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Was NBC onto something after all with its Jay Leno primetime experiment? Because for the current fourth week of the season, NBC’s new Monday-Thursday 10 PM lineup is poised for the first time to fall below the rating levels of the ill-fated Jay Leno Show for the same week a year ago.
Based on Live+same day ratings for Monday-Thursday, which include live viewing and same-night DVR viewing, as well as fast nationals for Friday, NBC is averaging a 1.595 rating among adults 18-49 at 10 PM this week. A year ago, The Jay Leno Show averaged a 1.642 for the same week in Live+same day. And that is despite the fact that, after NBC’s new 10 PM shows tied Leno last week, NBC boosted significantly its Friday performance in the hour by replacing poorly-rated new legal drama Outlaw with Dateline, going up from a 0.9 to 1.3 in the 18-49 demo this Friday.
For its entire three-week run on Fridays, Outlaw rated well below The Jay Leno Show. The Apprentice, stuck at a 1.3 at 10 PM on Thursdays for the past 3 weeks, also has been running lower than Leno by a wide margin. This week, the Jerry Bruckheimer-produced new NBC drama Chase on Monday joined them, dipping below Leno levels with a 1.5. On Tuesday, 10 PM drama Parenthood logged a 2.0 this week, up .2 from Leno’s delivery in the hour last year, but the two were tied last week. On Wednesday, Law & Order: Los Angeles (1.9) was only .1 higher than Leno, and, with 2 consecutive week-to-week drops of more than 20%, the Law & Order spinoff is on track to slip below Leno next week.
Of course, the picture will change when using Live+7 ratings, which reflect viewers’ DVR use for up to a week after a show’s original airing. Last year, only 2 of the 5 Jay Leno shows during premiere week got a small DVR bump, 6%. This year, all 5 NBC 10 PM shows airing in Jay Leno Show‘s slot got a 20%+ boost, led by Parenthood with 36%. But those shows’ C3 ratings – an indication how many viewers watch the commercials during a show, something advertisers use as base to set ad rates – are relatively low. In fact, there is no 10 PM show on any network in the Top 10 of the recently released C3 rankings for this year’s premiere week. There are only 2 in the top 20 – CBS’ Hawaii Five-0 (No. 13) and The Mentalist (No.20). This is another reason for concern for the broadcast networks who are facing big ratings erosion at 10 PM. For the first 3 weeks of the season, CBS, the strongest network by far this fall, is down 13% year-to-year at 10 PM to a 2.8. (It is still well ahead of the competition, winning the 10 PM hour on 16 of 19 nights in 18-49, and 18 of 19 in total viewers). ABC, which has been in a free-fall with a string of misfires this season, is down 22% to a 2.1, only .2 ahead of third-place NBC. Given its very low benchmark with Leno last fall, NBC is slightly up, 6%, but that margin is quickly shrinking as the network’s performance slides down each week.
Why such big declines? Some point to CBS’ and ABC’s scripted series facing scripted competition from NBC in the hour vs. The Jay Leno Show last year (though NBC has The Apprentice on Thursdays and just subbed cancelled new drama Outlaw with Dateline on Fridays). Then we have the much talked about heavy DVR use in the 10 PM hour when people are said to be catching up on programs they recorded at 8 PM and 9 PM. Indeed, the PUT (people using television) levels at 10 PM have slipped 3% in the 18-49 demo from last year. (And no, younger viewers are not simply migrating to basic cable, their PUT levels are slightly down too). But can such a small PUT drop account for the double-digit declines for ABC and CBS in the hour? And while DVR penetration in the pool of homes Nielsen uses to calculate its ratings is at 38% this fall, up from 33% a year ago, the percentage lifts shows get from week-long DVR viewing this season appear similar to last fall’s. One of the most DVR-ed 10 PM series, CBS’ Mentalist, added 29% to its Live+same day demo rating for premiere week this year in Live+7. Last year, the boost was 29%. The increase for CBS’ other hot DVR performer, new Monday 10 PM drama Hawaii Five-0 (28%) was was identical to how much last year’s CBS Friday 10 PM drama Numbers (28%) went up, with the boost of this year’s CBS 10 PM freshman The Defenders in line with the percentage increases for 10 PM dramas CSI: Miami and CSI: NY last year.
