cerebel | WHAT THE HECK.

I'm a little pissed at NBC. I really want to express how pissed at NBC I am.

Someone has decided that it's a good idea to scrap five days a week of scripted programming in order to may way for - wait for it - the Jay Leno Show! 10 PM, Mondays thru Fridays!

Okay. Okay, I know that CBS is owning everyone in the ratings this season. Except Dancing with the Stars. But CBS isn't even *trying* to beat Dancing with the Stars. They're done with that shit. They don't care about American Idol either. FOX and ABC can have their bitty moments of glory. CBS has Jerry Bruckheimer. They'll just go ahead and outperform ridiculously in every single spot except those.

But wait, what about NBC? They don't have a great reality show. They have, what, Biggest Loser? They have Heroes, their darling from a couple years ago that's somehow started to, oh, I don't know. Suck.

They have Law & Order: SVU, Law & Order: CI and Law & Order: I'm Still Plugging Away Over Here. NBC used to be where the crime drama was at. Now, when told of Law & Order, people say things like, "That's still on the air?" and change their channels to a show with an actual premise besides "We're cops." I mean, you could watch the Mentalist, instead, in which the premise is something along the lines of "Simon Baker is the sweetest thing to hit television since MacGuyver" (unlike the premise of Crusoe, which seems to be "We are MacGuyver!").

Or you could watch Eleventh Hour, which is about Science. More importantly, Rufus Sewell and Marley Shelton doing Science. Or any of the run of CSI: Vegas, CSI: Miami, CSI: New York, CSI: Traveling Carnival and CSI: Guatemala. I mean, people complain about CBS. "What," they say, "another crime procedural by Jerry Bruckheimer? Can't they think of anything else?" Meanwhile, what they really mean is, "CSI: Guatemala? I AM SO THERE."

I digress from my point. My point, which was that NBC doesn't, apparently, know how to market or manage scripted television. So it's decided to get rid of all of it.

I'm pretty sure TNT, USA and the SciFi channel are counting their lucky stars right now, because a bunch of primetime viewers just got orphaned by NBC. Not to mention ABC and FOX, both of whom are going to trample NBC in the 10 PM timeslot. There's a reason people don't put talk shows in primetime television, and that reason is they're not fucking stupid.

NBC's drama programming was bad this year. It was just bad. But I love scripted television, and this means that a lot of potential shows are just going to go elsewhere. This eliminates up to five shows that could have had those timeslots. And guys, that's not cool.

Thing is, the argument is almost moot. Because, as for Wednesdays, Thursdays and Fridays of the next half-season, I already have shows I watch at 10 PM.

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AHFHJJGJTGJNDNSFWFGNNOGAEROGNMV!

GAH.

I'm going to watch more Criminal Intent now and calm down.

Yeah. ...yeah.

I'm a little pissed.

NBC is taking a gamble, but it's a business gamble. They're already last in the ratings. But, with Leno, even if they stay there, they could still be making money, even lots of money, because Leno will be much cheaper than a drama.

And, really, people are increasingly Tivoing their shows, or watching them on the web, so broadcast time matters less and less. And, as you yourself write, there are other shows you're going to watch at those times anyway. Really, this is the just the next phase in the decline of network dominance Star Trek started back in the 70s.

That wasn't my point. My point was that NBC's shows are so lame that I'm already watching other networks. And the advent of TIVO, and the ability to watch episodes online, may damage the impact that a timeslot has on a show. However, you still need a timeslot. Period. NBC can't afford to air a show only online, for example. In eliminating five possible hours of primetime shows, they're eliminating the amount of shows they have period.

And Jay Leno may be cheaper, but if no one's watching him at 11, no one's gonna watch him at 10.

Actually, tons of people are watching him at 11:35. That's why NBC is doing this.

I feel like it's tons of people - for an 11:35 timeslot. There, four or five million is a lot. But in primetime, four or five million is cancellation material, barring an audience high in 18- to 25-year-olds.

I have to say, unless you are specifically thinking about your future market for selling TV shows, or sympathizing with actors who might not find work, I don't really get why you are upset about this.

And I think Mark Evanier has an interesting analysis of it:
http://www.newsfromme.com/archives/2008_12_09.html#016325

I miss the NBC that, a couple years ago, promised by proxy that it would deliver quality programming. Not the same stuff as always but quality. NBC used to be the classy station, with West Wing, and it returned to that for just a little while by headlining Studio 60 and Heroes - and maybe Studio 60 never really clicked and Heroes is on its way out, but there was something there.

On the other hand, I really dislike Jay Leno, and I think that cutting down on this much time will make NBC take less risks, not more.

That sucks. Christmas does horrible things to television.

Business does horrible things to television. But then, television is business. So what can you do, really?

CSI has never done it for me. At all.

But I think I'd really like to see CSI: Traveling Carnival.

I know, right? I feel like I should try and work this show up, now that a bunch of people have said they like it :P

Well, from what I understand, Leno's the number one late night talk show host. In truth, I've always found him to be annoying. In addition, NBC execs were freaking out about Leno's contract ending soon since, as you pointed out in your post, that network's group of shows are no longer ranked in most people's "coolest/must watch" lists anymore [really, WHAT happened to Heroes??].

Another point to consider is how nowadays tv viewers have a myriad of choices when it comes to enjoying their favourite show. Some 10 years ago, you would have had to sit through a show's original run or end up waiting til rerun season, i.e. summer, to catch up.

Network tv's revenues have gone down even as they try to adapt to the new choices available to the viewer.

Finally, Network tv is infamous for moving 'lesser' tv shows around to accommodate that one 'super-cool show everyone will be raving about'. For the record, it is FOX and not NBC who holds the douche record for constant changes in programming. "Firefly" is one example.

Yeah, I really just hate Leno. But okay, this might be a good business decision in terms of profits now, but I feel like someday they're going to want to be a network with serious programming, and this decision is going to mess them up.

Yeah, okay, and speaking of Fox? THANKS A LOT for that Friday night timeslot for Dollhouse, guys. The one opposite, oh, I don't know, maybe that other popular cult TV show Battlestar Galactica? Way to drop that investment like a hot potato.

The one FOX show was able to break through from the justifiably dreaded "Friday Night Death Slot" was "The X-Files".

I'm looking forward to catching "Dollhouse" while trying to remain a bit detached from it. There has been a lot of retooling (including scrapping off a potentially interesting character) done which (usually) wouldn't have me feeling worried.

We're talking about FOX here, however, and their track record is painful when it comes to launching new shows.

Oh, noes! I had no idea "Dollhouse" would go against the very last batch of BSG episodes!!! I think my stepmom (who has to be the biggest Tahmoh Penikett fan ever) is going to freak out...

The one thing I DO wonder is why would Whedon forge ahead with FOX after the mess that happened with "Firefly"?

WHAT THE HECK.

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