How do you fix a peacock?
Last week NBC brought in the lowest ratings for a week of television the network has seen in nearly 20 years averaging just 6.8 million viewers. The only two programs to appear in the Nielsen top 30 were the unbearably stupid Deal or No Deal and the decomposing ER. The good news is that the network’s one true hit, Heroes, was still on an epic hiatus (if you can’t really consider that good news).
The problems are evident: 1) NBC has several great shows that no one watches, and 2) the American populace is chalk full of idiots with remote controls.
So what can NBC possibly do? Faced with a similar decline in audience last year, the network naively thought it could attract viewers by classing the place up a bit. Friday Night Lights, Studio 60 and 30 Rock, The Black Donnellys – all high profile shows that completely failed to attract a wide audience (though it should be noted that if any of these shows were on cable and brought in similar ratings they’d be crowned as unmitigated achievements). What I find interesting is that none of these series focused on cops, lawyers, or doctors (though having two set around an SNL-like program should have been a red flag earlier than it was). More after the jump…
It’s hard to imagine the network taking a similar strategy for the upcoming television season. This is horrendously bad for fans of good TV. Aside from the few glimmers of brilliance on the other networks, the 2006/2007 television season has produced few new hits and was mostly highlighted with the remnants of just-starting-to-fade former successes. TV Week has a list of each networks pilot order for the coming fall, NBC’s list is non surprising in its apparent banality (The Bionic Woman?).
Three years ago it seemed like the American television viewer was starting to tire of crime, lawyers and reality when Lost, Desperate Housewives, and Grey’s Anatomy hit the ground running, but what I always forget is that the CSI’s (and the like) never really went anywhere and were never really hurt by these other show’s big numbers. Grey’s Anatomy and CSI both do amazing on Thursday night, despite competing with one another. A handful of interesting network shows surfaced, but their popularity seems to be something of a fluke.
More shocking, at least to me, is the unfortunate reality that Americans simply don’t want to watch comedies. Two and a Half Men and The New Adventures of Old Christine do well for CBS, but who would have thought that those would be the only two sitcoms that regularly appear in the top 20. Maybe I’m the only one who is actually surprised by any of this. When you compare the climate of the 90s to that of the aughts its no wonder crime and violence are bigger sells than comedy and sex.
I just hope NBC doesn’t cave. Their Thursday night block of comedies may attract few viewers, but some people still want to watch funny things on television and it seems stupid to completely ignore that market (small as it may be).
Playing the numbers game doesn’t entirely add up. NBC is in the tank because it doesn’t have a single hit show, though it wouldn’t be in any worse shape than ABC without Dancing with the Stars or Grey’s Anatomy or Fox without American Idol (which inflates the numbers of everything surrounding it). CBS is the one network that has created its success without a singular marquee show. Every CSI does great numbers , but so does Cold Case and Without A Trace and Shark and Two and A Half Men. Somehow they broke the code.
The problem NBC faces is that the important demos have all ready been claimed. CBS has the corner on crime. ABC attracts the ladies. FOX gets… I don’t know, terrorism and singing fans? Anyway, right now nothing says NBC aside from “quality,” which happens to be the one trait no one seems to care about.
I suppose there’s always The Bionic Woman.
