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Here's something you don't see every day: two networks spinning, spinning, spinning over the same primetime series renewal, and busy, busy, busy badmouthing each other because of it. I love a Hollywood pissing contest.
CBS right now is on the verge of scheduling Medium, which had been airing on NBC. "Medium is not ordered yet, but probably will be," a CBS insider tells me. "It's a show our Entertainment team has always liked and thinks is a good fit."
Then, CBS issued this unusually angry statement: "NBC's cancellation of Medium is inexplicable to us. The ratings don't lie. Medium outperforms many of NBC's renewed shows. Despite inconsistent scheduling, Medium, under the creative vision of Glenn Gordon Caron, one of the most preeminent producers in television, has always performed with distinction both creatively and commercially. Multiple-award-winning actress Patricia Arquette and the cast have delivered a stellar series for five consistent seasons. The awards and ratings speak for themselves. We believe the show has a significant future and await developments."
But here's the thing, I learned that NBC did pick up Medium last Friday, but only for 13 episodes. Endeavor talent agency, which packages the show, wanted 16 episodes (and Patricia Arquette's contract called for 22 episodes). A difficult negotiation ensued, and CBS swooped in because its CBS Television Studios (formerly known as CBS Paramount TV) produces the show, and may pair it with Ghost Whisperer.
After I reported the above, NBC started spinning me with the news that Medium is rated lower than 2 shows which CBS just cancelled -- Eleventh Hour and Without A Trace. Snap!
But then CBS came back with this email to me: "Here's something NBC won't want you to know. Medium had more viewers than the following shows that NBC renewed: Southland, Law & Order, Chuck, 30 Rock, Parks And Recreation." Double-snap!
Then NBC returned fire with its own email explaining why "it was a smart decision" for NBC ultimately to lose the show. "We had several shows on the bubble and a lot of factors to consider. This just didn’t make the cut. So you know, the facts from our side here are some points worth considering: 13 episodes is all we had the appetite for at a greatly reduced price consistent with the greatly reduced ratings. 16 eps at their price made even less sense. It’s not just about the number of eps ordered, or the ratings performance, it’s also about the cost of the show to us. And with regard to other dramas having lower ratings, I would remind you that each show faces different time period competition. So, again, it isn’t just about the rating. It isn’t apples to apples comparison. Also, there is more upside for the younger/newer shows. Medium had one of the best lead-ins on our schedule. And it is lower-rated than shows CBS has canceled. By the way, last night it was down to a 1.9 rating. It is a record low for an original." Triple-snap! No emails since.
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I love a good pissing contest. Dudes – grow up! It’s interesting to note that NBC is so quick to denigrate a show that has bought them good business for many years, that they considered part of their family until only a couple of days ago. Really, when push comes to shove all of these people are blood sucking leaches. Anything for a buck. Not people you would want to have your back in a crisis. They probably sleep like babies too.
I guess no-one in Burbank remembers a little show called “JAG”. Canceled by NBC after only one season, CBS picks it up and rides it to ratings success for NINE count-em NINE more seasons. You’d think that would give them at least a moment’s pause.
I hope Les scheds it opposite Leno and it cleans up.
If Ben Silverman had just said “Medium was a great show and we loved working with Glenn Gordon Caron and Patricia Arquette, but unfortunately we just couldn’t come to an agreement that made it financially feasible to bring it back” there wouldn’t be a pissing contest. Instead he said the show’s ratings sucked and the show’s fans were old and dispassionate. Not only were neither of those things true, but even if they were, it was incredibly unprofessional to say them. But what else do you expect from Ben Silverman?
It’s amusing that NBC first acknowledges one shouldn’t compare apples to apples, and then slams “Medium” for not capitalizing on its lead-in (the increasingly disappointing “Heroes,” by the way).
I find it interesting there was no mention that “Medium” has been in direct competition with the CBS procedural drama “CSI: Miami,” one of the Top 10 Nielsen juggernauts from year to year.
Wow. If anyone is to blame for lower ratings for the show it’s NBC. Their is so much lackluster programming before Medium that many just like me only turn on their channel when Medium starts. NBC didn’t mention that on monday that it aired 2 eps of Dond and it got 1.2 and 1.5 vs Mediums 1.9 in demos. I am so done with NBC it’s not even funny. I hope CBS already has this locked in for them because it’s one of the few shows left I want to watch and I am sure the will see a big ratings jump for the show if they give the show any respect which NBC has not even though the show was good enough to milk for 2 hours of new episode nights the previous 2 mondays.
