Comments on: Wednesday night: CMA Awards take center stage

By: josh

josh — Tue, 25 Nov 2008 13:18:01 +0000

Any chance LIFE will be bought by another channel like JAG and continue a run?

By: cesarrr

cesarrr — Sat, 15 Nov 2008 16:43:50 +0000

I don`t understand why people keep saying that CBS is for old people. SURVIVOR, GHOST WHISPERER, TWO AND A HALF MEN, HOW I MET…, BIG BANG THEORY, AMAZING RACE are not for old people. And there are a lot of young actors on their crime dramas.
I love CBS, they has the best shows, best lineup, graphics and pomos.

And they have the coolest logo

By: Nick C

Nick C — Fri, 14 Nov 2008 23:03:31 +0000

Bill, yes Jeffrey is 40 but Sharon is 65, Bruce is 50, and Gabby is 38.

In Hollywood, that’s practically an “ancient,” cast. It fits perfect for CBS. It’s in Miami too. It just says CBS all over it.

It is also well written & fun. Which I think would help too.

By: Bill Gorman

Bill Gorman — Fri, 14 Nov 2008 22:57:04 +0000

Jeffrey Donovan (Burn Notice) is 40. “Old people” (in the TV world) indeed.

By: Walt

Walt — Fri, 14 Nov 2008 22:51:05 +0000

In the case of “Law & Order” (original series), it needs to be remembered that NBC moved up the premiere for this season by two months of 10 days notice (the premiere was originally slated for January), and many people were caught completely off guard by that (especially since the premiere was the night following the Presidential election). Many TV listings in fact did not even have “Law & Order” listed for Wednesday at 10:00 PM ET/PT the past couple of weeks, so unless people were watching NBC or one of its sister channels, they may not even be aware that “L & O” (original) is back yet. The fact “L & O” also was directly opposite the third hour of the CMA awards did not help matters either, nor did it being opposite the finish of Portland-Miami and the start of Houston-Phoenix, the NBA doubleheader on ESPN). Also, the episodes of “L & O” have aired in Canada the night before airing in the US, so those who have access to CTV in Canada likely saw “L & O” on Tuesday night before it aired on NBC.

I suspect “L & O” will be safe because that always does well in repeats, and I suspect people also may not realize it is back yet.

By: Robert Seidman

Robert Seidman — Fri, 14 Nov 2008 22:50:25 +0000

Burn Notice is a procedural starring old people? I’ll give you Sharon Gless and I suppose that by itself gets it to 10 million on CBS!

By: Nick C

Nick C — Fri, 14 Nov 2008 22:46:24 +0000

NBC didn’t promote MONK or PSYCH though. It was kind of like “Ok, we’ll air it on Sunday Nights and not tell anyone.” MONK is imho past its prime. Of the main three USA shows only BURN NOTICE to me would have the ability to do well.

If it was on CBS it would be getting 10M+ viewers, etc. It’s the perfect CBS show. It’s a procedural starring old people.

By: Brad Paisley and Keith Urban Mull Over Idea of Joint Tour | The 9513

Brad Paisley and Keith Urban Mull Over Idea of Joint Tour | The 9513 — Fri, 14 Nov 2008 17:55:10 +0000

[...] Despite being down from previous years, the CMA Awards helped ABC dominate the ratings on Wednesday … [...]

By: Robert Seidman

Robert Seidman — Fri, 14 Nov 2008 15:11:04 +0000

Jim, past attempts at airing Monk & Pysch (and Law & Order: CI) on NBC were not really successful. There was a whole lot of that last year during the writer’s strike. I’d like to see them try with Burn Notice, though whether it would wind up doing any better than Life is hard to say, but I think it has more mass appeal.
Your point about NBC being weak in weekend sports is true, but it’s hard to know if it has any real impact. Theoretically Sunday Night Football makes up for that in terms of promoting other shows. What they lose is what CBS and Fox do a lot of: promoting the *Sunday* night shows (they promote other shows too, but they are big on promoting what’s on Sunday nights).

By: Jim

Jim — Fri, 14 Nov 2008 14:40:41 +0000

Although, I didn’t follow this website over the summer, maybe NBC should consider pulling over some of their cable shows, such as Monk, Psych and Burn Notice? Maybe, if for no other reason, than to try to get exposure for the shows when they come back on USA, then if they don’t pull the ratings on NBC, it’s no loss, since you’ve already aired that episode on cable.

I think procedurals are the way to go. CSI, Law & Order, etc type shows. I am a huge fan of the CSI franchise, probably my favorite on TV. The best reason? The majority of storylines end at the end of the show. Sure, there is some bleed over and character-driven storylines to the next episode, but for the most part, each episode wraps up after 60 minutes (or 44 if you DVR). It’s great, because if you miss a week, you haven’t missed an entire hour of storyline (such as Heroes, Desperate Housewives, Lost, etc.) and you know what to expect.

But I agree with the other posts. NBC has to try to carve out their niche, and capitalize. I don’t even think NBC anymore when I think comedy. I think CBS Mondays. When I think soap-style dramas, I think ABC. When I think procedurals, I think CBS. When I think reality shows, I think CBS.

