Color War Coverage Sucked, Thank Goodness for Jeff & Jenny and a boy with amazing abs.

The answer to Tuesday's Trivia Question: Tate Stevens won X Factor Last Season. 

FIRST FIVES: Michael O'Dea, Andrea Walters, Neil Moffatt, Bill McLaughlin, & Jim Carter

Honorable Mention: Justin Jones

Sunday's Cable Top 5
True Blood-HBO 2.2/4.1
Megalodon Monster Shark-Discovery 2.2/4.8
Keeping Up With the Kardashians-E! 1.4/2.7
Falling Skies-TNT 1.2/3.7
Real Housewives of NJ-Bravo 1.2/2.5

Monday's Broadcast Top 5
Under the Dome-CBS 2.5/10.2
The Bachelorette-ABC 2.6/8.8
The Bachelorette: After the Final Rose-ABC  2.5/8.3
2 Broke Girls-CBS 1.3/4.6
American Ninja Warrior-NBC 1.3/4.3

Monday's Broadcast Trendrr Top 5
The Bachelorette-ABC 306,492
The Bachelorette: After the Final Rose-ABC 41,177
Under the Dome-CBS 34,518
How I Met Your Mother-CBS 24,168
Breaking Pointe-CW 17,647

Monday's Cable Top 5 
Love & Hip Hop Atlanta-VH1 2.2/4.1
T.I. and Tiny-VH1 1.9/3.5
Voodoo Sharks-Discovery 1.7/3.4
Return of Jaws-Discovery 1.6/3.3
WWE - USA 1.5/4.3

Monday's Cable Trendrr Top 5

Love & Hip Hop Atlanta-VH1 891,355

Teen Wolf-MTV 365,139

WWE Monday Night Raw-USA 266,465

The Foster-ABC Family 216,394

Sharkzilla:Sharktweeto-Discovery 104,175

Interior Therapy
This week on Interior Therapy, Jeff and Jenny had the task of dealing with Samantha and Stewart who were OBSESSED with their 3 year old son Hayden. Stewart more than Samantha but both were WAY too into their kid. The best part of the show was when  Hayden, the 3 year old,  wanted Jeff and Jenny to come watch him brush his teeth. Jeff REFUSED to go watch the kid. The kid got hysterical, but Jeff just wouldn't budge. Classic Jeff Lewis.  Later in the episode, the Mom brought it up again that she had promised Hayden (the 3 year old) that Jeff  would watch him brush his teeth and Jeff told her isn't wasn't her place to commit Jeff to anything. The entire process with this couple was very uncomfortable, but as usual, Jeff pulled off a miracle and not only did an awesome job, but he actually got Stewart the miserable assh*le Dad to not only smile, but to admit that Jeff and Jenny actually exceeded his expectations.  Don't mess with Jeff.  EVER.

The Vineyard
I was actually considering giving up The Vineyard last week. I mean it's ridiculous, and relatively predictable and I don't need another one of these shows in my life, but I was having a crappy evening with the horrible Color War coverage and had to watch something after Interior Therapy and The Vineyard was my "go to" show.  Regardless of how lame the "acting" and story lines are, this guy Jon has some crazy abs. He reminds me of Nathan Scott from One Tree Hill a little bit, except that James Lafferty can act and Jon can barely speak. When you're cranky and you've eaten the last dark chocolate covered pretzel, a cute boy with amazing abs is helpful.

The Thing Is...

Not sure if you guys read the Nielsen's Twitter Causation Study results yesterday. Or if you even care.  Of course this is the stuff I live for. But I'm sure normal people don't give a crap.  Did the study reveal anything major? Not really, but it's important to keep in mind a few things and think about how to use the information moving forward. Nielsen analyzed minute - to - minute trends across their Nielsen Live TV Ratings and Tweets for 221 broadcast programs.  The study revealed that: 

• Live TV ratings had a significant impact in related Tweets among 48% of the episodes sampled. (Lower than I expected)
• The volume of Tweets caused significant changes in Live TV ratings among 29% of the episodes. (Way lower than I expected)
• So...that would seem to indicate that when there is a spike in TV ratings there can be an increase in the volume of Tweets (makes sense...more people watching, more people to Tweet or if the program is compelling people feel the need to Tweet more frequently)
• Twitter does drive Tune In, especially for live, television. (Nothing shocking here.)

