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ABC has given a full-season order to Nathan Fillion's new drama The Rookie. This news comes a week after word of an additional script order had circulated. In its announcement, ABC was not shy about alluding to some of the reasons for its decision. The ratings clinched it, and not by a thin margin either.
The Rookie has delivered an 84% spike in total viewers for the network's historically troubled 10 p.m. Tuesday time slot. To put that percentage in perspective, let's turn to the hard numbers. Last season, the time slot captured 4.5 million viewers. Fast forward to this season and The Rookie is delivering a total viewership of 8.3 million.
The good news for ABC ratings-wise has not ended there. In another ratings highlight, The Rookie has also elevated the time slot's showing in the Adults 18-49 demographic, increasing its performance in the demo by 36%, an impressive lift worth noting.
The freshman series' success marks another for its star Nathan Fillion. Fillion previously starred in the uber-successful ABC crime procedural, Castle. The show premiered in 2009 and lasted for eight seasons, concluding in 2016. A little over two years later and Fillion is back on the network with another successful show to his name.
Despite the show leaning away from Castle-style humor, it has managed to find a booming audience. Nathan Fillion's new series chronicles his character taking on a huge life change. Fillion's John Nolan goes from working at a construction company to pursuing a career as a police officer for the LAPD. The trials and tribulations John Nolan encounters as a rookie fuel the series, which counts Castle producer Alexi Hawley as its executive producer.
With this announcement, fans of The Rookie can rest easy knowing they have a full season to enjoy. Investing in new shows can be rough when there are questions as to their long-term trajectory. Hopefully, Season 1 does not end on a huge cliffhanger. Given its peril-filled storyline, one can easily imagine how that could happen.
Nathan Fillion does appear to have found his niche in the crime drama genre. The Rookie is his second success with one. With so many police procedurals on the air, there may have been doubts as to how another could succeed. The Rookie is proving it can hold its own.
The first episode following the announcement will be The Rookie's fourth. New episodes of The Rookie air Tuesdays at 10 p.m. ET on ABC. Nathan Fillion's freshman drama is a part of the ongoing slate of fall premieres.
The restored Green Lane Works clock tower and gatehouse in Kelham Island.
Sheffield's own 'leaning tower' has been restored as part of a modern housing project.
The gatehouse and clock tower at the former Green Lane Works in Kelham Island, which date back to 1860, was so dilapidated that it was placed Heritage England's 'at risk' register.
The Little Kelham development under construction.
The building now forms part of developer Citu's 250-home low carbon Little Kelham project. And rather than let it rot and disappear, the firm has restored it to its former glory.
But there is one key difference from when the gatehouse was built.
Damage to timbers in the clock house had given it a pronounced lean. Instead of trying to correct the angle, Citu's conservation team strengthened the structure to make sure it doesn't move any further - cementing it as Sheffield's own leaning tower.
Citu managing director Chris Thompson said: “This is just the first phase of bringing this stunning heritage building back to its former glory.
Green Lane Works clock tower.
“The leaning clock tower is something that has happened over a number of years and we think it’s part of the building’s charm, so we have made it secure and are cleaning, redressing it, ensuring that it will be a key part of Kelham Island for many, many years to come.
The restored gatehouse will be an entrance to the new community, and will also house office space, apartments and a new bar-restaurant.
To bring it back into use, the roof roof and some of the damaged timbers which form the skeleton of the clock tower have been replaced.
The clock itself is also being restored, with new leadwork, cleaned masonry and energy efficient double glazed heritage windows, made in Sheffield.
The tower was once described by architecture writer Nikolaus Pevsner as 'the most spectacular survival of factory architecture in Sheffield'.
Craig McHugh, from Historic England, which provided grant funding for the project, said: “Driven by industry and innovation Kelham Island has been evolving restlessly for over 150 years, creating the vibrant mix of uses and buildings that gives the place its character today.
Funding for this phase of Little Kelham also came from the European Regional Development Fund and the Growing Places Fund, backed by the Sheffield City Region Jessica Fund.
Marine biology is tough enough, but students in the Carefree Learner Marine Biology classes at Sarasota High School recently opted to add another component — a U.S. Coast Guard-sponsored boating safety class.
Carefree Learner teachers Judd McKean and Jane Laudano, with "complete and total support from our principal, Jeff Hradek," Laudano said, enthusiastically embraced a unique opportunity for their students to take a U.S. Coast Guard boating safety course.
The pilot program offered 119 Sarasota High students the chance to participate in an arduous eight-week boating safety course taught by Commander C. William Myers, U.S. Coast Guard, Flotilla 81.