I’m not sure there is an easy explanation for the case of disappearing viewers at 10 PM. And I think there may have been something in NBC’s idea of launching a DVR-proof, less-expensive show in the hour. But as they say in Hollywood, it all comes down to execution. And that’s one area where NBC brass definitely got it wrong with Leno.
TV Editor Nellie Andreeva - tip her here.
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Hey Nellie,
Great article. I think however there’s another possibility: It’s possible that people just watch CBS now. It’s been strong for so long that it’s become America’s network. NBC has been weak for so long I just think people aren’t willing to give it too much of a chance. If ‘the Mentalist’ were on NBC it would probably been in your article as a failing show. If ‘Chase’ or ‘The Event’ were on CBS I wonder how it would do. Those shows are put together very well and the acting and characters aren’t any worse than other show. If these genres are your cup of tea there’s no reason not to watch it — Other than it’s on NBC.
Agree 100% with what you said. I think if those shows were on another network they would be doing a lot better, NBC as a network is just a huge fail.
They should just have a show at 10:00 that makes fun of Blacks, Jews, Indians, and Serbs/Croatians, plus Americans trying to figure out backwards foreigners in their dirty country after losing their jobs.
Why does the poor taste joke in The Dilemma get a pass, but 30 minutes of laughing at another culture, well that’s okay?
“Why does the poor taste joke in The Dilemma get a pass, but 30 minutes of laughing at another culture, well that’s okay?”
Try reading that last sentence again, and ask yourself if it even makes sense.
Actually i understood what he was trying to say. Comparing the controversy over the use of the word “gay” to “Outsourced,” an entire series dedicated to making fun of Indians. If it doesnt make sense to you, there are doctors you can talk to…
NBC is a left wing / DNC / Obama sucking up network.
And that is sooooo 2008.
You think a network owned by one of the nation’s largest defense contractors (GE) is a left-wing bastion? What have you been drinking?
NBC is as centrist as it comes. Some of its primetime shows have some progressive elements, but some have some conservative elements. It’s a wash.
MSNBC does have a few hours of liberal programming a day, out of a 24-hour lineup. But that’s about it.
Great points. Which is really sad because most of CBS’ shows are really not good as more deserving shows.
You’re right. The problem is NBC, but not because people dislike the network. Rather, it’s because no one wanted a variety show at 10pm. The ill-conceived “Jay Leno Show” at the 10pm hour broke the trust with viewers who were faithful NBC drama followers. With kids going to bed later in this generation than previous ones, the 10pm slot is the only one where viewers can indulge in some good adult drama. Once NBC changed formats, viewers sought respite in the offerings of other networks. And, since NBC stuck with Jay for an entire season, the viewers became wedded to their new shows. It’s hard (and expensive) to win viewers back.
Fortunately for NBC, shows like “Parenthood” have strong casts and storylines. The smart move for the network would be to find a home for “Parenthood” and not do the bonehead thing of day/time slot roulette. The most aggravating thing is to turn on your TV and find that your favorite show has been switched to a different night. The even more aggravating thing is to find that favorite show has been placed opposite another favorite show on a different network. Don’t force the viewers to choose or you will surely lose.
Bottom line: NBC has to build back up the trust with its audience and quit pandering. That would be a great start.
