1) Move Notre Dame football to Saturday night (perhaps start at 7:30 pm ET / 6:30 CT. They may have to have a reasonable source for a potentially good second game for West Coast affiliates, but they can’t do worse than they’re doing now there. (Of course SNL would be affected, but would the affiliates mind if their news starts late, if they have a better leadin than they have now?)

2) They have the NHL contract – expand it to a new “Hockey Night in America”, after football season, and have the NHL do it on a cost share basis – and push it hard.

3) They have the Olympics rights – does that include the rights to previous Olympic performances? They do have Al Michaels and a pretty good sports organization – how about a “Wide World of Sports” format – but airing classic Olympic moments (for instance, USA vs Russia at Lake Placid, or Torvill and Dean in Sarajevo?)

4) Or, they could just air “The Apprentice – NBC” – where real NBC executives are fired live each week by Donald Trump, with a new assistant – Garry Marshall (as he was in Murphy Brown – his “crap slot” tirade was priceless)

Funny thing for me is that I do love FNL. It’s the only scripted NBC programming I watch at all anymore. I DVR its first-runs on DirecTV. If it doesn’t last, though, I won’t be surprised – heck, most of the original team has graduated or is graduating this season anyway .

Monday: Chuck + Heroes (Something’s getting canceled there and I don’t think it’s the wrong one.)
Tuesdays: Biggest Loser. (Hey America, would you all be ok if this was only an hour and we could put something else on? Thanks.)
Wednesdays: Law and Order SVU + New show.
Thursdays: Comedy. (Hopefully for 2 hours still.)
Friday: Deal or No Deal? Apprentice? What else do you put Friday? A show you know will flop?
Sunday: Football. Not just during the fall. We’re minutes away from the announcement that NBC will air old Football games on Sunday in the Spring.

R.I.P NBC: 1941 – 2009

NBC does have a couple real “visionary” things going on – the FNL deal, and the cross-platform Nielsen metrics are a couple of things no one else is doing. But just because you’re the first to try it does not make you the successful one!

I really held out hope for NBC with all the Olympics promotions for new shows. Bummer that it didn’t work for them much. NBC can also claim to be the one network that held pace with cable in the 2008 Emmy Awards – thanks to 30 Rock! Then again, awards don’t necessarily mean advertising $$$.

I wish NBC the best of luck. I don’t watch any of their network programming, but I do check out Sci-Fi and USA Network on occasion. I’d watch UHD a lot if I could afford the upgrade

http://www.nytimes.com/2008/12/09/business/media/09leno.html?_r=1&hp

http://www.broadcastingcable.com/CA6620935.html

http://tvbythenumbers.com/2008/06/14/looking-back-at-the-eras-of-network-television/4110

But to rise from the bottom, you need someone with some vision and some good ideas. It doesn’t seem to me that Zucker or Silverman are those people.

1994-95

NBC, having recenty lost Cheers and Cosby, quickly returns to the top with the addition of Friends and ER. Added to the enourmous hit that was Seinfeld, NBC dominated TV for the remainder of the 1990’s before starting its slow descent into oblivion.

2000-01

CBS rises from the ashes with demo monsters Survivor and CSI. Nearly a decade later, they are still reeling in the rewards with one of their strongest schedules ever.

2002-03

Fox scores its first top 10 show ever with a little show called American Idol. Combined with a strong staple of shows like House, Bones, 24, and the animated shows, they are unbeatable in the demo.

2004-05

ABC surprises the industry with three enormous hits (Lost, Housewives, Grey’s and Dancing) in less than one year. Although they have no new hits in recent years, these shows are still strong enough to keep them competitive.

When buying a property the three most important words are location, location, location. If you’re running a network the three most importan words are programming, programming, programming. This is the real reason why NBC is in the mess that it’s in. Maybe it’s time for Zucker and Silverman to go?

This feels to me that it has more to do with programming and is down to the recession affecting parent company General Electric. If NBC doesn’t get more profitable soon maybe GE will sell it?

Fox spends no money on Cops and America’s Most Wanted. I’m pretty sure the government subsidizes AMW and Cops is the most cheaply-produced show on Earth. For its minimal investment, Fox gets about a 4.0 rating and a 1.8 in the 18-49 demo, and syndication rights for Cops.

NBC’s problem is that its programming is awful. If anything, their cable networks (USA, SCIFI) have better original programming than they do. Interestingly, NBC has the largest collection of cable channels of any of the big broadcast stations: NBC, USA, CNBC, MSNBC, SCIFI, Telemundo, and a piece of A&E, History, Oxygen, The Weather Channel, and a bunch of lesser channels. The next-closest would be Fox, which has Fox, Fox Sports, Fox News, Fox Business, Fox Reality, and FX. ABC has the Disney Channel, ABC Family, and ESPN. CBS I don’t think has anything. Kinda makes you wonder.

For NBC it should be Law & Order and ER.