Is the MRC programming going to count toward The CW's weekly average? I'm guessing this fare is being shot in Canada or England to cut down on production costs.
How bout this? Warner Bros. takes over and resurrects The WB. They already are bringing it back from the dead this fall with Thewb.com to "test" it out. Just one hint right there! Its no secret their not happy with The CW.
WB knows how to program this stuff aimed at "males" & females 18-34. The WB brand is more powerful than CW anyways. Way better at promotions and series development than the CW. I can just picture it now.. Headlines... The WB returns to replace The CW! Your favorite channel is back!
Originally posted by SNFan1: How bout this? Warner Bros. takes over and resurrects The WB. They already are bringing it back from the dead this fall with Thewb.com to "test" it out. Just one hint right there! Its no secret their not happy with The CW.
WB knows how to program this stuff aimed at "males" & females 18-34. The WB brand is more powerful than CW anyways. Way better at promotions and series development than the CW. I can just picture it now.. Headlines... The WB returns to replace The CW! Your favorite channel is back!
I could be dreaming but it would be nice.
I would love for this to happen, and there's a very slight chance this could happen.
I really do miss the old frog.
Posts: 2091 | Location: Los Angeles, CA | Registered: 27 January 2007
Just a few reminders of the reality of the WB Network:
Reminder #1: The WB did not get better ratings than UPN. Both networks ran for a decade+ with almost identical ratings. Whatever imaginary branding strength the kiddies that watched the WB believe existed with the frog (which WB killed BEFORE their network ended), the reality is that the WB network did NOT do better than UPN.
Reminder #2: WB was falling apart in its last few years on the air. Their new programming included such winners as: Jack&Bobby, The Mountain, The Starlet, Big Man on Campus, Blue Collar TV, Drew Carey's Greenscreen Show, Just Legal, Related, Supernatural, Pepper Dennis, The Bedford Diaries, Survival of the Richest, Twins, and Modern Men. In other words, one hit and 13 failures in their last 2 years on the air. Along with that, they were programming Reba encores, Charmed encores, etc... encore to fill out their schedule because they didn't even have enough first run programming to fill the hours they were on the air.
A few things people need to realize about broadcast television:
1. Broadcast television will likely be dead as we know it in the next 25 years. CW isn't any bigger of a failure with its ratings decline than CBS, NBC, and ABC. Only FOX has managed not to decline over this decade. The other networks are all down and they are all down about the same amount. The decline will continue in the future as more and more of the audience moves to cable and the internet for their 'entertainment' viewing.
2. When UPN and CW were created, they were the last of the 'broadcast networks' that we will ever see. CW and MNTV took the reigns for those last venues in an effort to remodel the format to a point where they weren't losing the massive amounts of money that WB and UPN lost and to keep the local affiliates owned by the parent companies from going out of business.
3. If the nameplates/ownership of these networks change again, it really doesn't change anything in regards to the existence of 'netlets'. We are still looking at the end of the broadcast television era. People should be hoping for an extended life for the variety of programming availability that comes with it, not clinging to a nameplate (like the WB frog) as if it were more important than the programming itself.
4. When broadcast TV ends (and it will end) the hope for these networks is that they are able to evolve into internet/cable entities that exist in whatever platform arena comes to pass in 25 years. CW and MNTV are in the same boat as CBS, NBC, ABC, and FOX. They will exist as websites or as 'TV' entities side by side with a myriad of other cable channels...or they will not exist at all.
Originally posted by WlcmBlueBloodWorstEnemy: If the MRC block takes off, there is always the possibility that MRC would want to take over the CW. I guess it would all depend on how deep they want to get with the network.
If they are able to launch one night of successful programming, they may indeed be interested in expanding. I suppose their is an outside shot that they would want to take over an entire broadcast network (but only if they also want to get into the affiliate ownership arena), but it would be far more likely that they are building towards starting a cable channel for themselves. The entities behind the MRC (Hollywood talent agency Endeavor, AT&T,advertising group WPP Group, as well as Goldman Sachs) certainly have the financial where with all to dive in as deep as they want. Right now, they are simply buying a platform for their development projects so that they do not have to compete in the open market on a show by show basis to get those projects on the air. I guess they were annoyed with how much wiggling they had to do to get projects like 'The Goode Family' on air and they decided that there had to be a better way. I think they found a good alternative that guarantees them a chance at a real audience rather than just a few focus groups and network suits. Now, they just have to provide programming that can keep the TV audience watching.