Great article – but I think its that these shows are terrible. We all know that NBC has lost its way and everyone there is just biding time until the merge. Development there was pretty bad (see what’s waiting in the wings) and the pickups worse. Network TV is not dead – it just needs to become relevant to viewers again. CBS’ brand works and people watch it. Yes, some shows there have eroded – isn’t that just the natural course of things? The minute that everyone realizes that 18-25 year olds don’t have disposable income and are not the arbitrators of the nation’s taste levels then perhaps the studios and networks will realize what CBS seems to have figured out already – get the numbers not the demos.
Agree 100%. As long as the networks continue dismissing viewers outside of the “target” demos, it’s going to continue to erode.
Totally agree. Falling broadcasters like to say less people are watching TV but that is not what sites like TVbyTheNumbers are saying, more people are watching.
It isn’t TV that is broken but the ratings system(not the Nielsen system but the total focus on demo) which no longer apply to today’s TV landscape. Go back at scheduling TV shows for the largest audience and you will get them all, young, middle age, old, man, women, kids.
Agreed and we are on the cusp of a “Moneyball” revolution. I think Moonves understands how much money he is getting from drug companies/brands like Viagra (patent expires in 2012) that must by their nature target older viewers, particularly older men, to buy their product while its still profitable (i.e. exclusive patent holder).
If you want to know why Tom Selleck is headlining Blue Bloods, and had all those Jessie Stone TV movies, there’s your answer. The money from Viagra, Levitra, Cialis etc is even greener than from Pantene.
The nation is older. Drugs targeting them are lucrative sponsors. The audience delivered to those sponsors is lucrative.
Up against that, though, are decades of substandard “meat and potatoes” TV done poorly. Bad basic fare driving away profitable viewers.
Moonves at least understands how much money he is making off drug ads. I doubt anyone at NBC, ABC, or FOX has any idea of how profitable that audience can be.
“whiskey” makes a good point – the 18-25 demos, particularly men, are better served on other nets; check out the demos of women on MTV e.g. Network TV should be aging up 25-49 e.g., and THEY are the ones spending on drugs, movies, cars, etc. that make esp. Thursday night so attractive.
I think how NBC really screwed themselves last year was by giving all 5 days of the 10pm time slot to Jay. Audiences are used to variety during the primetime hours, not the same face on their TV every single day.
They would’ve been better served having Jay on during one of their weaker nights, say every Friday. That way audiences wouldn’t have been overloaded with monolouging comedians for half the night every single day and NBC wouldn’t have lost so many of their viewers to other networks.
But I guess hindsight is always 20/20.
The Event and Chase aren’t bad shows, but they could and should have more of a bite to them – especially Chase. The one thing that makes network TV bad is the failure to be able to go for the jugular vein. Not that network needs to be . Also, did NBC really think L&O: LA was going to be a winner? The format has been beat to death with three other incarnations, it would have been a better more to try something more compelling at 10pm, you have a little more leeway to make more mature shows.
Also, with the rupturing of the economy, are people still brand loyal in their 30s, 40s and 50s? And yeah, 18 – 25 don’t even have jobs these days, so why aim shows (My Generation) at them?
maybe APA should take over NBC?
Big mistake was moving SVU back to 9:00 as it did when Leno was on. It has always been a 10:00 show.
NBC didn’t learn from last year mistake. L&O:SVU cannot compete with Criminal Minds. Too much of SVU audience is like the CM audience, I know, I watch CM live and will watch SVU via DVR eventually when I have the time.
if NBC were smart they would move SVU on Tuesday night at 10:00, it would do well against The Good Wife.
Or, you could still blame a bit of it on The Jay Leno Show. The viewers who disappeared from NBC at that hour last year could well have established different viewing habits by becoming engrossed in CSI, etc., on the other nets.
agree completely. they lost boatloads of viewers when they did that, and you don’t get them all back overnight. you have to actually come up with good (or at least entertaining) programming to win back viewers.
TEAM CONAN!
I notice the picture of Jay shows his jacket lapel without his trademark flagpin. Why would NBC do this? As a flag-waving Fox News-addicted imbecile, I want answers.
TOLDJA!
