Surprise! There are no new series debuting today or Wednesday, so this might be a good time to take stock of the Tuesday schedule thus far.
Are you wracked with guilt because you pick one favorite show over another favorite on at the same time and worry that your loyalty to both will not be counted?
When the network bottom-line bean counters gather in their darkened chambers to decide the fate of programs, will your show suffer due to your vacillation?
Example: At 7 p.m. today, NBC and ABC are asking America to choose between more blind auditions on The Voice and "Las Vegas Night" on Dancing With the Stars. Do you watch one and record the other for later viewing, or simply watch one and forget about the other?
Well, never fear. These days the Nielsen company tallies so-called "live+3" ratings in its sample. Nielsen families have three days to watch a recorded show and have it count. If the ratings appear encouraging, a network will probably go ahead and commit to the "back 9" episodes -- which is what a full season is called after an initial 13-episode order.
Most new series only get 13 episodes up front so the networks can hedge their bets. If a series falters, a network can cut its losses and have a series disappear before the new year.
If all that is not enough, Nielsen also records "live+7" ratings and "live+SD" for same day viewing.
Also note that the networks tend to pair shows to complement each another. This forms a sort of theme night because a paired series is meant to encourage viewers to leave the dial on the network instead of surfing around for another show.
For example, tonight CBS has sandwiched its new police procedural series FBI between its popular veterans NCIS and NCIS: New Orleans. CBS hopes you'll come early and stay late and just forget there are other shows on.
On Wednesday night, NBC has the ultimate example of symbiotic programming thanks to uber-producer Dick Wolf. Yes, the same guy who gave us the six series in the Law & Order franchise. A seventh spinoff, Law & Order: Hate Crimes will have its cast introduced toward the end of the current season of Law & Order: Special Victims Unit.
This season, Wolf has turned Wednesday into Chicago night on NBC and this week is a perfect example of multiple crossovers.
At 7 p.m. we have Chicago Fire and the adventures of Firehouse 51. In the episode "Going to War," our heroes band together to fight a raging fire on the 20th floor of a residential high-rise.
Wait, there's more.
At 8 p.m. Chicago Med, which highlights the ER doctors and nurses of (fictional) Gaffney Chicago Medical Center, arrives with the episode "When to Let Go." In this one, Chicago Med, Fire and P.D. cross paths when the high-rise fire floods the hospital with victims.
And still more.
Finally, at 9 p.m., the docs give way to the cops and Chicago P.D. with the episode "Endings." The police get involved when investigation rules the fire an arson. For some, it gets personal.
Do you enjoy a theme evening of viewing such as this or do you prefer more variety? With TV, there's always something for everybody.
• SEAL Team, 8 p.m. Wednesday on CBS. To counter all that Chicago stuff on NBC, CBS is rolling out new seasons of two returning series.
It's Season 2 of the action drama starring David Boreanaz as Master Chief Jason Hayes, the leader of an elite unit of Navy SEALS where "failure isn't an option."
The 49-year-old Boreanaz has enjoyed a long career playing men of action. He was Angel, the vampire with a soul, on Buffy the Vampire Slayer (1997--2003) and its spinoff Angel (1999--2004), then FBI Special Agent Seeley Booth on Bones (2005--2017).
I got to nibble bagels with Boreanaz at a Buffy press event in the summer of 1998. He was personable and almost famous. Also at our table were series creator Joss Whedon and co-star Alyson Hannigan -- both destined for even bigger things in the years to come.
In Wednesday's SEAL Team episode "Fracture," Jason and the team are sent to rescue American hostages after an oil rig is overtaken by armed militants.
• Criminal Minds, 9 p.m. Wednesday on CBS. It's hard to believe, but this will be Season 14 for the venerable crime busters of the elite squad of FBI profilers.
Quick quiz: How long has it been since Mandy Patinkin bailed out of the series?
Answer: Patinkin, who played Jason Gideon, was horrified with the show's level of violence and left in a huff after Season 2.
In Wednesday's episode, "300," Reid and Garcia (Matthew Gray Gubler, Kirsten Vangsness) are abducted by a mass murderer. Why were they targeted? Can the Behavioral Analysis Unit save them?
The TV Column appears Sunday, Tuesday and Thursday. Email:
mstorey@arkansasonline.com
Style on 10/02/2018