NYTimes: Writers are back but audiences for their TV shows are not
An article from the New York Times about lagging ratings for post-WGA strike shows.
"During the past two weeks network television has finally returned to a relatively full complement of scripted shows, but viewers seem to be in shorter supply, even for television’s biggest hits. Shows like “Grey’s Anatomy” and “Desperate Housewives” on ABC, “C.S.I.” on CBS and “House” on Fox have come back with first-run episodes and recorded ratings among the lowest in their recent histories."
Dramas are the ones that seem to be hit the most because of season long story lines that have been broken by the months long strike.
"A major concern for television executives is that some viewers may have lost (or abandoned) the thread of continuing story lines for some dramas, especially serialized or soapy ones like “Grey’s Anatomy” and “Desperate Housewives. In addition, the strike’s length and the irregular schedule for bringing back network shows have confused viewers. “They haven’t been aware the shows are on again,” Preston Beckman, chief scheduler for Fox, said."
Comedies on the other hand have resurfaced unphased or experiencing even higher ratings.
"CBS’s lineup of Monday comedies has returned impressively, especially the network’s 9 p.m. hit, “Two and a Half Men.” NBC’s comedy “The Office” also has performed at or near its best ratings of the season. And Fox’s animated hit “Family Guy” returned on Sunday with a strong performance. The explanation for this success is simple, said David F. Poltrack, chief research officer for CBS. “Comedies don’t have continuing story lines,” he said. Viewers can always jump into a comedy without fear of being lost in a story line they may have forgotten.
you can read the rest of the article, TV Dramas Feel Brunt of Strike Fallout, on the NYTimes website.
personally, i feel as those i have been relatively unaffected by the return of TV writers, with the exception of 30 Rock which i adore and value higher with every new episode, and The Office which i watch out of hopes that it will get out of its slump of predictability and mis-steps in story and slipping jokes(ie. Michael does something crazy, everyone is dumbfounded and shocked). with the exception of those two network shows, and everything that is shown on HBO (television gold), i could care less if people stopped watching common denominator shows like Lost or House or Desperate Housewives.
speaking of HBO, David Cross and Bob Odenkirk (makers of Mr. Show, writers/actors on the short lived Ben Stiller show), have been greenlit to make a new show. i'll make a detailed post about it soon.
KCTS is what's going on
I let out the biggest gasp at work just now and when people asked what was up, I just pointed to this image.
I knew I signed up for PBS for this moment. Granted, it's a national program, but I can get a DVD copy of the show after it airs ahahahaha. Part of PBS' American Masters series, this is going to be an hour long feast of Marvin-goodness. Marvin Gaye's What's Going On album is in Rolling Stone's Top 10, out of their Top 500 albums of all time. It's in my Top 10 of all time as well, and the title track is definitely my number one soul/funk song of all time. if you don't have a copy of the album, for shame. It's on TONIGHT! So you Seattle TV owners, tune into channel 9 at 9pm!!
Synopsis: A great, enduring figure of American music, Marvin Gaye combined gospel, rhythm and blues, soul and jazz to create his own intimate style -- reflecting his "path of the heart" and, essentially, giving us his autobiography in lyrics and sound. He was a glamorous, sometime flamboyant, performer, a Motown star who challenged and changed the face of popular music with records such as "What's Going On" in 1971 -- full of honesty, vulnerability and integrity. Yet, his life was tainted by the bizarre -- full of torment, constant battling of demons and, ultimately, death at the hand of his own father -- a preacher and a cross-dresser, who seemed to have "a grudge against his son" from the day he was born. The program includes extensive performance footage and insight from Mary Wilson, Smokey Robinson, Gladys Knight and Mos Def, among many others.
Air Schedule:
Wednesday, May 7, 9:00 pm on KCTS (Analog/DT)Seattle
Future Airs: 05/11/08, 3:00 am KCTS (Analog/DT)Seattle; 05/11/08, 3:00 am KYVE (Analog/DT)Yakima
check out KCTS.org for more future showings
FCC Hearing on Media Ownership in Seattle TOMORROW
FIRST OFF-there is a hearing tomorrow in seattle and i strongly suggest that everyone should go if you care about the quality of the media you receive and what giant corporation you're getting it from. details of the hearing are below, but plz read all of this.