Could it be that the content just sucks? Could it be that people are tired of lame shows that don’t challenge them?
Zucker fzucked the network (and TV itself) by doing the Leno thing. If you tell your audience that you don’t respect their intelligence, they’re going to leave. It’s called killing trust.
You’re on the right track. Here’s the elephant in the room: a lot of people were so turned off by what Zucker and Leno pulled last January that they decided they were done with all NBC programming until the parties responsible were gone. I know LOTS of people who feel this way. And not just Conan fans. People who believe in fairness. Oldtime Tonight Show fans like my parents. LOTS of people. What happened was so underhanded and devious it turned my stomach. When both Zucker and Jay are gone I’ll give NBC another chance. Until then, forget it.
It’s too bad because I’m curious about The Event and a few other shows. But I won’t watch ‘em.
Has anyone figured out that maybe, just maybe, that these shows are just bad? The Big Three are the last to realize that there are too many other viewing options out there in the cable/sat universe to waste one’s time on a formulated or rehashed tv series. These shows are neither smart nor hip. All of these development execs need to have a forced vacation for a year, travel the country so that they can reconnect with regular people. Maybe then can they choose better shows to produce. If you are a development exec, agent, producer, writer and you’ve been in your office on a lot, in Hollywood for the last 5 to 10 years with no break… your taste for what’s good, who’s good, is probably just really off by a few “ratings points”.
You are dead on. But as long as the agencies are able to sell the same crapola to their college buddies who work in development nothing will change. Nikki’s site is proof of that. Every day there are two or three articles about lame shows getting bought and picked up and 50 comments from industry insiders cheering them on. “Bob is a great guy and a true original. So glad NBC picked up his remake of the Mighty Ducks featuring Vampires versus Zombies. “
As I recall, wasn’t it popular this time last year to jump on the “bash Jay Leno” bandwagon and blame him personally for the 10 p.m. hour’s failure? Fueled by the Pro-Conan media, NBC’s affiliates got on board as well. Wonder what their sorry excuse is this year?
Ha, Conan’s long gone and Jay is number one again. All of you were wrong! Jay rules!
It isn’t Jay Leno. What is happening at NBC is that they totally fucked up the scheduling. Nothing makes sense there.
Check your facts, Lesley. Jay was no. 3 last week behind Nightline and Letterman in all the demos. His ratings are the lowest they have ever been. He’s consistently behind Nightline. And, Nightline is much cheaper to produce.
Check YOUR facts Team Conan!
Friday late-night win goes to ‘Jay Leno’ at NBC
In Late-Night Metered Markets Friday night: In Nielsen’s 56 metered markets, household results were: “The Tonight Show with Jay Leno,” 2.8/7; CBS’s “Late Show with David Letterman,” 2.3/5; and ABC’s combo of “Nightline,” 2.6/6; and “Jimmy Kimmel Live,” 1.3/4 with an encore.
In the 25 markets with Local People Meters, adult 18-49 results were: “The Tonight Show with Jay Leno,” 1.0/4; “Late Show,” 0.6/3; “Nightline,” 0.8/3; and “Jimmy Kimmel Live,” 0.5/2 with an encore.
At 12:35 a.m., “Late Night with Jimmy Fallon” (1.5/5 in metered-market households) beat CBS’s “Late Late Show with Craig Ferguson” (1.3/4). In the 25 markets with Local People Meters, “Late Night” (0.7/4 in 18-49) topped “Late Late Show” (0.3/2).
At 1:35 a.m., Last Call with Carson Daly” averaged a 0.9/3 in metered-market households and a 0.5/3 in adults 18-49 in the 25 markets with local people meters.
NOTE: All ratings are “live plus same day” from Nielsen Media Research unless otherwise indicated.
