TVSquad

Imagine if Kahl had been in charge of the original Star Trek scheduling. That show took time to garner support. He would have cancelled it mid first season.

I thuink these Execs believe their highlky paid jobs will last longer if they keep moving to entirely new shows, rather than building on an existing base. In the first case it's classic: "I've realised my error and am doing something completely new, so replacing me it pointless as I am fully embracing change". The latter course of actually slighlty sticking one's neck out and plotting a new course to make an existing show stronger is more risky because it's says. "I believe in this show and am willing to place my reputation/career on it rather than move on".

This is the V world we live in. That's why shows like Firefly, Jericho, Invasion etc all get trashed by the networks.
I am actually giving up on TV. I think the time is right for shows to go straight to DVD after one year. That becomes a big risk to the shows owners as selling to a network now the big pay off. So long as you can survive season one.

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CBS decided to cancel Jericho because of their mistakes in the long hiatus and putting it, a freshman show, against American Idol after coming back from hiatus. It's not the show's fault that "lost its engine and wasn't performing", it's their own.

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Hey Bobert!
Loved your post until I got to the Kevin Reilly comment.
Your continued sycophantic support of Studio 60 blinds you to the facts at hand!
(I've never shouted through a post, but I figure I need to because I'm not sure you will understand the facts any other way!)
1. Studio 60 was originally slated to premiere in the Thursday @ 9PM timeslot against CSI in Fall '06! The next day, ABC slotted Grey's Anatomy to go against both Studio 60 and CSI! Not wanting to pit Studio 60 against CSI and Grey's, NBC chose to move Studio 60 to Monday's at 10PM! (The show was actually moved, Bobert!) The Monday at 10PM timeslot was previously Medium's (a show that consistently finished second to CSI:Miami)! (Further proof that NBC believed in the show and hoped to close the gap with CSI:Miami in that timeslot!)
2. NBC allowed Studio 60 to air 15 episodes before putting it on hiatus (they also allowed them to finish filming the remaining 7 episodes to see if the quality from the pilot would return)!
3. In regards to a timeslot change, NBC couldn't do it! You see, NBC was already losing Sunday nights to ABC, CBS, and FOX, by airing mostly two hour episodes of Dateline and/or Deal or No Deal (along with the crapfest that is The Apprentice); all of these shows are cheaper to produce than Studio 60!
Mondays were out because of Deal or No Deal and Hero's success at earlier time slots -- and Studio 60 starting to lose the ratings battle with both CSI: Miami and What About Brian (a show that just got cancelled)! Friday Night Lights performing well in that timeslot at the end of October (instead of a Studio 60 repeat) didn't help either!
Tuesdays were out because of the Law and Order spinoffs and the annoying, but ratings bonanza, American Idol returning to FOX's schedule at midseason!
Wednesday's were out because that's where Friday Night Lights was moved to, Deal or No Deal was at 9, and Medium was at 10PM(also, Kidnapped failed earlier in the season! NBC didn't want to put the show on at Wednesday's at 10PM because ABC decided to move Lost there, and would have to compete against CSI: New York!
Thursday's was out of the question because NBC had reestablished it as comedy night from 8-10 with ER (an established show) following the comedies!
That leaves Friday's and Saturday's, Bobert! These two nights are considered dying nights with ABC airing mostly repeats and 20/20! CBS and NBC are the only ones other than the CW's Smackdown! that air original programming! Both CBS and NBC don't get high ratings with their established shows (even the original Law and Order faltered in the ratings)! Friday's are turning into Saturday's (where FOX is the only one showing new episodes)!
As you can see, NBC had nowhere they could put a show that was hemorraging viewers! That lost faith in Studio 60!
4. Friday Night Lights received the support of NBC that Studio 60 would have if Studio 60's quality had continued from the pilot! Friday Night Lights had become the show that NBC would support because the quality had been consistent through each episode!FNL became a critic's darling, while Studio 60 became a condescending, expensive show! FNL was moved into the only timeslot NBC could conceivably put Studio 60 (Wednesday's at 8PM) because NBC believed in FNL more than Studio 60, Bobert!
5. As Studio 60 continued to hemorrage viewers, and lose to What About Brian, Kevin Reilly faced rumors that he would be fired (because of Studio 60)! In fact, TV Squad reported that Reilly had been fired! Not only has not been fired, but he had his contract renewed!
Face it Bobert, Studio 60 wasn't worth saving, the show had run its course, and a timeslot change wouldn't have helped!
I usually enjoy your posts Bobert, but your denial of the facts upsets me and is misleading to your audience (of which I am a part)!
On a scale of 1 to 7, I grade this article a negative 2!

