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J.J. Abrams, Undercovers

it was an OK pilot. didn't blow me away totally but liked the leads and action/snark.

too bad the numbers weren't great.
 
Is every episode going to end with them about to f***? Not that I necessarily mind, 'cause it's nice to see beautiful black love on primetime network tv, but I can see it getting a bit old.
 
Why not? I'm sure they'll play with it on occasion.
 
Ratings aren't looking so good, if you are a fan of the show get the word out or we are looking at cancellation...
 
They'll probably replace it with another episode of Dateline NBC....besides, we could use more Chris Hansen and Keith Morrison.
 
This weeks episode was much better than the pilot. Now I'm hooked, and am sad it will probably end. :(
 
This weeks episode was much better than the pilot. Now I'm hooked, and am sad it will probably end. :(

Damn, yo! It's not like it's FOX, where they dump a show after the second episode! NBC will at least give you something of a chance. They'll air what they've filmed thus far, at the very least.
 
NBC did air all of the episodes of Mercy and Trauma that were filmed.
 
Apparently no one watches 30 Rock, yet it's in its fifth season. It's the best show no one is watching, is their slogan.
 
I missed the pilot had to download it off PSN.
I felt like maybe there was just no advertising for the show? I didn't even hear about it until recently and then I didn't even realize it had it's premiere...
 
Apparently no one watches 30 Rock, yet it's in its fifth season. It's the best show no one is watching, is their slogan.

Yeah but I imagine 30 Rock costs about a 10th of what an episode of Undercovers costs.
 
This show would have been a massive hit on UPN if it was still on. I kid, I kid.

But seriously... This is the only show on NBC that has a all black cast. That tells you something about that network. About all the networks really. There's no other show like it on any network if you think about it.
 
It doesn't have an all black cast, though. Half the cast is white.
 
The leads are both black though, has there ever been a show in the action genre without at least one white lead? if this gets canned I expect there'll be some articles on this because the show is pretty good IMO and I've not read any panning of it.
 
"Is it because I did sex with your wife?"
:D
 
I've never heard of it, was it a hit?

I believe it ran for seven seasons in the early days of Fox, right after they became a major network with the acquisition of the National Football League.
 
I believe it ran for seven seasons in the early days of Fox, right after they became a major network with the acquisition of the National Football League.

It had several seasons. The two lead characters were black and puerto rican.

I see, well that will somewhat scupper the race argument for this show failing I guess.
 
It had several seasons. The two lead characters were black and puerto rican.

That was back in the day when, like mentioned, Fox was more of an upstart and didn't give a ****.
 
All networks give a **** when it comes to spending $$$
 
I don't see how New York Undercover's success 'scuppers' the race argument regarding the possible failure of Undercovers.

I forgot the term, but it has been standard practice for upstart networks to build a core audience among blacks primarily only to get their legs and then they move on the white viewers that they really covet. Check the programming history of FOX, UPN, and WB, and you will see that their initial content was far more diverse in terms of shows starring blacks than it is today.

And to be honest, NYU's success was relatively minor compared to other Dick Wolf cop shows (L & O anyone?). Don't get me wrong, it survived while some of its white-led contemporaries faded, and I don't want to knock its achievement. The show did a good job of cultivating its audience (which I would argue was primarily or heavily black), having a lot of musical guest stars, good production values, etc. As was mentioned before, NYU also benefited from being on a network that was trying to establish itself by first building an audience and was willing to give the show a chance. But how does one show (at least a decade old) that is barely remembered today affect the possible fact that Undercovers hasn't sparked much interest in white viewers? (And to be fair, any viewers. Because I don't know the numbers.)

There have been several attempts at action type shows in the US, with black leads or co-stars, by my recollection, with New York Undercover and The Unit, being the best ones, in terms of relatively long-term success (lasted over a season). Blade the Series, A Man Called Hawk, Fortune Dane, T & T died quick deaths. I would argue that the Unit, while having a black lead, also had an ensemble cast filled with whites so it wasn't necessarily a 'minority' show in the sense that most of the main characters were non-white. On the Unit, the majority of characters were white.

That's going back about 30 years now and most we've only had about seven shows with blacks as leads or co-leads. Compare that to the tons of white-led shows that come out during that time period and how can they be on the same plane? If a show with a black lead fails it takes Hollywood years to try the concept again, whereas with white lead shows, their race doesn't play a factor in suits hangwringing about whether they should try it again. They just do it and continue to do it and some fail, some succeed. I think if there were more shows with black leads it wouldn't be such an issue and there wouldn't be as much importance put on whether the one show of the moment succeeds or fails, or what its performance says about race relations or doesn't. But since Hollywood in a lot of ways reflects the twisted landscape of race relations in our country, it helps create these situations that make a show like Undercovers stand out more than it probably should.

I believe that if Undercovers doesn't generate heat race might factor into why people don't watch it. Some whites might not find the Blooms interesting or feel they can relate to them due to the color of their skin. Though I'm not willing to say that race will be the only factor if the show doesn't do well. It's tough for any new show to get off the ground and the demands on network TV to produce a hit, and especially the struggling NBC, to get back on track, have got to weigh very heavy on producing instant hits. There isn't any more time to let shows grow an audience. Though I think because NBC is struggling that they decided to take a chance on Undercovers with two black leads. If they were riding high, like ABC or CBS, you wouldn't have seen Undercovers on their schedule. JJ Abrams involvement doubtlessly helped the project get off the ground too, and I give him kudos for it.

I think a better indicator of how much race might play a role in whether the show succeeds or not is to put it on USA beside Covert Affairs and see how well it does. I mean, CA is a pretty frothy show just like Undercovers has turned out to be. Plus, on USA, you don't need to be a ratings giant to be considered a success.
 
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