(source: NBC)
http://www.rbr.com/tv-cable/tv-cable_ratings/28358.html
Leslie, there’s a big logic gap in your original comment. The fact that NBC is also tanking at 10 p.m. this year doesn’t magically make last year at 10 p.m. a success. The Jay Leno Show was a disaster on every level.
For the week of Oct 4-8, per Nielsen metered homes:
1) Nightline, in total viewers and age 18-49 and age 25-54
2) Late Show with David Letterman
3) The Tonight Show with Jay Leno
More siginificant: Leno score a 0.9 in 18-49. This week last year Conan O’Brien’s Tonight Show score a 1.0.
More facts:
“NIGHTLINE” INCREASES A25-54 LEAD OVER
“TONIGHT SHOW” BY 35% YEAR TO YEAR
ABC News’ “Nightline” is the number one program in Total Viewers (3.82 million), Adults 25-54 (1.63 million), and Adults 18-49 (1.31 million), outperforming CBS’ “Late Show with David Letterman” and NBC’s “The Tonight Show” according to Nielsen Media Research for the week of October 4, 2010.
Week-to-week, “Nightline” was the only program versus the competition to grow in Total Viewers (+2%), among A25-54 (+4%), and among A18-49 (+2%). Compared to last year, “Nightline” grew the most in the key A25-54 demographic (+7%). Nightline’s total viewing lead over CBS increased +117% versus last week. Nightline also increased its lead over the “Tonight Show” among A25-54 by 35% versus the previous year.
ABC News’ “Nightline” is anchored by Cynthia McFadden, Terry Moran and Bill Weir. John Donvan and Vicki Mabrey are correspondents. James Goldston is the executive producer. The program airs weeknights at 11:35 p.m., ET on the ABC Television Network.
(Week of October 4, 2010)
TOTAL VIEWERS A25-54(000)/Rtg A18-49(000)/Rtg
ABC “Nightline” 3,820,000 1,630,000/ 1.3 1,310,000/ 1.0
CBS “Late Show” 3,430,000 1,540,000/ 1.2 1,150,000/ 0.9
NBC “Tonight” 3,500,000 1,400,000/ 1.1 1,160,000/ 0.9
Ratings=/=number of viewers
It doesn’t matter what the Nielsen ratings are (Nielsen is ridiculously outdated anyways), what matters, and what sponsors and networks care about, are the 18-49ish demographic.
Networks need to turn the 10:00 hour into cable-like adult shows with themes and content for grownups — character driven, edgy dramas, dark comedies, with great writing and worlds we haven’t seen a hundred times before.
Which, of course, they can’t do. One, all those whiny watchdog groups (think of the children!)would be in an uproar, and with the GOP coming into power after the mid-term (probably) they will only have more power. Two, and I may be wrong about this, but the 10PM hour in Central Time Zone is actually 9PM which technically makes it still part of the so-called family viewing time by FCC reckoning, which would only exacerbate the problem and probably push Congress to extend the FCC’s control to non-broadcast networks, as well.
What is wrong with people! “Chase” is by FAR, the best new show on television. “Law and Order: Los Angelos” is very good as well. I’m sick of getting in on great shows, only to watch them get cancelled! I tried watching “Castle” and it just flat out sucks. And I refuse to watch another reboot of an old show, that I never liked in the first place, “Hawaii Five-0″. Tuesdays are so bad, I don’t even watch T.V. and I’ll admit, on Wednesdays, “The Whole Truth”, is a pretty good show, but “The Defenders”….really? Belushi and O’Connell as Lawyers? I don’t think so. I’ll pass! C’mon people! Stop watching this garbage! Tune into “Chase”. It’s really good.
Must disagree. CHASE is brainless. Tuesday night has THE GOOD WIFE, one of the best written, best acted, and most intelligent shows on TV, cable or pay cable (its lack of sensationalism, a good thing, is what sets it apart). LAW AND ORDER: LOS ANGELES (note the second “e” in the name of the city) is a worse version of the original.
