OP-ED: On ABC Kids.
Matt Williams
"ABC Kids". During the block, ABC premiered new shows fresh from its cable
networks, such as "Kim Possible", "The Proud Family", and late of Fox Kids,
"Power Rangers Time Force". This was seen as a good move for those who were
worried that the show would become cable-only. ABC was even airing new
episodes of the show.
That last part is where the problem lies.
Most of the affiliates who carried Fox Kids had their entire time set aside for
the broadcast, and aired it in the order that the network had intended; very
few affiliates timeshifted. The situation on ABC is vastly different.
Because of the explosion in popularity of news broadcasts over the past few
years, many stations have saturated their airwaves with newscasts, particularly
during weekend mornings. This means that, to maximize profit, many stations
place a 1 or 2-hour newscast smack in the middle of the morning-- 8am. This
causes havoc with the schedule, forcing shows to be moved all around. To make
matters worse, many stations that don't do newscasts pre-empt the block for
infomercials and/or syndicated programming, in order to pay for the
ever-increasing cost of sports rights fees. And, to make matters worse, PRWF
is situated in the 11:30am and noon timeslots-- times when ABC Sports
encourages stations, particularly the ABC-owned stations, to take the "ESPN
Plus" feed of college football.
Even this wouldn't be a problem had it not been for the fact that many of these
stations just don't care. ABC marks 3 of its 5 hours of programming as E/I,
which means the stations have to air the show. Affiliates are often forced to
carry NBA Inside Stuff due to the ABC/ESPN deal to get the NBA. This means
that the 90 minutes left over are viewed as collateral-- they can do whatever
with it. Thus, in many cities, the show is moved to the overnight hours, and
some stations have begun the odious practice of airing both episodes a week
after their ABC premiere.
Thus, many people, even in the big markets, can't watch the show. And that's a
problem. A problem for which I've developed a solution:
Dump ABC Kids.
Yes, dump the block. I realize you're all looking at me weird right now, but
hear me out.
Broadcasting new episodes of Power Rangers, and in fact, ANY Saturday Morning
show on ABC isn't helping anything. If anything, it's causing a headache for
everybody involved. Those who want to see the new episodes first are often
forced to tape it at all hours of the night, or wait until ABC Family airs
their episodes.
Also, this is not helping ABC in the ratings race; why program a Saturday
morning block when at least half of the country can't see it at the alloted
time? Any attempt to mount a serious challenge to WB and Nick is severely
undermined by this fact. It's almost useless to even try.
Since most of the lineup is from other networks, it's easy to just leave those
shows on the other networks, and then just move the ABC-exclusive ones to one
of the cable networks. For example, ABC Family is clearly giving a lot of love
to Power Rangers. The *only* thing, in my opinion, that keeps them from this
potential as "Home of the Power Rangers"(a title they deserve) is ABC Kids. In
place of a full lineup, either give 2 hours back to the affiliates or put on a
Good Morning America Saturday. The remaining 3 hours can be E/I shows, which
they can use Playhouse Disney shows for.
Or even a simpler solution, keep showing PR on Saturdays... but let ABC Family
handle new episode duties. Their promos and attitude towards the show, again,
really make them deserve these duties far more than the ABC Kids programming
block.
If it is necessary to have a broadcast airing to justify the cost, then have
one. But don't force us loyal viewers to have to seek out alternate ways of
seeing the episodes. I argue for all of the fandom that a unified, one-time
showing of the show on cable is better than fending for ourselves on broadcast.
---
Matthew Williams | Hul...@aol.com
Toon Zone Staff-- www.toonzone.net
Burgundy Ranger
says...
>
(major snippage of some right-as-rain commentary)
>Since most of the lineup is from other networks, it's easy to just leave those
>shows on the other networks, and then just move the ABC-exclusive ones to one
>of the cable networks. For example, ABC Family is clearly giving a lot of love
>to Power Rangers. The *only* thing, in my opinion, that keeps them from this
>potential as "Home of the Power Rangers" (a title they deserve) is ABC Kids.
The promotional campaign is one of sheer beauty, one that clearly reflects the
"HotPR." The schedule, however, does not. Read on.
>In place of a full lineup, either give 2 hours back to the affiliates or put on a
>Good Morning America Saturday.
Wasn't ABC thisclose to doing this anyhow?
>The remaining 3 hours can be E/I shows, which they can use Playhouse Disney
>shows for.
In other words, go for the audience that CBS has recently abandoned. They could
certainly do that with a double-dose of "Stanley," which is quite good if you
just
manage to avoid the "Great Big Book of Everything" song a few times.
>
>Or even a simpler solution, keep showing PR on Saturdays... but let ABC Family
>handle new episode duties. Their promos and attitude towards the show, again,
>really make them deserve these duties far more than the ABC Kids programming
>block.
Preach on, brother man! ABC is quite content to take KP and Proud after a cable
premiere, why not PR? I can certainly see new eps on Fam at Sat./8:30 and
Sun./8:30, and then reverse-repurposed on ABC the next Saturday.
Maybe they'll address this when Ninja Storm premieres in February. If ABC keeps
first-run status, I pray the ABCFam showing is the next day, NOT the next week.