A couple of things to remember about Dawn Ostroff's reign at UPN: 1. She launched no drama hits. 2. She rarely had a midseason series to fill in for the failures. 3. She aired repeats of Top Model on both Tuesdays and Fridays during her reign. 4. The majority of her shows that failed never even launched to decent numbers because of poor promotions. While a lot of WB shows were failures in the final two seasons, almost all of them debuted to respectable numbers and many of them got critical acclaim. Almost none of the UPN dramas, save for Veronica Mars, had any critical acclaim during Dopestroff's run. Both networks were struggling when they shut down, but with correct marketing and promotion, the two had more than enough weapons yet to combine into a successful network. The problem was the marketing and promotion was downright poor because Ostroff and UPN, not the heads of the WB were in charge. The new network is much more in line with the WB attitude and they have the UPN people running it. Its a disaster.
It is my understanding that Tribune was a big backer in the Sunday sell off to MRC. They obviously see a bad situation and I won't be surprised if they are trying to get out. Once that occurs I believe the network would cease to be.
Originally posted by TheOCFan: if CW Folds im hoping to hell another network (or maybe the one that obsorbs the CW) will hang onto 90210. any opinions if this will happen?
Ya... It will be called The NEW WB.. Hehe I'm telling you it all starts this fall with thewb.com launching it classics and new original series on the net. All they got to do is change the name of CW, fire Ostroff, and have WB running programming decisions instead of playing second fiddle to CBS.
If WB failed in its final years.. boy it was Light years ahead of The CW today. Even Sunday nights long running "Charmed" got over 3 million viewers weekly. A Sunday Night! The night is not the problem its Ostroff. Just like everything else on that network.
Originally posted by SNFan1: If WB failed in its final years.. boy it was Light years ahead of The CW today. Even Sunday nights long running "Charmed" got over 3 million viewers weekly. A Sunday Night! The night is not the problem its Ostroff. Just like everything else on that network.
Yeah, in its final season, it was doing about the same if not a little better than what Smallville is doing now, so Sunday night is not the problem, its what is on that night that is.
Originally posted by TheOCFan: is anyone else worried about the shows on the network? i want 90210 around for awile if it does well
what If you don't like 90210? Who knows how that will do right now. I personally think CW will be around anyways. This doom & gloom talk are just rumors from people who couldnt even predict the merger of UPN/WB in three years ago.
Originally posted by TheOCFan: is anyone else worried about the shows on the network? i want 90210 around for awile if it does well
what If you don't like 90210? Who knows how that will do right now. I personally think CW will be around anyways. This doom & gloom talk are just rumors from people who couldnt even predict the merger of UPN/WB in three years ago.
hope your right. its not jst 90210 im worried about tho...reaper, GG. I want them around for awile as well. im assuming i will like 90210. loved the origional and like the teen drama style of show
Simple as this: If Ostroff continues at the helm, the CW is doomed. Leaving her there could be Moonves' biggest mistake of his career.
Ostroff is targeting a demo that doesn't live just to watch TV. There is too much TV competition for the 18-34 F demo already; there's simply not enough of such viewers available to keep a whole network afloat. Mosta the other nets & net-ettes target this demo pnly part of their time.
While Moonlight had a high production cost, it appears Shark did not, & the CW should be able to afford it. THEY NEED TO FIND A HIT SHOW, AND FIND ONE FAST, THE TARGET DEMO BE DIPPED! And those dorky reality shows(farmer wants A wife, Crowned, etc.)aren't gonna be it. Ostroff's obsession with sticking to that one demo is gonna be the end of the CW if Moonves & Co. don't step in!
Great Scott! "Shark" has some 9-10 million viewers! Seems it'd be a natural to boost CW's sagging fortunes, if they get past their obsession with the F 18-34 demo....unless CBS WANTS it to fail.
