View Full Version : We're seeing the beginning of the end of Must-See TV Thursdays
http://www.grantland.com/blog/hollywood-prospectus/post/_/id/58212/nbc-comedy-recap-the-beginning-of-the-end-of-must-see-tv-thursdays
NBC's Thursday lineup currently looks like "The Walking Dead."
yankeesrj12 09-22-2012, 11:21 AM Beginning? Must-See TV (or Comedy Night Done Right) has been dying for years now. Does NBC even use either name when promoting anymore?
ryan423 09-22-2012, 01:39 PM No, they do not.
I have a hunch about NBC's plan for the future of their comedy lineup. Wrote about it yesterday on Facebook if any of you care to read and discuss :)
http://www.facebook.com/notes/ryan-schwartz/thursday-920-prime-time-ratings-analysis/10151026807552606
*Pleasant Tomorrow* 09-22-2012, 05:23 PM Yeah.
NBC killed the shows itself. No promotion, no interest. That and what they have, while great, is not what the general public wants right now. It's like the public goes through phases. Right now it just wants mindlessness. Plus, NBC's shows are the type that are watched by people who watch these shows on the internet. So there's another thing against it: the current ratings system.
It's sad. And the new stuff NBC is putting out is also sad. Right now, FOX seems like it's putting out stuff that I, personally, would be most interested in. ABC is alright. A little too general for me. CBS is just brain dead but, like I said, that's what the people want right now.
mets82 09-22-2012, 09:30 PM I dont think its the end. If anything, I think they are promoting it the same as always. I think the problem is that NBC has been so bad the past few years and there Thursday line-up hasnt been great as well that Must-See TV is over.
If they had a Friends or a Seinfeld or even a Will and Grace to anchor the lineup, its a different story. Also, when you have shows like Seinfeld, Friends, Will and Grace on a Thursday its tough to replace them when there gone.
USATVFAN 09-22-2012, 09:37 PM http://www.grantland.com/blog/hollywood-prospectus/post/_/id/58212/nbc-comedy-recap-the-beginning-of-the-end-of-must-see-tv-thursdays
NBC's Thursday lineup currently looks like "The Walking Dead."
Are you TMC-4 from IMDB? http://www.imdb.com/user/ur0297818/boards/ You post the exact same things on IMDB and Sitcomonline.
TVFactFan 09-22-2012, 10:47 PM Well I won't be watching NBC on Thursdays after the Office Ends so I will be one of the lost viewers:lol:
Not sure if Dwight's spinoff will be aired on Thursday
EmoJoe 09-23-2012, 03:33 AM NBC is a mess right now. Trying to gain a larger audience is fine but you don't need to do it by watering down your content and producing crap. Like Ashlee said, none of the current NBC shows got even half of the opportunities to succeed that their new shows have. They were once the place to go for great comedy but ABC and FOX have both trumped them in comedy development these past few seasons. (Well, ABC had a pretty terrible year this year for pilots too but they have enough goodwill from the past 2 seasons that I can excuse them). It's not a coincidence that all of the NBC/SNL writers and cast members who would previously have gone to NBC are migrating to FOX these days.
Oh and this "the Thursday line-up hasn't been great" talk I'm seeing here is nonsense. Like the article says, the Community/Parks & Rec/The Office/30 Rock line-up was the best line-up they have ever had.
icecream 09-23-2012, 12:22 PM Oh and this "the Thursday line-up hasn't been great" talk I'm seeing here is nonsense. Like the article says, the Community/Parks & Rec/The Office/30 Rock line-up was the best line-up they have ever had.Yeah it was the best: for causing viewers to flee from their horrid, unfunny shows.
Mr. Television 09-23-2012, 12:33 PM Nothing and I mean nothing ever beat The Cosby Show, Family Ties, Cheers and Night Court. Ratings bore that out too.
yankeesrj12 09-23-2012, 12:55 PM It's kind of funny, if Joey would have been successful (aka developed right) it would probably still be on the air today. Imagine what NBC "MUST SEE TV" would look like then! One show makes the difference.
yankeesrj12 09-23-2012, 12:57 PM No, they do not.
I have a hunch about NBC's plan for the future of their comedy lineup. Wrote about it yesterday on Facebook if any of you care to read and discuss :)
http://www.facebook.com/notes/ryan-schwartz/thursday-920-prime-time-ratings-analysis/10151026807552606
I don't see The New Normal being part of the equation. Other than that, it's a solid comedy lineup.
TVFactFan 09-23-2012, 01:03 PM It's kind of funny, if Joey would have been successful (aka developed right) it would probably still be on the air today. Imagine what NBC "MUST SEE TV" would look like then! One show makes the difference.
I watched it every week and liked it
I'm going to take something that I wrote on the TV Tropes website a while ago:
http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/FranchiseKiller
The downfall of NBC's Thursday night "Must See TV" block, can be attributed to the combination of oversaturation of sitcoms all across NBC's line-up (to put things into proper perspective, during the 1997-98 season, NBC had about 18 sitcom slots on Mondays-Thursdays and Sunday), which for the most part seemed nearly identical from one another (i.e. multi-camera shows about young, affluent white people living in New York City), the mismanagement of Jeff Zucker (which on its own, can be considered a Dork Age of NBC), who because of his "super-sizing" concept for Friends, made it much harder to nurture another show right after it, the lack of strong shows to replace staples like Seinfeld, Frasier and Friends (which in the meantime, were usually sandwiched in-between otherwise mediocre or forgettable shows like The Single Guy, Suddenly Susan, Caroline In The City and Veronica's Closet) such as the disastrous American adaptation of Coupling, other networks' (i.e. CBS and ABC) Thursday night line-ups becoming increasingly stronger by around 2004, and The Apprentice moving into the 9 p.m. timeslot.
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