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Celebrating 1,000 NCIS-franchise episodes

Limitless in the Media

Lisin

By Lisin
in Limitless [V]

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Chaos Theory

Chaos Theory

The one thing you have to say about CBS is that it knows what it is and what it likes.  It also picked up Code Black for a full season and Life in Pieces as a decent shot.   Limitless is the typical procedural with a "special" but hey being on CBS means it at least has a better then average shot at lasting until you wish it was over.  

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thuganomics85

thuganomics85

Hey, I found an actual article for the show!  Interesting interview with Craig Sweeny about the show, including the process to transferring it from the film to the show, deliberately making Brian different from Eddie Morra, and even how Mike & Ike came into the picture.  Either way, it's nice to see the show gets some media attention. 

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iRarelyWatchTV36

iRarelyWatchTV36

(edited)

I really should know better than to get my hopes up, but unless Mr. Moonves is lying (or not telling the whole truth) about this renewal stuff - things seem to really be pointing in the right direction:

http://tvseriesfinale.com/tv-show/code-black-supergirl-limitless-life-pieces-season-two-renewals-expected-cbs/

 

Snippets from the article;

 

Per Deadline, Moonves said, “We have about five new shows on this year. Of those five, I believe all five of them will be renewed, and we own four of them."

 

That makes five shows which have a strong shot at coming back for a second season. He probably meant to say that three of them — Limitless, Code Black and Beyond Borders — are owned by CBS and two come from outside studios – Life In Pieces and Supergirl.

my own emphasis

Edited by iRarelyWatchTV36
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sjohnson

sjohnson

I know that people like to babble about procedurals, especially CBS procedurals. But I think this is a horrible cliche that confuses rational thinking. Unfortunately, if the execs at CBS look at the situation with open eyes, Limitless is a terrible fit with the NCIS audience. And getting a better fit would increase the chances of hanging on the the superior ratings earlier in the night. 

 

CBS has had a place in its schedule for good shows with decent ratings that can pull their own audience, albeit with smaller numbers. It's 10 Sundays. But Elementary is going there. 

 

As much as I regret the prospect, I'm not hopeful.

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Kromm

Kromm

I know that people like to babble about procedurals, especially CBS procedurals. But I think this is a horrible cliche that confuses rational thinking. Unfortunately, if the execs at CBS look at the situation with open eyes, Limitless is a terrible fit with the NCIS audience. And getting a better fit would increase the chances of hanging on the the superior ratings earlier in the night. 

 

CBS has had a place in its schedule for good shows with decent ratings that can pull their own audience, albeit with smaller numbers. It's 10 Sundays. But Elementary is going there. 

 

As much as I regret the prospect, I'm not hopeful.

Supergirl would be a slightly better thematic match with Limitless than any NCIS show.

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Tarasme

Tarasme

Gah- while I wait on P&Ns for renewal info, I need to rant.

 

Limitless is a colossal missed opportunity with social media/viral marketing. Hell, even Person Of Interest had Bear tweeting- Limitless is such an awesome, well planned, unique proposition (much like PoI, but that's a sadness I do not want to now think of)- but does anyone even know about it?

 

I started watching cause I was sick at home and had the season- to that point- available on MovieBox and decided to give it a shot. I'd watched the- for me- unimpressive movie ages ago so I wasn't spurred by connection to it. 

 

Maybe I'm wrong and I've just missed a whole bunch of promotion?

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Snarkette

Snarkette

(edited)

Excellent interview: http://www.ew.com/article/2016/04/18/limitless-finale-spoilers

 

Best part: 

Will Rebecca (Jennifer Carpenter) face consequences from NZT It’s impossible to take NZT and not have some kind of longterm — it’s impossible to do that and ever be completely the same again. I wouldn’t say it’s a major part of the next two episodes, but it’s going to be a major part of what the character has to deal with moving forward into future seasons.

