Is NBC dead?

[ecstatic]

Just a couple weeks into the fall television season, the prognosis is not looking good for NBC. To wit:

• The 'Jay Leno Show' experiment at 10PM is flailing. The premiere attracted 18 million viewers; now it averages in the 5-6 million range. And its getting trashed by the critics, like Nancy Franklin of the New Yorker, who scathingly writes, "The forensic evidence so far indicates that a kind of death is taking place before our eyes; the only question is whether what we're witnessing is an accident or a crime scene.

• The once-beloved 'Heroes' started season 4 with its weakest premiere numbers yet, falling an astonishing 46 percent from last year's opener. Consider that season 2's premiere netted 17 million viewers. NBC would kill for just half that these days.

• Returning favorite 'Law and Order: SVU' was down 34 percent. New drama 'Mercy' notched a weak second place last Wednesday with 8.2 million viewers, and the big, action-filled 'Trauma' arrived nearly DOA Monday night with 6.9 million. Acclaimed new comedy 'Community' slipped from its premiere numbers by 26 percent. Even worse, NBC slid down to fourth place last Thursday, thanks to Fox's combination of 'Bones' and 'Fringe.'

...

Once the home of outstanding, Emmy Award-winning 10PM dramas like 'ER,' 'L.A. Law' and 'Hill Street Blues,' NBC seems to be on life support, surviving on cheap talk, reality and game shows. Perhaps it's too late and NBC is done for.

http://insidetv.aol.com/2009/09/30/is-nbc-dead

Sounds like something written by a FOX loyalist :P

[Hawkeye-X]

1. I'd take anything from AOL with a grain of salt.

AOL being extreme right-wing and all that.

[nyc 4 Biden]

14. +1

Everyone, just for fun go over to the AOL homepage and click on a political story.

Here's the fun (scary) part: Scroll down to the poll which usually accompanies such articles. By viewing the results you'll see how "freeperly" the AOL crowd is.

[orpupilofnature57]

2. It would serve the right ,carrying all that water for Shrub and the NWO

Watching Kate with no 8 ,isn't news ,The supreme court giving corporations our electoral system is.

[AllentownJake]

3. NBC has been dying for years

Ever since Seinfeld went off the air. Friends was able to keep them kicking for another 5 years after that.

After that every single hit they have had has imploded after 1-2 seasons.

It isn't just NBC. All networks overall have been losing steam.

[Odin2005]

17. People are getting sick of "Reality" TV, too.

[orpupilofnature57]

19. They don't want to pay writers any more ,and all that imagination ,too

much thinking going on ,Dangerous.

[Ghost of Tom Joad]

37. 30 Rock and The Office

NBC shows, yes?

[melm00se]

4. the first bullet

point details an event that will have long ranging influence on NBC:

NBC had to clear out 5 hours (net) of programming to air Leno in prime time which caused them to cancel some middleweight performers who had some potential to move up and put an awful lot of eggs in one basket with Leno.

If the Leno experiment fails, it will probably force NBC to write off the entire season as even if they have a fall back position of quality shows that they can quickly plug in, they will have an uphill battle against, potentially, successful time slot winners.

[hobbit709]

5. NBC-Nothing But Crap

of course:
ABC-Anything But Class

CBS-Commercial BullShit.

[ThatsMyBarack]

33. FOX=FullOfXcrement!

:rofl:

[XemaSab]

58. CNN: Certainly Not News

:P

[KharmaTrain]

6. Network TV Is In A World Of Hurt...

They're caught between a bad economy that has cut back on advertising along with the on-going creep of cable and now online viewing that is drawing people away. Since Universal has taken charge, NBC has cheapened their operations...trying to squeeze money out of their shrinking audience and revenues. They're also stinging from the after affects of last year's writers strike and gridding for future disputes as a Leno is cheaper to produce and if there is a strike it can be back up and going in a far shorter time than waiting for new episodes to be produced. Reality shows are even better as it's the ultimate in low budget teevee.

I don't see this as being a slam on NBC...it's the truth. In this age of reality teevee and insipid dance and music shows, prime time network TV has little to offer and why so many are tuning away.

[Pharlo]

29. One thing you forgot to mention in your list is

that this is the first premiere season since the digital switch.

I think that hit network tv as well as the other reasons you stated. How many people are now unable to receive their favorite networks due to the reception available in their area? How many just decided to get cable due to that? Or use the online option because they have the internet connection and can't receive their stations on their tv? And, how many just decided to say 'the hell with' television altogether?

[trof]

7. 'Law and Order: SUV' pilot in development.