Wow. The first CBS “angry statement” – was that just to you or was it wide? If it was wide – things have really changed in the network television business. If that was a wide press release – wow. But still, in this world of blogs, a release, even an e-mail to you is like a wide release. And deep down, we all love the pissing contest. Stupid NBC.
Hey Ben,
Medium’s number wasn’t a record low. That’s what Southland pulled last week. Your new little hot darling a 1.9 so you guys are quite familiar with that rating. Trust me, when Medium comes after Ghost Whisperer, It’s gonna destroy Southland. Snap Snap. You guys are effing retards.
Heroes is not a lead in. It’s another stinker on your schedule that you are trying to pass as a hit. Wake up or go get spray tanned.
1.9. Isn’t that what all of NBC’S shows are sinking too. Good move CBS. You helped save a great show!
Why don’t they just pick up everyones leftovers. They would then be a better network. Get Samantha Who, The Unusuals, The Unit…. Eli Stone. Atleast if you had everyone elses trash you would look like you knew how to program. You guys need to go take a Robert McKee class. You stinka!
Medium is one of the last very good shows on NBC. Silverman and Zucker really need to pull their heads out of their asses. I’m looking forward to many good years of the show on a much better network with a programmer who knows not to move a show around a million times.
Rob Morrow, are you listening? This is why everyone hates Ben. “Medium” and “My Name is Earl” were position players in NBC’s lineup, and while it was certainly his prerogative to cancel both, he didn’t need to shit all over them and their fans in the process.
“one of the most preeminent producers in television”
Does no one understand how to employ the English language? PR people are idiots; probably from the Ivy League no less. Strunk & White are rolling over in their graves.
This is the reason why Networks who own/are owned by studios SHOULD NOT sell shows to rival networks!
The one smelling like roses in the long run will be CBS – as they will be able to add 22 more episodes to the snydication package for MEDIUM and finally find a show that is a good fit between GHOST WHISPERS and NUMB3RS – perhaps even extending the life of all 3 shows beyond this season.
The $64,000 question was did CBS plan this all along to snag the show from NBC?
Medium is still on? I stop watching that crap show after the first three episode.I’m guessing since that crap is still, they haven’t cancel Ghost Whispers either.
I love Medium. I’m an event producer and writer and discovered the show in it’s first season and have pretty much watched it faithfully since. It’s possibly the most consistently written and acted show on network television and has managed to avoid the pitfalls that betray the confidence of typical network shows: i.e. killing off major characters for ratings bumps that generate a few weeks of buzz but ultimately lose viewers because their trust in the storytelling is shaken. While other shows start out strong, they lose steam over multiple seasons, not so with Medium. Last week’s episode with guest Angelica Huston was creatively interesting, thrilling and the family aspect about Joe’s new job was realistic. What I love most about Medium is that any other show would have the family screaming at each other about a new job in San Diego but they talk like people actually talk. I find that refreshing which is why I continue to watch it.
Glad that someone over at CBS realizes what kind of gem they have on their hands and will continue to give it life in the autumn.
Only thing I’m dreading? The inevitable Ghost Whisperer cross over event for sweeps which may be simply too irresistable for network suits to try.
I’m glad that Medium will be run on CBS.
There is something very wrong over at NBC. It seems they have a habit of moving a show all over the schedule so they can point fingers and say, “Oh-ho! Look! Ratings drop!”
No doubt “Sherlocks” d’oh!
Imho there is too much grab-assing and other favoratism playing out. It’s not about what we, the public, want to watch – is it? It’s about who’s doing who for how much money.
At any rate, this and the move to put Jay Leno on at 10pm (the REAL reason Medium was dropped?), is just another NBC disaster in the making. Oh yes, Jay’s fans will watch, but I wonder if the show will consistently pull “ratings” as Medium did.
Aside to redmenace – What? “Medium” not to your liking? Oh then perhaps it’s “Cops” and “Wipeout” that suits your mentality – eh? That’s okay dear, there’s a place for everyone in the world.
