http://www.hollywoodreporter.com/news/tv-ratings-how-abc-became-663970

But even if NBC can't shake the banner of industry whipping boy (after
all, when Voice and Sunday Night Football disappear in January, so will
many NBC viewers), a quiet but persistent narrative has been emerging
among ratings-watchers: ABC actually is much worse off. CBS and Fox
aren't doing so hot either this season, but ABC, the No. 4 network of the
past two seasons, increasingly has grown vulnerable to the criticism
typically reserved for the Peacock.

"There's no real secret to it," Disney CEO Robert Iger told analysts
ahead of the May upfront. "On the network front, we'd like a stronger
primetime schedule, particularly with programming that we own."

Consider the evidence: The network's fall offerings fell mostly flat, and
its splashy launch, Agents of SHIELD, premiered to a huge 4.7 rating
among adults 18-to-49 in September but was down almost three points from
its bow in its most recent new episode. ABC's reality franchise, Dancing
With the Stars, is down again this season, as are several of its
trademarked female-skewing dramas, including Revenge and Nashville.

Most alarming, observers note that the Alphabet net's biggest successes,
Modern Family and Scandal, have failed to serve as a launchpad for other
programs the way The Voice has at NBC. Scandal, pacing 61 percent north
of last season, does nobody any favors at 10 p.m. Thursdays, and Modern
Family, though not for any lack of trying, apparently is incapable of
building another comedy. (Modern is down 24 percent in its fifth season,
finally showing its age.) The network's latest stab at 9:30 p.m.

Wednesdays, the Rebel Wilson vehicle Super Fun Night, seems destined to
go the way of failed occupants Happy Endings, Don't Trust the B---- in
Apt. 23 and How to Live With Your Parents (for the Rest of Your Life)
after steep drops from its lead-in prompted an abbreviated back order.
Many critics consider ABC's inability to find a partner for Modern Family
as its biggest shortcoming.

So why has ABC largely escaped the type of venom directed at NBC?
"NBC still seems to be the focal point of negative press, while others,
like ABC -- or have you seen Fox's ratings this season? -- are largely
ignored," notes one TV exec.

One reason could be that Paul Lee, ABC Entertainment Group's genteel Brit
president, maintains a low profile, and his misses -- there are many --
have not been as spectacular as, say, Greenblatt's megaflop Smash (snarky
tweeters still were making Smash jokes Dec. 5 even as 18.5 million
watched the Sound of Music telecast). Plus, NBC's Thursday night,
middling as ever this season with Sean Saves the World and The Michael J.
Fox Show, serves as a painful reminder of the block's fall from the boom
years of Seinfeld, Friends and ER.

CBS, which celebrated its first season atop the demo heap in 20 years in
2013, indeed is down by the same measure as ABC this season. But the
steady tenures of CBS Corp. president and CEO Leslie Moonves and
entertainment chief Nina Tassler and what is regarded as the most defined
brand in broadcast largely keeps them out of the debate. Fox
entertainment chief Kevin Reilly is well-liked and is able to deflect the
brunt of criticism for his network's dramatic drops (22 percent last
season) to its ailing flagship American Idol.
PHOTOS: 81 of Fall TV's Biggest Stars

Some suggest ABC has received its own executive pass thanks to Disney's
Iger. The parent company CEO appears to inspire an appreciation for the
bigger picture he's trying to paint. Iger's sprawling TV strategy, after
all, in many ways sets up ABC for a certain amount of failure. The
network lost Monday Night Football in 2006 to Disney sibling ESPN (TV's
most-lucrative property, achieving a projected $10 billion in ad revenue
in 2013), leaving ABC the lone broadcaster unable to capitalize on the
booming NFL ratings. With sports taken out of the equation, ABC actually
would have topped the Big Four among adults 18-to-49 during the recent
November sweep.