Public Hearing on Media Ownership
4pm-11pm, Nov. 9 2007
Town Hall Seattle, Great Hall
1119 Eighth Avenue
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FCC commissioners Jonathan Adelstein and Michael Copps are coming to Seattle to solicit public opinionson deregulating media ownership.
The Federal Communications Commission, led by Republican chairperson Kevin Martin, is considering lifting a ban which restricts a single company from owning both the major newspaper and major broadcasting system in a single market, expanding the limit on the number of radio stations and TV stations a single company can own in a market, and raising the number of local television stations one company can own.
Martin decided on a list of six cities where the FCC would hold public forums to get feedback on scaling back these regulations; Seattle isn’t one of them.
In response, local non-profit group Reclaim the Media invited the five FCC directors to come out for an informal public hearing. Only Adelstein and Copps agreed to attend.
FCC Chairman Kevin Martin has announced plans to hold the final public hearing on media ownership on Friday, Nov. 9 at Seattle's Town Hall, giving the Northwest an unbelievable five business days to prepare for the hearing. The rushed hearing is part of Martin's plan to fast-track changes to the rules by mid-December. The hearing will be the only chance for Northwest residents to weigh in on proposals that would allow giant media companies to grow even more concentrated.
Public Hearing on Media Ownership
4pm-11pm, Nov. 9 2007
Town Hall Seattle, Great Hall
1119 Eighth Avenue
Media consolidation has direct effects on local programming, competition between media outlets that encourages quality coverage, and the success of minorities and women who own broadcasting companies.
Reclaim the Media co-director Karen Toering asks, “Why are they opening up new rules on media ownership and consolidation” when consolidation sets back women and minority owners?
Toering cites an October study by the national media reform group Free Press that states, “Pro-consolidation policies enacted by the FCC in the late 1990s have indirectly or directly contributed to the loss of 40 percent of the [broadcast TV] stations that were minority-owned in 1998.”
The same study says African Americans and Latinos, who make up 27 percent of the American public, own only 2 percent of all broadcast TV stations. And women, who make up 51 percent of the population, own less than 5 percent of all TV stations.
Allowing giant companies to own more media stands to benefit only a handful of corporations like Disney, Viacom, NBC/GE, News Corp., Time Warner, and Clear Channel, says Toering.
“Further consolidation or merging of these industries means fewer voices and fewer ideas.”
FOR MORE INFO:
reclaimthemedia.org (seattle based)
mediamatters.org
www.realchangenews.org/2006/2006_11_22/whoownsthemedia.html
freepress.net
sources-reclaimthemedia.org and www.realchangenews.org/2006/2006_11_22/whoownsthemedia.html
(i basically copy/pasted a bunch of stuff from these two places)
The Peacock has left the Roost!
just a couple days ago, the feathers got ruffled at NBC when Kevin Reilly, president for entertainment and chief programmer for NBC called it quits. only three months ago, Mr. Reilly signed a three-year contract to remain as head of the network’s entertainment division, leaving the network in a scramble to find someone to takeover right on the heels of announcing the new fall lineups, one of the most significant and sensitive times for TV makers, setting advertising rates and lineup. To fill the void, NBC has hired young and hip dude, Ben Silverman, as co-chair of the entertainment division and television studios.
"For much of the last decade, Mr. Silverman, 36, has pushed deals that helped reshape the content of television programs. As an agent for the William Morris Agency in London, he was in the middle of transactions that brought reality shows to American networks, including “Who Wants to Be a Millionaire” and “Survivor." As an independent producer, he was active in buying format rights to foreign shows and turning them into American series, with “The Office” on NBC and “Ugly Betty” on ABC. He developed reality series for network and cable channels, including “The Biggest Loser” for NBC and “Nashville Star” for the USA network."...NBC said Mr. Silverman...would share responsibility for the network’s prime-time, late-night and daytime programs, and would supervise the entertainment division’s digital programming...[and] also responsible for managing the network’s and the studio’s marketing and financial strategies.
-NY Times