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I couldn't even find it in my cold little cynical heart to mock Reilly. He renewed FNL. That's all I asked of him.

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'I've always wondered why NBC doesn't just dump Sunday's Football Night In America and put Friday Night Lights in there instead."

You're a moron. People who like football want to watch football highlights to see what was happening in the games they miss. And to get ready for the primetime game. Not watch some high school football drama where football is the fourth focus. Also the show would do worse anyway because most games run over 7, and all those football fans would be watching the game instead of the show.

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McPherson didn't say "Private Practice" was unrelated to "Grey's", he said it wasn't an *imitation*. And it doesn't appear to be; it's a spinoff built around a popular character (who wasn't originally intended to be a long-term regular and is therefore not essential to the further development of "Grey's" plotline), but the premise and other characters aren't very similar. It also doesn't look as interesting to me, and since the cast includes several actors I can't stand, I probably won't watch it even though I like Kate Walsh.

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The really stupid thing about moving Friday Night Lights to Friday nights is that people aren't going to be home. They're going to be out watching actual high school football games (for the fall, at least). NBC is sabotaging their own audience.

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"Friday's" is not the plural of "Friday." Neither are "Saturday's" or "Thursday's" the plural of anything. Just so we're all clear on that.

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Geez, James, reading that post made my eyes hurt. I understand that you're emotional, but there is absolutely no reason to write like that - it's just obnoxious.

That said, I have mixed feelings about Studio 60. It really didn't do as badly as people think - sure, it was consistently thrashed by CSI: Miami, but there are several points to consider: a) it really did have the whole "affluent viewer" thing they kept going on about, b) it gained more viewers from TiVo/DVR than any other show, with delayed viewings increasing its total viewers by more than 10% every week, c) it is one of a handful of shows that did significantly better in markets where it aired at 9 p.m., such as Chicago, than in markets where it aired at 10 p.m., such as New York and LA, and d) it really had the cards stacked against it: NBC hyped it unreasonably. If it had been anything less than the second coming of the Savior in primetime, it would have been a disappointment.

As a result, there was no way it could live up to anyone's expectations. If it had been allowed to grow, it would have been recognized as a show with strong credentials that was going through first season adjustments - something that's been an issue with every Sorkin show. Both Sports Night and The West Wing needed time to turn into the shows that people loved, and Studio 60 needed it too, but didn't get it. If NBC had realized that, it would have been allowed to turn into a great show, which it started to do over the last several episodes that aired, and it would have gained viewers in its own right. Instead, it attracted viewers to the first episode through hype, and when it wasn't as amazing as they'd been told, they abandoned it and never returned.

That said, I do feel disappointed that the show did manage to be cringeworthy more often than I can accept from Sorkin. He's too good for what he let Studio 60 be at times, but his ego wouldn't let him fix it. That upset me.

Oh, and last thing - NBC never gave S60 a chance to "regain the quality" of the premiere. The only reason the network allowed the last seven episodes to be filmed is that it would have cost just as much not to film them, due to Sorkin's contract. But they had already decided that the show would not come back, and were only planning to burn off the last episodes in the summer - starting a week after the upfronts, which pretty much seals the deal. Even if there were a huge surge in viewers, it would be too late to resurrect it for the fall.

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I personally have never met anyone with a Nielsen box. Never. I think that method of judging shows and choosing what gets to stay is outdated and completely inaccurate, if they're not just making ratings up at this point, anyway.

Tracking internet buzz would give a much more accurate measure of what people are truly watching. For example: a google search for Jericho fansites yields 114,000 results compared to Ghost Whisperer's 37,700 . . . and Jericho is what they chose to cancel . . .

