Networked Insights: CBS’s Pickups

NEW YORK: Sean Reckwerdt, lead television analyst at Networked Insights, today offers World Screen Newsflash his views on CBS’s new series, picking Vegas and Partners as two of the shows that are likely to do well with audiences this fall.

Networked Insights uses conversations being generated in social media to offer "Must Buy" and "Advertised Against" recommendations to help its clients decide where to put their ad dollars in the 2012-2013 season. Reckwerdt notes that CBS generated less conversation in social media as compared with the other broadcast networks. "NBC generates a lot more polarizing conversations and ABC and FOX have some interesting programming that people are into," Reckwerdt says. With the volume of shows CBS is renewing, "there’s not as much for people to talk about, and there’s not as many new shows that are blowing people away." He adds that CBS viewers are "not necessarily the rapid fire Twitter community. And they’re not creating tumblr pages and whatnot. They’re more passive social users."

On his Must Buy list at CBS is Vegas, a new Tuesday 10 p.m. drama set in 1960s Las Vegas. Reckwerdt says that conversations in social media have noted that Vegas is a slightly new direction for CBS, being a period crime drama rather than a contemporary crime drama. "It has more intrigue to it." There’s also been interest in the cast, notably Michael Chiklis and Carrie-Anne Moss and, to a lesser extend, Dennis Quaid. Reckwerdt also saw positive traction for Partners, a comedy being sandwiched between How I Met Your Mother and 2 Broke Girls on Monday nights. Sophia Bush, popular in social media from her days on One Tree Hill, stars in the show. Reckwerdt notes, "It’s another example of a network that is trying to take fan favorite elements from The CW."

Also scoring high on Networked Insights’ Social Index ranking was Elementary, a contemporary take on Sherlock Holmes. The show, however, didn’t make Reckwerdt’s Must Buy list. "It is driving interest, the content has a good opportunity to resonate," he notes, but, "Lucy Liu creates very polarizing conversation. The other problem is, [for] hardcore TV fans, there’s a really good contemporary Sherlock already, so people are saying, why come up with a new one? But to be honest, these individuals are the minority."

Reckwerdt is less hopeful for the comedy Friend Me, which hasn’t generated much conversation, and the cop drama Golden Boy—"there’s a lot of genre fatigue," he notes. An initial "Advised Against" pick for Reckwerdt was the Friday night legal drama Made in Jersey, which he compares with NBC’s canned Harry’s Law. However, "After the upfronts, the reaction to the trailers was trending more positively."

You can also read Networked Insights’ views on NBC, FOX and ABC.