Because it airs on Starz, a premium cable network, viewership for Boss was never going to be high. But the series managed to attract around half a million viewers (if that) throughout its first season. Compared to the 1.2 million viewers that Spartacus: Vengeance, another Starz series, averaged, Boss's viewership is paltry.
Creator Farhad Safinia knows this fact, he informed reporters at the show's TCA panel on Thursday. "I am completely aware of what the numbers are and I'm heartbroken," he said. "There are so many great things about the show that I feel it deserves a larger audience."
The series was renewed for a second season before the show even premiered, so fans of the series should be thankful to Starz's faith in the show for the next ten episodes. But will the network renew the series for a third season based on quality alone? Star Kelsey Grammer doesn't doubt it.
"I'm fairly confident that whatever Starz's interest is in the show is because it's a great story to tell," he said. "I'm honestly not aware of what the show's numbers actually are."
Plans are for the show to continue until protagonist Tom Kane's (Grammer) death by the degenerative neurological disorder he discovered he had in the show's opening minutes. "We're looking at a timeline that is going to be studied until his ultimate demise," Safinia said. "This man is changing and therefore the seasons are going to change."
But that of course depends on whether the show gets renewed beyond its second season. It seems like any growth in the show's viewership would be a good sign for a third season, though Safinia remains cautious. "I hope we get to tell the entire story," he said.
Boss season 2 will premiere August 17 on Starz. Seriously, watch it.
Boss, while one of the best on TV, is a low-rated show that will have to work hard to get a third season. And while freshman period piece Magic City was renewed before its first season aired, its ratings are just as bad (if not worse) than Boss's. It too will have to work for a third season.
So what does Starz have coming down the pipeline of original programming? Some pretty intriguing stuff, as it turns out. Five new series in various stages of development have been announced, and some of them actually sound really, really promising.
First is Black Sails, an eight-episode pirate series headed up by Transformers director Michael Bay. With Bay's name attached, you probably shouldn't expect too much character development, but work is being put into making the show look good. While Starz's Spartacus is shot entirely indoors against a green screen, actual sets have been constructed for filming in South Africa. "We have the opportunity to create an actual water set outside that will allow us to build a boat and another part of a boat," Starz president Chris Albrecht said. While that's all good, we bet Michael Bay's asking a different question: Can we blow the boats up? Black Sails is eying a 2014 debut.
Then we've got Noir, a live-action version of the anime series of the same name. Like the CW's Nikita, it's a show about female assassins fighting a mysterious organization. The project has Robert Tapert and Josh Donen attached as writers, but the big name here is Sam Raimi, the director of Spider-Man and The Evil Dead. He'll also be serving as a writer and presumable executive producer of the show, which doesn't have a ballpark premiere date yet.
There's a very promising-sounding series called Incursion, which is headed up by Spartacus creator Steven S. DeKnight. The concept is a little Falling Skies, but with a bigger focus on the military angle: "It's Band of Brothers meets Halo... with a lot of creature work," according to Albrecht.
Two character-centric shows are also on their way. Da Vinci's Demons features Tom Riley as a young Leonardo da Vinci. It's a period piece that sounds like it has the potential to be great -- after all, da Vinci as a man was just as fascinating as any of his artwork or inventions. It's the show that's closest to premiering; Starz is planning on bringing us the show in spring 2013.
Then there's Marco Polo, produced by the Weinstein Company, that examines the young life of the titular character in the court of Kublai Khan. "The scripts are absolutely fantastic," Albrecht promises, though problems have arisen from attempting to shoot in China. (Well, yeah.)
It's a solid bunch of new programming, with a lot of it that could really go either way. Of these, Da Vinci's Demons sounds the most promising, though I'm quite interested to see what Incursion looks like, too. What do you think? Which of these shows are you most interested in seeing?
The trailer features clips from what looks like the first five episodes of the series. One taken from "Asylum of the Daleks," or example, features the Doctor (Matt Smith), Amy (Karen Gillan), and Rory (Arthur Darvill) surrounded by hundreds -- no, thousands -- of Daleks, arranged in what looks like an auditorium or colosseum. "You've got me," the Doctor says, angrily. "At long last, here I am!" The Daleks apparently decide to exile the Doctor and his companions to a snowy planet, where they meet a new friend.
We get a glimpse of the second episode of the series, "Dinosaurs on a Spaceship," which features exactly what the title says. He's so excited that Amy has to drag him away. (There are apparently some "very cross" robots on this spaceship as well.)
