Wednesday, April 05, 2006

Love Monkey Gets Some Love from VH1

(Hello regular readers of this blog. I know, I already mentioned this news, but this is the slightly more article-y Blogcritics version and it's different enough I thought I'd post it here too. Think of it as two for the price of one.)

VH1 recently announced that it has picked up the eight episodes of CBS's Love Monkey, five of which have never been aired.

Starring Tom Cavanagh (Ed) as a music exec attempting to not screw up friendships and romance, the show will be airing in the timeslot known in my house as Yes There Can Be Too Much Of A Good Thing When There's Only So Much You Can Record Day. That's Tuesdays at 9 p.m. to you.

I'm actually not that upset that it's been added to the period already occupied by my favourites House and Scrubs, as well as The Unit, Veronica Mars, and a few other shows that are getting killed in the ratings. I don't get VH1 anyway.

Wait. I think that upsets me. Too bad there isn't some other way of, say, sharing TV programs over some sort of network of devices.

The first three episodes will air back-to-back on Tuesday, April 11 beginning at 7 p.m. EDT, while the remaining episodes will be shown Tuesdays at 9.

I spoke to Love Monkey creator Michael Rauch after the second episode had aired on crime-procedural-happy CBS, and had lost viewers from its already low-rated debut (that conversation turned into this article). He was pragmatic but faintly hopeful about the show's prospects, answering the obvious question before it could be asked.
DK: Love Monkey is very different from your average CBS show ...
MR: It certainly is.
DK: Do you have any worries about ...
MR: I certainly do.

After that flatly droll response, he later added: "It's a small show on a big network, so anything we can do to get people to watch it - if they watch it once and don't want to watch it again, that's fine, we just need to get them to watch it once. I think that's where we're going to find our audience."

It's not exactly too late. This announcement doesn't mean Love Monkey is saved. There's no hint of a renewal for a second season, and odds are slim. But the consolation is that those of us who loved Love Monkey won't be tormented with the thought of unaired episodes, and new viewers will have a chance to see the Monkey's antics for the duration of the show's run.

Except those of us who don't get VH1.