Edited by Snarkette
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Kromm

Kromm

On 4/25/2016 at 11:53 PM, Snarkette said:

Excellent interview: http://www.ew.com/article/2016/04/18/limitless-finale-spoilers

Best part: 

Will Rebecca (Jennifer Carpenter) face consequences from NZT It’s impossible to take NZT and not have some kind of longterm — it’s impossible to do that and ever be completely the same again. I wouldn’t say it’s a major part of the next two episodes, but it’s going to be a major part of what the character has to deal with moving forward into future seasons.

That might SOUND like a confirmation of future seasons... but I don't know if it actually is. More like a tease of one thing they MIGHT do if they get them. 

Upfronts are like... a week and a half from now, or something like that, aren't they?  Don't they need to announce then, at latest?

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sjohnson

sjohnson

The delay in announcing cancellations helps prevent the tedium of fan campaigns. They don't want any more Jerichos I think. Sad but I believe Limitless is too much like Jericho and Person of Interest. A genre that just isn't popular enough for CBS audience standards, but gets inconveniently attached fans.

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Kromm

Kromm

Limitless is just as quirky as those shows, it's true, but the genre-centric net geeks and critics by and large have totally overlooked it, IMO. There's no groundswell of tweets, blogs, or even reviews/recaps/articles on it (at least ones done after the initial round of lukewarm reviews for the pilot--which was indeed deserving of no more than lukewarm mentions, because the show didn't get majorly good for several more episodes). 

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iRarelyWatchTV36

iRarelyWatchTV36

Well it seems that the chances of Limitless being picked up, by CBS, for a 2nd season are extremely low and its being shopped around to other networks.

 

This show is too good to lose entirely, so we probably will - or so goes my usual luck.

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vesperholly

vesperholly

21 hours ago, iRarelyWatchTV36 said:

Well it seems that the chances of Limitless being picked up, by CBS, for a 2nd season are extremely low and its being shopped around to other networks.

Source? A few TV blogs I've read thought Supergirl was doomed and it just picked up a renewal (although on The CW, where it fits in nicely). They also are very sunny about Limitless being renewed.

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iRarelyWatchTV36

iRarelyWatchTV36

10 hours ago, possibilities said:

Did you see it reported that they are shopping it around? Link, please?

 

16 minutes ago, vesperholly said:

Source? A few TV blogs I've read thought Supergirl was doomed and it just picked up a renewal (although on The CW, where it fits in nicely). They also are very sunny about Limitless being renewed.

Its from Deadline, info about Limitless is at end of first big paragraph.

Limitless is being shopped around

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Kromm

Kromm

(edited)
34 minutes ago, iRarelyWatchTV36 said:

 

Its from Deadline, info about Limitless is at end of first big paragraph.

Limitless is being shopped around

It's chances aren't good, if we're being honest. While we all appreciate it a lot, it didn't have any kind of viral/demographic buzz, or especially good press, or even big noticeable save our show press. For some reason, as clever and original as it is, the people who matter didn't notice. 

I doubt it's an especially expensive show, and it's got that going for it, but it's not dirt cheap either.

I actually think Sy-Fy might be a good match for it, but I doubt they'd realize that.

The whole idea of a procedural being both clever AND funny, and yet that going totally unnoticed, makes me want to shake my fist at the sky.

Edited by Kromm
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holly4755

holly4755

yeah but it seems that scifi is mostly doing fantastic stuff  (werewolves, zombies, magicians, etc) or mythology ancient stuff, or futuristic adventurers. I finally had to give up on 12 monkeys. story back and forth gets too confusing for my current state of mind. You would think limitless would be a good fit, but they really don't seem to be into science fiction as much as mythology. 

