NBC cancels Southland

[nx1701g]

However, no one will dispute that FOX is a major network now. So why don't they expand their lineup to include 10pm programming? (Certainly I would prefer an extra 5 hours of FOX programming over the endless news broadcasts that are currently on here on FOX10.)

A lot of affiliates would bolt; the 10 o'clock newscast is too entrenched, and there's a lot of jockeying for ratings glory with the local newscasts.

That's the troubling aspect of the Jay Leno experiment; NBC is willing to take low ratings for the show (because it's cheap), but the local channels are bleeding ratings on their local newscasts because of the weak lead-in. The question isn't how long NBC keeps Jay Leno at 10, the question is how long until the affiliates make some sort of public backlash at NBC.

That has already happened. The NBC station in Boston threatened not to show Jay Leno and do a 10 pm new because they thought more people would watch. NBC said if they did that they would strip the network of their NBC name and form their own network to show NBC shows. I guess the Boston channel back-downed.

I remember that. The affiliate wanted to show a 10 o'clock news broadcast because they felt that the Leno experiment would fail. NBC quickly told them, and all of their other channels, that it was also the only warning that their affiliates would get (it applied to all NBC affiliates).

 

[KB24]

How typical. Remember scripted shows? The original networks are going to continue to loose numbers if all they show is news, talk, and reality. What network just got rid of Guiding Light? The longest running show EVER and it doesn't do enough according to TPTB. I don't even watch regular television. Haven't in years due to the sucky options and ridiculous time slots. Networks needed to be overhauled just like the publishing industry.

 

[BenRoethig]

Latest is that TNT may be picking it up.

 

[bigdaddy]

Latest is that TNT may be picking it up.

Dead Like Me was going to The WB, Reaper was going to go to syndication.... I'll believe it when I hear it come from the TNT's president's mouth.

 

[Harvey]

As for shows not workin' out in the midseason, someone better tell the producers of 24 that they've been on borrowed time for...what? the last three seasons (not to mention the year gap)?

The last four seasons, actually, plus the strike delay as you mentioned (four, five, six, writer's strike, seven). But 24 is highly serialized, and highly advertised, so its model may not work for other television shows.