Moonlight & Jericho top list of genre shows with stable ratings

SyFy Portal's Michael Hinman has written a great article explaining how steady Moonlight's ratings were over its 16 episodes.

'Jericho,' 'Moonlight' Most Stable Genre Shows
By MICHAEL HINMAN

They were both unceremoniously canceled by CBS, but while the audiences for "Jericho" and "Moonlight" weren't vast, they were stable.

The two shows topped a list of 13 programs tracked through Fast National ratings from Nielsen Media Research over the 2007-08 season, showing they maintained the strongest audiences in terms of stability.

"Jericho" had a stability index rating of 92.9, according to SyFy Portal, while "Moonlight" had a stability index rating of 87.9. The numbers, which show the amount of audience retained based on the show's highest overnight rating versus its average, is meant to give a snapshot look of how much audience on average a show retained throughout the course of the season.

The two index numbers come despite "Moonlight" finishing seventh and "Jericho" 11th among the network shows tracked by SyFy Portal in terms of average overnight ratings. "Jericho," over the course of seven episodes, only witnessed a 16.7 percent total audience drop-off between its best viewership night and its worst viewership night, while "Moonlight's" audience eroded by 19 percent over 16 episodes. "Jericho" finished with an average overnight rating of a 3.9 rating/7 share, while "Moonlight" averaged a 5.1/9.

"Lost," which topped network genre shows for the 2007-08 season with a 7.7/12, finished in the middle of the pack when it came to holding on to its audience. Its stability index rating was an 81.1 that included a total loss of 26.3 percent of its audience between its highest and lowest ratings. It finished behind "Dexter" and "Heroes" to take a seventh ranking.

The CW showed solid stability in its numbers as well. "Supernatural" had a stability index rating of 86.4 to have the third best rating among the shows tracked by SyFy Portal, which included a 27.3 percent audience drop-off. "Smallville" was right behind with an 83.9 stability index rating.

"Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles" had the worst rating of the 13 shows, picking up just a 50.5 that included a 59.5 percent audience erosion between its highest and worst ratings. At the same time, "Sarah Connor" also had its series premiere right after a highly rated NFL postseason game which artificially inflated its numbers for the premiere, with its second week providing more stable ratings.

"Sarah Connor" finished fourth among shows based on average overnight ratings with a 5.6/9 behind "Lost," "Heroes" and ABC's "Pushing Daisies."

Advertisers typically are looking for shows that have dependable audiences to help justify spending money on commercials, and typically shows with stable ratings have a chance to move on. Of course, that is just one of a number of factors that go into the decision-making on whether or not a show is renewed, as was evidenced by the fact that both "Jericho" and "Moonlight" were cancelled. However, seven of the top 10 shows in the stability index rating have been picked up for the 2008-09 season, leaving out "Journeyman" as the only other show with a 69.5 rating.

Of the top 10 shows based on average overnight rating, only six are returning for another season.

For a complete listing of the genre shows tracked in average overnight rating and stability index rating, click here.

http://www.syfyportal.com/pagetogether.php?id=5303&page=1

http://www.syfyportal.com/community/index.php?topic=11281.msg49532#msg49532

Vote for Sophia Myles in the SyFy Portal Genre Awards

It is time to vote for Sophia Myles in the SyFy Portal Genre Awards! You know that she has been included in the Best Actress/Television category for her role as Beth Turner. As I posted previously, I think Alex O'Loughlin/Mick St John, Jason Dohring/Josef Kostan and Moonlight should have been nominated also. Of course, the snub will not keep us from voting for our girl :)

Voting will be allowed until July 25th, 2008. You can vote once daily per email address.

http://www.syfyportal.com/genre-awards/2008/index.php

Sophia Myles nominated for SyFy Genre award

Our Sophia Myles has been nominated in the Best Actress/Television category of the SyFy Genre awards for her work as Beth Turner..... of course :) *cheer* The awards are given by the SyFy Portal website.

Unfortunately, she is the only nominee from Moonlight. While I'm happy for Sophia, I'm shocked that no other members of our cast were considered worthy.

