Grey's Anatomy and Betty's relative success on Thursday's was much more than an ego boost for the network. Its been a financial boon as well.
And, while you are wringing your hands fo rpoor ABC while enumerating its blessings, roll the clock back three years to see what it had goign for it. Doesnt look at that bad for them right now in my books.
Posts: 1664 | Location: Great White North | Registered: 10 November 2006
No...it is not just you. And Day Break in place of Lost is the worst programming move of the year. I imagine Lost is going to also lose more steam when it returns.
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Originally posted by pisher: Is it just me, or is ABC well on its way to blowing the momentum they had going for them, earlier this season? Sure, the near-total victory of Grey's Anatomy in the formerly unwinnable Thursday 9pm slot has been an ego-boosting gambit (though the show would get significantly higher ratings if it wasn't up against CSI), and Ugly Betty is a winner, and Desperate Housewives has revived in the ratings, and DWTS remains a huge hit, and Lost hasn't TOTALLY lost it, but in many ways, they seem to have dropped the ball. Obviously much stronger than they were a short while ago, but I thought they were going to be the #1 network this year, and now I'm thinking maybe not.
And choices like Day Break, Big Day, Help Me Help You, Six Degrees, and a disastrous second season of What About Brian rank high among my reasons for thinking maybe not.
PaulC, I certainly did mention that ABC's fortunes have improved--and they earned that improvement with solid development. But this year, their only significant new success story is Ugly Betty.
Of course there are financial advantages to having high-rated shows on such a lucrative night as Thursday. Never said otherwise. However, they missed their chance to own Thursday outright when they put Six Degrees on at 10pm. Honestly, the only reason I watched that show at ALL was Hope Davis, and they're apparently going to backburner her character (and all the non-white characters, essentially undermining the whole idea behind the show), and put it back on the air--when they should obviously just CANCEL the thing.
Grey's was going to be a rainmaker no matter where they put it. I'm not saying it was a bad decision, but it's a little like playing Monopoly and making your whole strategy to get Boardwalk or Park Place.
ABC made so many good calls over the past two years, it's frustrating to see them start making one bonehead play after another recently. As quickly as they've improved, that's how quickly they can drop back to #3--or worse.
Big Day was really awful. I sampled it, and I hated it. It was absurd to say the least. Why would you have the What's Happening theme for a wedding? At least, it'd be strange enough to work on Scrubs. I love Arrested Development, Scrubs, and other quirky shows. This doesn't fit in that mold for me.
Good to see Kurt Fuller get work again on Big Day. If memory serves right, his last job was in the movie No Holds Barred, with wrestler Hulk Hogan.
That's because I'm convinced that programming is about 10 per cent strategy and 90 per cent luck -- especially as it relates to new shows. So called genius programmers are really just lucky programmers becuase its absolutely impossible to know what will hit with the audience.
No one saw Grey's becoming a huge hit. Dancing With the Stars? Please. It was a summer throw away -- as were Survivor, American Idol and Who Wants to be a Millionaire.
If there was a surefire strategy to this stuff I would agree with you. As it is though, its throwing a bunch of stuff agaisnt the wall and seeing what sticks. No one really knows.
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Originally posted by pisher: PaulC, I certainly did mention that ABC's fortunes have improved--and they earned that improvement with solid development. But this year, their only significant new success story is Ugly Betty.
Of course there are financial advantages to having high-rated shows on such a lucrative night as Thursday. Never said otherwise. However, they missed their chance to own Thursday outright when they put Six Degrees on at 10pm. Honestly, the only reason I watched that show at ALL was Hope Davis, and they're apparently going to backburner her character (and all the non-white characters, essentially undermining the whole idea behind the show), and put it back on the air--when they should obviously just CANCEL the thing.
Grey's was going to be a rainmaker no matter where they put it. I'm not saying it was a bad decision, but it's a little like playing Monopoly and making your whole strategy to get Boardwalk or Park Place.
ABC made so many good calls over the past two years, it's frustrating to see them start making one bonehead play after another recently. As quickly as they've improved, that's how quickly they can drop back to #3--or worse.
Posts: 1664 | Location: Great White North | Registered: 10 November 2006
Originally posted by TravisYanan: [QUOTE]All I can say is that ABC was way to hasty canceling Commander in Chief and Invasion.
Completely true!
ABC would've had an amazing foothold in Tuesdays, probably winning in viewers if not Adults 25-54, if it had been Dancing with the Stars, Commander in Chief, and Boston Legal. What a great night that would've been!
Originally posted by SW: On Big Day, when the time was shown at each commercial, did anyone else have unpleasant flashbacks to Watching Ellie?
I didn't have Watching Ellie flashbacks, but when trying to copy the format of 24, they might want to try something besides a wedding day comedy. Awful show.
That's because I'm convinced that programming is about 10 per cent strategy and 90 per cent luck -- especially as it relates to new shows.
True to a point--but it's not about genius. It's about COMPETENCE. It's about picking the right people to work with, knowing when to make suggestions, knowing what suggestions to make, and knowing when to butt out and give the creatives room to run.
And aside from development, it really helps if the suits know when to cut their losses and cancel a show that's never going to work. And, of course, when to give a show that can work some time to find an audience, but it's equally important to stop the bleeding, and accept failure.
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So called genius programmers are really just lucky programmers becuase its absolutely impossible to know what will hit with the audience.
I don't quite agree--sure, many big hits come out of the blue, but that doesn't mean you can't predict hits or flops--we do it here all the time. The biggest thing is to avoid the flops--and the best way to avoid flops is to judge a show on its merits, instead of on the basis of what supposedly hot producer has his name all over it. There's an awful lot of one-hit-wonders out there in TVLand.
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No one saw Grey's becoming a huge hit.
As big as it's become? No, that's impossible to predict. A success? Absolutely. If you program up enough base hits, you'll get a home run sooner or later.
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Dancing With the Stars? Please. It was a summer throw away -- as were Survivor, American Idol and Who Wants to be a Millionaire.
Um--weren't some of these shows hits in Britain before coming here?
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If there was a surefire strategy to this stuff I would agree with you.
Okay--so for example, since there's no surefire strategy to win the World Series, the NBA finals, or the Superbowl, that means it doesn't matter who manages a team, or what players he recruits?
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As it is though, its throwing a bunch of stuff agaisnt the wall and seeing what sticks. No one really knows.
I agree in general principle--but that doesn't mean ABC isn't blowing it. Because once you HAVE success, the critical factor becomes hanging onto it. ABC got complacent way too quickly. They might at least have waited until they actually were #1 before they started acting like they were.
I am thinking a sitcom would be a risky, yet interesting, move in the 10/9 p.m. hour.
I have often thought that Two and a Half Men, while very funny, is a little risque for 8:00 p.m. in the Midwest (where I live). I think if you had a raunchy comedy like that at 10/9, you could get even raunchier and it would be more timeslot appropriate for the type of sexual humor they do.
Has a comedy every successfully launched or thrived in the 10/9 slot?
