terpfan1980

Join Date 08/2004

+13

A wish for bad luck to NBC tonite

(or at least bad ratings)

NBC is rumored to be close to cancelling one of my favorite new shows of the fledgling TV season: Studio 60 on the Sunset Strip. Studio 60, for short, (or S60 even shorter!) is an Aaron Sorkin show, meaning he's the writer of the show and the show is done in his unique style.

Those that have followed his shows in the past would recognize elements of his past shows in the new show and be happy to see those elements still presented on their TVs on a regular basis. Unfortunately though there are plenty of people that have trashed the effort involved in S60, and trash the show because it's a show wrapped around a Saturday Night Live like show on a fictional network that is much like the real NBC.

Some complain because the show is too much like another show that NBC greenlighted for the current season: 30 Rock. 30 Rock also happens to be about a Saturday Night Live type show and it brings with it a host of Saturday Night Live alumni and insiders including Lorne Michaels, Tina Fey, and others.

Having two similarly themed shows certainly wasn't helpful to building an audience for S60, but that has been perhaps one of the least of the problems that the show has faced. The bigger problem is the time slot that was given to S60 and the fact that the time slot already included a perennial top 5 show on another network: CSI: Miami (on CBS).

I'm not sure who the moron is at NBC that decided that S60 was the right show to use to try to cut into CSI: Miami's audience share, but sadly they were vastly mistaken in their expectations and hopes. S60 has gotten walloped pretty badly by CSI: Miami. I wish that wasn't the case as the thought that CSI: Miami continues to be a top 5 show tells me that many people are too busy watching the abundance of silicon in a TV show where the amount of fabric used for the actors and most especially the actresses is not quite where it should be. As someone stated on another site I frequent, CSI: Miami just looks sooooooo good.

Yup, CSI: Miami is a beautiful show. It's based in Miami, with lots of pretty sights, bright sunshine, sandy beaches, and hot bods to stare at in the backgrounds. Look at the show in Hi-def and your senses are overwhelmed. You can almost smell the Hawaiin Tropic oil.

S60 on the other hand is based in a studio, at night, with dark backgrounds, flourescent lighting and dialogue that is crisp and comes quickly. Definitely not the same type of show as CSI: Miami.

Worse still for S60, it's not the same type of show as it's smash hit predecessor in the 9PM - 10PM hour (east coast times) on NBC: Heroes. Heroes has found an audience and continues to build on a very positive buzz. It's become a hit with the highly desirable demographics, and NBC is rejoicing that they seemed to have found "this year's LOST (ABC show)."

Heroes has given NBC good numbers (ratings) on Monday nights, and then, sadly, S60 winds up losing most of the audience that NBC had only minutes before. Where Heroes has the cherished demographics in big numbers, S60 has less desirable demographics in half the numbers (or fewer) that it's lead-in gets. Not a recipe for long term success as a network TV show.

NBC decided, before rumors started swirling that S60 was a goner, that they'd air another new show following Heroes tonite. Instead of S60 tonite, they're giving the time slot to Friday Night Lights (FNL for short). NBC hopes that perhaps FNL is a more compatible audience for Heroes, and that because of that they'll keep most of that audience around and cut into CSI: Miami's viewership.

Well, my own personal hope is that FNL gets creamed in the ratings. I hope it falls completely flat. No knock on FNL, but I hope the ratings are putrid and completely anemic compared to S60. Why? Because I want the morons at NBC to realize that it's not the show that is the problem, but instead it's the time slot. I want them to figure out that they're squandering a great show in a time slot that they can't currently win, at least not with the shows they want to air there.

As I've told friends, I expect that NBC could actually cut into CSI: Miami's ratings if they moved Heroes into the same time slot. Heroes has built an audience, and the audience would seem -- in many ways -- to be the same kind of audience that would be flipping channels over to CSI: Miami once they're done watching Heroes. If that is truly the case, then the best approach is to put Heroes directly up against the show and turn the time slot into a blood bath for both shows, or, if NBC is really lucky, force CBS to move CSI: Miami.

Looking at the rest of the NBC schedule, I just don't see another show on their current schedule that would make sense to be paired up with Heroes. Heroes is a great show, but I don't think it is a middle of the evening schedule type show. I think it's a "capper" type show. One that finishes off an evening. One that leaves you thinking wow! I guess it could be like LOST on ABC, but then I'd have to say who really knows what shows follow that show on ABC??

