Best and Worst New Shows of the 2011-12 TV Season
For the first time in three years, TV's best first-year series was not on HBO, though it was on pay cable. Showtime's addictive thriller Homeland 91, starring Claire Danes and Mandy Patinkin as CIA agents who suspect that a rescued American soldier (Damian Lewis) may be working with terrorists, is not just the best-reviewed newcomer in the 2011-12 TV season, it's the highest-scoring first-year series in Metacritic history (dating back to 2005, when we launched our TV coverage).
HBO, which took the #1 spot in each of the past two seasons (with Boardwalk Empire 88 and Treme 87), had to settle for second place this year with its divisive new comedy Girls 87.
Why all this talk about cable series? It's simple: 2011-12 was not a great year for new series on broadcast television.
Just two of the 10 highest-scoring newcomers this season aired on broadcast networks, though the highest-scoring broadcast show (NBC's rapidly declining Smash 79) did earn a higher score than last year's best network show (Fox's The Chicago Code 75). Actually, it wasn't even a great year for cable series; Homeland and Girls were the only two new series to score above 79, while the previous season saw five new shows exceed that mark.
But just how bad were things on the broadcast networks? Despite launching 22 new series to generally positive reviews from critics (a nearly 45% percent success rate, up from the previous season's 39%), four of the five networks saw their season average Metascores decline versus the previous year, with only NBC's showing an improvement. The reason for those declines was a marked increase in the number of stinkers; this season saw the introduction of nine new shows with terrible reviews from professional critics, compared to just three for the 2010-11 season.
Despite the fact that only 40% of its new shows received positive reviews from critics (the second-lowest success rate among the five broadcast networks), low-rated NBC actually edged out its competitors to place first in average Metascore (for first-year shows only) for the season, knocking Fox out of the top spot for the first time since 2008-09. Here's how the new shows launched by the broadcast networks compared in 2011-12:
Top 5 best shows:
1. Homeland - 91
2. Girls - 87
3. Smash - 79
4. Boss - 78
5. Whitechapel - 75
Top 5 worst shows:
1. Work It - 19
2. Rob - 28
3. Charlie's Angels - 30
4. H8R - 31
5. Last Man Standing - 33
Continue:
http://www.metacritic.com/feature/be...2011-12-season
