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La Brea premieres strong in USA

US drama filmed in Australia wins its US slot with 6.2m viewers.

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Sometimes critics are out of step with the viewing public.

Or a show is so wild it grabs the imagination.

Or both.

Despite dire reviews US drama La Brea, filmed in Victoria, has launched strong in the USA with 6.2 million viewers, a timeslot win after The Voice (7.09m).

That put the sinkhole drama at ahead of FBI: International (5.8m), Our Kind of People (1.48m) and Supergirl (952,000).

Significantly it also drew the best 18-49 rating of any new show in the new Fall season, which has just kicked off.

La Brea features Natalie Zea, Zyra Gorecki, Chiké Okonkwo, Eoin Macken, Jack Martin, Jon Seda and Lily Santiago.

It will screen in Australia on 9Now.

Source: SpoilerTV.com

15 Responses

      1. Does it though if it’s providing jobs for Aussie actors and production staff, probably far more than a local production might as well. It depends whether the quota should be more about the industry or the content on screen?

        Game of Thrones for example here in the UK is undoubtedly an HBO production, but with a largely British cast and largely filmed in Britain – and arguably a show that kick started the recent boom in international film and TV production here. TV drama productions are increasingly international nowadays and the Aussie networks have taken their eye off the ball and been left behind.

  2. 9 should capitalise on this and give it a go on 9 or Gem asap. Holding it won’t do them any favours. Should also look at fast tracking Chucky. Don’t see what they gain holding on until 2022.

      1. I was just guessing with Chucky as I’ve not read much about it. I only knew of it’s existence from here. I did read in the 2022 upfronts which you kindly covered in detail that La Brea was a 9Now premier for 2022. I guess I was just thinking that the strong debut and some quick promotion it could do good business on 9Now asap.

        1. Fair enough… their wording does say, “In 2022 9Now will continue to deliver fresh new content with the addition of exclusive premieres La Brea, Thing About Pam, Chucky and Mr Mayor,” so I guess your presumption is fair. In my experience more than a few things said at Upfronts never quite play out as spun!

        2. It may be a bit risky for 9Now to wait until 2022 to screen La Brea, perhaps they want to wait and see how the US ratings pan out, but if the series loses numbers the audience interest in Australia will depreciate too and so will its commercial value. ”Same day as the USA” should have been the promotion for this show.

  3. La Brea’s 5 min preview did give a hint of what to expect, which is a standard CBS drama production dressed up in a $70 million price tag, and it did surprise me to read that La Brea did cost that much, the $40 million cost of the ‘Foundation’ series seems reasonable in comparison. I have given up predicting if a US studio drama will succeed or not but American ratings are important and La Brea may tick most of the boxes for US audiences at least in the short term, but my instincts tell me it may later struggle.

    1. As far as longevity goes, you’re probably right – I might have watched it too because it was new – especially seeing as it was up against “The Voice” (yawn) ; another tired spin-off ; and a Black bio-history show which is of absolutely no interest to me.

    2. $70 million sound about right though for a VFX heavy Sci-fi prime time show (or $7 million an episode). Most show in the US now cost around the $3 to $7 million per hour on cable/big 4. For comparison here are some other example: ’13 Reasons Why’ cost $5 million an episode, ‘Game of Thrones’ cost $15 million an episode toward the end, ‘Stranger Things’ cost $8 million an episode. Also, worth pointing out that the show will get tax credits and incentive to film in Australia (30% range seem competitive) which will reduce that figure too. Hollywood accounting is also structure so that the networks will try an inflate the cost as much as possible to avoid paying residuals/profit share with talent.

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