Either way, I hope that FNL fails miserably tonite. I hope that it teaches the suits at NBC a big lesson to be more patient with S60. Only time will tell though.

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I'll post a follow-up here after the overnight ratings are out.

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I wish they'd just completely go bust before they force the scifi channel to hand over Battlestar Galactica. If I had to guess what your mystery show is, that would be it. SciFi is refunding the last five episodes for people who bought the whole season on itunes, and word is it is because the last five are going to be shipped out to NBC to get the ball rolling there.

Just as you describe they get all hyped about a show and then discard it at the first hint that it isn't what they thought it would be. The people in charge of all the major networks are pig ignorant bean counters who wouldn't know a good show if it sat on their face. I'll bet if they move battlestar to NBC it won't last a year, and they won't send it back to scifi.

Then we'll have to get our BBC bootlegs like we did in the first season when no one in American was smart enough to bankroll it.

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The people in charge of all the major networks are pig ignorant bean counters who wouldn't know a good show if it sat on their face.

That line bears repeating because it is so true.

The sad thing is that another property that I think is in the Universal stable and could be a great follow-on to Heroes would be the old FOX show: Firefly. That show has a loyal following, though not in the numbers that would meet NBC's expectations (at least I don't think it would). If it was "new" though, I think it could do well. New episodes, picking up where the movie Serenity left off, could do very well. Just be sure to run the series in order. Run the pilot first, then run the original episodes, run the movie, and start with some new episodes and watch the audience build for it.

Universal HD is already doing pretty well in drawing fans of the show and drawing in new viewers for that show. SciFi network also brought it more viewers. It has a fan base that would seem to deserve to get some reward but the pigs in suits that run the networks aren't that smart.

Sadly though, I have to admit that many viewers really aren't that smart either. Many viewers don't know when good TV is available to watch and won't watch it when it is. They'd rather watch crap like bad reality TV shows (Big Brother anyone?) or cheesy game shows. Stuff that doesn't require them to think or perhaps formulate opinions about things they see in their TV shows.

Disappointing doesn't even begin to cover it.

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1st off,,i don't watch any of the shows in question, but i thought 30rock was kind of a parody of S60...thought it was a novel idea to parody simotaneously, lol

as far as FNL goes,,the movie wasn't that good, and the last group of kids that need their egos inflated are high school football players, lol. i'm guessin they are doin the show because MTV had big success with their football reality show, "2 a days."

ill be watchin the season finale of "Weeds" tonight on showtime personally in the middle of watchin real football (monday night football) on ESPN.

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Studio 60 on the Sunset Strip.

I've been watching it, but it's no stress if I miss an episode. It's an "okay" show, but I don't see it as being anything special. You like the similarities to past AS works, I see it as a problem. They just remind me of far better shows.

30 Rock.

Now that show is bad. A huge disappointment. (And what the hell happened to Rachel Dratch, dammit!)

But, yeah, it was a huge mistake having two such similarly themed new shows on the same schedule.

The bigger problem is the time slot that was given to S60 and the fact that the time slot already included a perennial top 5 show on another network: CSI: Miami (on CBS).

What pissed me off, and I'm surprised I'm even watching S60 as a result, is that they pulled Medium from the schedule to give the slot to S60. S60 was originally supposed to be on Wednesdays. They should have left it there. Biggest Loser would seem to be a far more compatible lead-in to S60 than Heroes. Those latter two just couldn't seem more incompatible to me. (I watch The Bachelor on ABC then switch over to S60. I though the first episode of Heroes was awful, so I wasn't going to give it another chance. I did catch most of their Sunday night marathon last week, though, and saw that Heroes is getting better as it goes along -- much like the unfortunate Kidnapped -- so now I'm watching an earlier feed of Heroes then going to the The Bachelor and finally sliding back to S60 to finish the night.)

Instead of S60 tonite, they're giving the time slot to Friday Night Lights (FNL for short).

I couldn't care less about Friday Night Lights. About the only thing to recommend it to me is the team has the same name as my high school teams did.

(I'm a real life Panther!

)

I'm watching S60, but it would be no sweat to me if it disappeared. I'm just happy that NBC's schedule stank so bad Medium is back way before anyone expected.

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You would think NBC would get tired of cancelling shows, just to have a cable network pick them up and make them hits. They have held on to SNL a lot longer than embarrassment should have allowed, but hey, incompentence knows no logic or sense.

