Falling Skies Ratings Discussion

[shavedape]

Exactly

The pattern has been confirmed! This same sort of trajectory is shared by SGU and Caprica. There is always gonna be dropoff after a premiere, but seeing the show tells viewers that there isnt a lot left to keep interest. The story needed to show the invasion FIRST, even if it was a flashback or a cutscene in the titles. Otherwise, its only "implied" and that is just not good enough. These Masons and the sons are not enough to hold long-term interest IMO. I project the dropoff to continue next week.

Is it time to create a new Crystal Ball for this show?

I think people are figuring it out, even subconsciously. The lack of exciting opening showing the invasion was very telling. Even if people didn't consciously recognize it I think they went away from the premiere wondering at the back of their minds WTF happened with the invasion. The "childrens art therapy" explanation of the invasion was a huge mistake -- HUGE! It did the opposite of building excitement, that's for sure.

I think you're onto something with the projected formula here. I bet once the ratings are in the crapper we'll see a sudden shift in tone and story telling for whatever remaining episodes are left to produce (if there are any -- the Spielberg name could give the show some fuel). It will suddenly be more action oriented. Certain expensive cast members will be given the boot. They'll focus more on the aliens and the invasion (because they will, grudgingly, give in to fan pressure) but the budget will preclude showing the actual invasion by that point. The writers will talk a lot about how exciting things are to come in the show but it will all be too late and the show will get axed because the audience will have been bored by the soap-fi bait-and-switch early on and will have long deserted it. The end.

Of course in the long run sci-fi fans will be blamed for not supporting the show. We will be branded as being too low-brow and "not ready" for the depth and genius of the show. The show will be labeled as being ahead of its time, the implication being that the average sci-fi fan is too stupid to recognize that which is good, that which is "artistic". Yup, it will be our fault. We're all idiots. :roll:

 

[shavedape]

chicken! next week looks very interesting....

Spoiler: spoilers

the kid who had the harness removed puts it back on VOLUNTARILY and it appears the alien POW might be speaking through the kid! we shall see if that is the next ep...or just a sneaky scene from further down the road!

I consider the focusing on children in this show to be a mistake. This may work within the confines of a Spielberg movie but it just doesn't work for a long term TV show. I simply can't gin up interest in the fact that this guy's kid is "harnessed" by the aliens. :roll: It's obvious they're going to stretch that little plot device out as long as they can. YAWN.

It was telling that they opened the show with the children's art therapy class. It was like they were saying This will be the focus of the show. And it will be because of this that the show will fail. I, like many, many, many people don't care about the melodramatic aspect of how an alien invasion affects kids. Again YAWN. That aspect of the story needs to be more in the background and more rare. Same with the teen angst "I-like-girls-but-have-to-grow-up-before-my-first-kiss" BS that is stinking up the place already. YAWN YAWN BLEEPING YAWN!

 

[mzzz]

Yea the children are really annoying . The guy's son, the blonde kid, he really sucked the life out of every scene that involved him.

um, isn't it time this series got a dedicated thread?

 

[Overmind One]

Yea the children are really annoying . The guy's son, the blonde kid, he really sucked the life out of every scene that involved him.

um, isn't it time this series got a dedicated thread?

The blonde kid is like a little girl in the series. I never would be allowed to whine and pout like that when I was a kid. My dad would most likely scoop me up and take my brother and I camping or hiking to make little men out of us again! The older kid is more convincing, but I just dont care for the show to make him a central character. He reminds me too much of the older son of Tom Cruise in War of the Worlds. You know, the rebel/anarchist/soldier/activist/artist/emo sorta guy. This show is a sinker. Falling Skies Falling.

I vote for a dedicated forum as well. The SGU threads are already getting dusty.

 

[shavedape]

Should we start to call it "Failing Skies"?

The blonde kid is like a little girl in the series. I never would be allowed to whine and pout like that when I was a kid. My dad would most likely scoop me up and take my brother and I camping or hiking to mane little men out of us again! The older kid is more convincing, but I just dont care for the show to make him a central character. He reminds me too much of the older son of Tom Cruise in War of the Worlds. You know, the rebel/anarchist/soldier/activist/artist/emo sorta guy. This show is a sinker. Falling Skies Falling.

I vote for a dedicated forum as well. The SGU threads are already getting dusty.

The focus on kids smacks of a Spielberg production. That's just how he does it and frankly it's annoying.

