The WIT Analysis: ABC

NEW YORK: The family comedy Speechless, starring Minnie Driver, led the social-media buzz about ABC’s new fall slate, according to analysis from The WIT.

From the creators of Fresh Off the Boat and distributed by Twentieth Century Fox Television, Speechless generated 6.8 million trailer views on ABC’s Facebook and YouTube platforms. It also racked up 50,000 Facebook Likes and 2,000 Twitter followers as of May 25. In Twitter conversations about the ABC lineup, Speechless was the most commented on, with more than 5,000 tweets featuring the show’s official hash tag.

“Judged truly funny and sensitive, the trailer surprised and impressed social media users, who empathized with Minnie Driver’s character,” says The WIT’s Caroline Servy. “It seems the network hit the right note with well-balanced humor and clever characterization of life with a disabled son. If faithful to its first look, the comedy could be a new winner on the Wednesday night comedy block, while doing a nice job of normalization of special needs families.”

Second behind Speechless in social-media traction is Downward Dog from Legendary Television, starring Allison Tolman as a struggling Millennial and told from the viewpoint of her dog. The midseason replacement, which is based on a web series, had 5 million trailer views on Facebook and YouTube. As of May 25 it has amassed a fan base of 1,400 Twitter followers and generated 48,000 Facebook Likes.

“This one is more polarizing,” Servy notes. It’s an easy winner for dog lovers, both on the comedic and emotional sides. However, the part of the audience that is less animal-friendly is more skeptical about the comedy effect and don’t seem to buy the premise or its execution. Criticism of the voiceover and the unnecessary CGI animation of the dog’s mouth is widespread among the comments people have shared.”

Next up for ABC’s buzz list is Entertainment One’s Designated Survivor, starring Kiefer Sutherland. The conspiracy thriller, slated to air this fall on Wednesday nights following ABC’s comedy block, reached 4.3 million views of the trailer on ABC’s platforms on Facebook and YouTube. It had 41,000 Facebook Likes and 2,300 Twitter followers as of May 25.

“People in social media are excited about how good the trailer looks, about the pairing of ‘Nikita’ (Maggie Q) and ‘Jack Bauer’ (Kiefer Sutherland), about the latter finally being President of the U.S., and about their likely addiction to the series—this could be some must-watch TV for next season,” Servy says.