Which Network For Your Show?

[Jetfire]

1.) Let say you produced a show, what network would you want it on...all the networks were buying at the same price.

ABC
CBS
CW
FOX
NBC
HBO

I would put SyFy but this is just a general question...not really if you just had a scifi show.

2.) If you could be so kind, tell us briefly what it is about?

For me...as lame as it is...I would go with the CW
And my show would be about a guy who goes missing for 3 days and comes back with the ability to see through other peoples eyes...and him and his friends plus a local cop find out what happened and why he has this ability.
I would use The Misfits 20 Eyes as my theme...maybe get a newer band with a female singer to cover it...like In This Moment.

 

[Kirby]

Ok, I'll play... I suppose CBS since they're actually successful with sit-coms now-days. My show would be an edgy sitcom about two guys who are divorced (one recently, one a few years earlier) from sisters, and having to deal with getting their lives back and dealing with all the shit that divorce brings. They're also in a fledgling advertising business together which they started after they were laid off from their corporate jobs due to the economy.
For some reason I feel this needs to star David Hewlett, who was Rodney McKay on Stargate Atlantis.

 

[Jax]

Major networks then I choose ABC because they are in dire crap like NBC, aren't as canny happy as FOX and require less viewers than CBS. CW don't even go there I would like my show to be watched by more than 2 people . Though if you were doing a 10pm show I would go to cable.

I've had this idea for a show for a while called "100 days" 5 seasons of 20 episodes about the last 100 days of humanity knowing our world is doomed. Start with how would humanity react to such news and then go deeper into the breakdown of everything but also whats caused the world to enter its final days. Though like LOST I would base it more on SCI FI as it progressed with a season being about its not just our Earth at risk but every Earth in every universe (Multi verse plot).

 

[Kirby]

^^^ That is a cool premise Jax but I think HBO or Showtime would be a better venue for that type of show. ABC is owned by Disney and that seems a little dark for Disney.

 

[Temis the Vorta]

Are you kidding, HBO, no question.

My show is, I dunno. It's on HBO! It could be anything. There are plenty of topics you could do on HBO and it would rock.

Heroes, done right.

ENT, done right (but HBO wouldn't touch Star Trek).

Reboot Stargate and do it right. Hey it started on Showtime.

That Revolution concept about a civil war between Earth and a space colony. I loved that idea, and was sad that it didn't get picked up.

Or just have the war be between Mars and Earth. I'd call it Blue Mars and have it be a terraformed Mars. Wouldn't limit myself to the novel series that that title comes from, just buy the frakkin' rights.

Another good concept I wanted to see done that never made it: Beyond, a realistic near-future series about a manned NASA mission to Mars.

Or to get away from sci fi, how about historical fiction? I'd like to see a series about the Civil War. Maybe it could focus on one aspect, such as a TV version of the movie Glory (but not necessarily focusing just on those characters since we already know their story).

 

[shivkala]

I don't have a show, but if it were a sitcom I'd go to CBS, and if not them, then ABC (Fox only if my sitcom was intended to be "edgy"). I'd also go to CBS with a cop show. ABC for a lawyer show or a medical drama.

A genre show, I'd go to CW, though Fox would probably be the most likely one to go for it (then cancel it after the first season).

I'd steer clear of NBC, though, at all costs.

 

[Jax]

^^^ That is a cool premise Jax but I think HBO or Showtime would be a better venue for that type of show. ABC is owned by Disney and that seems a little dark for Disney.

It probably would suit cable better but how many cable shows reach 100 episodes though I guess the concept could be lowered in episodes but 100 days sounds cooler . The whole event would be and forgive me because my science is rusty...

* 2012 the Hyrdon Colliader, which after years of issue has been running at peak power for many months now goes off the chart and for several seconds creates hundreds of miniature black holes all over the planet, so small though they evaporate within seconds. They cause some short term damage in terms of weird climate but things settle down and everything is hushed up. However several weeks later its found the Earth's core is actually slowing down weaking our magnetic field and causing other side problems like earth quakes which will only get worse. The reason for the problem is one of the black holes appeared in the core and didn't evaporate feeding off the geothermal energy to sustain itself. Its so small it would take a long time to actually grow in size and swallow the earth but long before that in 100 days the magnetic field will fail and there is nothing we can do.

