AUDIE CORNISH, HOST:
An important lesson from this TV season: Big names don't always bring big ratings. Case in point, the CBS comedy "The Crazy Ones," which ends its first season tonight. The show was hailed as the big return of movie star Robin Williams to TV, but it struggled to build ratings on Thursdays. That's despite a big reunion on the show last week between Williams and his "Mork & Mindy" co-star Pam Dawber, who plays a new, confused girlfriend in "The Crazy Ones."
(SOUNDBITE FROM TV SERIES "THE CRAZY ONES")
CORNISH: We're joined now by NPR TV critic Eric Deggans, to talk more about it. Hey there, Eric.
ERIC DEGGANS, BYLINE: Hey.
CORNISH: So what gives? Why didn't the star power of Robin Williams help this show?
DEGGANS: Well, there's an old saying in TV circles that stars don't make television, but television makes stars. And I think we saw that dynamic play out a lot this TV season, especially on the broadcast networks. In the case of "The Crazy Ones," this was a show with double the star power. You had Robin Williams, and you also had Sarah Michelle Gellar, formerly of "Buffy, The Vampire Slayer." And they were playing a father-daughter team running an advertising agency. But in the middle of March, CBS renewed 16 shows for the next season and "The Crazy Ones" wasn't among them, so fans are worried it might get canceled.
NBC also had Michael J. Fox, a very popular TV star, returning to television. But they wound up pulling that show from its schedule in February, with a lot of episodes left to air. NBC also canceled "Sean Saves The World," a sitcom featuring former "Will & Grace" star Sean Hayes. Now, I wasn't a big fan of Hayes' show or "The Crazy Ones," but Michael J. Fox's series was an interesting comedy that just could not hold onto viewers after getting a big rating when it first started.
CORNISH: Now, Eric, there's always an exception to the rule, right? I mean, there's got to be some show out there that doesn't fit this trend you're seeing.
DEGGANS: Well, yeah, I'd say the biggest recent example of that on network TV would be Fox's "The Following," which seems to have succeeded last year and this year mostly on the charisma of Kevin Bacon, another film star who decided to try TV. And cable TV is a different arena, you know.
In cable TV, buzz counts for more; the audience needed for success is lower; and the quality of projects is often a lot higher. So you've seen stars like Glenn Close and Jessica Lange and Laura Linney have success there. And now, we're in a period where even bigger stars are finding ways to do limited runs on TV. So Matthew McConaughey and Woody Harrelson can do a season of "True Detective" on HBO, and Billy Bob Thornton and Martin Freeman can do one season on FX's adaptation of "Fargo." And of course, Netflix has Robin Wright and Kevin Spacey on "House of Cards."
CORNISH: So what are the lessons we can learn here from the fate of these returning stars on TV?
DEGGANS: Well, a big name doesn't help much if the show's not good, right? And broadcast networks are often attracted to show with big stars because they draw attention to the new series lineups, and it's easier to get advertisers behind them. But if you think about super-popular shows like "The Big Bang Theory" or "Mad Men" or "The Walking Dead," all those shows made big names out of the actors who starred in them because the audiences embraced the characters, and then fell in love with the performers.
And that's the real secret to success in TV - is creating characters people want to welcome into their homes again and again. And you don't need a star to do that.
CORNISH: Eric, thanks so much for watching with us.
DEGGANS: You got it.
CORNISH: Eric Deggans is NPR's TV critic.
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