I thought the numbers would be a bit higher overall, but I'm comfortable with what we know TODAY.  Here's the questions we need to be asking ourselves: (Or I need to be asking myself)

• Are the programs that increase in Twitter activity/TV Ratings more valuable or less valuable to an advertiser? 
• If a viewer is more engaged in a program via Twitter, where is the opportunity?  Is there an opportunity at all? 
• How do we use the currency better? Smarter? 
• Where do we go from here?

I could go on and on about this topic. Just ask my boss and my agency, I'm sure they are sick of it already, but the landscape is changing, FAST, advertisers and marketers need to figure out a way to harness it all and use it the right way. Engagement is great but if it doesn't translate to action, is it worth the attention and expense?  If I had the answers, I wouldn't be blogging...I'd be at my house on the beach with my masseuse, and a cocktail trying to figure out how to beat level 117 of Candy Crush Saga. Thoughts?

NEWS & INFORMATION

-No really big news yesterday to report

Wednesday's Trivia Question: Who Won The Voice 2012? 

WWTM-Kristy

Like me on Facebook at Watching Way Too Much
Follow me on Twitter at watchingwaytoomuch@tvnme

http://watchingwaytoomuch.com

kristy@watchingwaytoomuch.com

Finally an episode of The Newsroom that I understood!

The answer to Tuesday's Trivia Question: Dr. Wayne Fiscus and Dr. Mark Craig operated out of St. Eligius Hospital.

