Here's what I think of Freepers who are laughing because the Nitwork Bigwigs think
gladiator battle, lie detector games and Pussycat Dolls will draw more viewers than my
news broadcasts
Posted on 12/25/2007 6:49:45 AM PST by Zakeet
NEW YORK - To prepare for a prolonged writers strike, television networks have stockpiled a gladiator battle, a lie-detector game, a remade "Password," a celebrity "Apprentice" and a competition for aspiring Pussycat Dolls.
Among the new shows to roll out in prime-time this winter, what's the one programming genre the broadcasters are virtually ignoring?
The news.
With the exception of CBS ordering a few more "48 Hours: Mysteries" true crime yarns, the networks haven't looked to their news divisions to fill holes expected when viewers' favorite dramas and comedies are on hiatus.
Even a vital, true-life reality show can't break through. The most wide-open presidential nominating contests since before television was invented will reach voters in January. At this point, the networks plan only to insert a minute or two of Iowa caucus and New Hampshire primary results between commercials during prime-time.
"It's not surprising that you're not seeing news filling the gap caused by the writers' strike," said Robert Lichter, president of the Center for Media and Public Affairs. "More and more, the networks are only about whatever sells. They used to genuflect in the direction of the public interest. Now they only bow down before money."
The programming plans are also a reflection of how much the business has changed in the decade since "Dateline NBC" was on that network's schedule five nights a week, even when the writers were working.
(Excerpt) Read more at news.yahoo.com ...
Here's what I think of Freepers who are laughing because the Nitwork Bigwigs think
gladiator battle, lie detector games and Pussycat Dolls will draw more viewers than my
news broadcasts
It will be funny when the news is all reruns.
(or has it always been?)
Game/reality programs...
The ultimate dumbing down of TV?
Bingo!
ping.
By the end of this decade or shortly thereafter, television networks as we know them today will cease to exist. Network evening news broadcasts will go dark after the ‘08 elections and their news divisions disbanded.
If we do end up having a brokered convention..or possibly two..will the networks cover them..or cede it to the cable news outlets?
Save the nominee’s acceptance speech, I expect no convention coverage by the CBS, NBC, or ABC at all. Cable news coverage will handle it all.
The networks just can’t justify the money to float the news staff any more.
Merry Christmas abb.
Excellent point.
Merry Christmas and thanks for all the pings on the various lists you keep.
If network broadcast television was a “vast wasteland” back in the 1950’s, I’m frightened to think what it is today. The last network show I watched with any regularity was “Fraser.” That seems a long time ago.
May I suggest the term half-vast wasteland as now being an appropriate descriptor?
Some of the better ideas I have seen bandied about include the networks buying some of the higher rated cable programs in syndication, figuring that they would do well both with their existing cable fan base and new network audience.
The networks can also fall back on what they used to do, airing movies during slack prime time slots.
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