[shadowcrawler05]

The Pilot for JoA scored an 8.7 rating - approximately 13.5 million viewers. It also won first place in it's timeslot. So I'm incredibly interested in seeing how the premiere ratings for GW compare. I don't even think they're going to be anywhere even kind of close.

I don't know anyone at all who's interested in/excited for GW. Even my friends I ghost hunt with don't care. Mostly because we all think they're gonna get the supernatural aspect/roaming spirit phenomena completely wrong, but also because...it looks boring.

[WBoverlay]

Shrams, looks like we both share an interest in television shows with a supernatural slant. "Numbers" intrigues me as well. Like I've mentioned earlier, GW would have been the type of show I would want to watch at least once and probably will. There is just something in the promos that annoys me and maybe it's Jennifer Love Hewitt. I feel bad about that because I think she's cute and would be perfect in light comedies but I just keep thinking about how great Patricia Arquette (she just won an emmy for her portrayal of Allison in Medium) is in "Medium". The Allison character is just so real and flawed and natural all at the same time. She's not always dressed great and her hair is sometimes out of place and she's usually in a hurry getting her family together before she goes to work. Love Hewitt's character looks like someone who will always be perfectly coiffed and elegantly dressed with her make-up expertly applied. Now there's nothing wrong with looking your best but I think I feel a deeper connection to Allison.

The promo for the GW pilot also features Wentworth Miller in a guest role and I really don't like him but I will watch the pilot and try to overlook that feeling. Unless the pilot blows me away, I probably won't be sticking around for the next episode. My like or dislike for GW won't make JOA return to the screen but I just don't see how GW will earn lofty ratings. It's just a pale carbon copy of "Medium" with a little "Tru Calling" thrown into the mix.

[Basia77]

I agree that it is sad that JoA got tossed aside for a show that is basically a retread of other shows starring an actress no one really cares about anymore.

As I look back, I find myself mourning more what could have been with JoA than what actually was (and didn't Father Ken say that was the most painful kind of loss?) Season two was really a mess compared to season one. Some of it was the writers' fault - they stopped writing for the characters, and started writing for the plot. Sort of like they sat around in the writers room and went "This episode is about such and such" and to make everything fit that storyline, people had to act out of character and Joan had to conveniently forget a lot of what she had already learned. And no amount of network interference could have caused the police storylines to fall from "just okay" to "plain awful" the way they did in many episodes, nor can the network suits be blamed for the way the date of Kevin's accident kept moving around. That was a huge underpinning event for the show - it completely changed the Girardi family and seemed to be the catalyst for Joan becoming "open" to experiencing God the way she did - that date should have been written in stone. There is really no excuse for that except laziness and/or carelessness.

However, I fully believe that the network is responsible for turning what started out as a little stumble into a spectacular fall. They tinkered and tinkered with it, then just kicked it to the curb after they ruined it. The suits were saying that it was too dark - so then why didn't they tell the producers to return to Joan helping people and making connections instead of ramping up the teen drama? I really don't see how they expect Ghost Whisperer to do much better. It seems very sugary sweet and very Touched by an Angel, which by and large, seems like it would appeal to an older audience. CBS may think that Jennifer Love Hewitt is the rage with all the kids, but I really wonder who it was they were talking to, because she isn't the top of anyone's list that I know of.

And I completely agree with the way JLH is no match for Patricia Arquette on Medium. That show works well because of the touch of "realness" she brings to the show and the weight she gives the role. Everything about her - from her crooked teeth to her thrown-together hair and wardrobe that seems natural for a mother of three young children. So far it does look like JLH is going to walk around perfectly made up with her hair perfectly styled and her best "assets" perfectly framed in a tight sweater. Nothing about JLH feels "real" to me. She's just like meringue - light, airy, sugary, but ultimately unfulfilling and so sweet that you can only take her in small doses or else you'll get sick.

[WBoverlay]

As I look back, I find myself mourning more what could have been with JoA than what actually was

I feel the same way because I don't think we ever got any closure on so many things that happened on JOA. Joan started getting her encounters with God after Kevin's accident and I somehow thought there would be some sort of full circle answer or connection to the two happenings. TPTB just kept bringing up storylines but never satisfactorily concluded many of them in my opinion. We were so often left shaking our heads in puzzlement.

Glad I'm not the only one who sees GW or maybe just JLH as somehow glossy and superficial. I do think JLH is a beautiful young woman but I don't think I'll enjoy her in GW. I will watch the premiere on Friday but after that, probably not.

[blueschild007]

Coming on to vent a bit. Ive decided from the moment that I knew that joan wasnt coming back on and GW was taking over on friday night that I wasnt going to watch the show. Im still very peeved at cbs for giving up on joan and at one point I really wanted to stay away from cbs all together ( but big brother6 and the new season of amazing race have kept me still watching)

[shadowcrawler05]

Bob Barker is the reason I can't completely turn away from CBS.

On another note, there's a section about halfway through an article in the San Francisco Chronicle that made me laugh:

How else to explain Jennifer Love Hewitt in a rip-off of "Medium" called "Ghost Whisperer" on CBS? She talks to dead people. She also acts as if she's dead. And somebody clearly killed her hairstyle. None of that matters, however, as males and females, gays and straights, dogs and cats, grandparents, fish, etc., will only be able to stare at her breasts. No series in recent memory has put so much attention on a pair of breasts. It's laughably ridiculous. You can't escape them. Hewitt is in her nightgown half the time and then in shirts three sizes too small the other half. In one scene the strap of her shoulder bag prominently divides her breasts. If you can watch that scene without laughing, you're too desperate by half. Oh, and the show is terrible.

