facebook_pixel Press "Enter" to skip to content

Looking to start your TV writing journey?

Posts tagged as “NBC”

Is NBC killing television?

Is NBC killing television?

Yesterday’s Leno-primetime announcement shakeup led to various online articles on the subject.
Such as an article by the co-writer of Leno’s autobiography (yes, I know that doesn’t make much sense) on “how Leno won again.”
EW is also explaining the 101 on why NBC is doing the move.

Still, the move is clearly a gut-punch to fellow TV writers as Shawna points out.
Temp X has also a post up explaining how NBC is actually run by aliens.
Don’t be fooled by their moronic attitude!

Meanwhile, ABC is also considering merging TV divisions.

This leads me to this shocking question:
Is NBC killing television?

Or rather: Are Dumb and Dumber slowly destroying original content?

The merge-move and Leno in primetime makes perfect sense business-wise.
After all, it cuts cost, and the show will most likely do better than what is currently on at 10PM.
But is it a good entertainment-move?
Me think not.
Is NBC really going to destroy the 10PM slot because of their failed shows from this fall?
Sure, “E.R.” will be gone soon, and so will be “L&O:SVU”. “Enemy” is out and the rest of the shows are sadly pointless.

But stop blaming all your problems on crappy shows.
And stop replacing said crappy shows by even worse shows!

Making new with old is good for some stuff, but faking new with old is far from creating “new” content.

Be original for frak’s sake!

If everyone would pull a Zucker, and every network would simply remove dramas from the 10PM slot, original primetime content would be swallowed by clones of clones of clones of shit.

How did CBS become number one?
By making “The Golden Girls 2: Touched by a David Letterman”?

No, by banking on some island-reality-show and a revolutionary procedural.
I’m not saying find the next great cash cow or cool reality hit.
This craze is gone.

Don’t hang on to the past, look towards the future.
For instance, find original stuff that can successfully make the bridge between TV and the Internet.
Don’t just dump money on “Nude Dance Competition with Your Pets XI”.

To be honest, The Leno Show will probably do well, but don’t think that means we want more talk-shows in primetime instead of solid drama.

Think with your brains, not with your wallet.

I have faith that CBS will pull out “CSI: My Ass”.
I’m hoping though that FOX/ABC will wake the fuck up and seize this great opportunity to be the underdog; bringing alternative, groundbreaking content to this 10PM slot.

Don’t ruin this for us, guys.
Please.

Shift

Finally back to blogging!

Lots of stuff to catch up, including some major NBC changes.

First of all, one of the big NBC 2009 move:
Jay Leno in primetime.
Every day.

No more NBC drama at 10PM.

Jeff Zucker said the other day that NBC won’t be doing 22 primetime-hours anymore, similarly to “three” of its “competitors”.
Wait a sec.
Is Zucker really considering MyNetworkTV and The CW as NBC’s competitors?
Wow.

Zucker also said:

It’s not giving up. It’s not retrenching. It’s not throwing in the towel.

Let’s get real here: are you really that surprised?
The way NBC is currently programming its shows is already similar to a 2-hour primetime/night scenario.
Just look at Crusoe, Knight Rider and My Own Worst Enemy.
Or what about their Tuesdays?
It doesn’t exist.

NBC is as well converging its TV divisions, merging studio and scripted.

But you have to wonder there:
Is less original programing what NBC is all about?

Because if that’s the case, tune me out.

Speaking of NBC.
Was it just me or did last night’s Chuck kind of ripped of Leverage’s series premiere?
That whole floor-replacement thingy had a strong déjà-vu effect on me.

I also recently saw Primer.


This was a really (good) mindfrak movie.
Fortunately there is a clear visual timeline available to help sort it all out.

The movie and its script are also proving to be an excellent lesson on “how to write a great no-budget movie.”
The answer being obviously a focus on characters.
And since TV is a character-medium…
You know the rest.

The smell of change in the morning

Some more fresh news hot off the printer.

Let’s begin with a quick follow-up to my awesome prediction from the other day on how 3-D will rule us all in a decade or so.

What’s the one industry that can make or break a format? Or, in our case, a new era of entertainment pleasure?
Was your first thought ‘porn’?
If yes, then you’d be right.
If we would have been talking about the 90s.
Porn embraced first HD DVD and look where that format went.
Bottom line is: Porn endorsement is now kinda useless, especially when everyone is basically downloading his (her?) porn.
There’s also no 3-D Porn in the works as far as I know.
But I have high hopes (or is that low expectations?) that one is coming our way soon.
No pun intended.
Seriously.

Don’t worry, I’m going somewhere with all of this.

So, back to the question.
What’s the industry that will lead Joe Six Pack to watch 3-D stuff?
It’s not per se an entertainment industry, but it definitely has its own (big, huge) weight.
I am of course talking about sports.
And to be more precise, the NFL.
Tomorrow night will be broadcast live in 3-D to theaters in Los Angeles, New York and Boston a game between the San Diego Chargers and the Oakland Raiders.


I may go out on a huge limb here again, but I’m pretty sure that in 2 decades, if not less, watching 3-D sports at home will become a common thing.

Also, LG announced that they would try to market at least one 3-D TV in 2009.
And we’re already in December 2008 folks.

Meanwhile, CBS just announced its mid-season schedule while ABC the premiere date of some of its new shows.

Let’s begin with CBS.
First things first, Flashpoint season 2 will premiere Jan. 9.
Did I forget to mention that the missing 4 episodes from season 1 are added to the whopping total of 18 season 2 episodes ordered?
That’s a full season of 22 episodes for you.
The 13-hour Harper’s Island (I sense a backdoor series somewhere) will be broadcast from April 9 to July 2.

Not much more news regarding dramas since there hasn’t been much canceling lately on CBS’ side.

Remember how NBC only announced their January skeds?
Well it seems that ABC is announcing the premiere of its new shows — for around March-April.
Mondays (March 9) will see the arrival of the long-awaited Castle (by most Nathan Fillion fans).
The reboot of Rob Thomas’ Cupid will premiere meanwhile starting March 24 on Tuesdays.
The Unusuals will take place on Wednesdays (beginning April 8).

Why so late?
Well, you might have guessed this, but ABC wants to finish showing its fall shows before beginning its mid-season’s.

Notice a trend in all of this?
Mid-season shows are beginning more and more frequently to premiere late in the season (as late as April-May for some).
Are we converging to year-long original drama programming or what?