I hope you work for CHASE. BLUE BLOODS is a much better show, Friday night or not.
Team Conan sucks. May his show go down in flames because he is NOT FUNNY!! So glad his show got dropped on NBC.
I look at the numbers a show like The Mentalist got, it went from 15,532 million viewers to 18,745 million viewers, 21% increase, people are still watching TV. Futhermore, of the top 25 ( 7 days DVR total viewership), 9 shows were 10:00 shows. people are watching but maybe the problem is TV focus on the 18-49 demo. That made sense when TV was the entertaiment media of choice to reach the youth via TV way back when there was no internet, cell phones, social networks. Today’s TV is one media among many.
When you program for one section of the audience, you better get it right, trend wise or you will fail hard. Way too much of NBC schedule is full of shows that are targeted at a small part of the TV audience and as a result are underperforming; shows like chuck, parenthood, community, outsource, all shows under 3.0 demo and all under 7 millions viewers. When your target audience is 7 millions viewers, you cannot say you are a BROADCASTER, you are more like a speciality cable network. NBC should decide if it wants to appeal to a larger audience, like CBS does, or go the cable way. If they want to appeal to just one part of the audience, they should get accustoms to smaller ratings and NOT blame it on less people watching TV.
Other Broadcasters should pay attention to what Kelly Kahl said to the NY time: “Kelly Kahl, who is the chief scheduler for CBS, said the metaphor he often uses, though it sometimes confuses nonfootball fans, is “ball-control offense.” CBS runs familiar plays, does not throw wildly downfield and still scores often. He said the most familiar metaphor for the CBS approach was the “big tent” theory: If you get as many people as possible into the tent, he said, some of them will be in those younger age groups and you’ll be competitive there as well.”
CBS is just merely hanging on to the last demos of people from yesteryear! Those last few who neither have cable nor satellite. Those remaining survivors of a by gone era of television that is sinking like the Titanic. For these people, these grandmas and grandpas, CBS is their television hospice. True, the “fat lady” hasn’t begun to sing on CBS yet, but if you listen closely: we can hear the creaking of the wooden floorboards as she approaches the microphone from back stage.
You know the joke about how old the CBS audience is, is getting….old. CBS is the winner in demo this season. Don’t believe me, have a look: http://tvbythenumbers.com/2010/10/12/cbs-tops-weeks-ratings-race-again-abc-finishes-second/67580
Oh and the CBS shows are the most DVR shows of all the TV landscape, 10 of the most DVR shows ( by demo) were CBS shows and by total viewers 11 shows: http://tvbythenumbers.com/2010/10/11/live7-dvr-ratings-greys-anatomy-90210-hawaii-five-0-top-premiere-week-rankings/67519
CBS may not have a Glee or Modern Family but they have plenty of 4.0 and over 3.0 demo performers to win the demo war.
True, but remember those scenes after the Titanic sank? Many of those in the water were young men and women as well…
Brucky’s got egg all over his face…
Stop attaching your name to shit, bro.
I think NBC would succeed if they took a page from their own history, ala 30 years ago, and make the 10PM slot the place for innovation. Hill Street wasn’t a by the numbers sure thing. It was a gamble. Ensemble television with season long stories.
It changed tv.
NBC at 10 should be about Mad Men. Breaking Bad. Dexter. Rescue Me. They need to rip a page from cable and be bold.
Will they suffer? Sure, a bit. But then, after the awards and accolades, they will become the gold standard network.
Or they should dump all scripted tv in favor of event tv and sports. There is no middle ground.
Stop trying to figure out what the audience wants and give them what they need.
Bochco understood this. Cable gets it. Its the only way NBC can get out of the toilet.
‘NBC should give the audience what it needs’? if the audience needed those shows, the audience would be racking up subscriptions to AMC, Showtime, HBO etc…
Sure, Dave, “What they need”. In 2010 when 10% of the population is unemployed people are dumping luxury like crazy. Some 8/10 households are dumping their cable subscriptions. (THat number might be off…) Still, it’s a lot of people leaving pay tv in favor of free models.