Upon completion of the course, students were recognized at a graduation ceremony and received safe boater licenses and certificates from the Coast Guard, enabling them to legally operate watercrafts in Florida waters.
McKean is the director of the Carefree Learner program at Sarasota High. He has taught marine biology for three years, but has an intimate familiarity with Florida waters.
McKean is a licensed captain — a 50-ton captain. "I have run charters all of my life; unfortunately, I have pulled bodies out of the water," he said.
He said that Florida waterways have become more and more dangerous, not just to the fragile sea grass and marine life but also to young people.
"As budgets are cut, there is less and less supervision on our waterways," McKean said. "There is a lot of reckless operation, especially of jet skis."
The knowledge gleaned from the classes, McKean said, will stand the students in good stead in every aspect of their educational and recreational use of their beautiful surroundings.
Laudano has taught marine biology for the past six years.
"There are a lot of students that are born and reared in Sarasota that have never been on the water," Laudano said. "Carefree Learner gets them out there so that they can experience the sea life.
"Hopefully that creates an appreciation for the environment and they can see how reckless progress can create damage."
McKean and Laudano are quick to point out that they firmly believe in progress.
"Many good things are a result of progress," McKean said. "But we have to be responsible and a balance has to exist."
United Kingdom transplant Chloe Churchill enjoys Laudano's marine biology class.
Speaking with a soft English lilt, she said, "It only makes sense to take the additional class — we are surrounded by water."
All of the students said that they take pleasure in water sports and cited fishing, kayaking, jet skiing, boating, surfing and wind boarding as recreational activities that they often enjoy.
Dale Dunne has been fishing since he was a tyke. Dale and his grandfather often fished the Louisiana bayous each morning before school prior to his move to Sarasota.
Dale said he fishes as often as he can.
Commander Myers began the class-based discussions by informing the students of the number of deaths on waterways in the United States.
The most tragic statistic, Myers said, is that of "500 drowning deaths in 2010, not one of the victims were wearing a life vest.
"And," he emphasized, "not one had taken a boating safety course."
Myers hopes that the pilot program will be adopted by every school in the district.
"The bottom line," McKean added, "is that this class will save lives."
Catholic Bishops Conference in Sri Lanka has, in a message said the Catholic Community has been disturbed by the distorted image of Jesus Christ superimposed with the face of a politician now being circulated through the electronic media.
The message said: "It is a cowardly act by whosoever is behind this disrespectful and insulting action against the founder of Christianity who is loved and worshiped by millions of people worldwide.
"The last 2000 years have witnessed many a martyr who have sacrificed their lives for His name.
"While we express our hurt and disgust towards this action we urge those in authority to ensure that no religious founder be unjustly insulted in this manner and invite our faithful to pray for the renewal of the secular and temporal order especially the social media, for the well being of the human family."
Sunday, Rutgers received its second decommitment of the 2019 class when Wayne (N.J.) Hills safety Jaaron Hayek, brother of current Knights Hunter and Tyler Hayek, parted ways with the Scarlet Knights, leaving the team with 13 pledges. He'd been committed for almost a year as he announced last November.
Rutgers is off to a tough 1-4 start to the season. And it's not just the losses but the way the team has struggled in contests it was predicted to win going into the year.
Rutgers was the first team to offer the 6-1, 190-pound three-star, also holding offers from Cincinnati, Temple, Army, Buffalo, UMass and a slew of FCS and Ivy League schools. But he's likely hoping an inspired senior year could lead to even more oppotunities.
Hayek, ranked in the "next 25" of the NJ.com Top 50, began to show his vast potential in 2016 as a sophomore, playing alongside his brothers. Hayek is versatile and projects to a number of positions, and that versatility is what caught the eye of the Rutgers staff.
In five games this season, he's generated 370 receiving yards and four TDs, 66 rushing yards and a rushing TD, 15 passing yards, 26 tackles, one for loss, a 28-yard INT, three pass break-ups and had a 15-yard punt return for the 4-1 Patriots.
Kansas City, Kan., school officials last month agreed to provide partial funding for reforms at a local school that were begun with a grant in 1990 from the RJR Nabisco Foundation's "Next Century Schools'' program.
Officials also said they would replicate in all of the city's schools components of the initiative at the New Stanley Elementary School, whose three-year, $750,000 grant is set to expire shortly.