On another front, do you think NBC’s lack of quality sports programming has anything to do with it? Think about it for a second. Yes, they have Sunday Night Football. ABC has college football on a Saturday, which they can run ads for shows if they wish. They also broadcast NBA on weekends. Fox and CBS have NFL and they promote shows heavily during that. But, truly, on the weekend, what sports does NBC have? Action Sports Tour. Notre Dame football. Some PGA Tour golf. NHL in the winter months. A lot of your 18-49 demo, especially men, would be watching sports on the weekends.

By: Gleebo

Gleebo — Fri, 14 Nov 2008 07:24:20 +0000

Anyone interested in funding the money to greenlight my N-othing B-ut C-ookies idea?

We all knew NBC was gonna miss Friends, Will & Grace, and Seinfeld but good lord the loss of those shows has pretty much killed an entire network in less than a decade.

Right now NBC would probably welcome a show that does what Scrubs did….was able to pull of low but steady ratings no matter what night or time you slapped it on. It was always a little less than mediocre in the ratings but at least they could depend on similar numbers no matter where they put it.

By: Bill Gorman

Bill Gorman — Fri, 14 Nov 2008 04:28:33 +0000

Noah, Hollywood reporter had the same story. Who knows if it’s real or not.
http://www.hollywoodreporter.com/hr/content_display/television/news/e3i85a08b80d9eabe09d144c69c15574339

By: Noah

Noah — Fri, 14 Nov 2008 04:21:11 +0000

Not really relevant, but does anyone know if this has any validity?

http://www.zap2it.com/tv/news/zap-foxreportedlyendingprisonbreak,0,245579.story

By: Julia

Julia — Fri, 14 Nov 2008 03:44:30 +0000

I think Vader meant the average for the night.

By: Nick C

Nick C — Fri, 14 Nov 2008 03:34:45 +0000

Vader, actually it was a 1.5.

By: Vader

Vader — Fri, 14 Nov 2008 03:16:48 +0000

I sure am glad NBC gave the enormous successes, Knight Rider and Life, a back nine order against that oh so difficult competition! Suck on that 1.9, you morons.

By: cesarrr

cesarrr — Fri, 14 Nov 2008 03:00:22 +0000

UNIVISION would be an example of a 24hours network (it`s not 24 hours, but it airs national programming most of the time) Most UNI stations only have news as local programming.

By: cesarrr

cesarrr — Fri, 14 Nov 2008 02:54:17 +0000

I think NBC should become a 24hour channel. With limmited airtime for local news.
This network/affiliate system needs to end.
That would be something “shocking and groundbreaking” That way the channel will be NBC all day, every day (In some cities the local station has a totally different name, and they don´t use the network’s name or logo) .
By doing this, they can air national promos at ALL TIMES. And theres’s more space for repeats.

I think all the BROADCAST NETWORKS should do this, in order to become more like cable channels, they might even get some younger viewers.

Is this possible?

By: DaisiesDeathKnell

DaisiesDeathKnell — Fri, 14 Nov 2008 02:19:31 +0000

Don’t you mean give season five a look? Last couple of seasons were Season 3 Part One, and then last summer’s duo of Season 3 Part Two/Season 4. I think they lost the plot after the first part of the third season but they definitely have made a creative resurgence in the new season. It’s worth sitting through the semi-tolerable S4 episodes to help enjoy S5. Other great comedies like Sunny, Curb & South Park have pretty much tail-spinned and seem to get worse with each passing episode.

By: Don

Don — Fri, 14 Nov 2008 01:56:35 +0000

“NBC needs only two things: ‘High profile dramas’ and ‘multicamera comedies’”

May not always work. The Office and 30 Rock are single camera non-laugh track comedys that are doing well now.

By: R.J.

R.J. — Fri, 14 Nov 2008 01:51:43 +0000

WOW, Garry Un-Married did bad this week with presure from CMA! Yipee, Good News for Worst Week!!

By: Julia

Julia — Fri, 14 Nov 2008 01:34:17 +0000

I was wondering.

By: Robert Seidman

Robert Seidman — Fri, 14 Nov 2008 01:32:45 +0000

And while I wait with somewhat baited breath to hear the fates of Eli Stone and Dirty Sexy Money, that should’ve said I recommend giving season five a look.

By: Robert Seidman

Robert Seidman — Fri, 14 Nov 2008 00:57:16 +0000

Julia, Dexter isn’t nearly as good as season’s 1 & 2. It lacks the “tension” and pace those seasons had, but it’s better than I thought it would be.

I don’t blame you for bailing on Entourage — the last couple of seasons paled compared to the first two, but I recommend giving season four a look.

By: Robert Seidman

Robert Seidman — Fri, 14 Nov 2008 00:52:02 +0000

I’m with Vader. House beat every procedural on CBS among 18-49 year olds; including CSI the last time there was a more or less normal week’s schedule (week ending 11/2). If my back of the envelope scratching is correct, Bones would trail CSI, CSI: Miami and The Mentalist, but beat every other CBS procedural in the 18-49 demo.