Robin Williams crushes Michael J. Fox in sitcom showdown

[Cincinnatus]

Both shows got promoed to death. I watched neither. Did anyone?

Thursday night’s battle of returning ’80s sitcom icons was no contest: The premiere of Robin Williams’ new CBS comedy The Crazy Ones hugely out-performed the return of Michael J. Fox to NBC.

Benefiting from a massive Big Bang Theory lead-in, ad-agency comedy The Crazy Ones had 15.6 million viewers and a 4.0 rating among adults 18-49 at 9 p.m. In the same time slot, family sitcome The Michael J. Fox Show had only 7.2 million viewers and a 2.1 demo rating, on par with last fall’s final season premiere of The Office.

And that Big Bang Theory opener? It’s the largest in the show’s history. The 8 p.m. debut had 18.3 million viewers and a 5.3 rating, while the 8:30 p.m. second episode had a stunning 19.5 million viewers and a 5.8 rating.

The Mork vs. Alex P. Keaton face-off brought back the stars of TV comedy classics Mork & Mindy and Family Ties to prime-time. Both shows received mixed reviews from critics, but Michael J. Fox enjoyed marginally more positive reactions based Metacritic scores (our Michael J. Fox Show review here; our take on Crazy Ones here). CBS notes Crazy Ones is now the most-watched new show of the fall, but ABC’s Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D., which blew the doors off Tuesday night, stands as the highest-rated new title in the demo at this point.

http://insidetv.ew.com/2013/09/27/robin-williams-michael-j-fox-ratings/

[Cincinnatus]

I went back and read the entire article and saw this:

The second episode was against the return of CBS’ Two and a Half Men (chart below), which introduced new co-star Amber Tamblyn as Charlie’s long-lost lesbian daughter.

I mean, sheeeesssshhh.

[olde north church]

I'm no fan of Robin Williams but I despise Michael J. Fox.  He is a cripple of convenience, skipping his meds so he can have a full blown Parkinson's attack before Congress.

[DCPatriot]

Who in the world believes Robin Williams is the least bit funny?


{{{crickets}}}   

[Lipstick on a Hillary]

I'm no fan of Robin Williams but I despise Michael J. Fox.  He is a cripple of convenience, skipping his meds so he can have a full blown Parkinson's attack before Congress.

I saw his TV show trailer a couple of times and thought "geez.. ANOTHER SHOW?  Can this guy actually still pull in a viewing audience?"  Nobody ever goes away anymore.

[jmyrlefuller]

Two points here:
1. Williams's off-the-wall brand of humor is far more of a fit for a pure sitcom than Fox's, especially now that Fox has pretty much been reduced to a sympathetic figure.

2. The article makes a key point here, and that is that the lead-in is the key factor. The Big Bang Theory is the hottest sitcom on television today, so of course The Crazy Ones is going to have more people watching at the start, and thus staying on the channel even if they don't watch it. The Michael J. Fox Show, on the other hand, has nothing. It's on NBC, a network that has been struggling for years.