Future of Commercial TV

November 29th, 2013 at 5:02:56 AM permalink
AZDuffman
Member since: Oct 24, 2012
Threads: 135
Posts: 18136
Quote: Fleastiff
That is it...
Hundreds of channels "with nothing on"...


After talking to a few buddies I have come to a conclusion, feedback from anyone here's experience welcome.

What will "save" cable for some time seems to be women. One friend from college and I were chatting and I mentioned no cable and he happily asked if I "cut the cord." He was almost jealous. Seems he wants to drop cable in the worst way, only cares about football, but the wife will not let it happen. He told me another buddy of his did get his wife to go along but the guy comes home from work one day and *boom* the cable was hooked up again. A third guy I know is locked into a contract but "almost" has his wife convinced to pull the plug when it ends. So I see a pattern here.

I spent D.B. Cooper night to Black Friday at my parent's house. Other than football, there really was next to nothing on cable. What I did watch was mostly stuff I saw before but
The President is a fink.
November 29th, 2013 at 5:10:26 AM permalink
AZDuffman
Member since: Oct 24, 2012
Threads: 135
Posts: 18136
Quote: Fleastiff
That is it...
Hundreds of channels "with nothing on"...
There are times when narrow casting does not work.
A channel for left handed golfers can exist and even be separately priced... but darn few subscribe and few would renew.
A bar might take a sports channel or even a sex channel,,,,,, but after awhile even the playboy channel gets tiresome.
Sure there are cartoons and wrestling nonsense fairly similar to animated cartoon characters but there is not much of a market for such nonsense.
Yeah, there are movie channels... but you see any good movies in the last five years?


I think I have found what will save cable for a few more years, and that is the female market.

Talked with a buddy online, when he heard I cut the cord he was half-jealous. Said he wants to do it but his wife will not allow it. Told me about another buddy of his who got his wife to drop cable but one day the guy comes home and the cable was hooked back up. Another buddy of mine "almost" has his wife ready to drop it when their contract ends. Anyone else out there seeing this trend?

As to me, I spent D.B. Cooper night to Black Friday at my parent's house. Saw some football and end of the parade, all on over-the-air channels. Other than that, what I "watched" was either a movie I saw before or part of the "Pickers" marathon because they were all that was on, I could just as easily have fired up anything on Netflix.

As to the "see any good movies" quote, I've seen a few decent indie flicks on Netflix, most older than 5 years. But as to mainstream movies I see about 1 every 12-16 months.
The President is a fink.
November 29th, 2013 at 11:37:41 AM permalink
Pacomartin
Member since: Oct 24, 2012
Threads: 1068
Posts: 12569
Quote: AZDuffman
I think I have found what will save cable for a few more years, and that is the female market.


TV executives have learned that women can become very addicted to Home and Garden TV, or the FoodNetwork, etc. There may come a time when guys will decide that they can pay $7 per football game, and still come out way ahead, but women are more apt to let an endless series of shows about makeovers, (house or body), on in the background. You may not consider paying $1 for any show, but they will happily spend $100 per month for the service.

ABC was once the "family" network owned by Disney. Now they have decided to almost exclusively invest in scripted television that is appealing to women. The top money earner is now "Scandal". I don't care how attractive Kerry Washington is, I think straight men are a very small percentage of the audience.



Cost for 30 second Commercial on ABC
============ Dramas
$207,053 Scandal*
$204,658 Grey's Anatomy
$173,062 Once Upon a Time
$151,305 Agents of Shield (family show)
$124,050 Castle*
$114,002 Revenge
$107,591 Nashville*
$105,447 Betrayal*
$97,136 Wonderland
=================== Comedies
$281,951 Modern Family
$127,848 Super Fun Night
$120,983 The Middle
$108,180 The Goldbergs
$94,213 Back in the Game (Cancel)
$80,634 Trophy Wife
$75,124 Last Man Standing
$69,937 The Neighbors
November 29th, 2013 at 7:55:25 PM permalink
Fleastiff
Member since: Oct 27, 2012
Threads: 62
Posts: 7831
Yeah, YouTube's WIGS channel.... women empoyerment. Sure its not realistic... an escort talks to one client more than a real escort would talk to a dozen clients. Its just got to show the females as clever powerful decision makers in control of their lives even if they do occasionally face a few difficulties.

