Analysis: Media buyers weigh in on fall TV primetime winners: Wednesday nights

This is the third in a series (Part one: MIC June 30/05) that asks broadcast pundits' opinions on who's in, who's out and who doesn't stand a chance during the most coveted - and competitive - weeknight timeslots of 8 p.m. to 10 p.m. Go to www.mediaincanada.com and click on 'TV Programming Grids' for visual aids.

'Personally, I'm not an Invasion [on CTV] person,' confesses Sherry O'Neill, managing director, broadcast at OMD Toronto about the 8 p.m. slot on Wednesday nights. 'And I don't know what (Global's) The Apprentice: Martha Stewart will look like. By definition, Martha will draw more women and Invasion will go after the younger people.' She pauses for a minute and then decides: 'I think Invasion will beat Martha.'
By Pia Musngi
July 14, 2005

This is the third in a series (Part one: MIC June 30/05) that asks broadcast pundits’ opinions on who’s in, who’s out and who doesn’t stand a chance during the most coveted – and competitive – weeknight timeslots of 8 p.m. to 10 p.m. Go to www.mediaincanada.com and click on ‘TV Programming Grids’ for visual aids.

‘Personally, I’m not an Invasion [on CTV] person,’ confesses Sherry O’Neill, managing director, broadcast at OMD Toronto about the 8 p.m. slot on Wednesday nights. ‘And I don’t know what (Global’s) The Apprentice: Martha Stewart will look like. By definition, Martha will draw more women and Invasion will go after the younger people.’ She pauses for a minute and then decides: ‘I think Invasion will beat Martha.’

At the other end of the country, Vancouver-based Sheila Malanchuk, media strategy manager at OMD says: ‘Invasion is running in pre-release at 8 p.m. and it really needs to sister with the Lost audience. Martha should get a lot of trial audiences and I think that for 8 p.m., it will be Martha initially but it will be interesting to see what happens with Invasion. It’s one of the better new sci-fi shows out there and production-wise it’s very similar to Lost so people will end up watching it as well. And Invasion is a great lead-in to Lost.’

For the 9 p.m. slot, Malanchuk doesn’t waste any words. ‘It’s Lost (on CTV), of course. They’ve got a very loyal audience. E-Ring (on Global) should skew somewhat older but the pilot could be better. It has potential though.’

‘I think CTV will take the rest of the night,’ opines O’Neill. ‘They’re putting Head Cases [on CH] up against E-Ring and Lost at 9. We know who number one is but in the number two spot? Young people seem to like Head Cases so I think it will be Head Cases and then E-Ring.’ O’Neil says she’s heard people think the latter leaves much to be desired.

At 10 p.m., CSI: New York is the predicted timeslot winner, according to both. New shows Threshold (on Global) and CH’s The Closer don’t stand a chance against the Bruckheimer machine.

But, cautions Malanchuk: ‘The Closer with Kyra Sedgwick has a lot of potential too. It’s gotten some really good press. It’s definitely more female than CSI: New York but I do think it will be beaten by CSI.’

Look for the fall Thursday night lineup roundup in next Thursday’s MIC.