They should do the XFL AND SNME. It could be a WWE Saturday.
Didn't the WWE and NBC bring back SNME relatively recently? Assuming I'm not imagining it, it didn't do so well in the ratings so they didn't continue with it.
NBC Considers Cutting On-Air Time
- Thread starter Turbo
- Start date
Didn't the WWE and NBC bring back SNME relatively recently? Assuming I'm not imagining it, it didn't do so well in the ratings so they didn't continue with it.
This just sounds like a bad idea...
It seems to me that less people would watch Leno AND THEN Conan and Jimmy than would watch a new tv show and then Conan and Jimmy
Ratings are going to diminish, and then what do you do with Jay's contract?
I haven't watched in the last few years, but it was part of their deal with the NBC conglomerate. They got like four Saturdays a year to do a prime time show... but yeah, the ratings were pretty bad.
I have no idea if that arrangement is still in place though. RAW is on USA now, I believe, and ECW is still on SciFi, so I suppose it's possible they still have that contract in place with NBC.
I have no idea if that arrangement is still in place though. RAW is on USA now, I believe, and ECW is still on SciFi, so I suppose it's possible they still have that contract in place with NBC.
It's a really dick move by Leno if you ask me. It would be one thing if he created his own variety hour in a new style, but you know it's just going to be the same old monologue, followed by his "Headlines" or "Jaywalking" bits, and then the usual guests.
Instead of Conan finally getting to be in the spotlight, he's essentially just going to be host of the second Tonight Show of the night.
Eventually something like this will happen with all of the networks.
Scripted programming in prime time is delivering a smaller revenue stream due to changes in the communications system. Therefore it will receive smaller budgets. And competition for the shrinking budget will compel even more rigorous maximization of the audience (also known as finding the lowest common denominator.) There will always be something to appeal to practically everyone but the differences will increasingly be superficial, such as the personal appeal of the actors.
The cable companies have such monopoly pricing that it probably already acts to restrict the audience size. Restricted audience size means restricted budgets and more fear at departing from the expected. The fact that cable currently is feted for its dark and gritty programming neglects to note that dark and gritty is pretty much all cable can do. I think even their comedies run dark and gritty. They can't even do erotic, as far as I know.
Scripted programming in prime time is delivering a smaller revenue stream due to changes in the communications system. Therefore it will receive smaller budgets. And competition for the shrinking budget will compel even more rigorous maximization of the audience (also known as finding the lowest common denominator.) There will always be something to appeal to practically everyone but the differences will increasingly be superficial, such as the personal appeal of the actors.
The cable companies have such monopoly pricing that it probably already acts to restrict the audience size. Restricted audience size means restricted budgets and more fear at departing from the expected. The fact that cable currently is feted for its dark and gritty programming neglects to note that dark and gritty is pretty much all cable can do. I think even their comedies run dark and gritty. They can't even do erotic, as far as I know.
One problem with NBC's solution to the problem you presented is that Leno's 10pm show has zero possibility of adding other revenue streams such as DVD/BD sales or syndication of reruns like a scripted show would. So NBC's solution appears to be swapping deficiencies rather than eliminating them altogether.
Shows like Monk, Psych and Burn Notice on USA beg to differ. Dark and gritty just happens to be the in thing right now, and the broadcast networks tend to shy away from that in favor of attracting a more LCD audience that loves their spoonfed CSI and the endless stream of cookie cutter procedurals.
EDIT: Not even 15 minutes after I posted this, I find this lovely article about why Leno at 10pm is not such a great idea:
http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/b/a/2008/12/09/tgoodman-the_good_bad_an.DTL
Worth a read if you're interested in the programming aspects of television.
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They're actively trying to be cheap. They've given up on trying to get people to pay more for quality shows (ie, expensive shows that require large audiences) and are subbing in cheap crap (ie, talk shows, reality shows, reruns). It's an admission of creative failure, that's for sure.
The funny thing is, I think they need to be creative in their business model moreso than in the TV content. Sure, things are iffy in terms of content. Chuck and 30 Rock are doing very well creatively while Heroes is all over the map and My Own Worst Enemy was a stinker. But don't all networks have this kind of range of creative success?
NBC's problem is that it's not CBS, and doesn't appeal to a geriatric audience that can't program a DVR and is afraid of the Internet. That's actually good news for NBC - their audience represents the future of TV. CBS is going to be hit with the same problem eventually when all their viewers croak. Those kids downloading Heroes aren't going to give a flip about the ten billionth iteration of a police procedural. If NBC were bold and creative in a business sense, they could pioneer solutions that TV in general faces and gain the benefit of locking in an audience early.
Missing an opportunity to be bold and creative in business can bite ya on the ass a few years down the line. Just ask GM, Chrysler and Ford.
