Can someone explain TV scheduling to me? (general TV rants)

Cafe Society
1

You have Show A on Tuesday at 7pm. And the other network has Show B, on Wednesday at 8pm. Both are doing very well in the ratings. Let’s say they’re both cop dramas, even though I know the idea of two cop dramas on TV is pretty ridiculous, so they appeal to similar audiences. Why would you then schedule your successful show opposite the other?

I don’t understand the mindset. The logical thing to do, to me, would be instead of scheduling another comedy opposite Friends, to try to “steal” their audience, why not schedule Touched By an Angel or somethign else that is outside that demographic there? So you clean up the everyone else market?

Of course, the opposite extreme is to assume, “Since everyone is watching Survivor anyway, we’ll put somethign we don’t care about against it.” Yeah, FOX, me and the Tick are looking at you. Quirky, nontraditional shows put you guys on the map, but that won’t stop you from sentencing this one to death, will it?

Furthermore, although you, Mr. Exec, see programs only as vectors for advertisements, and thus want to position them strategically (yes, you’re a very smart strategist, which is why you green-lighted some show about a singing cop and his talking waffle partner and then were amazed that it failed), you somehow seem unaware that people are supposed to WATCH the show, and if you keep moving it around the schedule, it’s much harder to do that.

In addition, while looking at the fall TV preview issue of EW, I was amazed at how many shows are returning that I had no idea existed in the first place. “That’s Life”? Is this a real show? I was also surprised at how many returning shows were shows I thought died a long time ago. “Just Shoot Me” has been on for about 27 years, but I’ve never known anyone who watches it. I thought “Dharma and Greg” had long been cancelled.

Oh hell, I’m on a roll, may as well go to completion. One of the things I enjoy about the Fall TV preview issues are the “What on earth are they thinking?” shows. Shows that million-dollar salaried execs gave thumbs-up to when I could tell them they’re going to fail. Things like the Daniel Stern thing that, at the moment, consists of “A divorced guy with kids runs a rec center.” That’s it? That’s your show? You got a budget based on THAT? However, this year there were no obvious candidates for “Show most likely to be cancelled before it premieres.”

It’s amazing to me that, with cable tv and VCRs as such a big threat to network TV, they still can’t seem to understand why the same things fail to work year after year. They get paid ridiculous salaries and yet never learn from any mistakes. “Oh, THAT Malcolm in the Middle clone failed, but THIS one will work because it’s a GIRL!”

I was glad to see, however, that ABC hasn’t completely changed to the all-Who Wants to Be a Millionaire" lineup.

Yet.

2

Take “Futurama” for example. It’s scheduled on Sundays @ 7PM going up against “60 Minutes”. Unfortunately, Fox’ NFL coverage runs long and the show is either truncated or pre-empted (luckily I have West coast network feeds on my satellite dish). Odds are, someone at FOX doesn’t like the show and gets it put in the worst possible timeslot as revenge of some kind. Look at nearly every sci-fi/fantasy show FOX put on Fridays at the 8PM slot and you’ll get the idea.

I’m waiting for the day when the networks start staggering their yearly schedules. For example, start a show in August, giving it time to find an audience. That way, when the other networks crank thei new shows, yours has a good chance of surviving.

3

All networks tend to program science fiction on Fridays (or Saturdays). It’s recieved wisdom that that’s when you run SF shows (possibly because the Twilight Zone was a success on Friday). Even when shows are successful on other days, the networks eventually move them to Friday to die.

There a lot of that on TV, BTW – people do things because that’s how they’re done, without thinking.

One reason you put a show up against a similar show is because you want the first show’s demographics and figure your version of the cop show will draw it away.

Blue Sky – some of the cable networks are staggering their shows (notably Sci-Fi). The problem is that networks are paid according to ratings, and the big ratings periods are November, February, and May. There’s no point in having a big hit in July as far as they’re concerned. There’s been a trend to introduce shows on off times to give them a chance to gain an audience (it worked for Seinfeld), but it’s a risk, and TV executives work to minimize risk.

4

I agree that this is true (I seem to recall Knight Rider and Airwolf airing opposite each other on Friday nights. Ah, the heady days of appointment viewing on non-school nights.) However, it is also true that NBC put Star Trek on the late Friday slot when it wanted to kill the show. I noted with some irony that this is the same slot the Peacock-suckers lodged Homicide: Life on the Street.

Speaking of appointment viewing, I just noticed a trend in my own habits: If a show is on once a week, I’ll make a special effort to see it. If it’s on every day – especially at seemingly random times – I lose interest.

Take Powerpuff Girls: it was amazing when it was new not-so-long ago. Now, Cartoon Network airs it all the time. I don’t even know if and when any fresh episodes are supposed to debut, so I don’t make the effort. Ditto The Simpsons, with their endless syndicated reruns (it’s on over an hour a day, 7 days a week). I’ve lost interest in its usual Sunday time slot.

5

I was pissed at NBC a year or two ago when they canceled Freaks and Geeks. “It had poor ratings” they said. Well no duh, you morons! You put it at the absolute horrible timeslot: Saturday evening. You never gave it a chance to change it’s timeslot. You should have put it after some popular show, like Frasier to help it get going, but no. You let it die a painful death on Saturdays, even though it was nominated for a bunch of Emmys and fans cried bloody murder when you canceled it.

6

Who cares if two shows you want to watch are both on at the same time? Get a VCR!

Or two.

7

Um. That’s not really the issue here.

8

TV scheduling is a huge crapshoot (pun intended) with very few hard rules. One of those rules, however, is Sunday = Old People Night, so TBAA is best used there. That demographic has learned that almost nothing they would watch is shown on Thursdays, and they won’t follow shows that are moved around all the time.

For the rest of us, Thursday = Less Crap Than Usual Night, so we’re gonna be watching something. That’s why Survivor, Friends, ER, etc. are there. It’s not so much about “stealing” an audience as it is about reaching an audience that’s already there. Advertisers like that.

**

Fox wouldn’t pay $1.4 million an episode (page 94 in that EW preview) for something they don’t care about. It’s actually a pretty good strategy, since a lot of people in The Tick’s demographic hate (or don’t care about) Survivor.

The Tick will air at 8:30. Putting it against Friends, instead of just after it, would be sentencing it to death. Fox is probably hoping that whatever NBC is airing after Friends will die quickly as usual, so Fox has a good chance of sneaking in and grabbing some points.

If you haven’t already, read the entire EW article on The Tick for some good insight on the process.

**

If he doesn’t see them only as vectors for advertisements, he’s out of work. Viewers are no longer the audience, we’re the product, sold to advertisers. And that’s good in a way, otherwise a LOT of “quirky” shows would never air in the first place.

Pretty soon Nielsen ratings will be obsolete, if they’re not already. It’s all about demographic “buzz”.

9

NBC: Friends
Fox: Family Guy
CBS: Survivor: Africa
Rastahomie & Mrs. Rastahomie: Karate class.

:mad: :mad: :mad: :mad: :mad:

We only have two VCRs. GGGGGggggggggggrrrrrrrrrr!!!

10

Alls I’m saying is, the networks keep bitching about fewer people watching network TV, but they keep doing the same crap that hasn’t worked for years.

11

None of this will be a concern within the next decade.

I predict that Tivo-type devices will proliferate, reducing network programming to a succession of “feed times.” Your recording device will pull these off the airwaves and make them available to you at your leisure. The 57 channels or whatever will be simplified into pipelines for this content.

I have no idea how commercials will work in this environment. But I’m pretty sure 10 years is a realistic timeline. Maybe 15, given the intertia of the big networks.