USA TODAY International Edition
Viewers buzzing about ‘ Timeless’
Time- travel drama one of most- talked- about new shows
Time ( travel) was of the essence in conversations about new TV shows last week as CW’s
Frequency and NBC’s Timeless premiered and cracked the top 10 of this season’s most talked- about new shows.
Along with CW’s romantic comedy No Tomorrow and ABC legal drama Conviction, the time- travel dramas brought the number of new series premieres to 16 as of
Oct. 9. The others are Kevin Can Wait, Bull, This is Us, Designated Survivor, Lethal Weapon, Speechless, Notorious, Pitch, The Good Place, The Exorcist, MacGyver and Son of Zorn. Four shows are left to make their debuts.
And even during a busy news week ( thanks to the presidential campaign and debate), more than half of Americans ( 51%) talked about one or more of the new shows during the past week, according to a weekly survey by Engagement Labs’ Keller Fay Group. The survey is based on a sample of 1,450 viewers ages 13 to 69, contacted Oct. 3 to Oct. 9, who described which shows they watched, liked and discussed. In Week 3, talk was evenly split, with 51% of men and 51% of women talking about at least one show.
Timeless premiered to strong sentiment this week, ranking No. 3 of all launched shows so far on offline sentiment and No. 1 online. For its premiere, Timeless’ performance in the survey was “way above any of the other shows for overall and online interaction,” says research manager George Noble III.
Movie reboot Frequency didn’t do as well but put in a good showing, ranking No. 10 offline and No. 7 online, and the chatter was generally positive, according to the poll. Conviction did not crack the top 10 offline, but ranked No. 4 in online interaction this week.
ABC’s Kiefer Sutherland drama Designated Survivor ranked No. 1 in Week 3 for offline chatter, with CBS drama MacGyver and Lethal Weapon, which Fox just ordered for a full season, rounding out the top 3. And while NBC’s family drama This is Us did not air a new episode because of the vice presidential debate, it rose to No. 4 in offline talk. This is Us and Designated Survivor are again the top shows being discussed offline.
Fox comedy Son of Zorn, which had garnered negative sentiment among those surveyed since it premiered in Week 1, “actually flipped so that it’s a little more neutral this week,” says Maggie Fosdick, VP at Engagement Labs’ Keller Fay Group, a New Jersey researcher. But the live- action animation mashup did not make either of the top 10 lists for the most- talked- about shows.