Women will watch cable shows about weddings planning, Bitchy Brides, Bitchy Rich Women, Rebellious Teen Girls, Kitchens, Spas.
December 2nd, 2013 at 3:13:07 AM permalink
Fleastiff
Member since: Oct 27, 2012
Threads: 62
Posts: 7831
I have never heard of some of the shows and never seen any episodes of many that I have heard about.

I wish there were some source of critical information but I swear if the show was Drying Paint the hype artists would be talking about how exciting the show was instead of giving an unbiased nutshell review.
December 2nd, 2013 at 6:36:13 AM permalink
Pacomartin
Member since: Oct 24, 2012
Threads: 1068
Posts: 12569
Quote: Fleastiff
I have never heard of some of the shows and never seen any episodes of many that I have heard about.


NBCUniversal inherited "Will and Grace" and "Scrubs" from the previous company, and Matt LeBlanc kept his role from Friends in the spinoff series Joey. But keeping 5 sitcoms out of 13 tries was about normal. None of these sitcoms was a broad success, but they had a core audience that was deemed worthy to keep the show on the air for 4 or more years.

The Office - 8.2 years
30 Rock - 6.3 years
My Name Is Earl - 3.6 years
Parks and Recreation - 4.7 years and not cancelled yet
Community - 4.5 years and not cancelled yet

But in the last 4 years since they elected to put Jay Leno on the air at 10 PM, they have had 19 straight failures in a row for sitcoms. Only 2 of 19 shows made it into a second season.
December 2nd, 2013 at 9:41:40 AM permalink
Nareed
Member since: Oct 24, 2012
Threads: 346
Posts: 12545
The problem with TV is the scale. A show that is popular with, say, 1.5 million viewers is regarded as a flop. Comapre that to publishing, where a book bought by half that many people would be a runaway success. Of course there are more books than TV shows, and they're much cheaper to produce.

I vaguely recall now two sitcoms from the early 90s which I thought were uproariously funny, but which flopped just the same. They were "The Nutt House," and "The Five Mrs. Buchanan."

The former was "produced" by Mel brooks (I think) and was about a hotel owned by a family named Nutt (ha ha). The latter was about the wives of four brothers of a family named Buchanan, and their mother in law. This one lasted about half a season, if I recall correctly, but was retooled midway. In the first eps, the husbands never appear but are often talked to (by phone, yelling from the next room, etc). Later the men started to show up.
Donald Trump is a one-term LOSER
December 2nd, 2013 at 3:32:23 PM permalink
Pacomartin
Member since: Oct 24, 2012
Threads: 1068
Posts: 12569
Quote: Nareed
The problem with TV is the scale. A show that is popular with, say, 1.5 million viewers is regarded as a flop.

I vaguely recall now two sitcoms from the early 90s which I thought were uproariously funny, but which flopped just the same. They were "The Nutt House," and "The Five Mrs. Buchanan.".


The CW network will keep a show like CARRIE DIARIES with only 1.5 million viewers because they are all young girls who spend daddy's money on shoes and makeup. Advertisers are interested in them. A show like "New Girl" on FOX with 6 million young viewers is actually very valuable. A show like "Vegas" CBS with 12 million mostly old viewers was cancelled.


There have always been TV shows that were cancelled after a few episodes or one season (like Nutt House and The 5 Mrs. Buchanans), but they are dominating the landscape now.

NBC put 19 straight Sitcoms on the air since 2009, with 2 on the air both of which probably will be cancelled.
ABC did not do a whole lot better, as they put 16 Sitcoms on the air in the same period without a single hit. But right now at least 6 of them are still on the air, although most of them have low ratings and will be cancelled in May.