If NBC put Breaking Bad or Mad Men on at 10 and they stuck with it, wouldn’t there be a huge upside?
When NBC was dead last in 82 they put Cheers on. It came in last for the year. They kept it on. Mostly because they didn’t have anything else, but also because it was good and they stood behind the quality of that show.
That one turned out to be pretty successful, didn’t it? I say 2 nights a week. Tuesday and Friday. 10PM. Make them the out-of-the-box programming night. Can’t do any worse than what they are programming now.
Good point about the cable subscription going down because of the economy. Could NBC get shows like Breaking bad, Mad Men or Dexter on broadcast TV? No. Those shows are on cable for a reason, they do not play by the same rules that shows on broadcast TV do, A good exemple is when CBS brought Dexter to its schedule during the writers strike. The CBS censors had to cut and cut and cut. To a point that I stop watching and went back to my DVD’s. Cable shows have more freedom with language, violence, subject matter (Hung would never make it on any Broadcasters), and sex than broadcast shows.
I don’t know if NBC put shows like Breaking Bad or Mad Men at 10:00 if the ratings would go up but I sure would prefer to watch Breaking Bad to another L&O clone.
Totally agree.
But NBC simply ain’t trying. How else do you explain keeping ‘The Apprentice’ Thursdays at 10 even though it keeps hitting lows? Honestly, Trump cannot have such a iron clad contract on them, can he?
And then the issue with SVU which dropped at 9pm last fall but went up at 10pm where it belongs. Bitches never learn.
Or lovely CHUCK that the network apparently likes (it’s still on air) but still in it’s anemic Monday 8pm slot!!!!
It’s simply depressing to consider NBC’s woes because we really are not seeing efforts being made to make things better. And as much as Zucker did much to lead to the current situation.. let’s look at Gaspin now being at the helm.
I just want to spank him!
NBC schedule is such a mess and Gaspin will need time to get it sorted. Thursday at 10:00 is a big problem, NBC is just not competitve at all. The Apprentice she get the axe, they could try LOLA there. SVU is getting kicked by everything, from Modern Family to Criminal Minds to Hell’s Kitschen. Biggest Losers is no longer getting the good ratings it use to have. the two hours is only justified by NBC having nothing to place there. Monday is a mess to. Trying to sell shows that are clones to what works/worked on soome other networks, the event being sell as the new Lost, Chase as a CBS procedural, is not how you get viewers. Those who loved Lost have not been fooled by the Event and if you like procedural à la CBS why would you not watch 5-0? For Chase to work, NBC should have tried it in a time slot that didn’t have a CBS procedural.
What a mess NBC is.
You’re absolutely right, Longtime Viewer. But remember one thing; back in ’82 you had Brandon Tartikoff and Grant Tinker at NBC. Those guys were visionaries and they actually respected the creative community — writers, directors, actors. They weren’t scared to believe in something and let it flourish. What you have now are a bunch of people who are too scared for their jobs, and the way they rate writers are based on how much they’re willing to roll over and take notes. Jeff Zucker and Angela Bromstad are no Brandon Tartikoff and Grant Tinker.
Leno’s ratings significantly dropped as the season went on, so the trend will reverse itself soon enough.
Why not take popular reality shows, i.e. Project Runway, and put them in at 10p?
They already get better ratings and are good in the demo. It would be better
if they took a ‘Mad Men’ or ‘Breaking Bad’ but I don’t think they are smart
enough to figure that out.
On the other hand, I do agree with Dave’s post above regarding broadcasters
being ‘Broadcasters’ and setting their nets to catch the widest audience because
within any widely watched show the demo is going to show up.
Ok, I’ve crunched the numbers, and without getting all scientific on you, the issue it this:
NBC is airing a bunch of shitty programs at 10:00pm while the other networks are airing slightly less shitty programs.