>
>If it is necessary to have a broadcast airing to justify the cost, then have
>one. But don't force us loyal viewers to have to seek out alternate ways of
>seeing the episodes. I argue for all of the fandom that a unified, one-time
>showing of the show on cable is better than fending for ourselves on broadcast.
Michael Eisner called. You make too much sense. He wants you to stop now.
That's brillliant. I can understand Batman's theory that ABC Kids exists as a
way to
promote its cable efforts on Fam, DisChan and ToonDis. (I've yet to see a "watch
this show on cable" promo though) That can still be done with Fam having
first-run rights.
Not enough episodes and too much advance releases already out to do anything
about it for Wild Force.
I suggest we come up with an address for the folks who run ABC Kids AND
ABCFam and start a campaign to let Fam have first-run (or same-day air) rights
to
PRNS.
------------------------------
Power Rangers On-Air Central:
Yellow Lightning
news:20020921174626...@mb-fl.aol.com...
>
> Because of the explosion in popularity of news broadcasts over the past
few
> years, many stations have saturated their airwaves with newscasts,
particularly
> during weekend mornings. This means that, to maximize profit, many
stations
> place a 1 or 2-hour newscast smack in the middle of the morning-- 8am.
This
> causes havoc with the schedule, forcing shows to be moved all around. To
make
> matters worse, many stations that don't do newscasts pre-empt the block
for
> infomercials and/or syndicated programming, in order to pay for the
> ever-increasing cost of sports rights fees.
The strange part is, none of this applies to my station. There's no news, no
infomercials, no syndicated programs during the block. The block airs from 6
to 11, KGUN just jumbles up the beginning and end, and leaves the middle as
it should be.
The only problem is the same problem I had when PR was on FK. I live in AZ,
so I'm susceptible to sports interruptions. And because of them, they
actually air the rest of the block on Sunday mornings, something my Fox
affiliate never did.
So, just why does my ABC affiliate mess with the schedule?
--
There is no joy left in Sci-fi, mighty Farscape has been cancelled.
R.I.P Farscape
March 19th, 1999 - 2003
Burgundy Ranger
Lightning
says...
That's NOT your affiliate. If you go to the ABC Kids site and look at the
'schedules' page,
you will see that that split-PR schedule is how ABC INTENDS to schedule in the
Mountain
Time Zone. Yeah, it makes NO sense.
Except if you live in Salt Lake City. They carry the East feed and run it in
East order,
starting at 6 a.m. That puts PRWF on at 9:30 and 10:00, local time.
Yellow Lightning
news:uJ6j9.42225$15.1...@www.newsranger.com...
> 'schedules' page,
> you will see that that split-PR schedule is how ABC INTENDS to schedule in
the
> Mountain
> Time Zone. Yeah, it makes NO sense.
That's right, I forgot. But AZ is currently on Pacific time, so we should be
getting the show normally! Heh, yea right.........
The mountain time zone. Always getting screwed.
Looks like Hawaii is the only other place in the US that is the same way.
William C.
abcfamily is a better outlet for power rangers despite there best of not
being in order which is ok for now i guess.
i remeber when space was on and baseball took over when the episode of zhane
getting his powers fixed and the next day it wasnt shown at all it was just
skipped and this was foxkids so i know what most people are going through i
still havent seen that episodes yet
Dragon Ranger
> That's brillliant. I can understand Batman's theory that ABC Kids exists
as a
> way to
> promote its cable efforts on Fam, DisChan and ToonDis. (I've yet to see a
"watch
>
> this show on cable" promo though)
I saw a promo on OSM for, IIRC, Kim Possible on Disney Channel on Sept. 7...
--
Brad
I need new quotes. :P
Dragon Ranger
news:uoq4o35...@corp.supernews.com...
Is THAT why I never got that ep on tape?!?!
Batman192
>Dump ABC Kids.
>
>Yes, dump the block. I realize you're all looking at me weird right now, but
>hear me out.
>
>morning block when at least half of the country can't see it at the alloted
>time? Any attempt to mount a serious challenge to WB and Nick is severely
>undermined by this fact. It's almost useless to even try.
IMHO, they're _not_ trying to compete with Kids' WB. They already know it's
futile right now to attempt to compete with them with so many affiliates
time-shifting. They're really trying to promote their cable outlets, as
indicated in this Animation Magazine article:
http://www.animationmagazine.net/television/8_8_3_02.html
>For example, ABC Family is clearly giving a lot of
>love
>to Power Rangers. The *only* thing, in my opinion, that keeps them from this
>potential as "Home of the Power Rangers"(a title they deserve) is ABC Kids.
Well, I believe both blocks are being run by the same people, the Disney
Channel. That's who running the ABC Family 5-hour weekend block and 2-hour
daily block. It certainly is reasonable to expect them to handle programming
duties for ABC Kids as well. Plus, the most recent PRWF episodic promo for
"The Flute" used the ABC Family style PRWF logo.
>The remaining 3 hours can be E/I shows, which
>they can use Playhouse Disney shows for.