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What's wrong with SNL? The problem isn't holding on to shows, the problem is not giving good shows the chance they deserve and canceling them after the first bad week. SNL was pretty good this week, at least to me.

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I remember when Jag was cancelled after the first season, another NETWORK picked it up, dumped the navyu chick and put Catherine Bell in as the Marine babe. the show lasted another what 7 or 8 years.

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What's wrong with SNL?

SNL this season has been pretty bad -- at least when compared to prior years. This last weekend was the best of the bunch (so far), but if you compared even this last weekend to some of the better seasons SNL would seem to be a poor and pale shadow of it's former self.

Hugh Laurie did a decent job as host this past weekend, and the sketches were better (the Paranormal Investigators sketch was pretty good), but they still lack the punch and humor of the ones seen in better days.

I hate to think that Tina Fey was that important to SNL, but judging from the first two episodes done without her there, it seems that was the case. Seth Meyers was promoted to head writer (or so I seem to recall reading) and he didn't seem up to the task for those first few shows. Hopefully things will keep getting better though, and hopefully the show will return to being truly funny again. I know it goes through cycles, and every now and again they have to (or seemingly have to) refresh the cast and crew to get things back on track. It seems that we're about due for a good flushing there, and once it's done and over with, we'll see a decent show again. Somewhat like what happened to get us the glory days of Eddie Murphy and the crew he was on with.

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I remember when Jag was cancelled after the first season, another NETWORK picked it up, dumped the navyu chick and put Catherine Bell in as the Marine babe. the show lasted another what 7 or 8 years.

It would serve NBC right to lose Studio 60 over to CBS (as happened with JAG), but I'm not sure that will really happen. It would be highly ironic though given that it's another CBS show that is killing Studio 60 in the ratings.

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I've heard that about SNL before though, back before billy crystal, and then in the lull before the Dana and Mike Myers, and on and on. It always bounces back. That's the talent of someone like Lorne M. who knows that you don't trash a show because you have a bad season.

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here we agree baker.

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That's the talent of someone like Lorne M. who knows that you don't trash a show because you have a bad season.

I'm gonna disagree here just a bit (not just to be contrary) -- Lorne Michaels has been loyal to his players perhaps a few too many times. Eventually NBC smacks him down a bit and demands cuts in costs at SNL and that typically leads to the turnover that brought the types of changes you mention. I'm not sure I would say that Michaels is responsible for those changes as much as he just happened to be continuing at the helm after the bloodletting was finished.

Still, he has been there through most of the life of SNL and that includes both good times and bad. Eventually things right themselves, assuming that someone behind the scenes at the shows recognizes that things aren't going good.

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As I had hoped (there is a god!), FNL pretty much brought in the same numbers as had S60.

Ratings info from Zap2It.com show the story:

A "CSI: Miami" rerun, 9.6/17, delivered an easy win for CBS at 10 p.m. A special airing of "Friday Night Lights" on NBC scored a 5.3/9, in line with recent airings of "Studio 60." ABC's "What About Brian" came in at 4.6/8.

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Hopefully NBC will realize this is a big CLUE as to what their problems are on Monday night: people won't stop watching Crime Dramas based in areas where there is a high probability of getting to see large amounts of skin and bikinis.

Really, NBC should blame themselves somewhat here. They are the network that over-programmed Law and Order franchises until people were tired of that franchise and looking for something new in the crime drama genre. CBS came up with a new formula when they put out CSI, and then replicated that formula for cool locations like Miami.

Hopefully NBC will realize that Studio 60 isn't the problem, the problem is that 10pm Monday time slot is "pwnzed" by CSI: Miami and will stay that way until NBC puts something truly great in that time slot.

Perhaps the answer really is for NBC to push Heroes into that time slot. Given the amount of blood and guts that we've seen in Heroes, perhaps the later time slot is more appropriate anyway. NBC certainly could take the gamble one week and air Heroes in the later time slot. If they did, they could perhaps deal a hearty blow to their enemies ratings. Will they though? Will they chance putting their one break out hit show up against a top 5 show from another network?

I guess the answer is tune in to find out.

Either way, I hope that NBC suits take a look at the hole they opened up on Wednesday nights (where they were airing 30 Rock and the mis-named 20 Good Years) and perhaps consider putting Studio 60 there. They just might get a nice reward in increased viewership for a show that should be helping them reestablish themselves as a network based around quality, rather than quantity.

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