NBC Sucks! AKA NBC Primetime lowest watched week ever!

[jayceee]

What would be the consequences of NBC Falling?

An actual fall.

Not a controlled shutdown and sell off after an extended bankruptcy, but POOF!

They suck.

They deserve to die.

But could all television survive the sucking wound?

How exactly would NBC abruptly go POOF, besides Comcast ordering NBC to shut down operations immediately?

NBC is owned by Comcast, as a part of a portfolio of numerous other channels (like SyFy, Bravo, USA Network, CNBC, etc ...).

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/NBCUniversal#Units
http://mediadecoder.blogs.nytimes.c...g-e-s-stake-in-nbcuniversal-for-16-7-billion/

 

[Temis the Vorta]

NBC is just the canary in the coal mine. A lot of forces are converging now and they're not healthy for the future of broadcast. All the networks face the same future, it's just that CBS has more padding and will be the last to go.

Younger viewers are using technology to opt out of the ad-supported ecosystem entirely by using DVRs, Netflix and of course piracy to timeshift their viewing and avoid watching ads. Comedy and drama is on the path towards House of Cards style viewing.

Not only is broadcast losing the viewers advertisers want, they're losing advertisers because (big surprise) online advertising is increasingly more attractive to them. No more Nielsens guessing game, now advertisers can get solid feedback on exactly how effective their ads are, and use that data to negotiate better deals. Online advertising puts more power in the advertisers' hands so of course they'll prefer it.

Broadcast will survive, but with the focus on live TV - news and competitions (sports, election coverage, and reality TV) - because they cannot be comfortably timeshifted.

More fun stuff:

Sharp growth in zero-TV households.

It ain't just NBC.

If fall is the television season's sink-or-swim deep end, then midseason is the kiddie pool. Fewer launches, lower ratings expectations and softer competition often pave the way for such slow-growing hits as Grey's Anatomy, The Office and, most recently, Scandal.

But nearly all of the 2012-13 midseason entries have drowned so far and, with the exception of Fox's renewed Kevin Bacon hit The Following, have done so in rather gruesome fashion.

And I'm sure the quality of the shows themselves does have something to do with falling ratings. Broadcast shows overall are just so bland, and the new pilots for next season are just more of the same. Broadcast needs to realize why The Walking Dead, Hatfields & McCoys and The Vikings are killing them...they aren't just the same old boring cop shows and sitcoms. The premises are distinctive enough that they grab attention as something exciting and new.

Even when you have something that could grab a following (apparently Zero Hour was like that, given the unusual amount of howling over its cancellation), if nobody is watching your network, they aren't seeing ads for new shows and don't know it exists. Launching on V-Day doesn't help matters either.

 

[Guy Gardener]

What would be the consequences of NBC Falling?

An actual fall.

Not a controlled shutdown and sell off after an extended bankruptcy, but POOF!

They suck.

They deserve to die.

But could all television survive the sucking wound?

How exactly would NBC abruptly go POOF, besides Comcast ordering NBC to shut down operations immediately?

NBC is owned by Comcast, as a part of a portfolio of numerous other channels (like SyFy, Bravo, USA Network, CNBC, etc ...).

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/NBCUniversal#Units
http://mediadecoder.blogs.nytimes.c...g-e-s-stake-in-nbcuniversal-for-16-7-billion/

You start with poisoning everything in the cafeteria. Then setting fire to the building, then wandering around with a rifle shooting people.

Stuff.

 

[jayceee]

Broadcast will survive, but with the focus on live TV - news and competitions (sports, election coverage, and reality TV) - because they cannot be comfortably timeshifted.

This would be a sad wasteland.

 

[Guy Gardener]

All TV is PBS.

 

[Mr. Laser Beam]

^ Pervasive Bull Shit?

 

[jayceee]

An article on the recent history of "has been" tv networks rising and falling, with attention on NBC's recent woes.

http://www.vulture.com/2013/02/has-nbc-passed-the-point-of-no-return.html?

 

[Amasov]

I haven't watched NBC since Frasier went off the air. May, 2004.

[yt]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=N8id3o-BPbM[/yt]

"We're gonna screw around and run this network in the ground!"

 

[bigdaddy]

I still watch Smash.

Now on Saturdays. That's a good sign right?

 

[Nerys Myk]

I still watch Smash.