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MrWhyt

MrWhyt

Javier Grillo-Marxuach (a long time TV writer/producer) says it's done at CBS

he doesn't mention it by name in this tweet but does in a follow up reply to a question

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Kromm

Kromm

(edited)
20 minutes ago, MrWhyt said:

Javier Grillo-Marxuach (a long time TV writer/producer) says it's done at CBS

he doesn't mention it by name in this tweet but does in a follow up reply to a question

You realize that describes Elementary far more than Limitless, right?  That said, since we already know Elementary got renewed, yes it's gotta be Limitless (edit - okay apparently he says it straight out in a later tweet). It's just a bad way to describe Limitless, because it's not really what's going on most of the time on the show.

As discussed on previous occasions, Elementary's ratings were just nightmarishly bad near the end (around 0.7 in the 18-49 demo for it's last 5 episodes or so vs. Supergirl being up around somewhere like 1.3 and Limitless like a 1.1). The main thing Elementary had over those two shows was that it was an in-house production, ergo very cheap.

Edited by Kromm
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Kromm

Kromm

15 minutes ago, hnygrl said:

Frustrating. Either shoot this horse in the head already or revive it and ride off in the sunset. Goodness Gracious...come on CBS...

It's puzzling. It's a CBS production, so I don't see how it's going to be as affordable to air anywhere else. Unless they're trying to shoehorn it somehow on Showtime (a horrible fit), the only other US-based major distributor of scripted content they own now other than their part-ownership in The CW.

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Kromm

Kromm

I wasn't saying it does. It has no chance there. Nor at Showtime. It has no real likely home at any CBS owned outlet. And given their own recent lesson at 2016-era show costing, I don't see how CBS thinks it would be wanted anywhere else. Supergirl only was transferable to CW because it was a WB property in the first place.  Limitless doesn't have that perk. 

The only upside I can think of to Limitless is if they get around any questions of fees/production costs, it's probably not a terribly expensive production. The original movie was distributed by 20th Century Fox, but I don't think that means they actually held any rights branching off of it. If they do, perhaps some kind of deal could be worked with a Fox owned cable network (Fox itself is unlikely). But the company credits in common between the movie and TV show seem to only be Relativity Television (who do movies, but on the TV end do mostly reality TV), with CBS Productions as the co-producer on the TV show but of course not the movie. 

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ItCouldBeWorse

ItCouldBeWorse

From http://www.tvguide.com/news/cbs-fall-tv-schedule-2016/?et=watchlist-notification&lt=news :

"Former NCIS star Michael Weatherly will return to CBS' Tuesday nights in the fall with Bull, a new drama based on the early career of Dr. Phil. The series will be sandwiched between NCIS and NCIS: New Orleans, which will be taking over Limitless' 10/9c timeslot. As of now, Limitless isn't officially dead, but CBS boss Les Moonves indicated it may move to another network."

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ParadoxLost

ParadoxLost

(edited)
7 hours ago, Kromm said:

It's puzzling. It's a CBS production, so I don't see how it's going to be as affordable to air anywhere else. Unless they're trying to shoehorn it somehow on Showtime (a horrible fit), the only other US-based major distributor of scripted content they own now other than their part-ownership in The CW.

But CBS has the online subscription service that no one remembers existing.  And they are serious enough about it that they are launching the new Star Trek on it in January 2017 and are restrictive on what CBS properties stream on Hulu/Amazon/Netflix.  So maybe they are looking at more original content to make a go of it.  The timing is right.  Media is reporting they are shopping for another network, but I've only seen Moonves say that they shopping it to "potential buyers."

Edited by ParadoxLost
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Reishe

Reishe

This is frustrating beyond words. Limitless is literally the only new show of the 2015-16 season that I kept watching, and yet the networks are going to develop new scripts for new crap and let this one die. I know that it isn't high art, but I absolutely love these characters and I want to keep them in my tv world.

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thewhiteowl

thewhiteowl

2 hours ago, Reishe said:

This is frustrating beyond words. Limitless is literally the only new show of the 2015-16 season that I kept watching, and yet the networks are going to develop new scripts for new crap and let this one die. I know that it isn't high art, but I absolutely love these characters and I want to keep them in my tv world.

