I'm going to be honest with you because you all have been honest with me. Sometimes a bit too honest. Sometimes honest to the point of being creepy and making me change my phone number. But, honest nonetheless.
Anyway, I may be a bit jaded in my opinions of the summer schedule that FOX released last week. I mean, they take two of the most popular dramas on their schedule -- Bones and House -- and just bounce them around the schedule so much just so they can accommodate five thousand hours of American Idol. Frankly, it pisses me off a bit.
That's why I need your help to determine if I am way off in thinking that their summer programming schedule is a heaping pile of poo. Take a look at the schedule after the jump and then we'll talk.
Monday: Repeats (FOX calls them "encores") of Bones at 8:00 and House at 9:00
Tuesday: New episodes of The Moment of Truth at 8:00 and Hell's Kitchen at 9:00
Wednesday: A new season of So You Think You Dance from 8:00 to 10:00.
Thursday: New episodes of Are You Smarter Than A 5th Grader at 8:00 and So You Think You Can Dance at 9:00.
Friday: FOX Movie Special from 8:00 to 10:00.
Saturday: The normal schedule of Cops and America's Most Wanted
Sunday: Repeats of Don't Forget The Lyrics! at 7:00, followed by the repeats of FOX's Sunday animated fare.
Okay, have you had time to discuss this amongst yourselves? Am I way off base here? Out of seven days of original programming four nights are pure unscripted fare. And the scripted fare is nothing but repeats of shows that viewers have probably seen already during the first run of episodes. Even the FOX Movie Special will be heavily edited versions of films we could pick up on Nexflix or pull off of my DVR.
Does FOX really think that the minds of their viewers just shutdown as soon as Memorial Day passes? I can recall a time when a year-round schedule at FOX actually meant year-round schedule, with summer premieres of Melrose Place and mini-seasons of Beverly Hills 90210. I know other networks like CBS have as much reality fare on their schedule as FOX does. But, at least they have some original scripted material to fill in some of the gaps.
Now, before you get all up in my face, I have no issue with the reality fare that FOX is showing. I've seen Dance before and think that it's a pretty good show. And, I know both Kitchen and Truth have their fans. I just wish that there was a bit more variety on the schedule. The network did have a number of scripted series over the year...why not burn off some of those shows? How about re-airing some "encores" of the last season of 24 to remind viewers what it's all about? I await your opinions to see if I'm totally insane.
Forget the Knight Rider movie, say the series creators - TCA Report
Giveaway Monday: TV Funhouse
Giveaway Monday: Mad Men radio, DVD, lighter and more
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 2)
4-16-2008 @ 12:06PM
Kristin Sample said...
I agree with you Rich. Everything blows except So You Think You Can Dance.
But, I am totally excited to see So You Think You Can Dance. I know it's part of the Lythgoe-Fuller evil starship of television but I think it's good programming. It's more about the performances and less about the snide British judge (or the antics of the drunken Miss Paula).
Reply
4-16-2008 @ 12:14PM
RadioScott said...
If this were the Fall schedule, I'd have to agree with you. But, it's summer. Yeah, I remember the summer episodes of 90120. Summer is now a time for reality shows, and that's what Fox is offering.
Besides, the nets are still recovering from the WGA strike, and an actors strike is looming. I doubt that any of the nets have a whole lot of scripted shows to spare.
BTW, you're complaining about House and Bones being moved around the schedule. You mean, you don't have a TiVo?! I hardly ever pay attention to when a show is on anymore.
Reply
4-16-2008 @ 12:22PM
David said...
I agree with you, Keller. I won't be watching any FOX this summer at all :(
Reply
4-16-2008 @ 12:25PM
Oreo said...
Don't dis the dancing show, it's the best dancing show on TV.
Reply
4-16-2008 @ 12:34PM
Franklin said...
My first reaction to all the reality refuse was one of anger, but then I thought it will be a good thing. Hopefully, a glut of reality shows will get those mindless viewers sick of it and they'll go away sooner. As far as I'm concerned all those reality shows are dreck and a rip-off to the viewer. The sooner they're an embarassing footnote to television history the better.
Reply
4-16-2008 @ 12:39PM
lucyfan62 said...
I love So You Think You Can Dance, so I'm glad that's coming back because it's about some real talent and not just a karaoke/popularity contest (regardless of what the producers and judges think of AI, it is a karaoke/popularity contest, not a singing competition). As for the rest of the schedule, Fox used to be a leader in alternative summer original programming, but keep in mind there was a writers strike earlier this year and the networks have not had time to develop new scripted fare for the summer (not that anyone really watches much scripted, time-demanding shows in the summer). So, yeah, you may be a little off the mark on this one.
Reply
4-16-2008 @ 12:49PM
Diana Dalton said...
Can't wait for SYTYCD! I was excited to see them on Idol Gives Back. Idol has become boring and fairly predictable and has not been fun or anticipating since Taylor was on. Glad I have TiVo and can fast forward through Paula's slurred nonsense.
Some of the "encore" shows are good only because some of us have just become familiar with them since the writers strike. Got desperate and started watching shows I never had before like Bones. Looking forward to getting caught up with the show. Otherwise it seems that Fox will be quite boring this summer. Thank goodness for TiVo and other networks. I just wish most networks would give new shows a chance to get an audience. Give it a full season or get feedback from the public by setting up a blog with a link at the end of the show. Let them know what we like and don't like. Give us a chance to have a voice. Cancel Las Vegas? Jericho? For what? New reality show with drunken bimbos and washed up celebs? No thanks...I will TiVo re-runs or get HBO/Showtime for some new programing.
