and women dig him, and it’s given me all these opportunities now. And it gives me, frankly, leverage in my other projects. It’s awesome! But also, I have a sense of humor about it because it’s a moment that won’t last, so I’m just trying to have as much fun and be as creative as I can while this Scandal train is on the tracks. And it’s wonderful.

He also had a very funny story when I asked about something I’d been wondering about for months: what it was like shooting the last season of Scandal while trying to disguise Kerry Washington’s pregnancy.

Goldwyn was a terrific interview. I could have talked to him for hours!

Tony Goldwyn Tackles Political Scandal Again on ‘The Divide’

Stop Everything and Go Watch ‘Rectify’

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Rectify

I really needed to review something phenomenal to counteract the stench of I Wanna Marry “Harry,” and I found just what I was looking for in the second season of SundanceTV’s exquisite Rectify. As I wrote at The Daily Beast,

It might sound clichéd to say that Rectify is unlike anything else on television, but it’s also entirely accurate. The show’s languid, deliberate pace is almost hypnotic. Time moves differently in creator Ray McKinnon’s world, and not just because every episode lasts roughly a day (although that pace somewhat quickens in Season 2, which will cover six weeks over 10 episodes). The entire plot of Season 1 could fit into the cold opening of a typical Scandal episode, with one or two twists to spare. The show offers no cathartic “gotcha” moments, no easy answers, and no rapid-fire dialogue.

Rectify is about the journey, not the destination. And no mater what your travel plans might be in the coming months, this will likely be the most rewarding trip you take all summer.

Stop Everything and Go Watch ‘Rectify’

The Television Miniseries is Back (Under a New Name)

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television miniseries

After a dormant period, the miniseries genre is having a renaissance. Just don’t call them that, as I wrote at Quartz.

But nobody calls these shows “miniseries,” anymore. Instead, the networks have embraced terms like “limited series” and “event series” to describe programs with a predetermined end or cast that changes from season to season.

So what’s the difference? Not even the people running the networks can answer that one. “I don’t know,” NBC Entertainment president Robert Greenblatt admitted to reporters at the Television Critics Association’s press tour in January.

“It’s a genre that has kind of gone out of our sort of vocabulary for a long time because we stopped doing them,” said Greenblatt. “I think we use the word miniseries when something is closed-ended and can’t continue.…I don’t know what a limited series is.”

CBS Entertainment chair Nina Tassler also spoke with me at TCA about why the m-word has become so verboten, and I help clear up the confusion between miniseries, limited series, event series and anthology series.

The television miniseries is back (under a new name) 

How ‘Marvel’s Agents of SHIELD’ Finally Found Its Way

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agents of shield s1

No series arrived this season with more hype, and more disappointment, than Marvel’s Agents of SHIELD. The show seemed destined to seamlessly expand Marvel’s bigscreen dominance to television, but as I wrote at The Daily Beast,

Instead, for much of its dreary first season, S.H.I.E.L.D. was a pretender, saddled with cut-rate CGI, one-dimensional characters (and in some cases, half-dimensional actors) and most damning of all, devoid of anything even remotely resembling fun. Yet in true comic book fashion, just when it seemed that all hope was lost, in the past month the show—against all odds—finally found its way. Now, Tuesday night’s feisty, rewarding season finale has me doing something I never would have thought possible: counting the days until next season.

I delve into the show’s many problems this seasons, and how the big twist from April’s Captain America: The Winter Soldier has finally helped Agents of SHIELD became the thrilling show it was always supposed to be.

How ‘Marvel’s Agents of SHIELD’ Finally Found Its Way

‘The Blacklist’ is Dead Without the Psychotic Red

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blacklist

Few shows have been as agonizingly schizophrenic this season and NBC’s The Blacklist, which is unmissable whenever James Spader is on screen as Raymond “Red” Reddington, and unwatchable whenever he is offscreen. As I wrote at The Daily Beast, the producers have done a superb job at dialing back on Red’s camp from the pilot:

Rather than going over-the-top, Spader has chosen a markedly more intriguing route. While he’s always the only one on screen having fun, he’ll frequently pull back the curtain to reveal the heartache and torment lurking underneath, especially in a rapt monologue about the torment of discovering his wife and child’s murdered corpses, or a recent conversation with Keen about how one comes to terms with taking a person’s life. More heart than ham, Red has become an intriguingly complex character, a 10-course-meal the likes of which broadcast television rarely concocts these days, and Spader has dug into each new dish with relish.

