ATV Today’s Predictions For 2012 – Were We Right?
Last year ATV Today made predictions about the futures of several shows and with 2012 now behind us ATV News’ Editor Doug Lambert take a look back at how right and how wrong we were.
A year can make all the difference and at the start of 2012 the future certainly did not look bright for ABC’s medical soap General Hospital. At the end of January 2012 it became the last remaining daytime saga to air on ABC and for many the axe looked certain to drop; as low ratings continued to plague the serial. We wrongly predicted the demise of General Hospital and we are very glad to have been wrong on that score. The soaps fortunes have been turned around by Frank Valentini and Ron Carlivati and for now the production looks secure.
2012 was the year the CSI franchise suffered its first casualty; CSI Miami. It was a swift demise that many experts saw coming as ratings withered away across its run. It became clear to us that it was only a matter of time before CBS decided to ditch at least one of the CSI shows. It was a tight competition though between CSI: NY and CSI: Miami but in the end it came down to cost – CSI: NY was cheaper to produce and thus survived. In our prediction for 2012 we merely stated one of the CSI shows would fall but we didn’t state which – so we were correct. Looking ahead to 2013 it looks as though CSI: NY could be the next to fall….only time will tell.
Children’s magazine programme Blue Peter may still be on-air but how much longer? Programmes for young viewers are no longer broadcast on BBC One – instead they air on the dedicated CBBC channel instead.
We asked the question ‘how long will it be before the long-running series is culled?’ ATV News team members thought that 2012 would be that year but Blue Peter has managed to survive another twelve months; but it has been scaled back to one episode per week and just two presenters. So how long before the corporation finishes what it has started and kills off the series? It didn’t happen in 2012, so we were wrong about it, but will it happen in 2013? We’re starting to think it’ll still be on air in 2060 just quietly hiding in some small corner of CBBC.
Quirky cult series Fringe, starring Joshua Jackson, managed to pull off another miracle in 2012 by being renewed for a fifth season all be it a final run. Fox rewarded the loyal but small fan-base of Fringe by giving producers a shortened final season to wrap up storylines and craft an ending instead of just axing it out-right like the network did to the better rated Terra Nova.
The renewal was partly down to “politics” of a sort because it allowed Fringe to move beyond the “magic 88” number of episodes needed to put a series into syndication – which will recoup some of the costs involved with producing the show. So while were only partly wrong about Fringe; we were wrong in it would not be renewed but right in stating it would be cancelled by Fox which a final season order effectively amounts to!
We predicted that the end would be night for The CW’s teen dramas 90210 and Gossip Girl. The broadcasters revival of the 1990s soap managed to secure itself a fifth season order while Gossip Girl was cancelled by The CW with a shortened six season order to let producers come up with a suitable ending – such as revealing how the mysterious blogger has been all these years. 90210 now looks itself to receive a final season run; though its fate remains uncertain and will depend on the performance on the networks mid-season shows such as Cult and The Carrie Diaries.
