 |
| Spoilers Guide |
What May Cause MacGyver to be a Hit?
Based on popular late-80s show
The original MacGyver was popular. It lasted for seven seasons from the mid-80s to the early-90s. In addition to the 139 episodes, 2 TV films were created in the mid-90s. This could be a show that was just meant to get rebooted.
Many trailer views
Coming with the popularity of the original series, people are interested in the new MacGyver. According to the trailer watching article, it overwhelmingly outperformed the other new CBS show in trailer views; Bull is in a distant second, with less than two-thirds the number of views.
Lack of scripted competition
Fridays at 8:00 come with one big positive, the lack of competition. NBC and FOX are both going unscripted for the hour, and I doubt there is much crossover audience between MacGyver and the CW's Vampire Diaries. The only network MacGyver has to even think about is ABC, which is programming to an older audience with Last Man Standing, similar to CBS shows, but the comedy block doesn't have that high of ratings, and they are, still, a comedy block, while MacGyver is an action-packed drama.
What May Cause MacGyver to be a Miss for CBS?
Poor reception to trailer
Yes, many people watched the trailer, but they didn't all like it. It got the lowest like/dislike ratio of all of the new shows' trailers, with its 46 being far behind the 61s that CBS comedy The Great Indoors and FOX drama Lethal Weapon earned. The other new CBS dramas, Pure Genius and Bull, got 83 and 89, respectively, almost doubling MacGyver. That information, again, can be found here.
Rare success for reboots
Of the 10 most current reboots of TV shows on broadcast, only 2 (Hawaii Five-0, 90210) were successful, while 5 (The Muppets, Heroes Reborn, Charlie's Angels, V, Melrose Place) were not, and for 3, it's difficult to say (The Odd Couple, Beauty and the Beast, Nikita). That's 29% of the shows that I can firmly say successful or not, and I personally wouldn't consider Beauty and the Beast and Nikita successful, while it's too early to say for The Odd Couple.
Friday night
Friday is known for being a weaker night on television, and on CBS, the weekends are primarily where older shows go to rack up syndication money. Putting a new series there doesn't seem like a vote of confidence.
Starting out the night
Often, networks put shows they want to do well after stronger shows (or, in the case with Empire on FOX and sometimes Supernatural on the CW, before). However, CBS is giving MacGyver a lead-in of local programming. Another non-vote of confidence.
What to Expect for MacGyver?
I think that all of these factors will affect the show, though I think that the factors of competition and Friday night won't as much because the CBS audience is more likely to stay at home on a Friday night than the audiences of other networks, I believe, and because CBS shows don't usually face much similar competition anyway, the only significant exception being Criminal Minds and any police procedurals that air after it. I think that the show will be unsuccessful, but I have really convinced myself with the positive factors that it has a chance at success.
New Show Hit/Miss Articles