Fri 25 Sep 2009
CW taking a Vampire bite against NBC's once "Must See TV" lineup
Posted by Brad L under FRINGE, MY NAME IS EARL, NBC, The CW, VAMPIRE DIARIES
[7] Comments
Did a vampire show that was put on the air to suck in Twilight-lovin tweens actually almost beat NBC’s once “Must See TV” 8pm hour lineup?
Yep, it sure (almost) did. The Vampire Diaries got 1 .7 and SNL Weekend Update/Parks and Recreation combo scored a 1.8 in the all important 18-49 rating share. What is going on with NBC? Does anyone remember the powerhouse that was Friends several years ago? No other network could touch them. Now, with one fell swoop, the network (CW) that is essentially catering almost exclusively to young women is on the verge of beating NBC.
Sweety, you're as shocked as I am.
What once was the 8pm hour home to The Cosby Show, Mad About You, Wings, Friends, Will and Grace is now the dumping place for a horrific SNL Weekend Update (does it really need to be 30 minutes?) and the ratings disaster called Parks and Recreation. Thankfully, in October Community will be moving into the 8pm hour which should boost the ratings a bit, but what NBC needs to do is completely restructure their Thursday night lineup.
Open with The Office followed by Community and for the 9pm hour go with 30 Rock and close out the night with Parks and Recreation. With Fringes ratings slumping (and Supernatural kicking serious butt for the CW) move the Emmy-winning 30 Rock to the 9pm hour and let Parks and Recreation follow and slowly kill itself off. I bet a fifth season of My Name is Earl is looking pretty good right now eh NBC?
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7 Responses to “ CW taking a Vampire bite against NBC's once "Must See TV" lineup ”
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[...] You like TV? Well be sure to check out my opinions on various things at Behind The Screens. I even just posted my first article on how The Vampire Diaries is killing NBC’s once “Must See TV” lineup. [...]
Brad your totally correct. The Office Should be on a 8PM with Community at 8:30 and so on. The night should end with the worst rated show or a new replacement. In the environment where hour long shows are king having 1/2 hour blocks need to be amazing to keep viewers.
Using The Office as an anchor for the night is good in theory however it comes with a lot of risks for NBC and means they have to tamper with one of the few success stories they have left, the question that has to be asked is can/will The Office perform as well (or better) at 8PM as it does 9PM? NBC did try it out when they debuted Parks last year and the answer they got was no. Of course that might not be the greatest example for a whole host of reasons but its the only data I have off hand.
At this stage I think its more likely that they’ll use 30 Rock as the Thursday anchor over The Office and I’d be interested to see what 30 Rock could do without The Office lead-in. Where they then slot Community and Parks is another matter, personally I’d slot Community in at 8:30 and hope that The Office lead-in stops Parks numbers being a complete disaster however if Community bounces back from this weeks Greys and CSI affected numbers someone at NBC has to be wondering whether it should stay behind The Office, right?
On another note don’t forget that NBC does have a multi-cam sitcom sitting in the wings for mid season, it was supposed to follow a 90-minute edition of Biggest Loser on Tuesdays but given how badly Parks is now doing it seems likely that they might slot it into the Thursday line-up and keep the 2-hour Biggest Loser block instead, which seems like a good idea to me.
Alex,
I really think The Office at 8PM could be a way for NBC to try and rebuild their “Must See TV” idea and hopefully pick up the ratings for the other shows that follow it. They need to start the night off strong and Parks and Rec is NOT the way for them to go.
I forgot about that 30 minute sitcom (I imagine most have by now – it looked really bad). Community looks like something NBC will keep full-season and I think NBC will at least try and make Parks and Rec work for them.
I don’t disagree with the theory that moving The Office to anchor Thursday nights could work well for them, the problem is that, that move comes with a lot of potentially damaging consequences for what is one of their only hits.
When I look at Thursday nights on NBC I think the one thing they need more than anything else is for 30 Rock to be able to stand on its own and really by all rights it should now be doing that. If 30 Rock can hold its demo without The Office lead-in then NBC has a lot more options open to them on Thursday’s the problem is I think when it comes down to Community vs. 30 Rock for The Office lead-in the multi-award winning 30 Rock is going to win every time and then Community may very well have problems. I should however say that I’m a fan of both shows.
Personally I’d like to see 30 Rock anchor the night and I think kicking off the night with ‘the multi-award winning’ 30 Rock is a strong advertising position if nothing else. There’s also the hope that away from Grey’s and CSI there’s more chance that 30 Rock will retain its demo from last year. I think 30 Rock/Community/The Office/Parks is a line-up with more flow to it than what NBC currently has and what NBC currently has planned.
Can i take a one small picture from your blog?
No prob