The Third Estate Sunday Review focuses on politics and culture. We're an online magazine. We don't play nice and we don't kiss butt. In the words of Tuesday Weld: "I do not ever want to be a huge star. Do you think I want a success? I refused "Bonnie and Clyde" because I was nursing at the time but also because deep down I knew that it was going to be a huge success. The same was true of "Bob and Carol and Fred and Sue" or whatever it was called. It reeked of success."
Sunday, March 22, 2015
The media will lie about even the little things (Ava and C.I.)
Last week, Ty's "Ty's Corner" addressed some objection to our "TV: The only thing worse than bad TV is the Water Cooler Set That Praises It."
In that piece, we noted that Shonda Rhimes was running off her Scandal audience by refusing to offer the storylines viewers tuned in for -- specifically the Fitz-Olivia-Jake triangle. We noted the ratings were going south.
We'd been calling attention to the problem for some time, such as in our "TV: Off the rails,"
For those who didn't grasp the problem, Ty offered this visual.
That was Variety's headline, It backed up what we'd said.
So did last Thursday's ratings.
That's when hacktress Lena Dunham guest-starred in a heavily promoted episode.
And that's when Scandal hit a new season-low.
For some reason, Tony Maglio (The Wrap) felt the need to lie about the low ratings, "To be fair to Scandal, viewing levels typically dip this time of year, as many college-aged young adults are on spring break. The delayed viewing numbers may see an extra boost as a result."
Oh, okay then.
That makes sense . . .
if you're just allowed to make s**t up.
7.79 million viewers watched the March 19th episode of Scandal -- a new low for the season.
But according to Tony, that happens every year at this time.
And he's right -- if you don't fact check the liar.
If you do fact check his lying ass, you find out that the March 20, 2014 episode had 9.08 million viewers.
So, no, this is not a a 'typical' dip for the time of year.
Tony's bosses might want to ask him why he feels he can get away with lying?
Scandal is in serious trouble.
We know it.
ABC knows it.
Even Shonda Rhimes knows it.
It's only hacks in the media who are in denial.