Joint Scorpion venture soars in ratings

Signaling bright prospects for joint US-Chinese efforts in the world of TV, the CBS drama Scorpion, backed by Chinese media companies Seven Stars and Enlight Media, was a ratings hit with more than 14 million viewers tuning into its premiere on Sept 22 and making a good showing for the next three weeks.

The show airs Monday nights at 9pm on CBS.

According to Zap2it, the debut beat out the Voice's 12.95 million viewers.

Ratings for the second episode of Scorpion dropped slightly, earning 13.36 million viewers on Sept 29.

Scorpion endured more than a 10 percent drop in adult viewers aged 18-49 in week three, with viewership clocking in at 11.9 million.

“A drop was obviously going to come at some point, but considering the extent to which new dramas usually fade over their first few episodes, Scorpion has no immediate cause for concern,” reported Heroline Planet.

Recently, CBS announced renewal episodes for the show, so the first quarter of Scorpion's airing on CBS has been extended to 22 episodes in total. Also, the show will be broadcast in the UK, Ireland and other countries around the world.

Inspired by a true story, Scorpion is a drama about eccentric genius Walter O'Brien and his team of brilliant misfits who comprise the last line of defense against high-tech threats of the modern age, nerdy masterminds who apply their exceptional brainpower to solve the nation's crises.

The show is produced by Alex Kurtzman and Roberto Orci, the producers of Transformers, Spiderman and Star Trek and directed by Justin Lin, who directed the world's most successful racing series movie Fast & Furious 3-6.

Chinese filmmakers and media groups are trying to establish new patterns of collaboration with US counterparts, said James Su, president of Chinese American Film Festival and EDI Media.

Films and shows such as Scorpion help move the partnership between China and the US film and TV industry into a new era. Chinese corporations started to invest and produce western movies and American dramas that target US audiences, said Su.

The earlier pattern of collaboration was co-production. Even though the producers or directors were invited from foreign countries, the shows and films still had lots of Chinese characteristics, according to Su.

Recently, collaboration between the US and China film and television industries has generated a good number of hits, including Iron Man3, Looper and Grace of Monaco, said Su.

zilian@chinadailyusa.com