A simplified look at the rise and fall of the peacock...
Kevin M.
remembering, if only because the days of the big three are gone, as
are the days of broadcast vs. cable differentiation. And, if my
prediction holds up, the days of networks themselves are numbered.
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20091114/ap_en_tv/us_nbc_past_and_future
--
Kevin M. (RPCV)
PGage
This is interesting, and underlines the argument made by some that the
Leno experiment is not about trying to save NBC as a broadcast
network, but about transitioning it into the next kind of content
provider. I wonder if there was a time when people criticized NBC for
taking resources out of its radio operation and into television,
saying that NBC was going to get killed in the Radio ratings, assuming
those would still matter.
A couple of small things - I am a little surprised that Tom Brokaw is
the iconic name the AP chose to represent NBC news - I guess I would
have gone with Brinkley, though e finished up with ABC, and kind of on
a sour note.
And does this passage imply that The West Wing was on Thursday? "In
the 1990s, NBC's promotion team dubbed Thursdays as a "must-see" night
of television. The slogan stuck because it was true. The network's run
of memorable series including "Cheers," "Seinfeld," "ER," "Frasier,"
"Friends" and "The West Wing" represented a golden age. NBC was not
simply the most popular network. It was the best. That seems more
distant each year, and not just in time. "
It seems like a paragraph talking about Must See Thursday has to at
least mention Hill Street Blues, and maybe LA Law. The larger point
about quality and popularity still works - though I don't think even
in its best season TWW pulled in ratings like the 10:00 Thursday
programs.
The TiVo has already freed me from attachment to broadcast networks,
or cable-broadcast distinctions (though I don't think we are yet
completely past any meaningful broadcast-cable differentiation in
terms of accessibility). In a sense I am already my own network; I
have to keep aware of what is available, tell my TiVo to watch it for
me, and then when I want to watch a program I don't check my local
listings, I check my "Now Playing List". Assuming in the future I will
be able to similarly capture content from the internet or cable, I
will be fine.
I would not deeply lament the fall of broadcast networks - except when
it comes to the news divisions. Network news became a primary
justification of the broadcasters use of the public airwaves. The
beginning of the end of TV news credibility was when they figured out
a way to actually make a profit out of news, and for that I blame
Roone Arledge, and to a lesser extent Don Hewitt. But even in the post
graphics age network news divisions had an incentive, and some sense
of public responsibility, to deliver sober reporting of the day's
events that the public could have some confidence in. Neither cable
news, not internet news providers that operate independently of
newspapers or television news divisions, have shown much promise in
meeting this same public trust. I am not sure of the legal principles
here, but I think we are in need of some new legislation or court
decisions that place an obligation on cable or internet companies to
also serve the public interest. CSPAN is great, but is no substitute
for actual, and competing, news operations.
Bob in Jersey
So is CMCS' plan to unload the big network and its o&o stations now a
dead dawg, or is Bauder just ignoring it?
--
BOB
M-D November
Thursday lineup, but remember that when Jeff Zucker elevated to the
level of network president, he took the "Must See" moniker and applied
it to nearly every weeknight, thereby diluting the value of the tag on
Thursday. For Brak's sake - "Dateline" was considered "Must See TV"!
(And heaven forbid we forget the disastrous "If you haven't seen it,
IT'S NEW TO YOU!" tag for reruns.)
I'd agree any discussion of "Must See" Thursday has to include Hill
Street and LA Law, but how could the article omit The Cosby Show?
Granted, Cosby ended at the beginning of the use of the "Must See"
slogan, but the argument could easily be made that it was Cosby that
initially MADE NBC 'must see' on Thursday nights.
Wesley McGee
NBC slumped in the late 1970s and early 1980s, when the "Supertrain" series became a shorthand for a comically inept idea. Spinoff ABC surpassed NBC in ratings. One man changed all that: Bill Cosby's sitcom dominated television in the mid-1980s, as millions of Americans checked in each week on the Huxtable family.
On Sat, Nov 14, 2009 at 11:55 PM, M-D November <mdnov...@gmail.com> wrote:
It's true that "West Wing" never appeared as part of the "Must See TV"
Thursday lineup, but remember that when Jeff Zucker elevated to the
level of network president, he took the "Must See" moniker and applied
it to nearly every weeknight, thereby diluting the value of the tag on
Thursday. For Brak's sake - "Dateline" was considered "Must See TV"!
(And heaven forbid we forget the disastrous "If you haven't seen it,
IT'S NEW TO YOU!" tag for reruns.)
I'd agree any discussion of "Must See" Thursday has to include Hill
Street and LA Law, but how could the article omit The Cosby Show?
Granted, Cosby ended at the beginning of the use of the "Must See"
slogan, but the argument could easily be made that it was Cosby that
initially MADE NBC 'must see' on Thursday nights.
Wesley McGee
http://www.ambivi.com
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