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May

12

Network push

By Ron Wynn | Filed Under Television 

This week marks the last major push for the networks until the fall, and the best that NBC, ABC, CBS, Fox and the CW can hope for is to complete this otherwise disastrous season with a big flourish.

Viewership for the year has dipped once more, continuing a trend that dates back to 2006. The 100-day writers strike didn’t just hurt the season, it destroyed it.

Whether it was Fox opting to keep 24 out of the lineup completely, NBC deciding that they would hold Heroes until the fall or ABC bailing on its best new show in Pushing Daisies,  many of the  moves these outlets have made range from questionable to plain dumb.

The more ominous note  concerns the dipping audiences for longtime favorites. Even Fox’s favorite ratings booster American Idol is losing traction. They’ve lost anywhere from five – seven million viewers weekly, and while the show remains formidable, it’s nowhere near as unbeatable as it once seemed. The CSI empire finally looks mortal, and one of the Law and Order trilogy may finally disappear, unless USA decides to renew Criminal Intent .

The lone piece of good news is that situation comedy, which many have  dismissed as totally dead, may be on the way back. CBS reportedly may add a second comedy night, while NBC’s Thursday night lineup features some of its best writing and acting with 30 Rock and The Office. Maybe folks are finally ready for something other than procedural dramas and inane reality shows, at least if the substitutes are as well done as The Big Bang Theory or 30 Rock.

Still, what’s really hurting the networks is the continuing resurgence of alternatives on cable. When shows like Dexter, Weeds, Monk, Pysch, Battlestar Galatica and The L Word aren’t on the networks, they’re pulling viewers away from them. The fact  two-year-old edited reruns of Dexter actually got higher ratings than new episodes of Shark on Sundays has to trouble everyone at CBS.

Let’s also hope that next season there will be fewer unannounced time slot switches and pre-emptions, and that perhaps networks will actually let shows have a decent opportunity to attract audiences before they get pulled.

Nothing is more irritating than seeing a show yanked after one episode, or watching something for three weeks, then suddenly seeing it shifted to another night in a different time slot without warning.

Despite all the propaganda being advanced about how different things are in the 21st century, there are still plenty of people interested in quality programming and shows that don’t assume audiences are stupid  and  depend on spectacle and nonsense for impact.

The problem with too much current network television is that it’s forgotten these values in their mad dash for hipness and relevance. The cable networks are expanding their audience because their best shows work for everyone,  yet also prove contemporary and fresh in their presentation and material.

Unless the networks learn from and follow that example, they will continue steadily losing viewership.

Comments

One Response to “Network push”

  1. Tiffy Barnett on May 29th, 2008 12:54 pm

    I”m not really commenting on this specific item as wanting to say in general that I enjoy very much the reviews and commentaries written by Ron Wynn, who certainly seems to be a jack-of-all-trades in the media reviewer scene.

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