The Question, Thursday 2/14/13: Will ABC Have Zero Success in the 8:00 Hour?

Tonight, conspiracy thriller Zero Hour will become the seventh different drama to premiere in ABC's Thursday 8:00 hour in four seasons since they moved Ugly Betty away. They've aired as many as 22 episodes (Flashforward) and as few as two (My Generation), but the second season has been elusive for them all. It'll be an uphill battle to end the streak with conspiracy thriller Zero Hour, a show both off-brand and mixed to poorly reviewed. Will ABC have Zero success in the 8:00 Hour? That's The Question for Thursday, February 14, 2013.

Recent ABC 8/7c Drama Premieres

4.0 (Flashforward, 9/24/09) 1.8 (The Deep End, 1/21/10) 1.6 (My Generation, 9/23/10) 2.1 (Charlie's Angels, 9/22/11) 2.1 (Missing, 3/15/12) 2.2 (Last Resort, 9/27/12)

Some have gotten into the habit of saying about this timeslot, "Oh, another low-2's premiere. The other low-2's shows died, so this one will too." But I maintain it's not the premiere that's killing these shows; it's that they've all taken much larger than usual post-premiere drops, often settling at barely half the premiere number. A low-2 premiere is not exactly a given for this timeslot. And I'm fairly confident that will be confirmed tonight.

I often enjoy Dan Brown/National Treasure rip-offs, even while accepting they are not high art, and I'm pretty sure there are other people like me. But drawing a crowd for "so bad it's good" has been a shaky proposition lately. (Looking at you, Smash!) Throw in Valentine's Day, The Big Bang Theory and American Idol and I don't see this ending well.

Over/Under: 1.45.

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