Like I said science is rusty but hey its TV who cares

Season 1 would be the news leaking but the true cause of the problem kept hidden, while governments try to fix the issue and silence anyone who tries to tell the world the true reason behind the crisis. I would keep the black hole bit though for the final scene in season 1 and before that the viewer would know only about the issue with the core/magnetic field but not know why. Pick different groups of people to focus, showing flashbacks like LOST for backstory. Society pretty much falls to pieces as the effects become more real and people begin to believe the end is coming.

The whole multi verse thing would be a penulinate season plot which started at the end of the previous season so season 3 into 4 going off the original concept. This would get weird SCI FI in a episode called "The Bleeding Effect". The Hydron Colliader proved the exsistance of the multi verse theory but what is happening to our world is bleeding into another Earth and then will happen to another and another. Earth 2.0 has similar though slightly changed history and there Colliader while peak power has not triggered the effect and this season would focus on several characters on Earth 2.0 trying to stop the event befalling this Earth and find a way to stop the bleeding effect that even with the colliader turned off will cause the same issues even if a Earth history never built the device. Side effects of being on another Earth is its slowly killing our Earth characters meaning its not a way out to survive our Earth's fate.

That season is probably the hardest to make sense off but I just like the idea of the multi verse and its also a chance to see what our characters lives might of been and makes it harder on our characters seeing what might of been for them and Earth if there fate was not already sealed.

Final season would be basically last days and of course one last ditch attempt to save Earth though it would fail. Peple would have to choose do they want to live to the end or commit suicide first a major character cull in last season.

anyway just a idea I had when on the loo seriously I think of random shit when on the loo.

 

[Warp Coil]

If I were producing a television series, I would absolutely put it on cable. Premium channels HBO and Showtime have clearly become the sources of high-quality series, along with basic cable nets like TNT, FX and USA. I would never want to air something on broadcast television. The major networks are looking for mass-market appeal, something that is simple and entertaining and doesn't have too much depth to it. They demand instant gratification via strong ratings, or else they cancel the show. Cable gives you tremendous creative freedom and also allows for a show to find a smaller but loyal audience.

 

[Mistral]

I agree with Warp Coil. HBO all of the way. As for ideas, I have a few...

A series based on Glen Cook's Metal series about a gumshoe living in a fantasy setting who gets hired for various cases involving the fantastic creatures and events around him. Sort of a reverse Dresden files, where he's basically Mike Hammer and the world is LOTR or CS Lewis in nature-magic, faeries, elves etc.

I also liked a tv series called ARK II, about the only remaining advanced civilization striking out into the ecologically ruined Earth after years of isolation in an attempt to rebuild society. They encounter different cultures living in the ruins of our world and try to help where possible. Done right, it would be a heck of a premise.

JAX - check out EARTH by Allen Steele. He beat you to the punch.

 

[Aragorn]

On network TV, if your show is successful on CBS, it's basically stable. Unless you're The Unit and they intentionally try to torpedo it.

Do the cable networks ever cancel a show in the middle of its run? Even if the show sucks, it always makes it to the end of a season before being pulled, right?

 

[exodus]

If I were producing a television series, I would absolutely put it on cable. Premium channels HBO and Showtime have clearly become the sources of high-quality series, along with basic cable nets like TNT, FX and USA. I would never want to air something on broadcast television. The major networks are looking for mass-market appeal, something that is simple and entertaining and doesn't have too much depth to it. They demand instant gratification via strong ratings, or else they cancel the show. Cable gives you tremendous creative freedom and also allows for a show to find a smaller but loyal audience.

I agree with this for all the reasons mentioned.

 

[tharpdevenport]

I'm writing a TV series right now. Plotted out seven seasons, with not all them precisely plotted -- to leave some wriggle room for changes and new ideas. I got stuck on Episode 5 for a long while, but I picked it back up three days ago (with new-found enthusiasm), and I'm getting off line a bit early five days a week, to get to the writing.

