The Secret Circle: Discussion Thread

[Juliajms]

I wonder why that is? I would have thought their target demo would eat up something like "Secret Circle". I think the show is ok, but I don't like it anywhere as much as TVD, but I'm older than the audience they shoot for. I wonder if the problem is promotion? I don't know, I think they have some decent shows, so I don't know get why they are failing to this degree.

By they way, love your avatar. AH is a beauty.

[EricMontreal22]

To be fair Secret Circle seems to be doing better next to Vamp Diaries than Nikita did-I enjoy it but not nearly as much as Vampire either, but I remember I didn't think all that much of the first 6 or so VD episodes when it was very very high school based, so I'll give it time.

[Skin]

Scored a 2.1 last night again. Down .6 from TVD's 2.7 though.

Thanks. I think so too.

Do you mean raw numbers or percentages? Either way Nikita's first season easily had TSC beat and kicked TSC's ass in both raw numbers and keeping TVD's lead in. TSC is actually performing worse then Nikita did it's first season.

Nikita vs. Secret Cirlce

1.01 - 3.6 (+.2 on TVD's) vs. 3.1 ( = TVD's)

1.02 - 3.2 (+.2 on TVD's) vs. 2.1 (-.4 on TVD's)

1.03 - 3.2 (-.4 on TVD's) vs. 2.1 (.-6 on TVD's)

[EricMontreal22]

Ha I'm surprised, I swear I read that they were very disappointed with the demos in how Nikita compared to TVD

[Skin]

I'm not sure about the demo since the CW has such odd standards for what they deem important. They pounce at any chance they get to over inflate their reports/performances in press releases. Sometimes they say they want younger girls watching (GG, 90210), other times they are impressed by the 18-34/18-49 demographic (Smallville) but then they will parade on and on about placing well in a demographic sought after women (OTH). But either way all of their ratings and demos are quite low regardless. I know that Nikita was very popular with male viewers, which usually tend to rate highest out of all the demos anyway in terms of the all mighty dollar. In terms of overall ratings though Nikita was a stronger performer in it's first season then the Secret Circle currently is.

[lovely_m]

If this show can stay at a .9 or .8 in the 18-49 demo than it should be fine. Nikita started off strong and then stopped at a .7/.8. The CW doesn't cater to the male demo. Total viewers don't matter to any network.

[EricMontreal22]

Maybe that's what I read--I heard that they wanted to retool Nikita to have more romance, as that was the demo their advertisers desired.

As for the show itself--I like it, but it needs work. The acting has improved since the first episode, and I think it has potential (to be honest the first 6 episodes of Vampire Diaries were pretty weak too, though maybe more compelling), but I think it's a good companion show.

[JackPeyton]

Nikita wasnt pulling in the female demo they wanted, but was doing well in numbers. thats why it was saved and moved to fridays with supernatural.

CW cares about the 18-34 female demo, and online hits. A lot of their shows survive in large part due to product placement and online views, apperantly. i didnt even know CW had full epsiodes online.

But overall ratings are down on the cw, so to really compare last season with nikita and this season with TSC, you have to compare the different season ratings of VD

[Toups]

Picked up for the full season. Still haven't watched the show yet.

[EricMontreal22]

It's definitely picking up... It still feels aimed younger than Vamp Diaries does by this point in time, and feels like it should be on at 8 and Vamp at 9--but of course right now it really needs that lead in.

[Skin]

Scored a 1.9 last episode.

[EricMontreal22]

How did that compare with TVD?

[Skin]

Down by a million viewers. TVD's pulled in a 2.9

[EricMontreal22]

I admit this has become a huge guilty pleasure for me, but it's a bit of a mess. Maybe Kevin Williamson needs to focus on it a bit more and leave less to Andrew Miller (aka Mr Eden Riegel) who's the show runner. Vamp Diaries had its share of trouble finding its footing for its first half season too, and obviously Circle is trying to be like it (it's funny how currently Circle, about witches, has a witch character who's also a witch slayer, and Diaries has a vampire who's also a vampire slayer). The story beats and shocks and deaths are suddenly starting to move a lot faster, which is probably smart if they want to build on VD's audience but VD does all that stuff really well (even if sometimes I think characters with potential are killed off too suddenly), and Circle hasn't managed to do that without making it feel a bit disjointed yet (even stuff like Gale Harold/Charles now being so depressed over killing a kid, when he's shown no remorse for torching Cassie's mom in the pilot, though maybe we'll find out more about that). Nic k's death should have happened a few episodes later--we finally got to know a bit about him, he admitted his love for Melissa and was basically dead the next episode, it would have had more effect if it had taken longer--and so far his very pretty older brother just seems like a prettier version of him, though with an interesting back story--but it's a shame that so far he doesn't seem to be much of an actor.

The last couple of episodes had some great moments but some of the acting and dialogue let them down (though it's great to see Jane Blake as the grandmother playing a key role--she's terrific in every little thing she does). The show should really air before VD as it seems like a more kid-friendly version despite the recent gore (and it seems they're amping that, probably on purpose) but that of course would make less sense ratings wise.

[EricMontreal22]

The Halloween episode kinda sucked. Horrendous acting from most of the cast, and I didn't get the connection-- It felt like an episode written by 5 different people. Hope it gets back on the improving track it was heading in.