CBS & Warner Bros. stand behind The CW and it's future? Oh, yeah?
Taylor
This is nothing more than a diaper statement, and we all know what
diapers do.
The only reason this statement was even made is because Tribune,
owners of the flagship CW stations of the North, Midwest, and West,
are publicly commenting about the fate of the network and actually
planning what to do in 2009.
If Warner Bros. and CBS actually supported the network:
- would they completely abandon Sunday nights and Saturday mornings as
they have done this coming season selling the broadcast slots to MRC
and 4Kids Entertainment, respectively?
- would they cancel the network's highest-rated series, WWE Friday
Night SmackDown!, just to satisfy their need to be a young women's
channel?
- would they completely abandon the urban market, the market that
stood by the networks even when others scorned them, by cancelling
numerous shows like the top-rated Girlfriends and All of Us (and no,
repeats of The Wayans Brothers and The Jamie Foxx Show on weekday
afternoons doesn't count as committing to the market)?
- would they get rid of two of their strongest properties, Gilmore
Girls and Veronica Mars, in the first season of the merger?
- would Warner Bros. actually be relaunching The WB and Kids' WB! as
online networks instead of using that energy for The CW?
The 4Kids deal was bad right out of the gate because that just
showcased the laziness of Warner Bros. and CBS to the hilt. There
could have been numerous properties produced by both that could have
ended up on CW Kids. I would have liked CBS to at least develop a Star
Trek animated series for today's audiences. Heck, CBS could have made
cartoons aimed towards the young girls as well if they wanted to, but
they didn't.
Looking at 4Kids' plans, they're cluttering up the lineup with reruns
and a few new shows from what they aired on their other, competing
block on Fox. The ratings have been dipping for weeks now. Shouldn't
that be a sign that perhaps 4Kids wasn't the answer?
The fact that they gave up on Sunday nights proved they're not really
confident in doing work themselves. Yes, Sunday nights was their
lowest-rated night. That didn't mean they had to just quit altogether
and let someone else do the work. They could have made it something
better. Perhaps make Sundays a family entertainment night, either by
creating a family-friendly sitcom or adventure followed by a weekly
movie showcase.
I just thought of that in two seconds, hardly any effort.
And if they feel the first day of the new season is any indication of
how the entire season will be, then they'll be sorely disappointed
week after week. Of course audiences will be there in the first week.
Curiousity factor always lingers in the first couple of weeks. By week
three or four, audiences usually determine if they're going to stick
around.
One more thing.
In the letter, they claimed that building a new broadcast network is
difficult. However, and this is a biggie, both Warner Bros. and CBS
have experience in running networks. Hell, CBS ran two at once (UPN
and another one which name escapes me at this moment). The folks
behind The WB and UPN had a combined 22 years of experience in running
those two networks before merging them into The CW. Have they
completely forgotten how to market to EVERYBODY? Why are they only
targeting the young girls? Surely they want to create an audience
rather than abandoning the ones they've already got, and this season,
viewership will drop heavily in all areas except the young female
demographic. They're only united in the fact that they don't really
care how the network is ran.
But the affiliates do. The advertisers do. The viewers do. That's why
they're so vocal about the frustrating direction of The CW. If CBS and
WB continue to take The CW in that frustrating direction, then they
will fail. The affiliates will go. The advertisers will leave. And the
viewers, those left anyway, will go elsewhere, like MTV, Disney
Channel, ABC Family, and any of the other countless outlets aimed
towards them.
The CW promised the best of both worlds but will, in the end (and the
end is nigh), prove to be one of the biggest disasters in broadcast
television history, and they have nobody to blame but themselves. You
almost feel sorry for Warner Bros. and CBS.
Almost.
Posted by Jeff Harris | August 21, 2008 10:25 AM
in response to the TVWeek article:
http://www.tvweek.com/news/2008/08/cw_parents_voice_support_of_ne.php