And can you imagine a TV network asking for a taxpayer bailout? They've all cancelled shows we like. Talk about shit outta luck.
I watch The Closer and Burn Notice myself. I think The Closer has outrated broadcast network programming. But, basic cable is so insignificant that no one even bothers to report the ratings. The shows that gather attention are uniformly Sopranos, Deadwood, The Shield, Rescue Me, Dexter, etc. Even the comedies like Weeds and Big Love and Curb You Disappointment (?) are "edgey." Most of those other non dark and gritty shows I've never even heard of. Unless the mass media publicizing ratings are deliberately softpedaling those other shows' ratings as a service to the broadcast networks (not impossible, but unlikely?) the dark and gritty is the only game on offer.
And The Closer might have a deft touch, but if you're paying attention it's not rosy optimism.
And The Closer might have a deft touch, but if you're paying attention it's not rosy optimism.
More un-dark & gritty cable shows: Entourage, Big Love, Eureka, Mad Men.
And then there's Dexter: dark but ungritty. Very well-scrubbed, in fact.
And then there's Dexter: dark but ungritty. Very well-scrubbed, in fact.
Apparently the ads for that Danny DeVito series about Philadelphia gave me a false impression about cable comedies? It's a mystery why they should stick out in memory so strongly. Great White Shark agents and polygamy and drug dealing and serial murder and the good old days before Women's Lib and psychoanalysis and sex addicts in California etc. are what you read about. To me, it just read like the comedic version of dark and gritty. I had no idea that the cable comedy world was so sunny (except in Philadelphia.)
As for the supposed geriatrics at CBS---a number of those CBS shows are still pulling more 18-49 viewers than their supposedly hip competition, and even more are close. Trying to make something out of the fact that many of the shows also pull older and younger viewers than the magic demographic (which probably isn't all that magic anyhow)---exactly what is the point? A resentment of "old" people? A distaste for watching shows on computer is more likely to be due to greater susceptibility to eye strain than simple hatefulness. Considering that there are still many, many people who can't afford computers and internet (telecommunications costs are insane,) some of this seems to be a disguised way of showing contempt for poor people.
As for the notion that the "kids" who download all the cool shows now will still be the wisely discerning arbiters of taste they are today---
A lot of this shit is Hollywood hacks taking advantage of ignorance. No doubt some people will succeed in never learning better.
PS Looked up an example from Monday's ratings thread. Big Bang Theory had a higher "demo" than Heroes. 3.7/10 to 3.6/9, respectively.
As for the supposed geriatrics at CBS---a number of those CBS shows are still pulling more 18-49 viewers than their supposedly hip competition, and even more are close. Trying to make something out of the fact that many of the shows also pull older and younger viewers than the magic demographic (which probably isn't all that magic anyhow)---exactly what is the point? A resentment of "old" people? A distaste for watching shows on computer is more likely to be due to greater susceptibility to eye strain than simple hatefulness. Considering that there are still many, many people who can't afford computers and internet (telecommunications costs are insane,) some of this seems to be a disguised way of showing contempt for poor people.
As for the notion that the "kids" who download all the cool shows now will still be the wisely discerning arbiters of taste they are today---
A lot of this shit is Hollywood hacks taking advantage of ignorance. No doubt some people will succeed in never learning better.PS Looked up an example from Monday's ratings thread. Big Bang Theory had a higher "demo" than Heroes. 3.7/10 to 3.6/9, respectively.
How I Meet Your Mother & Big Bang Theory are two brilliant sitcoms, yes CBS has way to many cop shows (I confess I am a sucker for a CBS cop show) but where once NBC had the big sitcoms, well now CBS does, I am lucky to get though an episode of BigBangTheory without falling out of my chair and rolling around on the floor, other than 30 Rock, nothing NBC has can come close to that.
Losing these 5 hours will be good for NBC, at the moment they are keeping low rated shows, longer than they should, simply because they have nothing better, this will give them a chance to wipe those shows off the schedule, and hopefully invest in fewer but better new shows.
Every network drops at least one new show from its fall schedule, its not a game to see who can keep there new shows around longest.
and a quick note to NBC, dont totally kill ER (by that I mean dont end it with the earth blowing up) ratings suggest it could do some specials next season, end it but dont totally close the door.
Losing these 5 hours will be good for NBC, at the moment they are keeping low rated shows, longer than they should, simply because they have nothing better, this will give them a chance to wipe those shows off the schedule, and hopefully invest in fewer but better new shows.
Every network drops at least one new show from its fall schedule, its not a game to see who can keep there new shows around longest.
and a quick note to NBC, dont totally kill ER (by that I mean dont end it with the earth blowing up) ratings suggest it could do some specials next season, end it but dont totally close the door.
