It premiered last night, Wednesday, October 2, although NBC did make the entire pilot episode available to watch online about a month ago.
Did you tune in? If so, your thoughts?
The series premiere didn’t quite draw as many viewers for a season debut, on a broadcast TV network, as one might expect, although it did earn NBC the #2 spot in its 10-11pm hour, among ABC, CBS and FOX in total viewers.
The Debut of Ironside drew 6.8 million viewers and a 1.4 rating (adults 18-49), thanks in part to the series that leads into it, Law & Order: SVU. Ironside retained 99.7% of last night’s total-viewer lead-in from SVU.
Will that retention continue next week, and successive weeks? It’ll need to – at least, I’m sure NBC hopes the expected drop-off isn’t excessive.
We’ll find out next week.
But if did watch last night’s premiere, will you be returning for seconds?
I did watch it, and, in short, repeating what I said previously, based on this single episode, this is a new series that I don’t think will last more than 1 season. It may not even last through the whole first season, given how anxious networks have become when new shows aren’t performing as strongly as hoped for, especially when compared to competition; and how quick they are to cancel said shows.
I know I’ve only watched one episode, which I want to emphasize. It could be a series that I find more and more appealing with successive episodes. But, based on the pilot that I watched, there’s really nothing all-that special about this Ironside reboot that makes it stand out from all the other cop shows on TV currently, and in recent years – other than the fact that the title character is black, as played by Blair Underwood.
But that’s not quite enough, when you consider that it seems to be going for something far more gritty, rough and tumble, compared to the 1960s original that starred Raymond Burr, which it doesn’t really succeed at, in a cop/detective/crime-solving TV series climate that includes much darker, graphic, moodier material in the likes of Law & Order: SVU, the CSI franchise, and others.
Blair Underwood’s NBC reboot of 1960s/1970s crime drama series Ironside, is described as follows:
In the gritty world of the NYPD, no one’s tougher than Detective Robert Ironside. He’s a fearless cop who won’t stop until the guilty are brought to justice. He and his trusted, handpicked team of specialists will do whatever it takes to solve New York’s most difficult and notorious crimes – even if it means breaking the rules. Tough, sexy and acerbic, Ironside’s never been afraid to call it like he sees it. As a detective, his instincts are second to none, and those around him have to stay on their toes if they want to keep up… because when his spine was shattered by a bullet two years ago, Ironside swore he’d never let a damn wheelchair slow him down.
The cast includes Spencer Grammer, Brent Sexton, Pablo Schreiber, Neal Bledsoe, and Kenneth Choi.
The series is written and exec produced by Michael Caleo (Rescue Me, The Sopranos), and exec produced by David Semel, Teri Weinberg, John Davis, and Jon Fox.