CBS's decisions for next season seem driven by out-and-out stupidity if you ask me. Moving a show about high school football to Friday nights? Tell me how that works out this fall when most of the people who would be interested in watching a show about high school football are at actual high school football games on Friday nights.

OK, I'm done ranting. You'll have to forgive me for going on a bit, but in addition to being royally pissed off about Jericho, I still haven't really forgiven CBS for cancelling Joan of Arcadia the way they did. I think at the very least networks need to start making these decisions a bit earlier and maybe give us some sort of plot resolution before they cancel a show. We'd still be disappointed, but we wouldn't be quite so angry.

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You forgot the Showtime president that canceled Odyssey 5, their second highest rated show, for Huff which got terrible ratings. He canceled DLM and Stargate too. All this because he didn't understand sci-fi shows... asshole....

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I totally agree with you! Who are these morons? Do they even watch TV? They put these new shows on, change the nights their on midstream, put them up against popular shows, then take them off the air for months and then wonder why their not the most popular shows on! Give me a break!
I can't believe they canceled Jericho?! I am so sick of getting into these shows only to have them canceled as quickly as they started! Give them a chance, uninterrupted, on a decent night and time. Quit putting new shows up against hugely popular ones like Grey's Anatomy, or Idol, either of which I watch, and enough of the game/reality shows!

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Game shows are good! What networks call game shows today are not. Bring back Press Your Luck!

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Let's just be glad that NBC decided to give The Office and 30 Rock a chance.

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"I've always wondered why NBC doesn't just dump Sunday's Football Night In America and put Friday Night Lights in there instead."

Put down the chardonnay, Bob. And just admit it: Studio 60 sucked.

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Ryan,
Thank you for pointing that out to me. I knew it, yet I blew it.
Kids, let this be a lesson to you, never write in anger. You're more likely to commit grammatical errors (which causes public embarrasment).

Anna,
Great point about the as-yet-unaired episodes being filmed. I forgot about that.
You're right about my earlier post being obnoxious, yet I felt that Bob's continued lamenting and gnashing of teeth over Studio 60 (a show in which I watched all 15 aired episodes) was obnoxious as well.

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Ryan,
You are right. I knew, yet I blew it.
Kids, let this be a lesson to you, never write in anger.
You make too many grammatical errors (which causes public embarrassment).

Anna,
Great point about the as-yet-unaired episodes of Studio 60. I forgot about that.
As for the comment about my earlier post being obnoxious, your right. I was just expressing my anger at Bob's continued attempts to tell us about the 'unfair' treatment Studio 60 received. I felt Bob's rantings were obnoxious as well.
I watched all the Studio 60 shows NBC aired in the hopes that it would improve; it didn't (including the later ones you said got better).
I loved Sports Night and West Wing. I felt they were both consistently creative -- from the start to when Sorkin left. Sorkin just couldn't figure out Studio 60's voice. I still feel that Studio 60 would have worked better as a movie, not an hour-long TV drama.

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Chris Rock put it best in regards to why and how TV executives do their job:

"They operate in the same vein as cops do. Cops LOVE crime...without it their job is pointless. Execs love to f**k with quality, otherwise their lives are pointless."

(paraphrasing the above from The Comedy Awards special on HBO)

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It just amazes how they totally blew Jericho. The fact that the audience went down has nothing to do with the quality of the show, it has everything to do with the fact it went off air for ages and people forgot about it and then couldn't get back into it.

The show didn't suddenly get worse to coincide with the hiatus, people didn't suddenly decide when it was off air that they didn't actually like it. The network blew it and then refused to try and fix it. At least they new it worked at some point, which is more than you can say about their new, untried shows.

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Wow, Bob. Dead on.

I'm still trying to understand why new shows are put on "hiatus" - especially new shows that are still trying to find an audience. It only serves to murder what little audience (and word of mouth) that they have started to garner.

James, you have serious issues. Studio 60 was a very good show with a lot of promise. Perhaps it wouldn't have lost quality if the writers weren't always writing with the fear that the show was going to end at any minute (due to the lack of support).

If given the chance to grow, I have no doubt it would have found a greater audience.

And perhaps it wasn't condescending. It certainly said a lot of things that need to be said to the people of our country, and if you feel talked down to because of that, perhaps that is just because you are an idiot.

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