ABC Sitcoms after Sep 2009
1 ) 19. Apr. 2010 Romantically Challenged
2 ) 22. Sep. 2010 Better with You
3 ) 9. Feb. 2011 Mr. Sunshine
4 ) 13. Apr. 2011 Happy Endings
5 ) 28. Sep. 2011 Suburgatory
6 ) 11. Oct. 2011 Last Man Standing
7 ) 18. Oct. 2011 Man Up!
8 ) 3. Jan. 2012 Work It
9 ) 11. Apr. 2012 Don't Trust the B---- in Apartment 23
10 ) 26. Sep. 2012 The Neighbors
11 ) 2. Nov. 2012 Malibu Country
12 ) 3. Apr. 2013 How to Live with Your Parents
13 ) 1. May. 2013 Family Tools
14 ) 24. Sep. 2013 The Goldbergs
15 ) 24. Sep. 2013 Trophy Wife
16 ) 2. Oct. 2013 Super Fun Night
Modern Family
The Middle


NBC Sitcoms after Sep 2009
1 ) 27. May. 2010 100 Questions 
2 ) 23. Sep. 2010 Outsourced 
3 ) 20. Jan. 2011 Perfect Couples 
4 ) 14. Apr. 2011 The Paul Reiser Show 
5 ) 5. Aug. 2011 Friends with Benefits 
6 ) 14. Sep. 2011 Free Agents 
7 ) 14. Sep. 2011 Up All Night 
8 ) 22. Sep. 2011 Whitney 
9 ) 11. Jan. 2012 Are You There, Chelsea? 
10 ) 21. Mar. 2012 Bent 
11 ) 4. Apr. 2012 Best Friends Forever 
12 ) 8. Aug. 2012 Go On 
13 ) 12. Aug. 2012 Animal Practice 
14 ) 10. Sep. 2012 The New Normal 
15 ) 11. Sep. 2012 Guys With Kids 
16 ) 17. Dec. 2012 1600 Penn 
17 ) 26. Sep. 2013 The Michael J. Fox Show
18 ) 3. Oct. 2013 Welcome to the Family
19 ) 3. Oct. 2013 Sean Saves The World
Parks and Recreation
Community


CBS Sitcoms after Sep 2009
1 ) 20. Sep. 2010 Mike & Molly
2 ) 23. Sep. 2010 $#*! My Dad Says
3 ) 14. Feb. 2011 Mad Love
4 ) 19. Sep. 2011 2 Broke Girls
5 ) 29. Sep. 2011 How to Be a Gentleman
6 ) 12. Jan. 2012 Rob
7 ) 24. Sep. 2012 Partners
8 ) 23. Sep. 2013 Mom
9 ) 26. Sep. 2013 The Crazy Ones
10 ) 30. Sep. 2013 We Are Men
11 ) 3. Oct. 2013 The Millers
Two and a Half Men
How I Met Your Mother
The Big Bang Theory
December 2nd, 2013 at 4:40:57 PM permalink
Nareed
Member since: Oct 24, 2012
Threads: 346
Posts: 12545
Quote: Pacomartin
There have always been TV shows that were cancelled after a few episodes or one season (like Nutt House and The 5 Mrs. Buchanans), but they are dominating the landscape now.


Given the quality of many such shows, I can't say I'm surprised.

Programming often runs in cycles. Sometimes drama dominates, sometimes sitcoms do. Now, of course, there's also "reality" TV (yuck) to complicate matters. If you recall the 90s, when there were calls to make programming less violent (the era leading up to the V chip), at the time sitcoms were predominant more or less.

And of course now there are many more choices. First cable channels started doing original programming, then Netflix did too.

Oh, another thing about sitcoms is they don't travel well. American drama shows are very popular in prime time in many countries, dubbed into the local language. Sitcoms lose a lot with dubbing. Some may be hits, but that's rare. Take "The Big bang Theory" in Mexico. It's very popular in cable, where it's broadcast in English with subtitles. I can't say for certain, but I think mostly it gets watched by English speakers (such as myself).
Donald Trump is a one-term LOSER
December 2nd, 2013 at 6:01:57 PM permalink
Pacomartin
Member since: Oct 24, 2012
Threads: 1068
Posts: 12569
Quote: Nareed
Oh, another thing about sitcoms is they don't travel well.


While many American Sitcoms are based on British Sitcoms, the originals don't travel well either. Even a sitcom like AbFab which was hugely popular in UK is still a fringe show on American TV.

Digital Media has allowed Americans to gobble up huge quantities of British shows, but they are mostly dramas or supernatural series.

Some networks don't even try. CW is the 4th broadcast network, and USA is the most popular cable network. They don't even create sitcoms, instead preferring dramas with light moments.

British Sitcom "Spaced"