Here’s a nice recap of last night’s episode of “Eli Stone” if you missed it: ‘Eli Stone’ Recap: Biplanes, And Choirs, And Bad Lawyers! Oh, My!

There’s a nice comment about George Michael in “Eli Stone” keeps the “Faith”:

ABC’s new series “Eli Stone,” from “Brothers and Sisters” creators Greg Berlanti and Marc Guggenheim, had audiences keeping the “Faith” during its premiere episode last night. It has a charming story line played by a stellar and diverse cast, not to mention the highly produced musical number performed by Wham! front man George Michael, which makes this show much more compelling and entertaining than anticipated.

We all love George Michael, but is the U.S. ready for George Michael regularly during prime time?  Here’s an article that says that George Michael may alienate viewers: Eli Stone” Pilot Thoughts And More Fun Stuff.

The Ugly

Will George Michael sing several times in every episode? I like him as much as the next guy, but it could get tiring pretty quickly. What about viewers who aren’t amongst the George Michael faithful. The writers don’t seem to understand that may alienate viewers who dislike the pop singer. It would be a shame if the show lost fans because George Michael was rammed down their throats. (No pun intended)

Okay, this writer’s contact information is at the end of the article if you want to complain or give him a list of George Michael’s hits: Dave on Demand: George Michael visions

The show certainly represents an image upgrade for George Michael. The last time we saw him in prime time, in the series finale of Extras on HBO, he was playing himself, cruising a park in London for anonymous gay sex.

In Eli Stone he gets to play his old pop-star self. But I can’t help but wonder: If they use one of Michael’s songs each week, won’t they run out of hits pretty fast? By next month, I’m afraid there will be episodes of Eli Stone set to claptrap like “The Strangest Thing” and “Flawless (Go to the City).”

Not even the streets of San Francisco can redeem that.

“Eli Stone” kept most of the “Lost” audience, according to Nielsen Ratings.  It’s interesting that in the following article, George Michael is being credited as being a draw for “Eli Stone.”

Nielsen Ratings – Jan 31, 2008: ABC Gets LOST

More surprising to me was the performance of the premiere of ABC’s Eli Stone following the Lost premiere.  The results for the first half hour will likely change some as Lost technically ran past 10pm, but Eli averaged ~12.5 million for the first half hour and 10.75 million in the second half hour.  This is not dramatically great performance, but given the George Michael tie-in, many more gave it a chance than I would’ve thought.