Posted on 12/17/2007 12:12:13 PM PST by abb
The slow but steady erosion in the power of primetime television is about to change the fundamental structure and financial clout of broadcast TV's perennial cash cow, warn advertisers, which pump more than $9 billion a year into the three-hour nightly window. With its waning audience, lack of a breakout hit in two seasons and with the writers' strike about to render the TV landscape barren of any new scripted shows, media planners and ad buyers are predicting:
* The decades-long three-hour primetime window could shrink by one-third to just two hours a night.
* The growth of less-expensive reality shows over the past several years will continue to accelerate.
*The standard TV season, from September to May, as well as the upfront ad-selling season will disappear.
"The network model is starting to break," said Gary Carr, the director of national broadcast with TargetCast, a firm that buys and places ads for clients.
"What's going to happen is lower quality programming, lower ratings and more competition," said Barry Lowenthal, president of Media Kitchen the media planning arm of ad agency Kirshenbaum Bond & Partners.
The comments come days after ratings-challenged NBC was forced to do the unthinkable - give cash back to advertisers because it couldn't deliver the ratings points it promised during the "upfront" sales season in May.
snip
(Excerpt) Read more at nypost.com ...
Funny how it never occured to the SW ‘creative’ team that the primary market for a child-like robot would be pedophiles.
Dancing with the Stars and American Idol ... only two prime time shows I watch. :)
I highly doubt it will be as drastic as this writer thinks. Besides, the networks will just air their shows on cable and those of us who enjoy primetime viewing will have to pay up to access the programs.
ABC NBC & SEEBS would see rating increases if they ran 24/7/365 re-runs of the Three Stooges. The stooges still watching them are turning off or dying out. /sarcasm
Thanks for all of your pings.
Same here, plus NFL football. I've about given up on History Channel - I liked it when they used to focus on history. Since they just cycle shows with Discovery Channel less than half the programming is history. Heck, they much air the show "Modern Marvels" about 20 times a day. I used to like it but now it's all that's ever on. Also, there has been very little new programming as of late. When they do have a history show on it's one you first saw five years ago and 100 times since.
Nine times out of ten I just decide to pick up a good book. (or fire up a quick game of Unreal Tournament)
I agree, I think The Closer is one of the best written shows on TV.
OMG! You remember that show, too??? I thought I was the only one. I remember telling my friends back in the day what a gawd-awful show that was.
Many of the protagonists of network TV in the 70s and 80s were people whose lives you could envy: Sonny Crockett of "Miami Vice" was a college football star and decorated war hero who opened up a can of whupass on the bad guys, dated beautiful women and drove around in a totally sweet car. Clive Huxtable was a successful doctor living in a cool neighborhood surrounded by a loving family with a gorgeous wife.
Fast forward to 2007 when the stars of "CSI" are a reclusive entomologist with a congenital hearing defect and a crippled emotional life, teamed up with a former stripper and single mother whose estranged father was murdered by rivals.
Or "Grey's Anatomy" with a protagonist who is always depressed, drinks too much, hated her dead mother, is hated by her father and who is incapable of normal emotional connections with men.
I mean, I would almost rather be dead than live the empty lives these characters lead - and their lives are written this way intentionally.
What? An adult man building a mechanical 10 year old girl, training her to servilely obey his every whim, fraudulently adopting her to prevent outsiders from questioning her status, and keeping her locked in a box at night?
Isn't that every normal person's idea of rational behavior?
Nipples on the network - coming soon!
Liberals feed on misery like vampires. Keep people depressed and they will hate their country and their men enough to vote Democrat.
Bring back Kojack!
Didn't Waylon Flowers and Madam have a sh-tcom at one time?
BTW: I may be the only one on this site who can tie himself back to Kevin Bacon.
That is one of the few shows I watch.
My wife and I are big fans of BN and Psych in particular.
They certainly have the creepiest story of how they first met of any Hollywood couple out there.
The networks will eventually be a combination of YouTube and MySpace.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.