The problem with Falling Skies is that the concept is rather dark but since they're focusing on kids they can only take that so far. And the other extreme of cutsey cutsey when it comes to kids is beyond annoying. That's when I tune out. If Spielberg expects the plot device of aliens "harvesting" kids is going to get my interest he's sorely mistaken Hell, if I was a character on that show I'd be giving away their hiding places to the aliens, that's how annoying I find kids in shows like this.

 

[Backstep]

When the General came in to the new camp and called for a meeting, I was OK now we get some info on the aliens. Then the General said, we don't know squat Six months in and starting now they are going to start gathering intelligence on the aliens.

 

[shavedape]

When the General came in to the new camp and called for a meeting, I was OK now we get some info on the aliens. Then the General said, we don't know squat Six months in and starting now they are going to start gathering intelligence on the aliens.

I can see them being in the dark about the aliens at the six month mark if they showed what happened in those preceding six months. Show the arrival. Show the initial attack. Show the confusion and mass hysteria. Show society falling apart. Show us reasons as to why the humans are still in the dark.

And I mean SHOW us what went down. Don't just tell us. Don't just give us a kids picture drawn in freakin' crayon!

 

[Backstep]

I can see them being in the dark about the aliens at the six month mark if they showed what happened in those preceding six months. Show the arrival. Show the initial attack. Show the confusion and mass hysteria. Show society falling apart. Show us reasons as to why the humans are still in the dark.

And I mean SHOW us what went down. Don't just tell us. Don't just give us a kids picture drawn in freakin' crayon!

i agree with the civilian population being in total disarray before, during and after the attach, as silly as it sounds the gov does now have an alien attach plan with underground bunkers and think tanks setup not unlike the cold war days. Even if the aliens came in from the sun side that still give the gov maybe a day to staff those installations. When the general said they don't know squat doesn't sit well with me.

I can't agree with you more, i want to see the why's. So far we've seen 3 hours of character development and the aliens being a side story, come on give me some meat to chew not just the fat and gristle.

 

[ChromeToasterX]

I can see them being in the dark about the aliens at the six month mark if they showed what happened in those preceding six months. Show the arrival. Show the initial attack. Show the confusion and mass hysteria. Show society falling apart. Show us reasons as to why the humans are still in the dark.

And I mean SHOW us what went down. Don't just tell us. Don't just give us a kids picture drawn in freakin' crayon!

They aren't going to show the invasion, mostly because they don't have the budget to do it well and to be honest, we've seen the invasion part so much in other media that it's not all that interesting. Plus the invasion apparently consisted of "EMP planet, kill off humans in a certain area, land ship, deploy skitters and mechs," which is really boring. The human side would probably just as boring, with everyone being forced to live without the conveniences one has grown accustomed to, etc, etc... I honestly don't think we lost anything of value since that would most likely become super angsty and even more unbearable than what we've got now.

i agree with the civilian population being in total disarray before, during and after the attach, as silly as it sounds the gov does now have an alien attach plan with underground bunkers and think tanks setup not unlike the cold war days. Even if the aliens came in from the sun side that still give the gov maybe a day to staff those installations. When the general said they don't know squat doesn't sit well with me.

I'm not surprised that they know nothing at all. The aliens were competent and EMP'd everything to the point that the chain of command disintegrated once communications devolved to the level of pre-1800s societies. 6 months after the invasion, the Boston survivors are only now finding out that there are other survivors all across the country, which just goes to show how bad things are. Them not knowing anything makes sense since everybody was likely too busy trying to survive and scavenge what they could, not undertaking risky operations to capture skitters or mechs when even a simple scavenging mission could get people killed and possibly waste valuable resources.

 

[shavedape]

Sorry, gonna have to totally disagree with you here bro

They aren't going to show the invasion, mostly because they don't have the budget to do it well and to be honest, we've seen the invasion part so much in other media that it's not all that interesting. Plus the invasion apparently consisted of "EMP planet, kill off humans in a certain area, land ship, deploy skitters and mechs," which is really boring. The human side would probably just as boring, with everyone being forced to live without the conveniences one has grown accustomed to, etc, etc... I honestly don't think we lost anything of value since that would most likely become super angsty and even more unbearable than what we've got now.

It's a Spielberg production. They had the budget to do an invasion scene to begin with. Let's not even play. They simply chose to put that money into other areas of production, which was a mistake.

As for having seen invasion scenes in "other media" that hardly makes this invasion less interesting. In fact, that is the most exciting part of these movies/shows. It's the big, finger biting moment we all love. To say that the invasion part of an alien movie/show isn't interesting is simply wrong, horribly wrong. It might bore you, but I assure you you are in the minority here.