Jason Dohring does an incredible job with the role of Josef. His line reads are always spot on! He makes us laugh, and yet can easily bring us to tears.

Shannyn Sossamon is also wonderful as Coraline. She took on the task of playing the "villain" with grace, and made her a nuanced character that many of us loved & others loved to hate. ha!

The complete surprise to me is no nomination for Alex O'Loughlin. How can you watch Alex as Mick St John and not see what an amazing actor he is?!?!? Obviously, he's the most talked about and impressive break out star of the season. I just don't understand him being left out.

For that matter, Moonlight itself more than deserved to be selected to compete in the Best Series/Television category! Our cast, writers & crew created a show that mesmerized millions of addicted fans despite being a freshman series in a Writer's Strike ravaged season and so on.

I'll stop ranting for the moment.........

Back to Sophia's nomination ~ The voting begins on June 25th, 2008. You will be allowed to vote for her once daily until July 25th, 2008. SyFy Portal will announce the winners as part of their 10th anniversary festivities in August. So, get ready to vote your fingers off for Sophia & spread the word!

You can check out a list of all nominees in every category by using this link :
http://www.syfyportal.com/community/index.php?topic=10670.0

SyFy Portal interviews Jason Dohring

SyFy Portal interviewed Jason Dohring about the behind the scenes changes at Moonlight, such as showrunners coming and going. He talks about the involvement of uber producer Joel Silver. We are very lucky to have him producing Moonlight. Jason calls for viewers to watch our show! The stories are fantastic, but without ratings we won't see anymore.

Showrunner Change Won't Affect 'Moonlight' Too Much
By Michael Hinman

This story contains MINOR SPOILERS for remaining episodes of the first season of "Moonlight" on CBS.

If and when CBS decides to bring "Moonlight" back for a second season, the network will have to make sure there is much more stability in the showrunner's office.

Executive Producer Joel Silver is the third person to take on showrunner duties for "Moonlight" this season which resumes with new episodes on Friday, and he's only doing it temporary meaning when the second season starts next fall -- if it starts at all -- the show will have its fourth showrunner.

But as David Greenwalt and Chip Johannessen made their stints on the show brief, "Moonlight" itself is pretty much staying on course in terms of story and direction, said Jason Dohring, who plays the old vampire Josef Konstantin in the series, during a telephone conference Wednesday with reporters that included SyFy Portal.

"We eventually had to write our own rules, not only rules that we have as vampires, but what style do we want," Dohring said. "We have had [Gabrielle G. Stanton and Harry Werksman] since the beginning, so we've has a through-line of vision. So while we may have gone through different showrunners, we have had somewhat of a similarity."

Besides the writing crew, a lot of that stability has come from Silver himself, who has been extremely active not only on this show, but on Dohring's former series on The CW, "Veronica Mars."

"If he has ideas or needs to come up with something, he's always right here to do it," Dohring said. "Even on 'Veronica Mars,' he would call up Paris Hilton to get her on the show, or other big names on the show so that we could get eyes on the show. It was what we needed then, and kind of what we are doing now."

Josef himself has been alive for four centuries, which means there is plenty of backstory for the writers to pull from. But audiences likely will get through these last four episodes without learning too much new about the character's past, Dohring said.

The writers "just told me stuff last night that kind of ... I don't think I can say what that is," he said. "You'll find out where he comes from, what his story was. We will find out how he came to be."

But in order to find out, people have to watch. And although "Moonlight" has remained pretty consistent in the ratings on Friday nights, there needs to be eyeballs glued to the show over the next month to help make the decision of renewal easier for CBS, he said.

"Sadly enough, it comes down to people watching the show," Dohring said. "The [episodes] we have coming up are very, very good, and we just need people to watch it. We have a great product here, and the more we can promote it and the more people can see it, the more it will catch on."

But "Moonlight" has had its problems with introductions to genre fans, especially those who continuously wanted to compare it to the former WB series "Angel" before seeing a single frame. While "Moonlight" is an entirely different nocturnal animal than "Angel," it's still a struggle to get some of the more stubborn fans to understand that, Dohring said.