We get glimpses of the Doctor's western shoot-out with a cyborg from the third episode, as well as some very creepy baby Weeping Angels from the fifth episode (and the Ponds' exit). These baby angels blow out candles, and I'm already scared.
"Scared? Who's scared?" Amy asks. "Geronimo!" And you know what? That's how we feel, too. And then there's this gem of dialogue that has us pleading for August to just hurry up and skip to the end already:
Rory: "Who killed all the Daleks?"
The Doctor: "Who do you think?!"
“There isn’t a film. That was all some weird fantasy going on somewhere. Look, we hopefully will do a Doctor Who film someday. It will be absolutely run by the Doctor Who production office in Cardiff. It will feature the same Doctor as on television," he assured EW. "It will not be a rebooted continuity. All of that would be insane.”
Then Moffat delivered a speech not dissimilar from the famous "I am the Doctor!" speech the show's lead character delivered back in series 5: “So that whole proposal was not true, did not happen. I can say that with authority because, as far as the BBC is concerned, I’m the voice of Doctor Who. So if I say it, it’s true. The BBC own Doctor Who and, for the moment, I run it for them. So I can assure you definitively that was all nonsense — not the idea of making a film, we’d love to make a film, but the idea of a rebooted continuity, a different Doctor. That’s writing the book on how to destroy a franchise. You don’t behave like that with it. Not ever.”
We can only presume that EW cut the part of the interview where he threateningly told Yates to run.
Though he called Yates a "fine director," Moffat said, "The project as he describes it would not happen. It was all a bit more off the cuff than it seemed to be.”
Let's hope that puts an end to these rumors, but it probably won't. As DoctorWhoTV humorously put it, "Clearly there’s a lack of communication going on somewhere... Yates will probably be telling the world how he’s making it for sure next week, and the cycle continues."
Doctor Who will return for its seventh series later this month.
CBS has cancelled its new dating series 3, pulling it from the schedule after only two episodes. The show premiered to dismal ratings just five days ago, where it became one of the network's lowest rated debuts ever with just over 2 million total viewers.
In its place on Sunday nights at 9:00pm CBS will air repeat dramas until the fourth season premiere of The Good Wife on September 30.
(Source: TV Guide)
At Showtime's TCA panel earlier today, the network announced that The Big C has been renewed for a final season, which will be the show's fourth.
Four hour-long episodes will conclude the series, which is expected to return in 2013 although no concrete details have been confirmed at this time.
(Source: TV by the Numbers)
At a Television Critics Association panel today, FX announced that Louie has been renewed for a fourth season. Written and produced by comic Louis C.K., the comedy puts a spotlight on the title character's everyday ordeals around life in New York City.
No details have been given regarding the show's next season, but a June 2013 return is likely.
(Source: TV Guide)
AMC has cancelled The Killing after two seasons. Over the course of its run, the crime drama followed the events after the murder of a young Seattle girl, with each episode representing one day in the investigation. Thankfully for fans of the show, the murder was solved at the end of Season 2.
"After much deliberation, we've come to the difficult decision not to renew 'The Killing' for a third season," the network said in an issued statement. "AMC is incredibly proud of the show and is fortunate to have worked with such a talented team on this project, from showrunner Veena Sud and our terrific partners at Fox Television Studios to the talented, dedicated crew and exceptional cast."
(Source: TV by the Numbers)
MTV announced today that scripted comedy series Awkward has been renewed for a third season. The network has ordered 20 new episodes for Season 3, which is almost double the number of its first two seasons.
The series is currently enjoying a successful second season since premiering last month, so far up six percent from its freshman year.
(Source: TV by the Numbers)
MTV announced today that sophomore drama Teen Wolf has been renewed for a third season. The show, now in season 2, currently ranks as the #1 series across all television in its time period among the P12-34 demographic.
"‘Teen Wolf’ represents a terrific foray into the scripted world for the millennial MTV audience, and marks tremendous success in the continued diversification of our schedule," said David Janollari, Head of MTV Programming. "Renewing the show for a third season celebrates the creative vision of Executive Producer Jeff Davis and the remarkable talent of the cast who bring this bona fide fan favorite to life."
The network has ordered a double-sized 24 episodes for Teen Wolf's third season, which is the largest order to-date in MTV's scripted category.
(Source: TV by the Numbers)