And I don't see much in the way of angsty naval gazing whilst humans are running for their lives. It's kind of hard to find time to worry if the blond chick at Starbucks finds you attractive while your entire block is being blown to pieces.

So, basically CTX, you're wrong. An invasion scene in the opening of the show would have done much to build viewer empathy/sympathy/interest. As it is we are now hard pressed to gin up concern for these people because, aside from the occasional isolated scene with an alien or two, we're given nothing but talk talk talk, boring freakin' talk. :roll:

 

[Rac80]

It's a Spielberg production. They had the budget to do an invasion scene to begin with. Let's not even play. They simply chose to put that money into other areas of production, which was a mistake.

As for having seen invasion scenes in "other media" that hardly makes this invasion less interesting. In fact, that is the most exciting part of these movies/shows. It's the big, finger biting moment we all love. To say that the invasion part of an alien movie/show isn't interesting is simply wrong, horribly wrong. It might bore you, but I assure you you are in the minority here.

And I don't see much in the way of angsty naval gazing whilst humans are running for their lives. It's kind of hard to find time to worry if the blond chick at Starbucks finds you attractive while your entire block is being blown to pieces.

So, basically CTX, you're wrong. An invasion scene in the opening of the show would have done much to build viewer empathy/sympathy/interest. As it is we are now hard pressed to gin up concern for these people because, aside from the occasional isolated scene with an alien or two, we're given nothing but talk talk talk, boring freakin' talk. :roll:

gee ape...don't keep it in! That's not good for your stress levels. tell us what you really think eh?

I agree with CTX!

 

[shavedape]

gee ape...don't keep it in! That's not good for your stress levels. tell us what you really think eh?

I agree with CTX!

Hmm, so you're a "Soap-Fi" girl who prefers children's art therapy classes to slammin' alien invasion-action scenes, huh? Who knew?

 

[ChromeToasterX]

It's a Spielberg production. They had the budget to do an invasion scene to begin with. Let's not even play. They simply chose to put that money into other areas of production, which was a mistake.

From what I've pieced together over the years, Spielberg's presence on a TV production usually equals at least a dumb idea that can ruin a good show concept and at most he'll be in contact via email while he's off doing other things. Based on the quality of the VFX I have seen, Spielberg definitely didn't help them out by getting a deal from ILM for all the CGI needed on the show. This stuff looks like its about B5 level CGI, not anything close to BSG or SGU.

As for having seen invasion scenes in "other media" that hardly makes this invasion less interesting. In fact, that is the most exciting part of these movies/shows. It's the big, finger biting moment we all love. To say that the invasion part of an alien movie/show isn't interesting is simply wrong, horribly wrong. It might bore you, but I assure you you are in the minority here.

Here's the thing: those invasion scenes are only exciting because everything has built up to that moment. If you just have the show start with Earth getting invaded, you won't really get the audience to care about the characters any more than in the setup we've got. All it'll do is get people pumped for a standard of action that is not sustainable for a live action television series, which will disappoint viewers when the rest of the action in the series is nowhere near that level.

And I don't see much in the way of angsty naval gazing whilst humans are running for their lives. It's kind of hard to find time to worry if the blond chick at Starbucks finds you attractive while your entire block is being blown to pieces.

They're not really running for their lives. The aliens don't give a damn that they exist aside from whenever the humans start meddling in their affairs and they certainly aren't razing cities to the ground to find the humans. If this was Crysis 2, where the Ceph were going around killing tons of people all the time, then your argument would have some more weight, but we're talking about a show where there is a lot of time for the people to think.

So, basically CTX, you're wrong. An invasion scene in the opening of the show would have done much to build viewer empathy/sympathy/interest. As it is we are now hard pressed to gin up concern for these people because, aside from the occasional isolated scene with an alien or two, we're given nothing but talk talk talk, boring freakin' talk. :roll:

You could drum up viewer interest just by having a regular humans vs mechs and skitters action sequence as the intro. Doesn't mean you'll actually give a damn about the characters, which is a problem that can't be solved just by adding more action.

 

[Rac80]

Hmm, so you're a "Soap-Fi" girl who prefers children's art therapy classes to slammin' alien invasion-action scenes, huh? Who knew?

nope I just agree with CTX...we have seen MILLIONS of alien invasions...never seen the story six months on!

bite your tongue...you know if it falls into soapfi I will be at the head of the lynch mob! I was not one of those who decided that sgpoo season 2 actually "got better"...

 

[Overmind One]

nope I just agree with CTX...we have seen MILLIONS of alien invasions...never seen the story six months on!

bite your tongue...you know if it falls into soapfi I will be at the head of the lynch mob! I was not one of those who decided that sgpoo season 2 actually "got better"...

