Lessons learned from network TV's disintegrating season

Just three months into the new season, and the network TV game is in serious trouble.

Nearly a dozen series have hit the garbage bin or are circling the drain, including Knight Rider, My Own Worst Enemy, Do Not Disturb, The Ex List, Lipstick Jungle, Opportunity Knocks and Valentine. The culprit: chronically low viewership, even for series considered of high quality and excellent execution.

Proof of that trend came in ABC’s announcement that three of its best-regarded shows wouldn’t be coming back from fast approaching hiatuses: Dirty Sexy Money, Eli Stone and Pushing Daisies. For critics, Daisies was a particular sore spot. Championed by the professional couch potato set, this quirky series with a fantasyland visual style and whiplash-inducing wisecracks was easily the smartest show on network TV, bolstered by three Emmy wins this year.

Once upon a time, that was enough to save a show –- see Cheers and All in the Family for reference. But in today’s fragmented TV environment, an average 6.7-million viewers wasn’t enough to save a show about a piemaker who can raise the dead, his undead love and the irascible private detective who turned them into a crime-solving trio. Yeah, it was complicated.

Here are a few more bitter lessons learned from the wreckage of the 2008-2009 TV season so far:

The quality divide with cable TV is accelerating: Network TV has some of the same problems as newspapers but in slower motion –- audience declines compared to last year; growing competition with cable TV; growing competition with DVR, Internet and gaming usage; and weakness among key advertisers.

But the biggest problem may be that cable TV can sustain quality shows with a fraction of the audience broadcast requires. Daisies’ 6.7-million viewers would be a bonanza for Bravo or the Sci Fi Channel; on ABC, it’s cause for a eulogy. Which means populist, predictable stuff like Dancing With the Stars and CSI increasingly becomes the world of the networks, while risk-taking, rule-breaking TV pulls more sophisticated and moneyed audiences to cable.

Bringing back mediocre freshman shows from last year didn't make them any better: The theory was, shows like Lipstick Jungle, Private Practice and Dirty Sexy Money didn't jell when they debuted last year because the writer's strike got them pulled off the air before they had a chance to develop. Now, after several weeks on air in this season, we know they didn't jell because they didn't work.

The fantasy boom on network TV has gone bust: Some of the most troubled series on network TV are the fantasy shows: Fox’s Terminator: the Sarah Connor Chronicles, NBC’s Crusoe, My Own Worst Enemy, Chuck and, of course, Heroes.

They are expensive shows with complex plotlines that have often fallen short on execution. But their biggest problem is that films tell these stories better, with bigger budgets and better special effects.
So when comic book geekoids want a shot of superhero adventure, will they turn to an episode of the increasingly frustrating Heroes or watch Robert Downey Jr. nail one of the best roles in his career on the Iron Man DVD? 'Nuff said.

TV comedies keep rolling snake eyes: The numbers are numbing -– among the Top 20 network shows to date, there is one comedy, Two and a Half Men. This season’s most buzzed-about network comedy, 30 Rock, is ranked 48th, five slots below canceled Eli Stone.

The years when sitcoms were the gasoline that powered the TV industry -– big hits with profits that made up for all the big misses -– are long gone, replaced by unscripted “reality TV” series that can’t be rerun, developed around increasingly stale formats.

No wonder rumors are flying NBC may keep entertainment chief Ben Silverman, abn executive who increased revenues despite developing a new slate of expensive failures such as Crusoe, Enemy, Knight Rider and Lipstick Jungle. When every trend is working against you, the guy who can make something out of nothing may still be your biggest asset.    

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Comments

[RagsTTIger]

Giving shows an opportunity to grow has been cast aside by the "what have you done for me lately in the ratings game?" routine

A classic example was CBS' WKRP. It floundered, as CBS was always changing its day and time slot. WKRP, went on to become, one of the most profitable shows in syndication. As a side note, It is hard to think of Thanksgiving, without a memory flash to the WKRP episode when Mr. Carlson uttered the famous words, "As God as my witness, I thought turkeys could fly". Add to this Les doing his play by play, mimicking the infamous Hindenburg explosion. A great episode.

Top shows like Mary Tyler Show, Bob Newhardt and other long lasting shows were once on the chopping block.

Some shows jumped networks and scored big, such as JAG. Canned by NBC, JAG became one of the biggest hits for CBS and in syndication.

[Jim Williams]

I was thinking about making some comments and then I read what is already there. My comment is "no Comment" your other readers covered everything quite well.

[drinklime]

how about a funny sitcom with good writing? two and a half men is the closest thing to that...

sorry if i cant get into more news-driven crime "dramas" and superheroes raising the dead and CGI special effects

ever since Malcolm in the Middle came out every show since (comedy or otherwise) tried to copy it and failed

[Chuck Welch]

It's past time to eliminate the approx. 20 episode series in the USA. Build the show as six to eight episode mini-series.

Heroes is failing because they forgot a show can't be all set up and no resolution.

Chuck is more character driven comedy and far less fantasy. It's too bad if it fails because it is against two of the better traditional sitcoms.

Dead Like Me, Wonderfalls, and Pushing Daisies all prove that Bryan Fuller needs to write films and mini-series. I am happy to own every hour he's produced, but vanilla audiences don't like Rocky Road television.

[Lin Young]

What is really killing many of the network TV shows is that the schedules are constantly interrupted, which means that people lose track of all those complex plot lines and finally don't care about them anymore.

[beltwaybandit]

You make good points, Eric. Too bad about Dirty Sexy Money. The writing is very funny and the cast does a good job.

But...like the newspaper industry, the digital age is taking its toll on all things mass media.

There will always be demand for quality programming. But not in its traditional format. The days of "appointment viewing" are long since past, and the networks have stubbornly refused to accept the new demands of digital delivery being placed on them by the audience.

Network TV is following newspapers on the way down.

Local TV is the one to watch starting next year...they may beat newspapers to the end line if the information I am seeing proves accurate for 2009.