# TV Network Execs - as stupid as they seem? **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [August 26, 2013, 6:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tv-network-execs-as-stupid-as-they-seem/667224 "2013-08-26T18:17:17Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 16\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![Double\_Foolscap](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/85e7bf/32.png) [@Double\_Foolscap](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Double_Foolscap)\ **Post date:** [August 27, 2013, 2:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tv-network-execs-as-stupid-as-they-seem/667224/41 "2013-08-27T14:13:23Z")
David Mitchell mentions another aspect of TV making in his autobiography - if an executive leaves, it’s highly unlikely for their successor to follow up on any plans of theirs, as they won’t get the credit but are in line for any blame. So not only are so many shows cancelled before their time, a lot don’t even make it onto our screens. ---
**Author:** ![Ranchoth](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ranchoth/32/1066_2.png) [@Ranchoth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ranchoth)\ **Post date:** [August 27, 2013, 2:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tv-network-execs-as-stupid-as-they-seem/667224/42 "2013-08-27T14:32:47Z")
> [@Double\_Foolscap](#): > > David Mitchell mentions another aspect of TV making in his autobiography - if an executive leaves, it’s highly unlikely for their successor to follow up on any plans of theirs, as they won’t get the credit but are in line for any blame. This seems to be a bit of a problem with manned space programs, too. ☹ ---
**Author:** ![Tanbarkie](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/a698b9/32.png) [@Tanbarkie](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tanbarkie)\ **Post date:** [August 27, 2013, 2:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tv-network-execs-as-stupid-as-they-seem/667224/43 "2013-08-27T14:56:58Z")
> [@silenus](#): > > Yeah, but the character they had in mind was _Jayne_. 😛 Jayne _is_ a girl’s name. ---
**Author:** ![amarinth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/3be4f8/32.png) [@amarinth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/amarinth)\ **Post date:** [August 27, 2013, 3:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tv-network-execs-as-stupid-as-they-seem/667224/44 "2013-08-27T15:04:51Z")
> [@runner pat](#): > > What’s amazing is after decades and thousands of examples of this not working, they’re still around and listened to. Maybe tens of examples of it not working, not thousands. We used to not hear\* about the examples where it did work - where a show that some roughness around the edges was picked up and the retooling (based on notes from networks and the creative team) got it to the point where it was better overall. In the not that long past day of shows without strong multi-episode arcs, airing the strongest episode first (which was likely not the first episode filmed - where everyone’s still getting used to each other) happened frequently and made sense. > [@bump](#): > > I (holder of an MBA) have to wonder if having a small, but fanatical following may not be a better deal if you can entice the advertisers. I mean, if you have 5 million geeks a week watching “Firefly”, then you can deliver very tailored ads to those 5 million geeks and potentially get better results. Scripted tv (like “Firefly”) is very expensive to produce. Reality shows are very cheap. And they can get the same number of people watching. (e.g., last week, a repeat of “Hollywood Game Night” (not the original airing, a repeat) had 3 million people watching it.) the targeted advertising is not going to make up for the difference in production costs. \*These days we do hear about changes between the original pilot and the post notes pilot. Terra Nova, for example, got better - not good, but better. ---
**Author:** ![carnivorousplant](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/carnivorousplant/32/3563_2.png) [@carnivorousplant](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/carnivorousplant)\ **Post date:** [August 27, 2013, 3:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tv-network-execs-as-stupid-as-they-seem/667224/45 "2013-08-27T15:22:29Z")
> [@Tanbarkie](#): > > Jayne _is_ a girl’s name. Yeah, well, _you_ tell him that. 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![thinksnow](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/thinksnow/32/2849_2.png) [@thinksnow](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/thinksnow)\ **Post date:** [August 27, 2013, 4:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tv-network-execs-as-stupid-as-they-seem/667224/46 "2013-08-27T16:43:11Z")
> [@Shalmanese](#): > > The Wire, Breaking Bad, It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia, Bob’s Burgers, etc. all required some network exec to put their reputation on the line for something that sounded crazy and unlikely to work. [ul] [li]\*\*The Wire \*_was HBO, so that’s a different animal.[/li][li]I’m note sure how AMC does shows, e.g., **Breaking Bad** , but I had read something_ about FX offering shows very little money early on, but great artistic freedom, and if the show pans out, they get more money later which is why **It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia** made it while **Starved** did not.[/li][li] **Bob’s Burger’s** has a killer set of voice-actors behind it, so I can’t imagine it was too risky for regular network TV.[/li][/ul] - (I can’t find it now though, Google-Fu is weak today) ---
**Author:** ![Kent\_Clark](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kent_clark/32/105_2.png) [@Kent\_Clark](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kent_Clark)\ **Post date:** [August 27, 2013, 5:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tv-network-execs-as-stupid-as-they-seem/667224/47 "2013-08-27T17:02:39Z")
What people forget is, by the standards they’re held accountable to, network executives succeed far more often than they fail. Take for example, what’s considered the stupidest move in network TV in this millennium: \*The Jay Leno Show. \*NBC’s goals were a) stop losing money on high-priced drama series and b) keep their promise to give Conan O’Brien _The Tonight Show_, and c) keep Leno from taking his audience somewhere else. To this day, NBC executives will swear up and down that Leno actually made money for the network at 10:00 p.m. The fact that 98% of people watching at that time did not watch Leno is not relevant, and only when the local affiliates started complaining that those 98% of viewers were also not watching the affiliates’ local newscasts did NBC feel compelled to do something. The fact that Conan lost more older viewers than he brought in younger viewers made it easy for the network to push the big, red reboot button. Meanwhile, the WB network had a legitimate hit series with \*Reba. \*When the WB turned into the CW Network, execs had to decide whether to keep a successful show that wasn’t hitting the demographic target the network was trying to reach. In the end they canceled _Reba_ and kept the lower-rated but demographically appealing _America’s Next Top Model_. ---