Still, ABC's successes are becoming few and far between. The play to
reinvigorate Dancing With the Stars by cutting it down to a single two-
hour weekly broadcast failed to curb declining ratings. It closed its
17th cycle down 5 percent, with its average viewer a not-so-ad-friendly
62.1 years old. Worse off are two of the network's boldest scripted
names: Sunday duo Once Upon a Time and Revenge. Halfway into their third
seasons, the former darlings are pacing a troubling 24 percent shy of
last season. Things are so rough for Revenge, the breakout soap from the
2011-12 season, ABC is shuffling it from its prime 9 p.m. Sunday slot
(once home to yesteryear behemoth Desperate Housewives) to the network's
deeply troubled 10 p.m. hour. Current occupant and latest non-starter
Betrayal will end very quietly before midseason.

Yes, ABC has had a triumph in Agents of SHIELD, which has boosted the
Tuesday 8 p.m. slot. But it comes with the caveat of largely
underperforming lofty expectations -- both creatively and in viewership
-- for Marvel's TV foray into Disney synergy. Still, it ranks as
broadcast's No. 5 show with an average 4.9 rating among adults 18-to-49,
both significant feats.

It's that creation of a viable new time slot that many consider integral
to NBC passing its pariah status on to somebody else. And while the
network readies more attempts at a success that can't be chalked up to
The Voice or football, its competitors will play hot potato, hoping not
to be next. "As long as Thursday night is as bad a problem as it is, it's
going to be hard for NBC to turn perception," says one insider. "NBC was
built on Thursday night."

Not really news to me. I've always liked ABC better than NBC. Don't get me wrong, I do enjoy some shows (past and present) on NBC, but I've just always liked ABC better, especially in the 90's...come to think of it...everything was better in the 90's.

http://t.co/F558HNvD2G

As the NY Times reports, ABC has had to depend on female viewership since it's the only major network without NFL games: "More strikingly," reports Bill Carter, "the top five most popular shows among women are on ABC, as well as seven of the 10 most popular. All of those shows have an audience that is more than 70 percent female. (No. 1 is “Grey’s Anatomy” with an audience just under 76 percent female.)"
Read more at http://www.hitfix.com/tv-tattle#iges5kCY9cCMrUAC.99

People ripped on The CW for being the "rich white girl" network, but ABC is essentially the "soaps for women" network. I don't know when it all started happening, but the network has narrowed its focus way too much. I realize they are trying to broaden out (with male-skewing Agents of SHIELD, for example) but it is still too female focused. Castle, Nashville, Grey's Anatomy, Scandal, Once Upon a Time, Revenge; it's just too much.

Castle isn't a soap nor would I consider it female skewing. I'm a straight male who likes a lot of ABC shows: the Once Upon a Times, The Middle, Castle, and The Goldbergs. Wouldn't touch Grey's Anatomy, Scandal, or The Bachelor with a 10 foot pole though.

People ripped on The CW for being the "rich white girl" network, but ABC is essentially the "soaps for women" network. I don't know when it all started happening, but the network has narrowed its focus way too much. I realize they are trying to broaden out (with male-skewing Agents of SHIELD, for example) but it is still too female focused. Castle, Nashville, Grey's Anatomy, Scandal, Once Upon a Time, Revenge; it's just too much.

I think ABC's real problem is (and I don't mean to repeat what others have said) is their otherwise non-cohesive or slapdash scheduling (more importantly, their handling of sitcoms). For example, ABC moved Happy Endings around until it ensured it's death by the final move to Friday. They did pretty much, the the same thing to The Neighbors by moving it to Fridays in only its second season. Stuff like this does not really allow a show to establish any rapport with audiences. More to the point did not renew Suburgatory until very late, and only gave it a half season.