It really is. Admittedly I had issues with this show in the beginning. I thought it was glorifying drug use so I was not going to watch but I gave it a shot. I found it to be the best of the season with the single best LOL moment of the season for me with the Bollywood number. I hope it gets picked up somewhere. 

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BooBear

BooBear

Well CBS, just keep your old dullard fart audience. The only two shows I watched on your network are gone. One moved to CW and the other cancelled. I don't know what CBS' end game was but they didn't give this show ANY support and buried it as much as they could. Maybe they were just hoping to woo Bradley Cooper for some reason.  I don't think they are sincere about shopping it around. I cannot believe some of the things they picked up.

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ParadoxLost

ParadoxLost

I have never been a good fit with CBS shows.  But they do get a mainstream audience.

Its not surprising that CBS didn't keep Limitless when you think about the fact that they picked it up based on the pilot.  And it seems like the audience that found it universally pans the pilot and reassures everyone that it got better.  So, its not a good fit for CBS and they probably feel a bit like it was a bait and switch that fits better on another network with a different identity. 

I still think CBS All Access is in the works.  Limitless had a better 18-49 demo than seven other shows on CBS that were renewed.  That makes it one of the stronger candidates for streaming.  But the network obviously cares more about total viewers and only one show did worse (Elementary) there and the night of the week levels that comparison.

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Actionmage

Actionmage

If the show landed on the All Access platform, I may have to seriously consider picking it up. When Star Trek was announced to be on All Access, I wasn't going to pay for the privilege of new Trek. ( Movies are different, imo.) But if Trek and Limitless were on, the hubby and I might sign up for it.

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hacerry

hacerry

Quote

But if Trek and Limitless were on, the hubby and I might sign up for it.

+1 here

Quote

The delay in announcing cancellations helps prevent the tedium of fan campaigns.

Interesting... I never knew or thought of that. That's exactly what happened with me. I was all ready to petition brands to get involved in Limitless by selling my soul (my wallet?) to them, but I didn't because I wasn't sure of the fate of the show... And thus, without knowing the fate of the show, I knew no brand would be able to commit... Argh! Darn you, logic and marketing!

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iMonrey

iMonrey

I have a feeling the only place this show could wind up is on Netflix or Hulu or some other streaming service which I have no intention of paying for, so it's effectively over for me.

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shantown

shantown

If it ends up on a streaming service I will gladly pay for whichever one it's on! Unless it's on the CBS service, because they are jerks. I just hate the idea that it's done for!

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hnygrl

hnygrl

If it's on CBS' streaming service? We may - MAY - be able to get around paying 10 dollars a month to watch one show by buying the season. Best to pay 30 bucks now instead of 200 bucks for the year. Well here's hoping we can do that anyway...I'm not holding my breath...

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Snarkette

Snarkette

Since when has "shopping it around" been a thing? The first I heard of anything like that was Supergirl, which had a natural fit with the other DC Comic shows. This "Hey we have a show, but we'll keep it in limbo thing"? Is it something that happened to other shows?

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Rinaldo

Rinaldo

It happened with Arrested Development (hence the in-show jokes about HBO and Showtime, neither of whom wanted it in the end, plus the creator apparently backed off). It also happened with Happy Endings, which had no takers. I'm sure there are other examples.

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possibilities

possibilities

Several years ago, Scrubs moved from NBC to... I think it was ABC... for the end of its run. More recently, The Mindy Project moved from Fox to Hulu. But I do think it's pretty rare that a show cancelled by one network gets picked up by another.

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shapeshifter

shapeshifter

(edited)

Way back between 1999 and 2002, Roswell was "canceled" after its first season on The WB (now CW). Without missing a beat, the second season aired on UPN, where it was again "canceled" at the end of the season. The show's third and final season aired on SciFi (now SyFy).

Edited by shapeshifter
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