Once I have enough written, I'll see about shopping around for an agent.

The station, would have to be HBO. Basic TV wouldn't allow me to go as far as I need, and they're always looking for big effects and hooks. HBO understands, from shows I've seen from it (like my newest favorite, "Dexter"), character drama, plotting, writting, pacing, and letting a show breath. Plus, they are happy to let you tell a season in 14 episodes, as apposed to 25+ as some series have to crank out in little time.



ABC -- too family oriented
CBS -- nobody's watching
CW -- if this station doesn't die a painful death in under two years, I'll be shocked.
FOX -- No thanks -- I can cancel my own show, thank you very much.
NBC -- until they fire half the supporting staff, the head of the network, and get rid of their far left bull crap, no way.

 

[Temis the Vorta]

CBS -- nobody's watching

What the frak, it has the biggest audience of the networks. The main problem is that they have no incentive to take creative risks so unless you want to do another iteration of CSI, forget it.

 

[Starbreaker]

There's no need to take creative risks if your shows average 15 million viewers.

 

[Temis the Vorta]

Yeah that's the reason. Must be as boring a place to work as the channel is to watch.

 

[tharpdevenport]

CBS wasn't just touched by an angel, they were touched in the head.

 

[Temis the Vorta]

Their balance sheet indicates otherwise.

 

[Nowhere Man]

I would have it on HBO because they are good at period pieces. It would be sort of like Rome or John Adams. It would deal with the period from 1820's - 1890's beggining with the trail of tears and ending with the massacre at wounded knee. It would cover the various native tribes that were effected by expansion in America. It would be based on actual events, but told by several different fictional characters.

 

[23skidoo]

Funny as it may sound, I might go with NBC, because I think it's pretty clear that the network is either hitting bottom or is about to, and that means it'll likely start rising again. Considering it's now desperately trying to fill timeslots (the latest announcement is just a stopgap) this might be a great time to be on the network. I mean, they're seriously saying Heroes might get a renewal, so that makes it more likely a show could survive.

This, of course, assumes NBC still exists in a year or two.

I wouldn't be so fast to default to a cable network. Yes, they get accolades, but that still doesn't guarantee continued existence for a show. Deadwood got cancelled prematurely, and people are still trying to figure out why Dead Like Me got cancelled at the height of its popularity. I think Rome got cancelled early, too, but don't quote me on that. And Sci-Fi/Syfy lost quite a bit of face over how it handled Farscape.

One option I might consider is direct-to-DVD/BR. I've been advocating for awhile that more TV show producers should just go this route rather than relying on finicky networks. My idea is to use the same model that comic books currently use: release an episode or two every few weeks for a low price, then maybe every 10 episodes or so put out a "graphic novel" (ie box set) with extra features and perhaps bonus content like extended episodes or exclusive episodes. Maybe arrange a TV showing later. Caprica sort of did that with its first episode being released nearly a year before broadcast, and we've already seen a few TV series get their North American distribution exclusively on DVD, such as the second season of The Sarah Jane Adventures.

As for what show I'd do? I'm not going to post any original ideas here but I'd love to do a remake of Patrick McGoohan's Danger Man/Secret Agent series. Or perhaps a TV series based upon the Modesty Blaise comic strip.

Alex

 

[Venardhi]

HBO, no question.
Optimally I'd be in David Benioff's shoes right now adapting A Game of Thrones, but since that job is already solidly within his hands I'd probably do one of two ideas I've been writing of late:

A western set in a not-quite-steampunk fantasy world where magic has vanished from the lands of a decaying empire and a young veteran is sent to the frontier to bring law and order to the 'wild west' of their world. Elven political conspiracies, Dwarven gangsters, and a trusty dragon steed of course.

A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur's Court. A loose adaptation of Twain's classic. A man wakes up one day to find himself 1500 years in the past. With the practical scientific and industrial knowledge and modern morality he possesses decides to reshape the society he finds himself stuck in.

Temis mentioned Revolution, a pilot from a couple years ago that seems to have vanished. I'd grab the chance to run that show in an instant too.