I also don't understand why ABC won't put The Goldbergs and Trophy Wife (two family oriented sitcoms) w/ The Middle and Modern Family on Wednesday nights. Instead, ABC tends to schedule two "weird" sitcoms (e.g. Super Fun Night, which for the most part, is terrible from what I've heard) to follow The Middle and Modern Family respectively. ABC also for some strange reason, likes broadcast shows (e.g. Don't Trust the B...) out of order.

http://t.co/F558HNvD2G

As the NY Times reports, ABC has had to depend on female viewership since it's the only major network without NFL games: "More strikingly," reports Bill Carter, "the top five most popular shows among women are on ABC, as well as seven of the 10 most popular. All of those shows have an audience that is more than 70 percent female. (No. 1 is “Grey’s Anatomy” with an audience just under 76 percent female.)"
Read more at http://www.hitfix.com/tv-tattle#iges5kCY9cCMrUAC.99

Here's some more info about the transition of Monday Night Football from ABC to ESPN:
Reconciling the Dream: 2005172008 (http://webcache.googleusercontent.com/search?q=cache:t1uAna9ng1MJ:www.uvm.edu/~rgriffin/ESPN-Miller.pdf+&cd=3&hl=en&ct=clnk&gl=us)

One thing that really grabbed me was the comment from Steve Bornstein (the former president of the ABC Network as well as ABC Sports and ESPN) that there comes a point in time in which broadcast TV networks really need a strong "male delivery system". Since a large percentage of ABC's viewers these days are female, the particular analysis now seems awfully prophetic.

ABC doesn't have football or overrun, otherwise ABC has solid lineup, Scandal and MF are above 3s, Castle, OUAT, GA and MAOS are above 2s in demo with Shark Tank and DWTS reaching also 2s, but upcoming problems with ABC are falling Sundays, GA reaching its end and finding replacement for Modern Family.

I think ABC's real problem is (and I don't mean to repeat what others have said) is their otherwise non-cohesive or slapdash scheduling (more importantly, their handling of sitcoms). For example, ABC moved Happy Endings around until it ensured it's death by the final move to Friday. They did pretty much, the the same thing to The Neighbors by moving it to Fridays in only its second season. Stuff like this does not really allow a show to establish any rapport with audiences. More to the point did not renew Suburgatory until very late, and only gave it a half season.

I also don't understand why ABC won't put The Goldbergs and Trophy Wife (two family oriented sitcoms) w/ The Middle and Modern Family on Wednesday nights. Instead, ABC tends to schedule two "weird" sitcoms (e.g. Super Fun Night, which for the most part, is terrible from what I've heard) to follow The Middle and Modern Family respectively. ABC also for some strange reason, likes broadcast shows (e.g. Don't Trust the B...) out of order.

http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/ScrewedByTheNetwork/LiveActionTV

ABC doesn't have a Friday Night Death Slot, it has Thursday Night Death Slot. The network has tried and failed to get a successful show going at 8:00 PM (Ugly Betty was the only scripted exception, although Whose Line Is It Anyway? and more recently Wipeout have both managed to run a few years by being low-cost filler) for over 30 years. So, naturally, in 2012 the geopolitical/military thriller Last Resort was aired Thursdays at eight. The ratings started as bad as you'd expect from a show that had to compete directly against (among other things) The Big Bang Theory and The X Factor, and got worse to the point where it finished last in its timeslot twice in a row, after which ABC killed it. Mildly subverted in that ABC is airing the remaining episodes and allowing its studio to give the series an actual ending.

ABC started airing season 2 of Don't Trust the B---- in Apartment 23 and Season 3 of Happy Endings on Tuesdays on October 23, a month after the start of the season, and more importantly after the start of popular Tuesday comedies New Girl and Raising Hope and new comedies Go On, The New Normal, The Mindy Project and Ben And Kate, all of which share the same time slot as the B and HE. Then they began seriously effing with Apt. 23 airing unaired episodes from Season 1 while airing episodes from Season 2 at random, resulting in serious discontinuities between episodes (like June working on Wall Street and then not, then doing it again the next episode; the entire "James on Dancing with the Stars" plot via airing order was scrambled beyond belief to the point a Dub-Induced Plot Hole had to be created to scrub a DWTS mention). Then, on January 22, 2013, they cancelled the show and announced they were not going to air the remaining 8 episodes on the network. After the end of the 2013 broadcast season the missing eight episodes were placed online and Hulu, allowing some kind of closure.
This was actually a result of being screwed in Season 1 when, after a positive response at upfronts, ABC had ordered 13 episodes and scheduled it as an actual midseason replacement with a premiere date in February. But then...perhaps ABC got cold feet about the title, not least because they were taking similar heat over Good Christian Bitches, which became Good Christian Belles and finally just GCB. After putting Apt. 23 through the same rollercoaster, they rescheduled its premiere date to the end of April, allowing just 6 episodes or so and forcing the mixed-up order in Season 2.