I'm not buying that. In Voyager and also in Stargate, we were treated to SEEING the invasions, as well as the aftermath months later. Remember the episode of Voyager called "Dragons Tooth"? They showed the invasion AND the aftermath. But Spielberg can't?

 

[shavedape]

First off, I don't want you to think that even though I disagree with you here that I'm being antagonistic and vehement about it. I'm simply stating that I don't agree with your opinion but there isn't any real malice behind it.

From what I've pieced together over the years, Spielberg's presence on a TV production usually equals at least a dumb idea that can ruin a good show concept and at most he'll be in contact via email while he's off doing other things. Based on the quality of the VFX I have seen, Spielberg definitely didn't help them out by getting a deal from ILM for all the CGI needed on the show. This stuff looks like its about B5 level CGI, not anything close to BSG or SGU.

Spielberg is an executive producer of Falling Skies. To claim that his role is diminished to that of a few emails is really a stretch. Whether or not he "helped them out" with the VFX isn't as important as the fact that his name carries with it not only cache but expectations of epic-ness. When you see the name Spielberg attached to a sci-fi show you expect something spectacular, especially in the opening sequence.

I do agree that he has the ability to dumb down a good concept, especially with the addition of kids. Ugh! Those annoying cutsey cutsey kids! :roll:

Here's the thing: those invasion scenes are only exciting because everything has built up to that moment. If you just have the show start with Earth getting invaded, you won't really get the audience to care about the characters any more than in the setup we've got. All it'll do is get people pumped for a standard of action that is not sustainable for a live action television series, which will disappoint viewers when the rest of the action in the series is nowhere near that level.

I don't think this is accurate. Obviously there's simply no way a TV show can sustain non-stop action/CGI scenes and everyone knows it. A healthy balance has to be struck between action and drama. There's no reason Falling Skies couldn't have had an opening sequence showing the arrival and attack by the aliens. It didn't have to be the most expensive CGI luv fest ever put on film but it could have been exciting and had a bit of a wow factor to it. It would have made the characters more empathetic/sympathetic in the long run.

They're not really running for their lives. The aliens don't give a damn that they exist aside from whenever the humans start meddling in their affairs and they certainly aren't razing cities to the ground to find the humans. If this was Crysis 2, where the Ceph were going around killing tons of people all the time, then your argument would have some more weight, but we're talking about a show where there is a lot of time for the people to think.

Then this means Falling Skies is soap-fi and it's doomed to failure, pure and simple. Don't hype a show as sci-fi/action and then give me teen angst/father-son rivalry/blah blah blah. It just doesn't work. Granted, you can't have non-stop action nor should you, but there needs to be understandable action taking place in order for viewers to become interested and stay interested. Since the premise of the affects of a hostile alien invasion on humans was told to us, not shown, then that works against generating interest on the part of viewers.

You could drum up viewer interest just by having a regular humans vs mechs and skitters action sequence as the intro. Doesn't mean you'll actually give a damn about the characters, which is a problem that can't be solved just by adding more action.

And most importantly your earlier stated point about how we've seen enough alien invasions thereby making them no longer necessary is wrong, flat out wrong. Here's why: Falling Skies is not Independence Day nor is it V nor is it any other sci-fi movie or TV show or premise. Falling Skies is Falling Skies. It exists within its own fictional universe and is predicated on none other. The fact that there are countless other fictional stories (books, movies, TV shows) that show alien invasions is wholly irrelevant to Falling Skies. What others have done in regards to this premise does not absolve Falling Skies of the responsibility of depicting the alien invasion it supposedly is about. Show me, don't tell me. How can I relate to anyone on this show when all I'm given is a kids drawing in order to understand their ordeal? Yeah, sure, whatever. :roll:

To say that they don't have to show the invasion because we, the viewers, have seen that depicted in other stories is ridiculous. You might be happy with having the invasion depicted in a series of children's crayon drawings CTX, but I assure you most other people are not. It was a mistake on the producer's part to not show the invasion. Either they fix this mistake in future episodes (soon) or it will continue to work against them.

Now, do the have to show everything in the first episode? No. But they do need to eventually get back to what happened initially. A show like The Walking Dead is a good example of this. We were in the dark initially with how the zombie thing came about but they did get around, eventually, to flashing back and showed more of what happened. I'm hoping Falling Skies does this as it would do much to help build sympathy for the characters. (And I should mention that The Walking Dead kept us in the dark initially because it was part of the main characters point of view, he was in a coma while it happened. Falling Skies doesn't have this plot device to work with.)