SVU is a weird show to put on right after The Biggest Loser. It would make more sense to put The Apprentice on Weds at 9, SVU at 10, and LOLA Thursdays at 10
Hey Austin, sorry your show didn’t sell.
I think that after The Sopranos, The Wire, Mad Men, etc. setting the bar so high, no one wants to watch a network drama with all of its ridiculous constrictions on content.
In terms of comedy, none of the NBC shows are funny. 30 Rock might win awards but it isn’t that good, Community and all the others are simply horrible. The reason Modern Family has done well is that it is actually funny at times, which is more than can be said for the average moronic network sit-com. The comedy writers on network TV are lazy hacks, this is why during the writers strike I supported the networks, the NBC comedy writing staff should be making minimum wage and living on food stamps.
Finally, someone who thinks the same way I do about 30 Rock.
“I think that after The Sopranos, The Wire, Mad Men, etc. setting the bar so high, no one wants to watch a network drama with all of its ridiculous constrictions on content.”
This broad statement is so false, numbers show that actually more people watch broadcast drama than cable drama. More people watch the Mentalist than The Sopranos, Mad Men and The Wire all put together. Actually, low rated Chuck or Fringe got more viewers than Mad Men or The Wire.
As for the “ridiculous constrictions on content” I agree with you, Broadcasters should really change their rules on this. We no longer live in the 50′s. What was shocking then is no longer valid now.
Modern Family is probably the laziest comedy that is winning awards. It has ripped so many jokes from other comedies especially this season and their plots are so cliched you know how they will end just by looking at the episode title. The only thing going for them is they have a strong cast but who are unfortunately playing such stereotypical characters.
The NBC comedies (at least 30 Rock, Community and Parks & Rec) are infinitely more creative and require at least some intelligence to understand the jokes.
I did try Modern Family didn’t find MF funny, lots of clchés and stereotyped characters. How can this get any Emmy’s is beyond me. The Big Bang Theory, The Office are much better shows.
Honestly, I think erosion is due to the FOX networks airing the News at 10 PM. The reason I figure that is because this is a huge election coming up in less than three weeks and everyone is not happy with the current government.
Also, NBC’s 10 PM schedule is stupid at best. First off, I am not sure I would have countered a new show with a new show, but NBC did with Chase on Mondays. I would have gone with Law & Order SVU. Then it is Parenthood on Tuesdays which is a show that screams family. It should airing in a earlier time slot, like 8 PM. I would have worked Chase in at 10 PM on the same day. Wednesday should have had the mothership airing at 10 PM while Law & Order LA airs at 10 PM on Fridays.
Last but not least, The Apprentice should have been fired long ago and not even Donald Trump should be around to save its ass. The viewers responded to the show because it was something new and different. True Donald Trump may have had a hand in original tune-in, but the cast carried the show. The only way to keep the show fresh was to allow for different bosses each season. For example, Martha Stewart should have only been the start. Her show failed because Donald had to do an edition himself at the same time. But enough of this Apprentice rant, its replacement should have been Mercy.
I second that! NBC had a quality drama in MERCY last year, with a loyal following. They never promoted it, kept bouncing its airings and time slot around and then took it off the air. That was a mistake. Aside from its Thursday comedy night, NBC lacks a creative point of view. If they put on some intelligent, risk,y cable-like shows, and took the time to nurture them, maybe it could win back some viewers. It’s not gonna be a quick fix. It’s gonna take some time.
Another reason I think that network TV is so poor is the overreliance on focus groups. People don’t watch television in public with strangers, so the reactions they have in that setting are not the same reactions they would have in the privacy of their own home.
And here is another thing the networks can try other than focus groups. Stream pilots of shows vying for the fall schedule on the internet, and the viewer would then fill out a comment card saying what he or she did and didn’t like about the show, and what could be done for the show in order to make the schedule.