The rest of the show, however, is a mess, and I propose some radical changes that would help fix the series — and make Red even more compelling.

‘The Blacklist’ is Dead Without the Psychotic Red

Just One Month In, Jimmy Fallon is Already King of Late Night—and YouTube

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one-month-jimmy-fallon

Thanks to Mitra Kalita for this suggestion. One month into Jimmy Fallon’s tenure as new Tonight Show host, I wrote this Quartz piece on how he’s doing better than NBC could have ever dreamed: keeping the show number one in late-night while also dominating his competitors online:

Yet while Fallon has successfully maintained Tonight’s ratings dominance while drawing a significantly younger audience, his biggest achievement during his first month is online, where for the first time, people are viewing and sharing Tonight Show clips in massive numbers. His 10 most-watched Tonight clips on YouTube over the past month (from Feb. 17, the day of his first Tonight Show, to Mar. 15) have all garnered more than 2 million views. In contrast, only five of Leno’s Tonight Show clips have ever been watched more than 1 million times on YouTube.

While Quartz is famous for its innovative approach to charts and graphs, very few of my stories lend themselves to including them. But for this one, I was able to contribute some of my very own, as I painstakingly charted the number of times Fallon’s, Jimmy Kimmel’s and David Letterman’s most popular clips had been viewed on YouTube.

The numbers make one thing clear: almost immediately, Fallon has made the Tonight Show relevant online in a way it had never been before with Leno at the helm. And in the process, he has validated NBC’s controversial decision to give him The Tonight Show despite Leno’s continued reign atop the ratings. Fallon’s commanding numbers—both on TV and online—have ended (at least for now) any second-guessing that Leno was ushered off too early.

Meanwhile, Fallon and Kimmel’s YouTube success illustrates a key way the late-night landscape has evolved since the early days of Leno vs. Letterman: it’s no longer enough of a coup to simply land a big star; you also have to do something unexpected with them. The majority of both Fallon and Kimmel’s most popular YouTube clips feature big stars doing unexpected things, as opposed to the standard talk show anecdotes that Letterman (and Leno) stick to.

Until I did this story, I was shocked at Letterman’s meager online presence versus his time slot competitors. And congrats to Fallon on a first month to be proud of.

Just one month in, Jimmy Fallon is already king of late night—and YouTube

Meet the Sharks From ‘Shark Tank’

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kevin-oleary

As part of my extensive Parade cover story on Shark Tank, I wrote up sidebars on each of the six Sharks, packed with info about what makes them tick. Here they are:

Shark Tank’s Barbara Corcoran on the Deal She’s Proudest Of 

Shark Tank’s Mark Cuban: “I Didn’t Think the Show Would Last!” 

Shark Tank’s Lori Greiner: ‘I Don’t Pick People Who Are Just Using the Show for Publicity’ 

Shark Tank’s Robert Herjavec: ‘Don’t Mistake My Kindness for Weakness’ 

Shark Tank’s Daymond John on the Hollywood Star Who Loves the Sharks

Shark Tank’s Kevin O’Leary: ‘You’ve Got to Know the Numbers—Or I Will Eviscerate You’ 

Swimming With Sharks: The Moguls of ‘Shark Tank’ Tell All About Making Inventors’ Dreams Come True

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SharkTank.cover

At long last, you can finally read the Shark Tank cover story for Parade that I’ve been working so long and hard on! I spent time with all six Sharks — Lori Greiner, Daymond John, Robert Herjavec, Mark Cuban, Kevin O’Leary and Barbara Corcoran — and also talked with executive producer Mark Burnett and several of the show’s most successful entrepreneurs. The result is what I think is the definitive Shark Tank story, for newbies and die-hard fans alike!

Shark Tank is one of the quietest successful stories on TV. Ratings have steadily grown each season, which is unprecedented, especially for a reality show. As I wrote at Parade,

In short, the country hasn’t been this shark-obsessed since Jaws. “It’s what America stands for. Everybody’s got a dream,” says executive producer Mark Burnett, who also oversees Survivor and The Voice. Sony Pictures Television produces the show and adapted it from the Japanese-based reality format known in most countries as Dragons’ Den. “It says a lot about the psyche of our culture: Crazy things are possible, even in a down economy,” adds Amy Cosper, editor in chief of Entrepreneur magazine. “Entrepreneurs see things that others don’t.”

I’m really proud of how this one turned out, and hope you all enjoy it!

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Swimming With Sharks: The Moguls of Shark Tank Tell All About Making Inventors’ Dreams Come True