A special unit devoted to hit and run deaths.
:rofl:
I crack myself up.

[kjackson227]

8. I've started watching Mercy, and it's pretty good. I used to watch...

Heroes, but it started getting too convoluted. Network tv in general is crap (nothing but those silly reality shows).

[Raineyb]

38. I Tivo Heroes but I don't watch it until I've got a block recorded.

Otherwise the to be continue thing would get on my nerves.

[Blue_In_AK]

45. Mercy is pretty good,

but it seems to borrow heavily from Showtime's Nurse Jackie.

[itsrobert]

9. Leno is killing the affliates

The 10 o'clock hour (9 Central/Mountain) is the lead in to the local news. Without a great lead in the News is crumbling. Also as more viewers choose CBS, their 11pm news ratings are getting a boost and this benefits Letterman in Late Night.

[old mark]

10. "Real Housewives of......"...I have never seen any of these shows, in fact

98% of all we watch is re-runs of shows from several years ago, ususlly the CSI's (not Miami, though)ans various other long established shows. I really hate "reality" shows and most current comedies.

The Naked Archeologist is very good, even if it's Canadian.

mark

[orpupilofnature57]

20. Naked archaeologist ,because it's a canuck.Canada puts sensation in

the right place ,at home.

[old mark]

40. Possaibly the most interesting shows on TV - wish we'd get more new ones here.

Had no idea the show was from Canada till yesterday.
I doubt a US producer would have done the show, and I'm surprised it even airs in the US - it could be considered "too smart" for US audiences.


mark

[AndyA]

11. NBC bit it for me when they cancelled The Medium.

It's on CBS this year, because apparently CBS recognizes a good show when they see one. NBC dumped it to make room for Jay Leno.

I hope Jay Leno fails. He deserves to fail. He's arrogant, and his jokes aren't funny most of the time. NBC has fallen a long way since "must see TV" and I don't think they know what to do to get viewers back. There are a few shows on that network that I watch, but I'm sick of reality shows and crap like that, which is less expensive to produce so we get bombarded with it.

[msanthrope]

34. It was "Life" for me--Damian Lewis, fantastic cast, really well written

stories and over-arching storyline. Quirky, smart, and they CANCELLED it for that fat turd Leno.


I haven't turned them back on since. They can choke on their mediocrity.

[ellie]

43. Me too

The writing was so great.

[lildreamer316]

55. EXACTLY. I also got upset at the cancellation of Studio 60 a couple years ago n/t

[MorningGlow]

12. The Big Three are all pretty clueless

But I am pleased that NBC does manage to allow some successful shows to stay on the air, like The Office. (Usually the Big Three kill off anything anybody likes if it isn't a nice, cheaply produced reality show. I'm still pissed at ABC about Pushing Daisies. :grr:) I've also enjoyed watching Community on NBC this season. As long as they bring back Chuck like they promised, NBC will stay on my good side, the Leno experiment notwithstanding.

[GoCubsGo]

16. Yep. I don't watch any of them.

I would probably watch "Ugly Betty" if it were not on against "Countdown". And, I catch "House" on reruns either late at night, or when they show up on USA. Other than that, they show nothing that I want to watch.

[dysfunctional press]

13. "surviving on cheap talk, reality and game shows."

ummm- what reality and/or game shows does nbc feature? cbs, abc, and fox all seem to have more of that than nbc does.

[Odin2005]

15. I haven't been able to watch SVU for a while now for personal reasons.

Too many episodes involving rapes, can't watch it without crying. :(

[lildreamer316]

56. I have a sorta similar problem..

and btw :hug: :hug:
and please don't think I am comparing anything I've dealt with in my life to yours; but I can't stand to watch anything to do with small children being hurt or killed. I literally want to throw up. (nothing like that has ever happened to me; it just really hits a nerve for some reason).

[orpupilofnature57]

18. Kate's on for the 2nd time this hour ,still no talk of money , " Dead Peasants"

or anything useful to People.

[lpbk2713]

21. When Leno had pusbag Limbaugh on his new show ...

... that told me what kind of audience he wants to attract. And frankly that's not me.

Leno and NBC can fuggoff for all I care.

[Kahuna]

23. He didn't learn anything from Katie Couric. nt

[orpupilofnature57]

22. G.E.

[dropkickpa]

24. Leno killed them at 10 for me

Though he does free up my DVR at that timeslot!

I like Mercy so far.

[Mudoria]

25. I remember when Thursday night was "Must See TV" for NBC

How the mighty have fallen. Have they replaced all the creative people with bean counters???