"We're also kind of funding ourselves,'' Ms. Gehring added. She estimated that $165,000 of the program's $238,000 annual cost--most of which goes for additional staff pay--will be covered by New Stanley's federal Chapter 1 remedial-education funding. Most other remaining costs, for transportation, food, and utilities, will be picked up by the district.
It is unclear whether the other first-round schools will, like New Stanley Elementary, continue their programs after their grants lapse. The foundation has asked all grant winners to report by Aug. 1 on their plans for the future, according to David Sandor, a spokesman for the foundation.--M.S.
The family of a teenager with autism in Canada has received a letter saying the family should euthanize him or move out of the area.
A 13-year-old autistic boy in Canada and his family received an anonymous letter Friday saying the family should leave the local neighborhood and move into the woods, or euthanize the teenager. The letter also stated nobody will ever love the autistic teenager or give him a job, according to the christianpost.com.
Maxwell lives with his mother In Oshawa. The teenager reportedly likes go-karts, the movie, Grease, and trampolines.
The family received the letter at the house of Maxwell’s grandmother in New Castle, Ontario, according to the huffingtonpost.com. According to reports, Begley could not keep from crying as she read the part about euthanizing her son. She also said she was concerned for the safety of her family and contacted the police. She would like to press charges, if that is possible. Reports say the local neighborhood has rallied around the family after the incident. According to the article in the huffingtonpost.com, the police are investigating the incident.
“'A person that's that crazy or demented who would fabricate something like that...it leads me to believe that they're very dangerous,” Jim Begley, the boy’s father said, according to dailymail.co.uk “And right now I'm scared for my son's safety." He said he will press charges if the letter writer can be found.
Looking for experience in a new hire seems like a no-brainer, but aptitude and capacity can prove more important.
Growth is notoriously tricky to manage and maintain. In 2015, my company made the Inc. 500 list for the third year in a row, but soon afterward we began struggling to keep pace with our growth and hiring needs. The solution seemed to be to bring on more “experienced” hires—especially at the account manager level, which is our critical interface with clients. But the tactic backfired.
When a company is growing quickly, there are always new roles to fill and opportunities to promote from within. Looking for experience seems like a no-brainer, but in the face of an evolving economy and workforce, aptitude and capacity can ultimately prove more important.
The chart below illustrates what can happen when a company is growing 30 percent to 40 percent a year (Company Growth Rate). In the example below, the company needed a manager, then a director, and ultimately a vice president for a given function.
What companies often do when they realize that they need someone to fill a “big title” role is find someone "experienced"—someone with many years under their belt holding that same or similar title. Unfortunately, in a high-growth scenario, such hires often start off strong and then level off or fall behind.
Sometimes, they even start off poorly because they don’t have a team in place. This requires them to do the work and get their hands dirty, something they haven’t done in a while. Leadership is then left struggling to understand why someone with so much "experience" is underperforming.
What the hiring team missed was how long it took that person to get their experience. In other words, the slope of their personal growth rate. The hiring team may have chosen someone with a relatively flat slope but had a lot of time to get to where he or she was.
This is where the experienced hire often runs into trouble in a high-growth situation; it's also where you’re likely to run into trouble as you've paid in advance for value and experience, things that can all too quickly plateau.
Consider instead focusing on high-aptitude individuals; people who start a little “in over their heads” at each new level they reach. Such people are always in aggressive learning mode because they want to rise to the next position. Their trajectory and capacity to learn is such that they can stay with your company, growing with its needs.
High achievers want to prove their worth, so they typically rise to the occasion if given additional responsibilities. As a bonus, those with less experience often come with smaller price tags—something sports teams have learned when building rosters through free agency versus the draft.
If a less experienced hire can be trained and motivated in 18 months to reach the level of a person with many more years of experience, you've gotten yourself a great deal. This is something Bill Belichick, head coach of the New England Patriots, has always understood.
Here are three ways to identify a candidate with great potential and aptitude.
1. Seek out rising stars. To find a high-capacity learner, look for someone who has risen through the ranks quickly. If you have to choose between someone who took five years to become a manager and one who got to the same level in two, the latter is often the better bet. Chances are, that person is looking to move on from that company because they want more opportunity—and that’s who a rapidly growing company needs.
Proceed with caution if a candidate has had to change companies often to get promoted. If he's never been promoted internally, that can be a red flag. Real high achievers move up at wherever they’re employed.
2. Gauge a candidate's initiative and confidence. A person who asks for opportunities demonstrates that they have the confidence and the interest to take initiative, so keep an eye out for people who are willing to step up and volunteer.