**Author:** ![Little\_Nemo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/little_nemo/32/3120_2.png) [@Little\_Nemo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Little_Nemo)\ **Post date:** [August 27, 2013, 6:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tv-network-execs-as-stupid-as-they-seem/667224/48 "2013-08-27T18:25:49Z")
> [@thinksnow](#): > > **Bob’s Burger’s** has a killer set of voice-actors behind it, so I can’t imagine it was too risky for regular network TV. I love the show. But, yeah, it’s not a big risk. An animated sitcom on Sunday evening? By now, that’s a tradition. ---
**Author:** ![alphaboi867](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/alphaboi867/32/3898_2.png) [@alphaboi867](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/alphaboi867)\ **Post date:** [August 28, 2013, 12:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tv-network-execs-as-stupid-as-they-seem/667224/49 "2013-08-28T00:13:39Z")
> [@silenus](#): > > Yeah, but the character they had in mind was _Jayne_. 😛 I’d pay good money for that. 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![smiling\_bandit](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/e9a140/32.png) [@smiling\_bandit](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/smiling_bandit)\ **Post date:** [August 28, 2013, 1:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tv-network-execs-as-stupid-as-they-seem/667224/50 "2013-08-28T01:01:53Z")
> [@kunilou](#): > > What people forget is, by the standards they’re held accountable to, network executives succeed far more often than they fail. Exactly. At the end of the day, Network Execs don’t get paid to produce art, or to please vocal sci-fi fans, or to make memorable television. They get paid to make money, and this they are very good at. They are doing so now, despite technology marching on, which is a lot more than many media companies can claim. Sometimes, this means giving geeks what they want, perhaps building a block of programming to appeal to them. At other times, it’s creating dark dramatic pieces or decent, watchable mystery shows. Whatever the era, whatever people want, they care about one thing - are they making money? For them, it’s actually pretty easy to measure. While feeder or teaser shows are used to bring in viewers for later shows, at the end of the day they know what the advertising dollars are per episode, and they know what the costs per episode for a series are. The math isn’t hard. This doesn’t mean they always do things in lock-step, of course. One network targets young audiences, another older ones. One network aims at middle-brow entertainment, another producing low-class comedies. And then in another timeslot they might just switch. From the PoV of the execs, shows like _Firefly_ aren’t good money-makers. They attract a certain crowd, but that market itself is less likely to buy the kind of products often advertised on television. Production costs are high, and the show itself has to be fit into some kind of schedule that works with the station’s other shows. At the end of the day, some series just don’t have a good fit. ---
**Author:** ![Hilarity\_N.Suze](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hilarity_n.suze/32/6223_2.png) [@Hilarity\_N.Suze](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hilarity_N.Suze)\ **Post date:** [August 28, 2013, 4:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tv-network-execs-as-stupid-as-they-seem/667224/51 "2013-08-28T04:02:58Z")
Yes, taken as a committee–which is how they often work–they are pretty stupid. Back in the days when I knew a bunch of them, the common theme was that they were sales guys, not creative (and very few women). It’s probably the same now, only with more women. (I would hope.) ---
**Author:** ![Unintentionally\_Blank](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/unintentionally_blank/32/5418_2.png) [@Unintentionally\_Blank](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Unintentionally_Blank)\ **Post date:** [August 28, 2013, 11:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tv-network-execs-as-stupid-as-they-seem/667224/52 "2013-08-28T11:42:21Z")
And they’re a dying breed…y’all are talking about demographics and timeslots, I can remember the last time, other than the news, where I had to be in front of a tee vee screen at a certain time in the week, to catch a show DVRs, HBOgo, and the pirate bay are making THAT set of decisions irrelevant. ---
**Author:** ![digs](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/digs/32/14889_2.png) [@digs](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/digs)\ **Post date:** [August 28, 2013, 1:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tv-network-execs-as-stupid-as-they-seem/667224/53 "2013-08-28T13:32:36Z")
> [@Dewey\_Finn](#): > > Regarding the Firefly/Serenity thing: I can always trust members of the SDMB to run a joke into the ground, back up and run over it again. I thought I had it straight, but then you did that “slash” thing, like when someone tells you they’re a “movie writer-slash-director” and the next time you see them you say “You direct slasher movies, right?” But I’m pretty sure you meant Sam and the Firefly. ---
**Author:** ![Chimera](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/8e8cbc/32.png) [@Chimera](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chimera)\ **Post date:** [August 28, 2013, 2:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tv-network-execs-as-stupid-as-they-seem/667224/54 "2013-08-28T14:11:52Z")
I detect a strong presence of ex-horse dust in this thread. ---
**Author:** ![shijinn](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/cc9497/32.png) [@shijinn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/shijinn)\ **Post date:** [August 28, 2013, 2:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tv-network-execs-as-stupid-as-they-seem/667224/55 "2013-08-28T14:27:07Z")
probably remnants from the turbines which was mistaken for a blender. ---
**Author:** ![silenus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/silenus/32/166_2.png) [@silenus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/silenus)\ **Post date:** [August 28, 2013, 2:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tv-network-execs-as-stupid-as-they-seem/667224/56 "2013-08-28T14:34:40Z")
That’s what comes from eating crow too often. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tv-network-execs-as-stupid-as-they-seem/667224.md?page=2)