FIRST FIVES: John Amy, Mitch Klein, Monica Caraffa, Beth Hoff, & Kathy Connelly

Honorable Mention: Larry Price

Sunday's Cable Top 5

True Blood-HBO 2.4/4.3

Naked & Afraid-Discovery 1.6/3.6

Dexter-Showtime 1.2/2.5

Real Housewives of NJ-Bravo 1.2/2.4

Devious Maids-Lifetime 1.1/2.8

Monday's Broadcast Top 5

Under the Dome-CBS 2.7/11.0

The Bachelorette-ABC 2.3/7.7

American Ninja Warrior-NBC 1.5/5.1

Mike & Molly-CBS 1.3/4.9

2 Broke Girls-CBS 1.3/4.6

Monday's Broadcast Trendrr Top 5

The Bachelorette-ABC 196,213

Under the Dome-CBS 40,386

How I Met Your Mother-CBS 21,865

La Tempestad-Univision 21,699

Mistresses-ABC 18,921

Monday's Cable Top 5 

Love & Hip Hop Atlanta-VH1 2.3/4.1

Hit the Floor-VH1 1.4/2.6

The Big Bang Theory-TBS 1.3/2.8

WWE Monday Night Raw-USA 1.3/3.7

American Pickers-History 1.0/4.2

Monday's Cable Trendrr Top 5

Love & Hip Hop Atlanta-VH1 797,764

Teen Wolf-MTV 430,790

WWE Monday Night Raw-USA 218,071

Hit the Floor-VH1 122,811

The Fosters-ABC Family 85,386

The Vineyard

I did a bit of research last week to determine if this show was a reality show or if it was scripted. From what I understand, it's sort of a hybrid. Most of the cast are real Martha's Vineyard residents, doing what they do, but it still all feels sort of off to me and I'm just not sure why that is. That doesn't mean I'm not enjoying the show, I am. It doesn't mean I'm cancelling the season pass...I'm not. The Vineyard is fun, stupid and predictable.  Last night, Lou and John were going to kill each other over Katie, the girl everyone seems obsessed with who supposedly has this boyfriend of 4 years named Matt.  A guy who has yet to take her calls, show up for a surprise visit etc. John decided to play it cool but of course he blew it BIG TIME.  He did all the right things...gave her a ride home, took her to a beautiful place on the island and then like an idiot went in for a kiss.  It was the worst move from a hot guy I've ever seen. For a pre-med student, he really is pretty stupid. She got pissed, but then at Lou's party, they made up, agreed to be friends, and he of course, left the party with another girl. So typical.  Lou, the other guy, who I'm guessing will actually end up with Katie, has his own issues. It was his birthday and the girls threw him a huge party even though they barely know him. When he went to say thank you to Jackie for throwing the party, she pulled the exact same awkward kiss move that didn't work for John, but to add insult to injury, Katie saw the entire thing. Lots of other awkward moments including the Ben, Catherine, Gabby triangle, the bizarre soundtrack that randomly stops and starts throughout the entire show with too many different songs and the most awkward moment of the episode, Katie's bike ride to Jackie's Mom's house for 5 seconds of guy advice.

The Writers Room
Before I could watch The Writers Room on The Sundance Channel,  I had to find The Sundance Channel, which was no easy feat. It's not an HD channel on Cablevision. It's channel 192.  I never go into that territory at all. I'm a 700-900 girl.  Anyway, I had heard about this show from my friends at Entertainment Weekly a while ago. I had really been looking forward to it.  It was pretty good, but I haven't decided if I'm giving it a season pass or not.  Jim Rash is the host and in the premiere episode, he had Vince Gilligan, Bryan Cranston and the writers of Breaking Bad as his guests. The show is only 30 minutes. I'm not really sure I learned as much about the writing of Breaking Bad, some of the decisions etc. as I wanted to, but I did learn that the show was not originally intended to take place in Albuquerque, but since there was a 25% discount vs. Riverside California that's where they ended up. Now you can't imagine the show taking place anywhere BUT Albuquerque.  I didn't realize that Vince Gilligan, Thomas Schnauz and a few of the other writers, were all originally from The X-Files.  Other than that, there was too many "inside" jokes and references, too much talking at the same time, and not enough time to really learn about the process etc.  Next weeks episode features the Amy Poehler and the writers of Parks and Recreation.  I guess I'll watch and decide about the Season Pass then. 

Newsroom
Finally an episode of Newsroom that I understood 100% of without having to watch twice and depend on Google. Yeah! Will McEvoy was back in full force. The opening Steven Hill sequence was brilliant writing. Thanks Aaron Sorki.  Jim finally lost his sh*t on the Romney bus and we found out why Maggie cut her hair and was acting so odd, that Nina Howard knows every word of Will's message to Mac, that Charlie Skinner has never seen Goodfellas, Scarface or The Godfather, Don's not as handy as he thinks, Sloan has even bigger b*alls than we thought,  Reese Lansing is an even bigger d*ck than we thought and that Mac wears $1200 shoes to the office. Loved the Corporal Klinger reference, the piano playing, and that Will is as mesmerized by a bad toupee as I am. Most of all I loved the two twists at the end of the episode. Don't worry I won't spoil that for you guys.   Great episode. I love it when the show makes me feel smarter. Doesn't happen that frequently, so I will enjoy the moment while I can.  

NEWS & INFORMATION:

-ABC was the first network to launch their Watch Now App allowing viewers to watch live programming on their mobile devices in select markets (NY being one of them). But now,  Showtime has thrown its hat in the ring and is the first premium cable net to launch their watch live App...Showtime Anytime. Now you can tune in on your device and watch Showtime programming live.  Like I keep saying...soon its all the time anytime on any device. Poor Nielsen...they better start hiring!   

-I can’t believe that on August 21^st, E!’s longest running show, The Soup (formerly Talk Soup) will be celebrating its 20^th anniversary and Joel McHale will be celebrating his 10^th year as host. I gotta admit, this all surprises me a bit. Who needs recaps of anything these days when you can get your own online? For 2 bonus points each, name all of the other hosts.

-Friday, August 2 at 5pm is the new Time Warner Cable/CBS deadline. Sort of good news I guess. It means everyone is still talking and that all of you Big Bro fans will get to find out who the MVP nominated this week, who will win the POV, who gets evicted and probably who the new HOH will be before the deadline.  That's a win for now in my book.  

