The fact that Traveler was a "special preview" instead of an actual premiere probably caused less interest. For the record Traveler is VERY overrated. I was expecting more with all the critical acclaim and buzz. But who am I kidding, the show is still good, but far from amazing. I have nothing else to watch during the summer so I will most likely be watching it on nights where I am not attending to social events.
This message has been edited. Last edited by: NYHunter,
Posts: 1543 | Location: NY | Registered: 17 November 2006
I specifically remember a time when the season ended at the end of March. April - Aug was pretty much all repeats of the shows airing from Sept - March. We didn't have reruns in between shows that padded thing until May and we had very few summer offerings from the networks. After cable stepped it up, the Networks became more competitive.
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Originally posted by Fred Farrar: You MUST be kidding.
The season lasted 39 weeks (with 13 weeks in the summer for repeats, before being gradually shortened.
And before the advent of people meters, the sweeps were far more important than they are now.
They were crucial, especialy to the (then) seven major market TV stations each of the three networks owned.
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Originally posted by T Dog: Yep. It's too long. The May sweeps weren't even a big deal back in the day because everyone was gearing up to be in repeat mode. Television seasons usually ended in March or April.
One time, I read an article in a very old issue of Broadcasting that CBS finished third in May sweeps one year (I think it was '77 or '78) because they loaded the sweeps period with reruns and ABC and NBC programmed more aggressively.
Don't know how all the hoopla over May sweeps came to be, but nobody used the phrase "season finale" in network promotions 20 years ago.
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Originally posted by tvchtw: Possibly the season is just too long? We've become spoiled by DVDs/DVRs and cable shows which complete their runs in 8 to 13 weeks and then we wait 9 months for them to return. With shows beginning in September and running all the way til May with hiatuses/reruns, some people might just be worn out. With that being said if the shows are compelling enough they should be able to overcome that.
Precisely why they put this on in the summer instead of at mid-season as they most likely won't be pulling the eps prematurely.
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Originally posted by NYHunter: The fact that Traveler advertised as a "special preview" instead of an actual premiere probably caused less interest. For the record Traveler is VERY overrated. I was expecting more with all the critical acclaim and buzz. But who am I kidding, the show is still good, but far from amazing. I have nothing else to watch during the summer so I will most likely be watching it on nights where I am not attending to social events.
Traveler didn't do well cause it wasn't promoted long enough. They only started two weeks ago, and few people knew of it. Maybe if word spreads, it will do better in the premiere. If not, at least we'll have, hopefully, eight episode of summer viewing to enjoy.
The whole concept of "Sweep stunting" has been around since the 70s...premiere theatricals, miniseries, cross-over episodes, two-hour Love Boats, Dean Martin Celebrity Roast specials...those were all stunts to help juice the numbers in November, February and May during the Sweep periods.
I live in a minor, non-metered market, and the rate-cards for my local affiliates are still based on numbers collected during Sweep periods. To not program aggressively during these periods is to harm your smaller affiliates and the programs they broadcast that are big money generators and are lead-in dependent (11 pm local news).
quote:
Originally posted by Fred Farrar: You MUST be kidding.
The season lasted 39 weeks (with 13 weeks in the summer for repeats, before being gradually shortened.
And before the advent of people meters, the sweeps were far more important than they are now.
They were crucial, especialy to the (then) seven major market TV stations each of the three networks owned.
By the way, ABC was dominant in both the 1976-77 and 1977-78 seasons, finishing each year with 11 of the top 20 programs in the Nielsens. So it probably doesn't matter what CBS did or didn't do, since it had just six top 20 shows in both the 76-77 and 77-78 seasons.
(Source: Nielsen Media Servces)
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Originally posted by T Dog: Yep. It's too long. The May sweeps weren't even a big deal back in the day because everyone was gearing up to be in repeat mode. Television seasons usually ended in March or April.
One time, I read an article in a very old issue of Broadcasting that CBS finished third in May sweeps one year (I think it was '77 or '78) because they loaded the sweeps period with reruns and ABC and NBC programmed more aggressively.
Don't know how all the hoopla over May sweeps came to be, but nobody used the phrase "season finale" in network promotions 20 years ago.
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Originally posted by tvchtw: Possibly the season is just too long? We've become spoiled by DVDs/DVRs and cable shows which complete their runs in 8 to 13 weeks and then we wait 9 months for them to return. With shows beginning in September and running all the way til May with hiatuses/reruns, some people might just be worn out. With that being said if the shows are compelling enough they should be able to overcome that.