ABC is pretty much the Fox of the 2010s. Pan Am, Missing, Body of Proof, Zero Hour, No Ordinary Family, Better with You, How to Live with Your Parents (for the Rest of Your Life), Red Widow, and countless other series have gotten yanked off the air pretty quickly, some as a result even ending on cliffhangers!

the only things that i have watched on abc this season are the nba the first eps of derailed and back in the game and sometimes i still watch dancing with the stars outside of that there are no shows ether comedy or drama on abc that interest me i know that its odd to not be able to find at least one show on a network that will hold your interest but this season abc really struck out at least with me

Castle and The Middle are about the only things I watch on ABC.

the only things that i have watched on abc this season are the nba the first eps of derailed and back in the gameWhat's Derailed? I haven't heard of it.

What's Derailed? I haven't heard of it.i meant to say betrayal i have no idea why i wrote derailed:confused:

http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/ScrewedByTheNetwork/LiveActionTV

ABC doesn't have a Friday Night Death Slot, it has Thursday Night Death Slot. The network has tried and failed to get a successful show going at 8:00 PM (Ugly Betty was the only scripted exception, although Whose Line Is It Anyway? and more recently Wipeout have both managed to run a few years by being low-cost filler) for over 30 years. So, naturally, in 2012 the geopolitical/military thriller Last Resort was aired Thursdays at eight. The ratings started as bad as you'd expect from a show that had to compete directly against (among other things) The Big Bang Theory and The X Factor, and got worse to the point where it finished last in its timeslot twice in a row, after which ABC killed it. Mildly subverted in that ABC is airing the remaining episodes and allowing its studio to give the series an actual ending.

ABC started airing season 2 of Don't Trust the B---- in Apartment 23 and Season 3 of Happy Endings on Tuesdays on October 23, a month after the start of the season, and more importantly after the start of popular Tuesday comedies New Girl and Raising Hope and new comedies Go On, The New Normal, The Mindy Project and Ben And Kate, all of which share the same time slot as the B and HE. Then they began seriously effing with Apt. 23 airing unaired episodes from Season 1 while airing episodes from Season 2 at random, resulting in serious discontinuities between episodes (like June working on Wall Street and then not, then doing it again the next episode; the entire "James on Dancing with the Stars" plot via airing order was scrambled beyond belief to the point a Dub-Induced Plot Hole had to be created to scrub a DWTS mention). Then, on January 22, 2013, they cancelled the show and announced they were not going to air the remaining 8 episodes on the network. After the end of the 2013 broadcast season the missing eight episodes were placed online and Hulu, allowing some kind of closure.
This was actually a result of being screwed in Season 1 when, after a positive response at upfronts, ABC had ordered 13 episodes and scheduled it as an actual midseason replacement with a premiere date in February. But then...perhaps ABC got cold feet about the title, not least because they were taking similar heat over Good Christian Bitches, which became Good Christian Belles and finally just GCB. After putting Apt. 23 through the same rollercoaster, they rescheduled its premiere date to the end of April, allowing just 6 episodes or so and forcing the mixed-up order in Season 2.

ABC is pretty much the Fox of the 2010s. Pan Am, Missing, Body of Proof, Zero Hour, No Ordinary Family, Better with You, How to Live with Your Parents (for the Rest of Your Life), Red Widow, and countless other series have gotten yanked off the air pretty quickly, some as a result even ending on cliffhangers!