- TiVo (my fave DVR) has done some research and released some great info on one of my favorite topics, “alternative content outlets” Not sure if I coined that phrase or not, but I sort of like it. I’m open to something else though.  Non traditional? Whatever.   Almost 10,000 TiVo Subscribers were surveyed (me being one of them!) and here are some of the results: 

• Those watching Netflix aren't giving up on traditional networks. There has been "no significant difference" in how much time is spent watching the 28 most-watched networks between those who subscribe to Netflix and those who don't.
• 57% of TiVo subscribers also subscribe to Netflix (I do)
• 50% of them subscribe to Amazon Prime. (I do)
• 18% are subscribers of Hulu (I do)
• A digital-TV-loving 8% actually subscribe to all three. (That would be me!)
• 18% of those surveyed had watched Netflix's House of Cards (I did!)
• Households that reported viewing House of Cards, watched 85% more HBO than non-Netflix households (Uh…yeah!)
•  Netflix households viewed Showtime's Homeland 26 percent more than those who didn't use Netflix. (Me again)
•  I guess there’s room for everyone…we’ve heard it all before…content is king…if it’s good, people will watch it.

-Update on The Giudices…they were arraigned yesterday at a Newark Courthouse but are free on $500,000 bail. They had to forfeit their passports and are restricted to travel in New York and New Jersey. Joe, who I was surprised to learn was not a U.S. citizen, will be subjected to drug testing. They are now scheduled to be arraigned in federal court in New Jersey on August 14. I wonder if Teresa took my advice about Orange being the new black too seriously? 

-I don't report on the upfront and how much the networks each took etc. The main reason I don't is because I have no way to prove the numbers they report and I honestly don't believe the numbers. I didn't want you to think I was a lazy slacker, but I don't like to post stuff that isn't true, that's rumored or that I can't really substantiate, so I hope you guys are cool with that. There are a million other blogs, websites etc. that you can find that info if you want it. (Let me know if you need help. I can point you in the right direction). 

-ABC Family renewed Switched at Birth for a third season and given a thumbs up to new shows, The Fosters and Twisted.  Congrats guys. No word on The Vineyard yet huh? I guess I'd stick with it even if it gets cancelled.  

-I love that Sharknado is STILL pulling some great numbers. I stumbled upon it the other day and watched part of it again. Saturday's airing was seen by 2.1 million viewers.  Sometimes being so bad is so good even the 2nd and 3rd times around. 

Wednesday's Trivia Question: Where would Dr. Cristina Yang and Dr. Alex Karev be found on a work day? 

WWTM-Kristy

Like me on Facebook at Watching Way Too Much

Follow me on Twitter at watchingwaytoomuch@tvnme

http://watchingwaytoomuch.com

kristy@watchingwaytoomuch.com

Wait...Jimmy and Nancy were pregnant and didn't tell me?

The answer to Tuesday's Trivia Question:  Dennis Farina played Detective Joe Fontana on Law & Order.

FIRST FIVES: Bobby Aguilera, Michael O'Dea, Alison Schwartz, Karen Feldman & Monica Caraffa

Honorable Mention: Jim Carter

Sunday's Cable Top 5
True Blood-HBO 2.4/4.4
Naked and Afraid-Discovery 1.4/3.2
Keeping up with the Kardashians-E! 1.4/2.6
Falling Skies-TNT 1.3/3.7
Dexter-Showtime 1.2/2.4

Monday's Broadcast Top 5
Under the Dome-CBS 2.8/11.3
The Bachelorette-ABC 1.9/6.4
American Ninja Warrior-NBC 1.6/5.1
Get Out Alive With Bear Grylls-NBC 1.4/3.7
Mike & Molly-CBS 1.2/5.1

Monday's Broadcast Trendrr Top 5

The Bachelorette-ABC 126,049
Under the Dome-CBS 48,652
Mistresses-ABC 31,009
Get Out Alive With  Bear Grylls-NBC 29,509
How I Met Your Mother-CBS 27,450