This is the reason networks shouldn’t be allowed to own shows.
Bring back the fin/syn rules!
They keep on the crap they own, but dump good shows they have to pay a licensing fee for.
Go back a few years when on Thursdays, Nothing But Crap kept putting boring, alleged comedies between Friends & Seinfeld.
NBC owned the shows & kept inflicting them on a public that responded by changing the channel or turning off the box!
It seems like NBC did all they could to squish one of their best shows ever. I am glad CBS recognized this gem. It is one show I look forward to seeing each week.NBC kept putting it back later and later in the year- so its’ viewers would lose interest. It is shameful.
Thank you CBS for picking up Medium. I absolutely love that show. I’ve only missed one episode – and that’s because I was too tired to stay awake that particular night. THANK YOU CBS, THANK YOU.
I love Medium too. Iknow what you mean it seems like there have been several times when a network (haven’t paid attention to which one (s) are guilty) tries to “tank” a show. I didn’t know why until I read about networks owning shows or being able to avoid fees & the like. It seems like a network could clean up if they follow the premise of “give the customer what they want”. Conversely it seems like this “force feeding” crap works if they all practice it. Otherwise we would watch “the good stuff” on another network. I wonder why more popular shows aren’t picked up after a network sabbotages them?
I am delighted that CBS picked up “Medium.” I hope they treat the show better than NBC did. I actually thought that NBC had taken it off the air earlier this year, because it took so long to come back with no advertising or previews from the Network. It has always seemed to me that NBC never had a lot of respect for this show, for some reason…yet it must have done well in the ratings for them to keep it for so long. I can’t wait to see how CBS treats this brilliant show.
Is it just me, or have networks become resentful of carrying shows produced by the owners of other networks – now, more than ever, that the same production companies are putting their network logo on their competitors? Like “Scrubs” switching from the “Touchtone” logo to a very unsubtle “ABC Studios” one – ironically, another winning show that NBC started to bury to death, only to be picked up by the network owned by its parent?
I’ve noticed a similar preference to corporate incest for repeats on the various cable networks.
CBS’s short lived animated show “Gary and Mike” would go well on AOL’s [adult swim], in place of the equally short lived AOL product “The Oblongs”. CBS’s “Comedy Central” ran it a few times after it’s origin on UPN, but that’s it.
Is there an extra cost to an outlet to run something made by a competitor, or is it just logo envy?
I’m Medium fan from Argentina ,Thank god that a clever and inteligent show like this won’t be lost ,for me it was a big mistake from NBC to give the show away
Hallelujah someone had the sense to save this excellently written and acted program. Sure, it deals with the occult but overall, it is a truly family show! Joe and Allison show what good parents should be like as well as good mates to each other. In that respect, it is very realistic. Also, I love the fact that usually, the good guys win in fighting crime. Good for you CBS! Down with NBC!
NBC is canceling the only reason that I tune in to their network. The shows are all so tired and worn, they have no whwere else to go with the Law and Order franchise, the shows are all so depressing. Medium is a show with excellent writing and unexpected twists and turns every week! All of the actors are excellent and when is the last time you saw children actually grow up on a TV show? the 50s, maybe? Thank you CBS, this explains why most of the TV shows that I watch are on CBS.
Every Medium episode has comedy, drama and alot of essence. One of the best tv shows on modern day television. NBC’s lost is CBS’s gain. Can’t wait for the new season soon, hope Alison wakes up from her coma not thinking of tuning into NBC’s prodution of Medium. PSSSS, please, somebody let Joe know.
I just had to comment on this – NBC is completely full of it! It was like their fourth highest rated show of the season – they mentioned in the email that it had one of the best lead-ins they had to offer? Are they talking about the failing Heroes, which Medium built off of every single week of its 5th season run, or Deal or No Deal, which Medium built off of every week it was on? Medium outrated Chuck, outrated Heroes, outrated Law & Order, outrated Southland, and outrated all 4 Thursday comedies, and yet NBC cancelled it.
Perhaps this was a ploy by CBS, though. If you were CBS producing a quality program like Medium, would you want that program on a network like NBC? It’s the perfect show for CBS Fridays and should find success there this season. Congrats to CBS for bringing the best drama on television, Medium, to your lineup.