"What has captured people, I think, is Mick's (Alex O'Loughlin) struggle with his life, his involvement with Beth (Sophia Myles), being human and being a vampire," he said. "He wants to be human.

"We have a fucking fantastic love story, and when I originally saw the first three or four episodes, it was like 'CSI' with vampires. It's just visually appealing with [strong] characters on top of that, and vampires on top of that. There's no other show that has all those elements, or even a vampire show that has had those elements. It's more like Anne Rice with a love story."

"Moonlight" airs four more episodes beginning Friday at 9 p.m. ET on CBS. Eric Winter of "Brothers & Sisters" begins a three-episode guest stint as the new assistant district attorney Benjamin Talbot that begins with the kidnapping of Beth that could force Mick to decide whether or not saving her is worth sacrificing him being human again.

On May 2, a Hollywood starlet that Mick is protecting gets murdered what might be from an aggressive paparazzi while Beth has to deal with a new boss at Buzzwire. May 9, more of Mick's background is revealed when the grandson of his World War II buddy is kidnapped.

And in the season finale planned for May 16, Mick and Beth face what could be something that would keep them apart. A vampire kills a human in the heat of passion, and the murder investigation theatens to expose the identities of other vampires, especially Mick and Josef.

http://syfyportal.com/pagetogether.php?id=4964&page=1

Photo ~ Jason Dohring on the red carpet at the Speed Racer movie premiere ~ Nokia Theater in Los Angeles

SyFy Portal article about Moonlight and Love Lasts Forever (episode #1x11)

Michael Hinman, at SyFy Portal, has written another great article about Moonlight! He has been a wonderful supporter of our show. :) In his online column, he discusses the ratings and expresses his opinion that Moonlight returned with its long awaited new episode ~ Love Lasts Forever (#1x11) ~ without missing a step!

Moonlight Back With A Vengeance

"Moonlight" picked right up where it left off on CBS, marking a strong return for its first episode of 2008.

The vampire show earned a 5.2 rating/9 share according to Fast National ratings from Nielsen Media Research, once again down from its "Ghost Whisperer" lead-in, but still winning the hour that contained repeats for the most part.

The last new episode to air of "Moonlight" drew a 4.9/9, and the series has remained surprisingly consistent in its ratings, fluctuating no more than 1.2 rating points between its high of 5.8/11 achieved in its series premiere to a low of 4.6/8 two weeks later. The show has never looked back, and is a little more than half a ratings point behind its all-time high.

Fast Nationals usually provide a snapshot of what Americans are watching by pulling numbers from the top urban markets that includes both live viewing and same-day timeshifted viewing. A rating point generally represents more than 1.1 million households while the share indicates the percentage of televisions turned on that was tuned to the specific program. These numbers typically shift when final ratings are issued.

http://www.syfyportal.com/news424618.html

Photo ~ This is one of my favorite images of Beth from Love Lasts Forever. Sophia looks so good in it. And.... a little hint of Mick never hurts. *wink*

SyFy Portal lists top genre shows & their opinion of Moonlight

Michael Hinman, at SyFy Portal, wrote a great article about the top genre shows for the first 10 weeks of this television season. Moonlight was the fourth rated series in this category! He had some very positive things to say about our show's ratings & possibility of being renewed. I'll share his opinion with you :)

Moonlight was probably the biggest surprise of the season, finishing in fourth place with a 5.1/9, incredibly just a little more than half a ratings point off its series premiere of 5.8/11. Only Smallville and Supernatual on The CW have been able to retain that much of its premiere audience. Moonlight's lowest rating in the first 10 weeks was just a little more than one ratings point off its premiere. While the show is still not pulling in the numbers that its companion shows are for CBS Friday night, it does seem like Moonlight will be around for a while.

Overall, there's no doubt that Heroes and Pushing Daisies will earn pickups in the coming weeks if not renewals (all turned upside down by the Writers Guild of America strike), and Moonlight and Chuck also are expected to see longer lives.

Heroes was the number one genre show.

http://syfyportal.com/news424568.html