"David" <dimlan17@[EMAIL PROTECTED]
> wrote:
> With the economy going in the tank, NBC appears ready to bet that
> viewers are eager for a heavy dose of escapism -- and as few repeats
> as possible.
If people can't pay their bills, the solution is to give them fantasy
shows
about people that can pay their bills? ;-)
> What's more, people familiar with NBC's 2008-09 strategy said the net
> is looking to produce as many hours of original programming as
> possible next season. That will mean several series will share the
> same timeslot in some cases.
Normally, these are called 'mid season replacements of failed shows'.
> But it's im****tant to balance any guesses about NBC's new sked with
> one im****tant caveat: Even Peacock insiders say what will be revealed
> this week will be written in pencil. Execs have made it clear they'll
> reserve the right to make changes in order to react to competitors'
> moves or if promising scripts or pilots take a wrong creative turn.
Which translates as: nothing is different from prior years, but we are
claiming that we will lead the way to change. NBC is running for a
political office?
> "We're selling advertisers platforms as opposed to specific shows,"
Isn't this how it is always done? Example: ABC sells the Thursday 9pm
timeslot as a place with top ratings, then has to program Lost there
rather
than Grey's Anatomy reruns becasue they need to prop up the ratings in the
timeslot enough to limit the number of make good they have to offer. For
that matter, advertisers don't even really get to buy commercial time on
just the Thursday 9pm hour. Instead, they buy a 'platform' that includes
that hour along with some time on Wednesday, Friday, and
Saturday...because
otherwise, no one would buy time on ABC Saturday.
> "Advertisers don't care as much about a specific show as opposed to
> 'Am I getting the kinds of eyeballs I paid for?' " Graboff added.
True, which is why advertising is already sold in platforms'. This is
nothing new.
> As a result, NBC plans to guarantee advertisers tonal consistency in
> timeslots.
>
> "If we say we have a one-hour drama going into a timeslot, and it
> turns out it's not up to snuff, we'll put on another one-hour drama we
> have in the pipeline," he said. "What we won't do is put on a reality
> show."
I hope they live up to this promise, but I doubt they will. In all
likelihood, Celebrity Apprentice will still air on Thursdays and NBC will
probably even air their crappy sitcom reruns in the Thursday 10pm hour
rather than ER reruns. When they do this, they will claim the 'tonal
consistency' is in demographic makeup, not in program genre like the
statment they made just above.
> Exec said he expects to "roll out between seven and 10 new shows,"
> including reality skeins. Graboff also hinted that NBC would announce
> some "special events" -- i.e., miniseries or limited series designed
> to further limit repeats.
7 to 10 shows is not enough new preoduct to fill 52 weeks given the
current
state of the network. Hopefully, they mean 7 to 10 new shows and 6-9
backups for when those shows fail.
> Execs are also keen on "My Own Worst Enemy," a drama whose stock at
> NBC soared with the casting of Christian Slater in the lead. It's a
> sort of "Jekyll & Hyde" tale about a suburban man who leads a double
> life as a spy.
Someone remind me: was Jekyll or Hyde the spy? This one sounds more like
Schwarzenegger's 'True Lies'.
> On the comedy front, the Molly Shannon-Selma Blair half-hour "Kath &
> Kim" has already been ordered to series and seems a no-brainer for the
> net's Thursday lineup.
Right off hand, this is the only show that already sounds truly awful.
hey
will need to change the humor a lot from the original if they want people
to
watch it here.
> "Repeats don't work anymore, but we have a finite amount of money to
> spend," he said. "We're trying to do some things that are cheaper so
> that we can have more original programming."
That is funny. NBC has programmed 8 hours of Law & Order version every
single week for the last month. I fully expect the same 'sterategy' from
them next year. DoND, L&O:whatever, and Dateline NBC will be the bulk of
their schedule. Ah well, I suppose that atleast most of the Dateline and
DoND will be original offerings sinc ethey are so cheap/quick to slap
together.
> Shows returning to NBC next season include "ER," "The Office,"
> "Chuck," "Life," "The Biggest Loser," "American Gladiators," "Deal or
> No Deal" and "My Name Is Earl." Also a safe bet to be back: "Medium,"
> "30 Rock," at least one "Law & Order" skein and "Friday Night Lights."
> First-year drama "Lipstick Jungle" could also return.
American Gladiator: should only return in summer. The show was dying
already.
FNL: should not return at all, unless they coned some satellite network
into paying for it entirely.
30 Rock: should not return.
Lipstick Jungle: probably should not return. Eeking out ok ratings now,
but could not compete with real firstrun competition. Maybe they plan to
use it between ER originals?
At least Scrubs isn't on the list...yet.
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