Which would be a reversal of what the Disney Channel currently does on Saturday
mornings. If Disney Channel does abandon Playhouse Disney on Saturday
mornings, they'll most likely replace it with Zoog shows. I personally don't
like the idea of _both_ the Disney Channel and ABC Family competing against
each other on Saturday mornings. "Kim Possible" vs. "Power Rangers Ninja
Storm." It wouldn't be pleasant for me nor for a lot of other people.
>Or even a simpler solution, keep showing PR on Saturdays... but let ABC
>Family
>handle new episode duties. Their promos and attitude towards the show,
>again,
>really make them deserve these duties far more than the ABC Kids programming
>block.
It may be due to contract negotiations, or tradition that PR continues to be
aired first on broadcast TV. Maybe it'll change with PRNS, but I personally
don't think so.
>I argue for all of the fandom that a unified, one-time
>showing of the show on cable is better than fending for ourselves on
>broadcast.
One-time showing? Forget it. Repurposing is the buzz word around Hollywood
right now. From ABC Family to FX, everywhere you look, somebody's rerunning
something that was brand new just a few days ago. It's likely to stay that way
for quite a while IMO. Hey, at least PR is being rerun so quickly on ABC
Family, unlike at the start of the 1990s, where if you missed an episode of a
show on Saturday morning, you had to wait _months_ to see it again.
Burgundy Ranger
says...
>
>>
>>Dump ABC Kids.
>>
>>Yes, dump the block. I realize you're all looking at me weird right now, but
>>hear me out.
>>
>>Also, this is not helping ABC in the ratings race; why program a Saturday
>>morning block when at least half of the country can't see it at the alloted
>>time? Any attempt to mount a serious challenge to WB and Nick is severely
>>undermined by this fact. It's almost useless to even try.
>
>IMHO, they're _not_ trying to compete with Kids' WB. They already know it's
>futile right now to attempt to compete with them with so many affiliates
>time-shifting. They're really trying to promote their cable outlets, as
>indicated in this Animation Magazine article:
>
>http://www.animationmagazine.net/television/8_8_3_02.html
>
>>For example, ABC Family is clearly giving a lot of love
>>to Power Rangers. The *only* thing, in my opinion, that keeps them from this
>>potential as "Home of the Power Rangers"(a title they deserve) is ABC Kids.
>
>Well, I believe both blocks are being run by the same people, the Disney
>Channel. That's who running the ABC Family 5-hour weekend block and 2-hour
>daily block. It certainly is reasonable to expect them to handle programming
>duties for ABC Kids as well. Plus, the most recent PRWF episodic promo for
>"The Flute" used the ABC Family style PRWF logo.
On ABC? I've yet to see an episodic promo for any show in the ABC Kids lineup.
Anyhow, I looked up the news releases, and the executive quoted as saying "We
think we've got a tremendous lineup" is different for ABC and for Fam.
For ABC Family, it's Rich Ross, President, Entertainment, Disney Channel.
For ABC Kids, it's Jonathan Barzilay, general manager and senior vice president,
ABC Kids and Toon Disney.
It would appear that there's *some* difference in their duties and loyalties.
But,
undoubtedly, there's some co-operation between the two.
>
>>The remaining 3 hours can be E/I shows, which
>>they can use Playhouse Disney shows for.
>
>Which would be a reversal of what the Disney Channel currently does on
Saturday
>mornings. If Disney Channel does abandon Playhouse Disney on Saturday
>mornings, they'll most likely replace it with Zoog shows. I personally don't
>like the idea of _both_ the Disney Channel and ABC Family competing against
>each other on Saturday mornings. "Kim Possible" vs. "Power Rangers Ninja
>Storm." It wouldn't be pleasant for me nor for a lot of other people.
>
>>Or even a simpler solution, keep showing PR on Saturdays... but let ABC
>>Family
>>handle new episode duties. Their promos and attitude towards the show,
>>again,
>>really make them deserve these duties far more than the ABC Kids
programming
>>block.
>
>It may be due to contract negotiations, or tradition that PR continues to be
>aired first on broadcast TV. Maybe it'll change with PRNS, but I personally
>don't think so.
As long there's only a one-day delay between the ABC showing and the Fam
showing, not too many people will be that upset. It's waiting a whole week
that's
the thorn in our sides.
They wouldn't consider BOTH getting the new ep on the same day, would they?
(In PRWF's schedule, ABCFam at 8:30 and then ABC at 11:30)
>
>>I argue for all of the fandom that a unified, one-time
>>showing of the show on cable is better than fending for ourselves on
>>broadcast.
>
>One-time showing? Forget it. Repurposing is the buzz word around Hollywood
>right now. From ABC Family to FX, everywhere you look, somebody's rerunning
>something that was brand new just a few days ago. It's likely to stay that way
>for quite a while IMO. Hey, at least PR is being rerun so quickly on ABC
>Family, unlike at the start of the 1990s, where if you missed an episode of a
>show on Saturday morning, you had to wait _months_ to see it again.
I don't think he's talking about the show altogether, just a unified,
*guaranteed*
place and time for the premiere airing of each episode.