On the Lot

FOX has cancelled Anchorwoman, the relatively intriguing if gimmicky look at local news that debuted last night. It was watched by 2.7 million viewers, which Variety reports “is less than half the number put up in the time period by unscripted fare on CBS and NBC, and about one-third what Fox was generating a week… continue reading

If someone had offered to bet me that we would have actually seen On the Lot‘s finale air on television, I would have laughed at them and taken the bet. Incredibly, the show survived, despite being cut down, hemorrhaging viewers, and becoming a lame Idol clone. It was even nominated for an Emmy, but just… continue reading

By showcasing some decent films recently, On the Lot was getting dangerously close to not sucking. But, true to form, the show did everything it could to make its penultimate episode as bad as possible. The three finalists–Will Bigham, Jason Epperson, and Adam Stein–were revealed, but instead of presenting new films, they just showed old… continue reading

FOX’s unkillable On the Lot has finally been cancelled–but in South Africa, not in the United States. We’re apparently going to get to keep watching until the August 14 and 15 finale, when Steven Spielberg shows up, perhaps with a bag over his head to avoid embarassment. The South African Broadcasting Corporation said “unforeseen circumstances”… continue reading

Before CBS cancelled Pirate Master, its last episode drew 4.4 million viewers, the Washington Post reported, but FOX’s On the Lot is still on the air despite having about half that many viewers. Still, there is some moderately good news for FOX’s series. Tuesday’s episode, during which we learned Penny Marshall is even more annoying… continue reading

I find On the Lot‘s ratings decline to be endlessly amusing. It’s not that I necessarily want the show to fail–I loved its first week–but I’m just in shock that the show continues to air despite the fact that it’s just bleeding viewers every week. Far greater shows have been cancelled with better ratings. Last… continue reading

FOX flop On the Lot was watched by 2.9 million viewers last week, and last night it lost another half-million viewers. The show was watched by just 2.4 million people, according to The Hollywood Reporter. In two separate pieces, two of the men behind the series both defend it and admit that it has failed…. continue reading

Although ratings for On the Lot rebounded slightly last week to 3.1 million viewers, they dropped back down to 2.9 million, reaching the previous week’s level. Even the show that follows it seems to be suffering. Variety reports that it “seems to be dragging down repeats of ‘House’ at 9,” although House had more than… continue reading

Adrianna Costa, the terribly awful host of On the Lot, is apparently not just a bad host, but also somewhat delusional. Despite the poor ratings, she says that the show has a solid future. “With names like Spielberg and Mark Burnett on it, you can’t go wrong,” she told Entertainment Weekly. Even more bizarrely, she… continue reading

Tuesday’s episode of On the Lot kept the show on its path to cancellation with its low ratings and modifications to the already-baffling format, but it also showed that someone inside the production or the network has, alas, lost faith in the show’s future. That’s because producers didn’t let the contestants produce new films; instead,… continue reading

Over the course of its first three episodes, FOX’s On the Lot lost about 3 million viewers per episode. Considering that just 2.9 million watched last week, that meant the show was on track to have a negative number of viewers this week. However, the show actually rebounded slightly in its new Tuesday-only timeslot and… continue reading

After two weeks of disappointing ratings for its rapidly devolving series On the Lot, FOX has cut the show back from two nights to a single night. FOX “will now condense its competition and results shows into one weekly one-hour program, airing Tuesdays at 8:00/7:00c starting June 5,” The Futon Critic reports. How exactly they… continue reading

I didn’t think it was possible for On the Lot to deteriorate even more, but that’s exactly what happened last night for its fourth episode. Samantha Harris wannabe Adrianna Costa, who actually used to be a Headline News correspondent, started On the Lot‘s first elimination episode by introducing Carrie Fisher as “Carrie Fishy,” and it… continue reading

The third episode of FOX’s On the Lot, which introduced its awful new format and host, was so unpopular, FOX was left in fifth place last night, ahead of The CW but behind Univision. Only 2.9 million viewers watched the two-hour show; by comparison, from 8 to 9, 6.3 million people watched Wife Swap on… continue reading

I’ve been watching reality shows for 14 years, and I’ve never one take a 180 degree turn so rapidly as On the Lot did last night. I was impressed by last week’s premiere, which merged Project Greenlight with The Apprentice, and was packaged in Mark Burnett’s signature narrative style. It wasn’t entirely original, but it… continue reading

I usually don’t get addicted to reality shows after the first episode, but after one hour of FOX’s new series On the Lot, it’s clear that summer has its most watchable new show. Mark Burnett’s new series manages to make his other series, The Apprentice, and its star, Donald Trump, completely irrelevant. While On the… continue reading

Product placement that’s part of On the Lot will extend beyond the show itself and into the films produced by the contestants. Sponsors “Verizon and Ford have a rare opportunity to be prominently featured not only in a TV show but in the films produced by the contestants aspiring to win a $1 million DreamWorks… continue reading