8mo ago

"news" article pretends not to understand why two very different shows in two separate genres on two totally separate networks aren't judged exactly the same way.

www.forbes.com

‘The Acolyte’ Versus ‘The Penguin’ Viewership Comparisons Don’t Really Add Up

They're also comparing the ratings of a single episode of Penguin to the entire first season of The Acolyte

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Funny, art is about more than sales numbers? Who would've thunk?
The first episode of the penguin is cinematic crème de la crop. While the entire season of the Acolyte is barely amateur hour. Writing, cinematography, costumes, set design, acting, makeup, music, sound design, plot. The penguin delivered in a single hour to levels of artistic satisfaction that not even the best hour of the Acolyte could even dream of achieving.
I know it is unpopular to say this on the Internet, but storytelling and dialogue is still the core of video entertainment. No matter how high the budget and quality is, if you're filming a turd, it is still just cinematographic shit. While you can make a modest production of a masterpiece writing and it will still outpace in praises the literal gilded turd. No matter how much either sells.
- I know it is unpopular to say this on the Internet,
  Not really, just look at any of the Critical Drinker's takes on the Acolyte.
  
  I mean, I've been downvoted to hell just for saying "hey, writing is the core of a movie or series, good production can rarely salvage a bad script". Then I was crucified.
  
  It's unpopular to say when the target work is focused on diversity, then the content isn't relevant anymore.

As I read it, the article is comparing the two shows exactly to show why they shouldn't be judged the same. But maybe I just don't get it.

Yeah, not a fair comparison. Plus, as an IP Batman related stuff isn't at the same level as Star Wars, I can't see why anyone would bother comparing and contrasting.
HBO Max has a subscriber base of X.
Disney+ has a subscriber base of Y.
The Batman had xx viewership.
Other Star Wars Shows had yy viewership.
The most you could do is compare audience reach of the first episode of The Penguin to the first episode of the Acolyte.
"Of the potential audience, Penguin reached aa% of subscribers while the Acolyte reached bb%."
But that doesn't really mean anything. How about comparing the Acolyte to Agatha All Along which is at least on the same service and did the same thing in dropping the first two episodes at once.
- I suspect I know the entire reason this "article" was written, and it's that the people who love every Disney property are still trying to make up literally any reason why Acolyte was cancelled other than the fact that it was just a jumbled mess of a show.
  I love Star Wars, I watched every episode of The Acolyte. It was ok at best. It was somewhat enjoyable but had so many issues with the writing that I wasn't that surprised when it got cancelled.
  
  Yeah, people still bitter over Acolyte failing.
  Beyond pure viewership, Disney also does surveys asking detailed questions about what you liked, didn't like, what you'd want to see in a season 2 and so on.
  I'd expect they got a lot of responses along the lines of "I didn't watch all of season 1, why would I watch season 2?"
  OTOH - it's not like they pulled all the episodes offline or anything... it's still out there. I bailed after Episode 3 stunk up the place, but I hear 5 is better.
- The article itself brings up viewer retention, which would be a fair comparison if there were actually more than one Penguin episode available. Otherwise while context will be important I do think comparing viewership-to-budget is fair.

It's because Collin Farrell is a terrible actor that for some reason keeps getting big parts. He's never been in anything good. In Bruge is OK despite him, and because of excellent performances from everyone else.
- I honestly haven't seen a lot of his movies. He's doing an amazing job with Penguin so far though!

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