Monday's Cable Top 5 

Love & Hip Hop Atlanta-VH1 2.0/3.6
WWE Entertainment-USA 1.4/4.0
Hit the Floor-VH1 1.3/2.5
The Big Bang Theory-TBS 1.1/2.5
Fast N Loud-1.0/2.2

Monday's Cable Trendrr Top 5

Love & Hip Hop: Atlanta-VH1 369,616

Teen Wolf-MTV 331,155

WWE Monday Night Raw-USA 276,945

The Fosters-ABC Family 73,231

Hit the Floor-VH1 66,961

Interior Therapy
Jillian Barberi and her really hot husband, Grant had Jeff, Jenny, Zoila and the crew come in and completely redo a few rooms of their home on Interior Therapy last night.  Prior to Jeff working his magic, the house seemed to have a very Gothic, million crosses kinda vibe. Knowing Jillian from all of her interviews on Howard Stern's show, I honestly didn't expect that at all. Jillian totally has issues and is a complete wacko, but Grant seems to put up with all of her crap and has for years. . Jeff could see that they have some major problems and could really use a professional therapist and not the Prince of Paint but he did what he does best...fixed the place up, busted her balls and entertained me in the process.

Property Envy
Right after Interior Therapy was Property Envy with Victor Garber look a like, Stephen Collins.  It was driving me nuts who he reminded me of and I just figured it out last night.  I think it's the mouth.  All three houses were hideous on last night's episode, so the commentary was hilarious. Jeff Lewis is the best. I love that guy. He's great at a lot of things, but on this show, he's rarely ever right about the home prices.  This weeks odd segment was "Hollywood Bathrooms"  Called "Who Goes There".  Like I said last time, many of these "cute" vignettes seem so out of place, but I still find them enjoyable and so does the panel. 

The Vineyard
I never got into Laguna Beach or The Hills and I really didn't need to get into another show this Summer, but I think, as much as I hate to admit it, The Vineyard is now another one of my  official Summer guilty pleasures. Even my husband was watching with me. I would say it's not as enjoyable as Below Deck, but it's a close second.  I can't figure out if The Vineyard is a reality series or not. ABC Family calls it a docu-series but it feels a bit scripted ,so not sure what the scoop really is.  The show follows a bunch of locals and a bunch of "washashores" all on Martha's Vineyard for the Summer. Most of them are living together and working at the famous Black Dog Tavern. There are lots of really skinny, really pretty girls who wear very little, but on the flip side, there are lots of really muscular, really cute guys, who never wear shirts. Something for everyone. It's mindless, it's cheesy and it's fun to watch.  There's already drama...2 guys fighting over one girl and that girl has a boyfriend. One of the girls got pregnant by one of the guys and he doesn't know it and there seems to be tension between the locals and the washashores in general. Yeah...I'll be back.

Under the Dome
I chose to watch Below Deck on Monday night at 10 instead of Under the Dome. I just wasn't in the mood for anything but my Honor dudes,  so I caught up on Dome last night and finally everything sort of came together...sort of.  Joe and Norrie woke up to find a gagillion butterflies congregating on the dome. When Barbie tried to touch them they left revealing the army was back in town and they were bringing all of the families and friends of the trapped to say hi...or was it goodbye? During the reunion a lot was accomplished using the Microsoft Surface tablet and good old fashion paper and pen.  Linda kissed her fiance (well the dome was in between the lips but you get the idea) and then told him his bro was dead. Norrie met the real dad she didn't know she had. Parents saw their kids, everyone told each other they loved them and then using the Bieber heart symbol and Barbie connected with a soldier by using a special medal he just so happened to have in his pocket. Luckily for Barbie this guy knew about the medal and started flapping his gums.  Also lucky for Barbie, (and for all of us) Dodee from the radio station revealed her amazing ability to read lips and was standing nearby. With her mad skills,  they figured out that the Army was going to shoot a missile at the dome.  They got everyone and went to hide out in the cement factory and await their fate. Oddly enough there was Titanicesque music playing while they waited  until Phil's final tune hit the speakers...Skeeter Davis's "End of the World" so apropos.  Big Jim let Angie out to die a free woman...sort of good news I guess, but when Junior found out he freaked and beat her to her house with a gun ready to shoot. This chick just can't catch a break. Norrie and Joe were looking for Angie and since Norrie was pissed at both of her Mom's for lying to her about her real parents, she figured she'd die in Joe's arms instead of theirs.  They decided to kiss at the EXACT same moment that the missile exploded outside the dome. They didn't die, didn't have a seizure, nothing. Everyone inside the dome was safe. That's the good news. The bad news...everyone and everything outside the dome...gone. Oh and the Reverend who was hearing crazy stuff through his hearing aid...dead thanks to Big Jim pressing that thing into the dome. Buh Bye Reverend.