Now on Saturdays. That's a good sign right?

I record it on Tuesdays.

 

[Amasov]

Look at the network lineup from here, the 1985-1986 season.

[yt]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Wx8HPcqJK04[/yt]

I don't think we will ever see one like this again.

 

[bigdaddy]

I still watch Smash.

Now on Saturdays. That's a good sign right?

I record it on Tuesdays.

It's bee officially dumped on Saturdays, make sure you change your settings if need be.

 

[degra]

tv overall sucks. Broadcast is littered with stale procedurals, recycled storylines, awful reality shows and sff seems to be able to only do limited premise mystery dramas with no direction and horrible writing. It looks like more of the same judging by the pilot season.

cable isn't much better with reality shows featuring stuck up angry women, hillbilllies, pregnant teenagers, and d level Sci fi movies.

and for all the talk about mad men, the walking dead, game of thrones and its ilk I don't see it as being all that entertaining or better. Sure you have more coarse language or gratuitous nudity but at the end of the day they are just plodding pretentious bores.

I find myself preferring to rewatch shows like tng, ds9, voyager, golden girls, Roseanne etc because they are actually entertaining with good casting and decent to great characters not the rapid pacing, lackluster casting, bland characters, conviluting labored storytelling that appears to be en vogue anymore.

 

[Nerys Myk]

Now on Saturdays. That's a good sign right?

I record it on Tuesdays.

It's bee officially dumped on Saturdays, make sure you change your settings if need be.

I think my DVR will compensate, but I'll keep an eye on the sneaky little SOB.

 

[Amasov]

One genre of TV I can't stand are the crime and police procedurals. That's almost all CBS shows. To me, the outsider, they're all the same. I don't see the difference and why they pull in such high ratings. Of course, someone outside of Star Trek could probably say the same thing. I'm just so of seeing procedural after procedural.

 

[1001001]

Now that 30 Rock is finished, I watch just a few shows on NBC: The Office (mostly out of habit, and the desire to see the ending) and Parks and Recreation, which is one of the best shows on TV.

I have tried watching 1600 Penn but it is so bland (except for the oldest son). There'll be a funny spark now and again, but not enough to keep it going.

I have a bunch of Go On episodes on TiVo, but haven't been motivated enough to watch them. I did kind of like what I saw at the beginning.

 

[Starbreaker]

SVU and the Office were in repeats. That's why I didn't watch much NBC.

 

[Temis the Vorta]

Broadcast will survive, but with the focus on live TV - news and competitions (sports, election coverage, and reality TV) - because they cannot be comfortably timeshifted.

This would be a sad wasteland.

I'm sure sports fans would still enjoy it. Think of broadcast as just one segment of the future entertainment picture, like a sushi restaurant. Maybe you hate sushi and never go there. Doesn't mean there aren't other restaurants for you to go to, or that some people don't like sushi.

I already ignore broadcast until whatever is worth watching makes its way to netflix, which is few enough now, so if broadcast simply stops producing anything worthwhile, I won't mind.

 

[gblews]

This is what happens when you cancel Star Trek.

Anyway, despite its blandola beginnings Grimm has turned into something pretty kickass and I'm definitely looking forward to Revolution coming back. So no, NBC definitely doesn't suck.

I agree. NBC owned the 80's after cancelling Star Trek, a regrettable decision but not a killing one.

The number 1 network tends to be cyclical. CBS was number 1 in the 50's and 60's, then ABC in the 70's, NBC in the 80's and part of the 90"s, and now CBS is back on top. It always looks like the mumber 1 network will never falter when things are going right and like (whichever) network is on the bottom will never straighten itself out. It is usually just a matter of time.

If things go the way they usually do, NBC will likely be back on top one day soon and Les Moonves and CBS out of it, with ABC on deck. Who knows, Fox may be the next network to rule. Maybe a cable channel will break through. Who knows.

I have watched (and still watch), and loved NBC shows like 30 Rock, Parks and Rec, Community, The Office, Revolution. I think these are all high quality and unique shows. There isn't a single CBS show I wath on a regular basis.

 

[1001001]

I forgot about Revolution. I like that one too.

I do watch a few CBS shows (The Big Bang Theory, Person of Interest), but now that I think about it, I don't think there are any ABC shows that I watch....??