Warren Buffett has said that the three traits he looks for in a new hire are intelligence, initiative and integrity. He believes these qualities enable an employee to make the most of their innate talent and develop positive habits, which signals great potential to grow.
To determine if employees have real drive, look for people who raise their hands. A responsive employee creates her own opportunities and controls her own destiny by volunteering and leading initiatives. Internally, a leadership development program can also provide opportunities for ambitious workers to show their strengths.
For outside hires, consider asking candidates to deliver a presentation and respond to questions. This has worked well at Acceleration Partners. We've found the best candidates demonstrate confidence and answer difficult questions with poise.
3. Train to increase capacity holistically. Functional training prepares employees to perform better in their roles. The goal, however, should be to improve capacity holistically and get people ready for the next level.
Provide coaching that not only helps employees improve at their jobs but also increases their capacity overall in areas such as leadership, time management, prioritization, decision-making, self-awareness, and self-confidence.
At Acceleration Partners, we use our formal AP Fellows program to help associates and managers develop leadership skills through a variety of learning and mentoring opportunities. This sort of program is vitally important to attracting high-achieving talent, especially among millennials. According to a Gallup study, 59 percent of millennials are seeking jobs that offer training and professional development.
Informally, we also train employees by encouraging associates to cover for their managers when they are out of the office. This provides opportunities for junior staff to try out the roles they want and gain leadership practice. It also gives employees insight into company operations, information that, according to a Geckoboard and Censuswide survey, increases motivation and productivity in employees.
Experience isn't a bad thing, but it can be expensive and, surprisingly, lead to complacent hires when it’s not combined with aptitude and the ability to grow. High-growth companies will often see a better return on investment (RPOI) by looking for employees who learn quickly and want to advance within the organization, allowing them to grow with your company.
Robert is the founder and CEO of Acceleration Partners. Join 30,000 global leaders who follow his inspirational weekly Friday Forward at www.fridayfwd.com or invite him to speak.
STAKEHOLDERS belonging to the electric cooperatives in the country are opposing the passage of House Bill 8179 that would grant a nationwide franchise to a single private company to provide solar power in the communities.
The Association of Mindanao Rural Electric Cooperatives Inc. (Amreco), with its national organization, the Philippine Rural Electric Cooperative Association (Philreca), averred that HB 8179 would effectively grant the Solar Para sa Bayan (SPSB), a company owned by businessman Leandro Leviste, a monopoly over all aspects of solar-powered mini-grid development in the entire country, thus killing competition in the renewable energy sector.
The electric cooperatives (ECs), in a press conference during the Amreco 3rd Annual General Membership Assembly and Summit, held in one of the hotels in the city on Monday, have outlined the most alarming features of HB 8179, which they said undermine democratic processes.
The ECs said that HB 8179, once enacted, will give undue favor to one private company, SPSB, blanket authority to establish solar mini-grids in the entire country with no oversight or consumer protections. And the only obligation of the company under the proposed law is to submit an annual report on operations with a measly P500/day fine for failure to submit.
“HB 8179 has no provision on electrification obligations. While SPSB asserts in the bill’s explanatory note that stress the electrification needs of those with little to access to the grid, nowhere does the house bill mentioned unserved or underserved communities, nor is there measurable or the private company to actually and concretely provide electricity to any specific areas,” said Sergio Dagooc, president of the National Association of General Managers of Electric Cooperatives.
With millions of Filipinos still without access to electricity, the need is so great that opportunities for all renewable energy developers be widened in order to lower power rates and improve services, and not add layers of regulations and bureaucracy through the requirements of a franchise that has never been imposed before, thus the proposed bill effectively kills competition.
“Even if this proposed franchise, which is purportedly ‘non-exclusive’, it means in reality that the solar energy developers in mini-grids in the country would be stopped and be required to first apply to Congress for a franchise, which has no legal basis and necessity, that which under and open circumstances, would entail a long and complex process,” said Presly de Jesus, Philreca president.
The ECs said that contrary to normal democratic practice and processes, and the basic principles of decency, notwithstanding fair play, HB 8179 was swiftly approved by the House Committee on Franchises after one hearing only, and the said hearing was only attended by SPSB and government agencies without the participation from civil society of the private sector and the stakeholders.
Corazon Cullantes, Amreco president questioned the bill for the haste it was approved. “If HB 8179 is truly solar ‘para sa bayan,’ why the haste for its approval? Why the lack of transparency and the special treatment of one private company?,” she said.
“Thus, we are calling for open access, fair competition and genuine democratization of the energy sector,” she added.