Friday, October 12, 2012

NEWS ROUNDUP: TRA Ranks TV Shows By Political Party; Nick Wechsler Talks REVENGE; DirecTV's New DVR Records 5 Shows at Once

The CW's SUPERNATURAL is popular with
Democrats according to a new Tivo Study
Republicans Like Golf, Democrats Prefer Cartoons, Tivo Research Suggests
The results come from an analysis assembled by TRA Inc. (which stands for TiVo Research and Analytics), and are based on a model that matches viewing data from cable set-top boxes with voter-registration information from 186,000 households. Measured during the first two quarters of 2012 (which is why there is no football, but plenty of basketball), TRA listed programs by how they performed with registered voters of either party (as well as independents) compared to a base of all registered voters.

In general, the conclusions pointed to television viewing that is every bit as polarized as the political culture. The research listed the top 20 shows for Democratic and Republican viewers and not one network show appeared on both lists.

The study did not rank shows by overall popularity. Instead, they were ranked by how severely they were skewed by party preference. So a little-viewed show on the CW network like SUPERNATURAL turned out to have a substantial skew toward Democratic voters; 13 percent above the base. (The base, or index, is given a value of 100; thus SUPERNATURAL indexed at 113 among registered Democrats measured by TRA.)

On the Republican side, a drama on ABC Family, PRETTY LITTLE LIARS, had the top index, a 118.

Nick Wechsler Talks REVENGE Season Two
"The bar is Jack's sole method of providing for his family and it causes some desperation, which puts him in some trouble. It sets up a scenario where he gets involved with some of the wrong people."

DirecTV’s New DVR Records 5 Shows at Once, Streams to Multiple TVs
DirecTV says it has a new DVR called the Genie, which allows users to record up to five HD programs at the same time. And it’s one DVR for the whole house, capable of playing back content on any TV in any room, without the need for additional boxes. There’s also an opt-in feature called “Genie Recommends” that will suggest shows you might like based on your past viewing habits.

But the Genie, as with any product from pay-for-TV companies, won’t quite grant all your wishes. While it can record up to five shows at once, simultaneous playback is limited to four. Still, that means up to four different live or recorded HD shows playing on four different TVs at the same time from one box.

Katie Cassidy returns to GOSSIP GIRL
Cassidy will reprise her role as Juliet Sharp in the Gossip Girl series finale.

Emily Evan Rae coming to PARENTHOOD
The actress will play a member of the student council who interacts with Max (Max Burkholder) beginning in this season’s ninth episode.

Dianna Agron is black on GLEE
Agron confirmed the news on her Twitter account Friday morning. “Excited to say that after a successful hair test, wardrobe fitting & reunion with the gang yesterday,” she tweeted. “Today is Quinn’s first day back!”

J.J. Abrams, CW Team for Undercover Cop Drama
The one-hour drama from executive producers Abrams and Bryan Burk, ELECTROPOLIS, is described as an undercover cop show about after-hours Los Angeles and the young people who live their lives after most are asleep, making their moves to the pulsing beats of electronic music. Ken Olin will serve as an executive producer and also direct.

THE BRIGHTER DAY alum Hal Holbrook joins TNT's MONDAY MORNINGS
The veteran actor will play the potentially recurring role of Arvin Wayne, a prestigious neurosurgeon who is a mentor to Alfred Molina’s Dr. Hooten. The series, which also stars Ving Rhames, Jamie Bamber and Jennifer Finnegan, premieres on Feb. 4.

2 comments:

  1. I notice the TRA study uses the word "households," but I'm thinking many of the (12-17) viewers who actually watch "Pretty Little Liars" and "Supernatural" within the household aren't even old enough to register to vote, and thereby haven't officially declared a political party. Kids aren't always of the same political ilk as their parental units.

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  2. The Genie is a pretty cool device apparently, but still pales in comparison to my Hopper. I was selected by DISH to do an employee beta-test of the Hopper, and it blew my mind! I can record up to 6 live HD programs at once, and with 2,000 hours of recording space, it DOUBLES the amount of Genie. I also like PrimeTime Anytime, which automatically records every prime time show on all four major networks! And do you know how much better it is trying to get through your DVR playlist without commercials? Yes, Genie is a cool device, but nowhere near as cool as Hopper.

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