 

[Gatefan1976]

I see the appeal (and danger) in both.
If you start with balls-to the wall action and then bleed quickly into "soapy teritory" you run a very real risk of alienating your action fans and if you start "soapy" you miss the action fans to begin with. The trick is to have enough action so you hold the general viewers interest long enough so you can slowly start to inject the "soapy elements" in such a way as they seem like a natural progression of the story, and people care enough about the characters to accept it and not be turned off by it.

*note
In this instance I am refering to "soapy" to cover all deeper levels of character interaction, not just the melodramatic.

 

[Graybrew1]

I would have personally appreciated seeing the attack on Earth. Who cares how many other times I have seen them? With that logic why watch anything anymore because hasn't almost everything been done to death with most of the entertainment industry already?

I am still on the fence with this show. I love the Pope character being fleshed out, albeit rushed. I got to actually see an alien or two. But I still hate all these darn kids. I loved Noah Wyle in ER, he played the role well, I am not so sure about him in this one yet. Pretty boy is fine, but make it a hard A@# pretty boy ala Kurt Russell in SG the Movie or Christian Bale in Terminator Salvation.

These skitters might not care about killing them right away, but they do want the kids. Since there is a whole school full of them, I still think they would have tracked them down with a good pair of binoculars.

I don't like the preview when the kid is mind controlled by the Alien for next week or puts back on the harness. If they have mind control over these kids then we stand no chance realisticially, but then again what so far has been the slightest bit realistic about this show anyway?

 

[Mr. A]

A little late to the party here...

TNT’s strategy for Falling Skies began with attracting a very wide audience for the two-hour series premiere, a major television event that ranks as cable’s #1 series launch for the year-to-date. That strategy paid off, according to early time-shifted viewing data, which now includes VOD measurement.

Did it REALLY pay off? Is that all the producers were interested in: huge premiere numbers and then let the new series fail in ratings because by trying to please everyone they might end up pleasing no one? Whatever happened to the goal of creating a hit series that runs for many seasons while building a loyal fanbase???

The pattern has been confirmed! This same sort of trajectory is shared by SGU and Caprica. There is always gonna be dropoff after a premiere, but seeing the show tells viewers that there isnt a lot left to keep interest. The story needed to show the invasion FIRST, even if it was a flashback or a cutscene in the titles. Otherwise, its only "implied" and that is just not good enough. These Masons and the sons are not enough to hold long-term interest IMO. I project the dropoff to continue next week.

Exactly! :daniel_new_anime021

I think people are figuring it out, even subconsciously. The lack of exciting opening showing the invasion was very telling. Even if people didn't consciously recognize it I think they went away from the premiere wondering at the back of their minds WTF happened with the invasion. The "childrens art therapy" explanation of the invasion was a huge mistake -- HUGE! It did the opposite of building excitement, that's for sure.

I think you're onto something with the projected formula here. I bet once the ratings are in the crapper we'll see a sudden shift in tone and story telling for whatever remaining episodes are left to produce (if there are any -- the Spielberg name could give the show some fuel). It will suddenly be more action oriented. Certain expensive cast members will be given the boot. They'll focus more on the aliens and the invasion (because they will, grudgingly, give in to fan pressure) but the budget will preclude showing the actual invasion by that point. The writers will talk a lot about how exciting things are to come in the show but it will all be too late and the show will get axed because the audience will have been bored by the soap-fi bait-and-switch early on and will have long deserted it. The end.

Of course in the long run sci-fi fans will be blamed for not supporting the show. We will be branded as being too low-brow and "not ready" for the depth and genius of the show. The show will be labeled as being ahead of its time, the implication being that the average sci-fi fan is too stupid to recognize that which is good, that which is "artistic". Yup, it will be our fault. We're all idiots. :roll:

Having some deja-vu there, Shaved?

I can see them being in the dark about the aliens at the six month mark if they showed what happened in those preceding six months. Show the arrival. Show the initial attack. Show the confusion and mass hysteria. Show society falling apart. Show us reasons as to why the humans are still in the dark.

And I mean SHOW us what went down. Don't just tell us. Don't just give us a kids picture drawn in freakin' crayon!

 

[SciphonicStranger]

Ratings from July 3

I can't believe this wasn't posted yet. Are we starting to lose interest?

http://tvbythenumbers.zap2it.com/20...kies-leverage-franklin-bash-conan-more/97341/

4.1 million viewers (Live + Same Day)
1.8 million adults 18-49
2.1 million adults 25-54