Quality is usually inversely proportional to ratings when it comes to sitcoms since about 1990. Or at least the best sitcoms very rarely get good ratings and are often cancelled after a season or two. Seinfeld is probably the only exception (from what I understand, for reasons I won’t go into now I never watched much of it).
I’m very curious about what Netflix’s sitcom numbers are like, because I get the impression that there’s more buzz around, say, Kimmy Schmidt than there would be if it were on a network, but equally, they made Fuller House and at least publicly they seem happy with its performance.
After Sunday’s episode I’m convinced that B99 is not only probably the best comedy on TV right now (or at least among them, maybe tied)… it is one of the best shows on TV right now, period.
NBC renews AP Bio, the show that features Glen Howerton and Patton Oswalt. Lousy ratings, but supposedly a good show (I refused to watch until I knew it’d get renewed; now I will!)
One of the things about series that air on Hulu, Netflix, and Prime: they know exactly what the viewership numbers are within any given window of time. No need for Nielsens!
I was very tempted by Outlander ever since I found out it was a series developed by Ronald D. Moore. I’m a big fan of his from Deep Space Nine and then Battlestar Galactica. So I will definitely check out Outlander eventually, even though a time travel romance premise didn’t sound that great to me. But Ron Moore knows how to make a good, compelling show.