I love you, Tim Goodman.

[Considering Disobedience]

^ that was priceless!! He is the greatest!

[shrams]

Yeah, sometimes Goodman is great! Here's another gem of a review, from Hercules at Ain't It Cool News.

Herc’s Least-Loved New Drama!! CBS' GHOST WHISPERER!!

It’s a supernatural drama, from TV-movie writer John Gray (the remakes of “Brian’s Song” and “Helter Skelter”), about a newlywed who sees dead people. It stars Jennifer Love Hewitt (“Garfield”), Aisha Tyler (“CSI”) and David Conrad (“Relativity,” “Miss Match”).
It’s also the worst new hourlong of autumn, an interminable throwback to CBS’ “Touched by an Angel” era, boasting the blandest characters and the most tedious, cliché-happy plotting I suspect you’ll see in any medium this year.

[Lance's Girl]

Okay so I tried watching to see how horrible it was. There's 15 minutes of my life I could have spent chatting! So my next paragraph spoils the first...oh who the hell am I kidding?! Be spoiled for your own good!

I stopped watching after the attempt to make Ghost boy look scary the second time we see him. I couldn't take it. I didn't like the credits and I didn't like that we saw her wedding! And the fact that everyone knows? Does NOT make for suspense.

[shadowcrawler05]

Ugh. This show...man. I think it actually hurt me physically. The dialogue is poorly written, incredibly cliched, and even poor Wentworth didn't deliver a believable line. Also, I was right. They screwed up the ghost stuff something fierce. I suppose that could all deal with what you believe about ghosts, but there is a certain kind of fact to the paranormal, and they totally screwed with it.

Also, if you thought JoA was too dark (literally) at times, there were moments in this that I couldn't even kind of see anything. Give me the Arcadia PD Blue filter anytime.

I have to go get the penny taste out of my mouth now.

[Considering Disobedience]

Well I'm glad I decided to go with Nip/Tuck tonight then. I had forgotten CTV was aring N/T tonight so I had to choose between GW and N/T (because I missed both the first time it showed so I had to wait for the other channel, just explaining because somepeople are going to say aren't they both on the same channel? yes they are but if I watched them one after the other then I'd miss Numb3rs ..which actually wasn't that good tonight either. ...but anyway) Glad I went with N/T specially if even Wentworth can't make the show sit trhoughable. ...yes CBS you cancelled a peoples choice award winning show for this. Boy did you guys make the right decision.

[shadowcrawler05]

The thing that I found hilarious was the promo for next week said GW is the show "critics are calling a 'sure-fire hit!" and there's like one comment probably taken completely out of context and probably from someone on CBS's payroll.

I think I'd have rather watched Stargate Atlantis. And I hate that show with every fiber of my being. Also, I forgot to mention earlier, but the cameras on Ghost Whisperer are opperated by mentally impaired chimpanzes. Possibly with ADD.

[WBoverlay]

I am a big fan of the supernatural genre in books, films and television but was rather disappointed in Ghost Whisperer. Granted, I only watched the first half hour but that was enough to form an opinion as to just how phony looking and boring last night's episode was for me. It seemed like the ghosts she encountered all wanted to pass on rather trivial messages to their loved ones..."keep drinking champagne on Sundays and looking at the moon and stars", "I left the key to the safe deposit box in my raincoat". When I saw Wentworth Miller's character walking up the stairs in a zombie like state, I didn't know if I should laugh or cry. As I've mentioned before, I don't like WM but that scene reminded me of an old Abott and Costello meet the mummy film. Were we suppose to be frightened by any of the gimmicks used in that episode...the old house, the rainstorm, the writing on the window and mirror? It was also very anti-climactic that everyone knew about her "gift" for seeing ghosts and sort of acted like it happens every day. I didn't see the ending but I'm sure old Wentworth got his message across to his son and the fact that I don't even care what the message was says a lot. The show "Medium" and "Ghost Whisperer" should never be compared, even though they have a similar premise.

Joan of Arcadia at it's worst in some of the season 2 episodes, could never be as bad, boring or stupid as GW.

[shrams]

Thank God I didn't waste any time watching it. I'd actually completely forgotten it was going to be on. First I was all absorbed in my beloved "Firefly" at 7:00, and when it was over I knew there was nothing on worth watching till "Numb3rs" at 10:00 so I got on the computer. When I ran across Herc's review on AICT, it cracked me up and it reminded me the show was on right that very minute...and I was missing it. So I went back to my usual sites without even the slightest temptation to turn the TV back on.

I taped "Numb3rs" and watched it today; it was okay, not great, but I still like the chemistry between the main cast. Reminds me of another show with great chemistry in the cast. What was it? "Lost"? Yeah, for sure, but that's not what I'm thinking of...it used to be on, hm, Friday nights I believe.... Damn you, Les Moonves!

[shadowcrawler05]

I G-d, I hate Lost. But that's not why I'm here.

Apparently, GW earned itself a good 7.3/13, which is up from JoA's second season premiere (and something like +16% in demos, IIRC) however, still lower than the 8.7 the Pilot earned. Not sure what I think about that 7.3. I'm telling myself that it's mostly because of people tuning in to see how crappy it is, because again after the airing I've seen nothing but bad things. Maybe 2/15 people that liked it. I'll be more interested in seeing how the ratings are next week.