This is something I did back when I had a website of my own. I quit last year because I got bored of it.
2004/2005 (monthly averages all networks, in millions, followed by % of highest month) Feb 55.4 (100) Jan 51.9 (94) Oct 51.6 (93) Nov 50.2 (91) May 49.6 (90) Mar 47.6 (86) Apr 45.7 (83) Dec 43.0 (77)
2003/2004 Feb 54.1 (100) Oct 53.5 (99) Jan 53.1 (98) Nov 50.3 (93) May 47.2 (87) Mar 46.8 (87) Apr 45.7 (84) Dec 44.5 (82)
I don't have the full numbers to compare from this season, anybody?
Anyway, versus the season average, in 03/04 May was down 4.5%. In 04/05 it was up 0.4%. This season, through one week in May, the five nets are averaging 42.6 million viewers versus a 45.3 total over the year for a loss of about 5%. The loss is slightly more than normal, but in the context of the entire season, it's not that great.
Perhaps it's just a coincidence, but the ratings also fell a bit after FOX started airing Are You Smarter Than A Fifth Grader against it. i would be interested to see if timeshifted viewing for the show increased at all.
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Originally posted by Bosrudorfer: Smallville fell sharply after they aired Promise in which Clark Kents "love of his life" Lana Lang married his enemy Lex Luthor.
There were also two 4 week breaks. One before Promise and one after Combat aired (right after Promise)
When the new (ninth) edition of the "Complete Directory of Prime Time Network and Cable TV Shows" comes out in October will there be an updated Ph.D. Trivia quiz from you?
Do you know when 'are you smarter than a fifth grader' first aired? It would be interesting to line it up with the Smallville episode that aired that same week and see which one it was.
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Originally posted by xwiseguyx: Perhaps it's just a coincidence, but the ratings also fell a bit after FOX started airing Are You Smarter Than A Fifth Grader against it. i would be interested to see if timeshifted viewing for the show increased at all.
quote:
Originally posted by Bosrudorfer: Smallville fell sharply after they aired Promise in which Clark Kents "love of his life" Lana Lang married his enemy Lex Luthor.
There were also two 4 week breaks. One before Promise and one after Combat aired (right after Promise)
Can your memory be more specific than "a time when the season ended at the end of March"?
Like, perhaps a specific year or years?
Because early TV copied radio and had a 13-week summer "vacation" -- and 39 original episodes.
That has obviously changed, (and there were only three minutes of commercials per half hour, too) but for at least the last 40 years the network official season -- as determined by Nielsen, by the way -- has ended in May.
Some shows may have endd earlier, but the season continued until the end of the May sweep.
quote:
Originally posted by xwiseguyx: I specifically remember a time when the season ended at the end of March. April - Aug was pretty much all repeats of the shows airing from Sept - March. We didn't have reruns in between shows that padded thing until May and we had very few summer offerings from the networks. After cable stepped it up, the Networks became more competitive.
March 15 was the first week that it aired against Smallville (against Promise): it aired Thursdays at 9 for the previous two weeks.
quote:
Do you know when 'are you smarter than a fifth grader' first aired? It would be interesting to line it up with the Smallville episode that aired that same week and see which one it was.
Originally posted by Fred Farrar: Can your memory be more specific than "a time when the season ended at the end of March"?
Like, perhaps a specific year or years?
Because early TV copied radio and had a 13-week summer "vacation" -- and 39 original episodes.
That has obviously changed, (and there were only three minutes of commercials per half hour, too) but for at least the last 40 years the network official season -- as determined by Nielsen, by the way -- has ended in May.
Some shows may have endd earlier, but the season continued until the end of the May sweep.
quote:
Originally posted by xwiseguyx: I specifically remember a time when the season ended at the end of March. April - Aug was pretty much all repeats of the shows airing from Sept - March. We didn't have reruns in between shows that padded thing until May and we had very few summer offerings from the networks. After cable stepped it up, the Networks became more competitive.
To be honest, I cannot recall the last time this was the case, but at one point the regular tv season went from September to April (I believe it ended ten days prior to the start of the May Sweep period). However, the May Sweep became more important than the July sweep and thus more original programming was held for May and the regular tv season extended to end on the final May sweep date.