NEWS & INFORMATION:

-Congratulations to my FBFF, Jimmy Fallon and his wife Nancy on the birth of their baby daughter.  Talk about the best kept secret ever...did we know that Jimmy and his wife were expecting a baby? Nope! Nobody did apparently. Just goes to show you that if you don't want it out there, it doesn't have to be.  

-Trendrr and Facebook partnered up to conduct some interesting analysis related to TV and social activity, a favorite topic of mine. Trendrr was able to use data that isn't normally available to the public. Here are some of their learnings:

• There is a large amount of TV related social activity on Facebook, 5x more than that of Twitter and all other social networks combined.
• Activity related to Broadcast television was 7x larger on Facebook than that of Twitter and all other social networks combined during the week in May that was measured.
• Activity related to Cable television was 4.5x larger on Facebook than that of Twitter and all other social networks combined during the week in May that was measured.
• Second screen activity levels on Facebook were higher on viewers of dramas and comedies than any other genre.
• Live events showed a dramatically higher level of activity over Twitter and all other social networks which could be a bit surprising as most people think Twitter is where the live conversation is occurring. 
• Hopefully this is just the tip of the iceberg. Now that Trendrr and Facebook are working together I'm sure we are going to see even more robust data that demonstrates the breadth of social conversations where and when they are happening.

-If you live in the Tri-State area, you can't miss the Time Warner ads scaring people to death that if CBS and TWC don't reach an agreement soon customers will be without CBS programming. As of today, even though the fight is getting ugly, the deadline for the two companies to reach an agreement has been extended until 9AM Thursday morning. The FCC doesn't allow the plug to be pulled during a sweeps period.  If the two companies don't come to a retransmission agreement by then, Channel 2 goes dark.  NO BIG BROTHER!!! I can't believe that I'm saying this, but thankfully this time...I'm Cablevision and can breathe a huge sigh of relief.  For anyone with Time Warner Cable, lets just hope this all gets resolved asap.  3.5 million people would be affected by this dispute, that's 29% of Time Warner Cable's subscribers. Play nice guys!  Make up soon!

-If you are still looking for stuff to watch and you're already done with Orange is the New Black and Orphan Black, CBS released 3 of it's critically acclaimed but cancelled series on CBS.com. Wolf Lake, Jericho and Swingtown. I watched Swingtown when it was on and it was really good. Great music and a fun 70's era soap starring Lana Parilla from Once Upon a Time. If you have nothing else...there's another options for you.

-Pretty much a given that IFC would renew Marc Maron's show.  I'm happy for him. They keep calling him the new Howard Stern or the next Howard Stern, but I don't see it. I'm still pretty loyal to THE Howard Stern and until I can't hear him everyday, I'm not going to look for his replacement.

-I don't normally report on sports and stuff, but I thought it was important to say HOLY COW...totally didn't see this one coming. Nascar's leaving ESPN for NBC after the 2014 season. Nascar signed a 10 year deal with NBC.  

Wednesday's Trivia Question: John Travolta and Kirstie Alley are reuniting on Kirstie's new TV Land show, Kirstie.  What movie did they star in together back in the day?

WWTM-Kristy

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kristy@watchingwaytoomuch.com