[rucky]

26. All they need is a juicy Leno sex scandal.

[msanthrope]

35. No--sex with Letterman is one thing. Sex with Leno? Revolting.....people would

turn off in disgust.

[Kahuna]

44. Word..

:scared:

[merh]

27. NBC made a huge mistake when it decided to go cheap and simple with Leno

If you look at their ratings, their anchor shows that normally aired at the time Leno's show now airs, moved to make room for Leno, all took a beating in the ratings.

Now the network is struggling for viewers in every time slot.

[TwilightGardener]

28. I haven't watched network TV for a while. I've never even heard

of some of these--"Heroes"? On for four seasons, first I've heard of it. Last time I regularly watched any network comedies or dramas was back in the 90's "must see TV": ER and Seinfeld, etc. Edit to add: I do watch stuff in syndication late at night, like The Office.

[Romulox]

30. The Office and Community are the best sit coms on network TV right now.

With Curb... being the best on cable.

Go ahead, name a better two... :hi:

[rvablue]

31. Don't know why anyone thought it was a good idea to put Leno on every night at 10 pm

[aint_no_life_nowhere]

32. Frankly I think all of television is ailing

I find fewer and fewer things worth watching on the tube. Occasionally, there's something good on PBS or a good movie on TCM. I have the premium movie channels through Dish Network (the several sister channels of HBO, Showtime, Starz, Max, Encore, TMC, and several others). Even there, I've found myself turning them off and opening a book or renting a movie instead. Even the premium movie channels are playing terrible movies, they're often playing the same one on several sister channels, they are off the air, or they are repeating the same bad movies they've played many times before. I suspect that they are cutting back on their budgets in these cost-cutting times. The History Channel is now devoted to UFOs, Monsters, Nostradamus, truckers and axmen in Alaska, and ghosts. The Science Channel has virtually no science at all on it and instead spends its time describing how golf balls and jelly beans are made. I can't stand watching any sitcoms anymore, as they seem to feature plastic characters with snappy dialog who are all so very, very glib, witty, and breezy without any substance. I'm someone who grew up watching TV in the 1950s and 1960s but I can barely stand it anymore.

[calimary]

46. Truly! We hardly ever watch any of the so-called "Big Three" anymore.

Most weeknights we're tuned to MSNBC either to watch or rewatch Hardball, Olbermann, and Maddow; Food Network, CNN, and maybe National Geographic or History Channel, and of course, Comedy Central for The Daily Show and Colbert Report. And, of course, DVDs. The conventional channels? Almost NEVER. I don't even know what's on 'em anymore.

They could probably make some waves if they had Olbermann and Maddow, or at least Olbermann, on prime time. It would really shake things up. Just my opinion, really. I find myself hoping that somebody takes a big jump and moves Keith in to replace Brian Williams. Hey, one can dream, can't one?

[aint_no_life_nowhere]

47. Yup - Maddow, Olberman, Daily Show, Colbert are about it

and an occasional film on TCM.

[caballero]

48. Been dying for 50 years

Newton N. Minow on May 9, 1961:

"When television is good, nothing — not the theater, not the magazines or newspapers — nothing is better.

But when television is bad, nothing is worse. I invite you to sit down in front of your television set when your station goes on the air and stay there, for a day, without a book, without a magazine, without a newspaper, without a profit and loss sheet or a rating book to distract you. Keep your eyes glued to that set until the station signs off. I can assure you that what you will observe is a vast wasteland.

You will see a procession of game shows, formula comedies about totally unbelievable families, blood and thunder, mayhem, violence, sadism, murder, western bad men, western good men, private eyes, gangsters, more violence, and cartoons. And endlessly commercials — many screaming, cajoling, and offending. And most of all, boredom. True, you'll see a few things you will enjoy. But they will be very, very few. And if you think I exaggerate, I only ask you to try it."

[Occulus]

61. You should give SyFy a try

They have some decent shows, although even that network airs utter crap (wrestling? On SyFy?) somewhat regularly.

The new Stargate looks pretty good thus far. Galactica was awesome. Caprica shows promise. They're redoing "Alice" (Kathy Bates as the Queen of Hearts = win), which seems to be the same sort of treatment they gave "The Wizard of Oz" when they did "Tin Man". Then there's "Eureka" and "Warehouse 13".

You should go check hulu.com, also; there are a lot of popular TV shows there, some of which I named above. Everyone's right, though- there's a dearth of quality creative programming these days. I hardly watch TV anymore but for those shows. And "Dexter". I loves me some "Dexter". And "Family Guy"....

