Agents of Shield debuts tonight

[hedrap]

Name one show in the past ten years that got the slow build, year-upon-year allowance TNG or The X-Files got.

This network season has already had the two lowest rated shows in the history of Nielsen, Lucky 7 and We Are Men. Both are dead.

SHIELD has had the best number for a new show in four years, but that's not Lost, which was nearly a decade ago.

The gamble was the Marvel brand was big enough to overcome audience fracturing and would draw around a 20 million premiere, like Lost did. But they've come to realize that the show has to be bigger visually just to hold the 12-15 million. That should happen with the full season pickup.

[Earth 2 Chris]

^What he said.

Chris

[boynightwing]

My thing is that it's not a bad show. It's still building up to something. When I put it in perspective, how many bad first season episodes of Star Trek TNG are there? Almost the whole first season is terrible and much of season 2 as well. If that show came out today as brand new showing those episodes we'd be calling for cancellation. If we just waited, season 3 turns things around in a big bad way. When I look at Buffy the Vampire Slayer it is the same thing. Season 1 and the first half of 2 are monster of the week. Then by the end of 2 and for the rest of the series (mostly) it's amazing.

[Sideshow Spock]

If the writing doesn't improve I'm out.

Agreed. The show-runners (Whedon's brother and sister-in-law) wrote the last couple eps, and I'm not impressed. Hopefully there are sharper efforts upcoming from others on the writing team...

[sprytel]

I suspect the show is going to be this generation's Knight Rider.

If the writing doesn't improve I'm out. To many cliches and way too much predictibility for me.

I think we essentially just said the same thing. But you make it sound like a negative.

[Random Axe]

If the writing doesn't improve I'm out. To many cliches and way too much predictibility for me. So Skyy practices a few times disarming a pistol. It's convenient that scenario just happened to be played out twenty minutes later. Who didn't see that coming? I really want to like it, but I do fear like others here they WILL have to start having some comic characters on here for it to remain for a second season. They already hinted at Graviton. They could have some low-level characters that could be expanded upon like Constrictor, Guardsman, Paladin, Plantman and a host of others that won't ever make it into the cinematic universe. THe show has major potential but until it figures out what it wants to be, it will never reach it. It's still early so I give them a pass for now.

[sprytel]

I dunno, a lot of folks here are nostalgic about TV superheroes like The Incredible Hulk and Wonder Woman and so forth... and those featured about the same caliber of villain.

I suspect the show is going to be this generation's Knight Rider.

[jwyblejr]

^Unless they move him over to the movies.

[Mego Magyar]

I think the problem is that the show was hyped as a spinoff from the Avengers and other Marvel movies and it hasn't lived up to that. So far it isn't connecting itself to the Marvel movie universe and while it doesn't have to be a Marvel Hero of the week show, it need to bring in some heroes that are established Marvel heroes and not created just for the show - that's how it will look like a spinoff of the movie franchise. Also, I've said before, I don't think a NCIS/CSI Marvel Universe premise will work either. It also needs clear Marvel villain like A.I.M, Hydra or Zodiac - something that gives it direction and a connection to the Marvel universe. One thing I wouldn't change it that the episode are pretty much stand alone, you don't need to have seen the last show to watch and enjoy the episode you are watching tonight.

And yes, Skye in the red dress made for very enjoyable viewing.

SPOILER ALERT FOR ANYONE THAT HASN'T SEEN THE LAST EPISODES:


I thought that the gravity premise has going to introduce Ian Quinn as Graviton but I didn't know until I googled it that Franklin Hall ( the good kidnapped Doctors name ) is the real name of Graviton in the comics. Seeing how the show ended with a hand coming out of the "gravity stuff" males that a possibility - That could be a way of bringing in super heroes heroes - to fight a super villain.

[Earth 2 Chris]

^Yeah. Quoth my 11-year old son "SHE'S HOT!"


Chris

[Sideshow Spock]

Screw the criticisms, if they keep putting Skye in dresses like that , I'll keep watching

[jwyblejr]

I think if they had started them out going after say Zodiac,it might have made things better.

[jds1911a1]

I must be in the minority, I think it's a solid show and it's exactly what I expected from it as a Joss Whedden show. I liked the Agent Coulson character from the start and as someone who was a big fan of Nick Fury Agent of Shield (back in the bronze age) I am hooked. I even like it enough to watch in real time on Tuesdays instead of on demand later - depsite all the commercials for the goldbergs during the show.

[BlackKnight]

If they Get Renner ..., Jackson, ... Johannson or somebody Else associated to the Project thats is more so an A lister ..., for a guest Episode or Arc .... Ratings will go thru the Roof ..., and Probably pay for the Entire Season too.

[MIB41]

http://television.cosmicbooknews.com...s-drop-over-30

So, what are we looking at?

30% drop. Ugly. It's losing to The Voice and NCIS. That is not expected. If this continues, they'll move it. And it could easily kill Gotham Central.

The much-loved Marvel credit-bump isn't going to work for television. The problem for Disney is you can do this with the movie stars because as long as they're uncredited, they can pay a different rate. But if you can't advertise or use them as a central figure it means nothing.

Coulson Love, as I've felt from his Iron Man days, is just the latest example of fanboyism that does not deliver.

Television is a fast business now. There's no room for a slow-build on network time. I wasn't down on this when it was originally announced, I was actually optimistic thinking the players involved learned their lessons from past implosions.

But we're seeing an obvious deterioration in quality now that Disney has direct input. They're turning everything into generic action/adventure stuff and using superheroes as the gimmick. Which really misses the point.

EDIT: Bionic. It's a totally different business now, and it mutates about every decade. Buffy was cult big. Angel, somewhat. Firefly, not even. But Buffy hit Fox right when networks were moving away from trying to find the broadest demo and focusing on tighter ones. Buffy fit the X-Files mold, but never achieved X-Files ratings.

TNG was at the cusp of cable originals, so it was always guaranteed a spot somewhere.

The 70's/80's are close to continuous models because business was booming and cable hadn't eaten away at the network core, yet.

If SHIELD stays in the 3 range, they'll make it for the full year on Tuesdays. If they drop into the 2's, they'll move nights when the mid-seasons come in. If that doesn't help, they're one and done.

I've been giving it a try. The pilot did very little for me. The second episode was better, but ultimately the premise is weak. I never thought the Coulson character would be strong enough to build a series around. In contrast, I sat down and watched the Arrow season one recap tonight and the series is strong. It's got a good storyline pulling in characters from the DC Universe with plenty of promise of more to come. It has purpose in building the DC Universe. Shield is lost somewhere in the middle of that. The Marvel universe is already established, so it's focus is a little less defined.