Question: I just started watching Windfall, which I DVR'd for the past two months. I'm up to Episode 5, and I must say that I really like it. It's not the best show I've ever seen, but it's interesting and character-driven. I know it did not get renewed for a second season, so my question is, what have been its average ratings? Could NBC even expect such great ratings for a summer show, when there aren't as many television watchers? I know for a fact that most of my friends who watch a lot of TV during the year had never even heard of Windfall. Do you think NBC should have given it another chance?
Answer: No. This was its one shot, and because I'm not as fond of the show as you are, I think NBC might have been better off just benching it altogether. The network had no confidence in Windfall, or it would have been given a mid-season tryout. NBC did launch it with a fair amount of early-summer promotion and with airings in multiple time periods, and the opening numbers were promising. Bu ...
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Question: OK, Matt, I must protest! I was skeptical about Windfall, but it has turned out to be a pretty decent show. I would have liked to see the people enjoy their good fortune for a couple of episodes rather than having problems right away. All in all, it's been a good summer fill-in — I don't think the networks give shows enough time, but then I am not the one losing money!
Answer: That's one way of looking at it (more generous than most who write in here). I'm hoping you aren't getting too attached to Windfall, which has rightfully begun to tank in the ratings after a surprisingly strong start. (Proving it's not that hard to launch a show during the summer, with lots of promotion focusing on one or maybe two series at a time.) Windfall is a classic case of an intriguing premise and a promising cast undone by overwrought, at times almost incoherent, melodramatic plotting and substandard execution. It sat on the shelf for an entire season. We really should have higher standards fo ...
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Question: When will the new season of ER start, and when will they start showing it again on Thursday nights?
Answer: Can't tell you how many questions I've been getting lately asking when such and such a show is premiering next season. Hello? Ever heard of fall previews? As if the new season hadn't started in September since the beginning of recorded TV time. (Some Fox shows will premiere in late August, but that's not typical.) Exact season-premiere dates aren't generally announced until the TCAs in July, but I imagine ER will return on September 21. As for summer repeats: ER traditionally doesn't repeat all that well, so whatever NBC can stunt in that time period, it will, as it is doing now with the painfully mediocre Windfall. I would think whenever Windfall finishes up its run of episodes, ER will return with selected repeats from last season. But that's a guess. I can't keep up with repeat schedules. Hard enough to keep up with all the first-run stuff these days ...
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Question: Summer TV is always bad, but this year I find myself watching virtually nothing. OK, I have used the rerun schedule to catch a few eps of My Name Is Earl (but not if I already saw them), and I have rewatched some Grey's Anatomy episodes, but otherwise I watch nothing. I can't face Gilmore Girls reruns this year. Somehow Lost reruns don't cut it. I'd rather pull my fingernails out one by one than watch moronic reality shows. I don't have cable. Am I doomed until September? Is there anything out there on broadcast TV that is worth watching?
Answer: Oh, David, this is so sad. I'm actually having a pretty good TV summer, but only because of the variety of cable choices, from Rescue Me on FX and The Closer on TNT to Hustle on AMC to HBO's Deadwood-Entourage combo on Sundays, with a chaser of The 4400 the same night. And in July there's the delightful new comedy-mystery
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Luke Perry's new role as a lottery winner in NBC's Windfall (Thursdays at 10 pm/ET, premiering tonight) has the former Beverly Hills, 90210 bad boy thinking about what he'd do with a massive payday of his own.
TV Guide: Your new show, Windfall, is about a group of friends who win $20 million each in the lottery. What would you do if you won?
Luke Perry: If $20 million dropped on me in one lump sum, you wouldn't see much of me. I'd be gone, doing s
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