[ddeclue]

36. I stopped watching NBC about 5 years ago.

the only exception being news and SNL.

I generally only watch TNT, Discovery, History, Biography, NatGeo, MSNBC, The Commedy Channel, CNN, PBS, TWC, and similar channels these days because big network TV sucks - reality TV bullshit.

The last shows worth watching were Friends, the Sopranos, and West Wing on big networks.

These days the only drama I like is "The Closer" on TNT.

Reality TV shows are the Roman Coliseum of TV - it's really hideous what they are doing to our culture.

A real TV show should employ writers and ACTORS and directors, not merely film a bunch of idiots being idiots and call it a show. I don't need to turn on my TV to see that, I can just go out in public.

The best program I have seen recently is Ken Burns National Parks documentary. Before that it was Michael J. Fox's "Pursuit of Happiness" special.

[Kitsune]

39. Reshuffle your schedule, put Law & Order in the Friday Night Death Slot....

Put Heroes up against House, what the hell did they think was going to happen? Moving shows always kills them. Look at Sarah Connor Chronicles. Was doing fine until it moved to the Friday Night Death Slot.

[GreenPartyVoter]

49. I believe that's how they killed of "Quantum Leap," and I don't think they let "Freaks and Geeks"

live long enough to die in the programming shuffle game.

NBC just has a knack for killing off good shows.

[Joanne98]

41. Cops shows, trauma shows, unfunny comedies.

Maybe they should try something new. DUH!

[ellie]

42. They canceled Life

which was an awesome show. It was the only reason I watched NBC. I do like USA Network, with Burn Notice, Psych and Monk, which is owned by NBC. And Sleuth.

[Cha]

52. Wow, you sound like me..I just mentioned "Life" on

downthread and I Love Burn Notice, Monk, and, Psych.

I didn't know USA was owned by nbc, though.

I love "Chuck" too..and it's coming back on nbc in January. That's one show they haven't screwed up, yet.

I got the episodes of "Life" on netflix that I had missed..it was Good tv.

[Dorian Gray]

50. It's true

There's little on NBC that I care about watching. The Office. And 30 Rock when it comes back on. I think that's it.

[Cha]

51. nbc dropped "Life" and "Medium" to make

room for the 10 o'clock Leno..they obviously thought Leno would be better for ratings & advertising, etc, etc.

[fujiyama]

53. They still have some of the better comedies on network TV

I still enjoy the Office and 30 Rock, and the new series Community isn't bad. Granted, the last season of The Office wasn't that great (mostly hit or miss) and I don't know how long they can drag it out since they're winding up the whole Jim and Pam story arc. After a while, when characters hook up or settle down, shows get stale. I think they can end the show with Pam having the kid. I don't see how they can drag it out beyond that. Hell it feels forced going on past this week's wedding episode.

30 Rock is one of the best written comedies on network TV IMO and so far I've enjoyed Community. Of course, 30 Rock hasn't had its season premiere yet so we'll see if it can hold up.

I don't know why I bother with Heroes anymore though. It's nonsense and honestly I wouldn't care if it's axed at this point. It's going nowhere and hasn't for well over a season. I thought the first half of last season was ridiculous but still entertaining, then the second half was just plain crap.

Leno sucks as he did earlier. In ways, I think the new show is worse than the old one. I've only seen it once or twice and so far I really don't care for it.

[Liberal_in_LA]

54. Jay Leno is being boycotted.

http://www.craveonline.com/entertainment/tv/article/jay-leno-boycott-picks-up-steam-87029

[sakabatou]

57. I blame the writers for Heroes

Season three sucked.

[XemaSab]

59. I think network TV is on the way out

The only shows I watch every week are Project Runway, and stuff on ABC that I can watch online.

The rest of the time it's either channel surfing, or the TV is OFF.

[Yavin4]

60. Traditionally, When Networks Fall To 3rd Place or Worse, They'd Start Innovating

Network TV is cyclical. You get a couple of hit shows and ride them in the ratings until they get stale. Then, when the ratings are in the toilet, you start innovating.

Back in the 80s when NBC was in 3rd place, NBC did exactly this. It started with Hill Street Blues and LA Law, the Cosby show, and then Seinfeld.

The problem is that innovative TV is going to premimum cable where creative talent has a lot of freedom, and because of that freedom, they're able to attract better acting and writing talent.

[mnhtnbb]

62. Mercy is nothing more than a wannabe Nurse Jackie--down to the

somewhat ditzy young nurse in cutesy poo scrubs.

Nurse Jackie has more edge, more interest, better acting and NO commercials. Looking forward to the new season for it.