Reply
4-16-2008 @ 1:06PM
ed said...
It's probably a lot less effort for them to find crappy reality shows rather than scripted shows. Saves them the effort of cancelling them just as they're becoming popular (AD, Futurama ahem)
Reply
4-16-2008 @ 1:16PM
Frank said...
I think I'll reserve judgement until the other Nets put their summer schedules up.
I don't remember a single interesting this that was on the air last summer... on any network...
I love summer eps. of Psych, Monk and Burn Notice on USA though.
Reply
4-16-2008 @ 1:23PM
JW said...
I have to agree with you myself; except I don't care for any of the shows except House which is reruns. I don't mean the other shows are bad, just not my thing. I think they shouldn't have canceled The Loop and The War at Home; which would make great summer shows. Find someone to make new cartoons for Sunday night, or some kind of "cable premiere" movie. Seems like most networks just pretend the Summer and December are not popular.
Reply
4-16-2008 @ 1:31PM
Scott said...
Heaping pile, definitely. And probably not far off what the other broadcast networks will be offering. Maybe this will just hasten the day when one or more of the networks go "all-reality, all the time" and I can remove them from my TiVo channel lineup entirely. Can Fox donate "House", "Prison Break", "The Sarah Conner Chronicles", and "Family Guy" to some other network? That's all I watch there anyway (still more than I watch on CBS, though!)
At least there will be new episodes of cable series like "Burn Notice". I like that show better than any of the series I watch on Fox ("House" has gotten pretty stale lately, and "Prison Break" long ago passed believability). My DVDs and Netflix queue will be getting quite a workout.
Reply
4-16-2008 @ 1:33PM
Thomas said...
Does US TV only show stuff for a few hours a day? I know they show other things but there is this seeming obsession with 8-10/11 anything outside of that is seemingly a televisial no-man's land.
Reply
4-16-2008 @ 2:33PM
Oreo said...
Most people watch TV during "prime time" which is 8-11pm (7-11 on Sunday). TV stations will not waste their time and money showing anything new during the day, so it's soup operas and talk shows during the day along with repeats of sitcoms. When people get home they eat and then watch TV during prime time. I thought that's how most countries do it.
4-16-2008 @ 2:54PM
jordancda said...
Yeah, the basic assumption is that no one is home watching television during the day. The only thing on during the day that I will even record to watch would be a sports talk show on ESPN, PTI. A lot of the shows that are on during the day are geared towards women who are home with kids, e.g. talks shows (Ellen, Oprah, Dr. Phil) and soap operas. All new scripted and unscripted shows air between 8-11 pm. Of course, all this mainly only applies to the major broadcast networks: CBS, ABC, NBC, and FOX. Cable channels are another world completely. Though most of those also only air their new material from 8-11, airing mostly repeats of other syndicated shows or movies during the daytime (e.g. USA, FX, Bravo, The Food Network). Again, the other exception to all this would be the 24-hour cable channels centered around, among other things, sports, politics, news, movies, etcetera which just air their specific programming 24 hours a day, nonstop (e.g. Fox News, CNN, ESPN, AMC, IFC, MSNBC, C-SPAN, FOX Sports).
4-16-2008 @ 1:38PM
Karen said...
I agree with you completely. The rise of cable network scripted programs (Psych, Monk, Burn Notice, Eureka, The Riches, Dirt, etc etc etc) has essentially eliminated the formal television season (as, I believe, NBC has already conceded). So, FOX will simply lose viewers (and ad revenue) this summer, which seems STUPID.
This has nothing to do with the quality of reality TV; it has to do with writing off the entire population of viewers who aren't interested in it. That's just short-sighted. Why don't they run, instead of "encores" (such a bullshit word), some obscure show that tends, otherwise, to live on the cancelled side of the bubble? Give it a chance to get some viewers, then move it into the "standard season" rotation?
I swear, I don't understanding programming execs AT ALL.
Reply
4-16-2008 @ 1:49PM
Scott said...
Programming executives operate on Willam Goldman's principle of Hollywood: Nobody knows anything.
Therefore all they can do is copy everyone else.
4-16-2008 @ 2:23PM
KayDee said...
Bones and House should just move to other networks so Fox can just succumb and become a total reality network. In my opinion, American Idol was the worst thing to happen to that network. Now they've pretty much abandoned scripted programming in an attempt to air programs that can reach the unachievable ratings heights of that one show. I use to watch a lot of Fox, now I only tune in for Bones and New Amsterdam, the later of which is unlikely to remain given Fox's inability to stick shows that involve actual writers and creative concepts.
Fox started off being cutting edge, the network that attracted the desirable advertising demographics. Now its become the network no one wants to invest time in because it can't stick with any show except reality. What a waste.
Reply
4-16-2008 @ 2:45PM
jordancda said...
Craptacular.
Reply
4-16-2008 @ 3:14PM
Liz said...
The summer is a terrible time for television in general, but some networks are trying to change that (slowly). Fox is clearly not one of them. On the other hand, I never watch Fox now either.
Reply
4-16-2008 @ 4:22PM
ray said...
they should bring back 'The Loop' again for a summer season! i enjoyed it very much! Hope the word reaches FOX.. ;)
Reply