I seriously believe that at the end of the day, ABC's biggest problem is the fact that they're Disney owned (http://tech.fortune.cnn.com/2012/02/08/disney-abc-univision/), who has always micromanaged the network for what turned out to be the worst results (http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/ScrewedByTheNetwork/LiveActionTV):
http://www.theatlantic.com/magazine/archive/2004/11/the-queen-of-tween/303541/

Who runs ABC at any given moment has been an ongoing trivia question for the past ten years or so. Since 1995 when Disney (http://articles.latimes.com/2005/feb/07/business/fi-disney7) merged with Capital Cities/ABC in a $19 billion deal the top job at the network has been like the post of manager of the New York Yankees in the 1980s, when George Steinbrenner fitfully hired and fired skippers almost annually, only to finish the decade without a World Series ring. As executives have come and gone, the product on the air has been inconsistent and ultimately unwatched by an American public that in the age of cable no longer has to give network television the benefit of the doubt.

At every turn during this period, it seems, ABC called for the wrong play at the wrong moment. There was the attempt to make the network into a clone of NBC, which was then achieving ratings bonanzas with Friends and Seinfeld hip young stars sitting in apartments furnished by Ikea. There was the brief success and then the overuse of a game show Who Wants to Be a Millionaire? that seemed to run every night, over and over and over again, to the point where we didn't care whether or not someone won the $1 million prize or how many damn lifelines were left. And then there were the unseized moments, any one of which might have helped make ABC the broadcast juggernaut it seemed destined to be when it first gained access to the resources and power of mighty Disney: the network turned down Survivor (now a perennially top-ranked show for CBS) not once but three times; it balked at Scrubs (now a hit comedy on NBC) and CSI (now a hit franchise, with two spinoffs, on CBS), both of which, gallingly, were developed by Touchstone, Disney's in-house television production unit; and when Survivor's creator, Mark Burnett, came to ABC with The Apprentice, the network's inability to move quickly enough allowed that show, which became a huge hit last year, to land at NBC.

Scrubs was not a hit like the other ABC passes mentioned. It rode off the coattails of Frasier, Friends, and Will & Grace, all of which were lead-ins for Scrubs, it could not anchor a night. ABC did end up airing Scrubs when NBC didn't want it, the last season did absolutely terrible. :lol:

Scrubs was not a hit like the other ABC passes mentioned. It rode off the coattails of Frasier, Friends, and Will & Grace, all of which were lead-ins for Scrubs, it could not anchor a night. ABC did end up airing Scrubs when NBC didn't want it, the last season did absolutely terrible. :lol: i did not watch any eps at all that last season and from what i have heard it sounds like i did not miss much

http://img.portwallpaper.com/imgcel/Tricia_Helfer/Tricia-Helfer-11.JPG
Cannot wait to see the first episode of ABC's Killer Women! It only 9 episodes! But if it goes well it could be made into a full season of 22!
http://www.123celebrities.com/celebs/Tricia_Helfer/Tricia_Helfer_16.jpg

http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_FvIPmG6kolA/TJzgAXV6rVI/AAAAAAAAE3M/hRKJdMuyKKw/s1600/Tricia-Helfer-5.jpg
It about a female Texas Ranger! Star is: Tricia Helfer!

I'm looking forward to it!!

Its in a terrible time slot, its getting horrible reviews and its on abc. So we'll see how it goes. Nice pix tho.

http://t.co/SDoVetRdVG

ABC, CBS, Fox, NBC and Turner all are expected to place bids by tomorrow for the NFL's Thursday night package.

http://t.co/ArfONTO4CS

Those are great pictures.

http://www.hollywoodreporter.com/bastard-machine/tca-why-did-abc-chief-672051?

It's been a tough season for ABC, where everything from "Once Upon a Time in Wonderland" to "Killer Women" has failed to catch on.
Read more at http://www.hitfix.com/tv-tattle#OuCmaEMb7PjAWyK8.99

ABC failed to use shows like Lost, Grey's, Housewives, etc to launch new series. Instead they just tried to recreate the success of these shows by creating series that are identical to them in nearly every way.

They forgot that what made these shows popular was that they were unique and new concepts when they were launched.

http://www.adweek.com/news/television/all-hail-shonda-rhimes-156029

“Grey’s Anatomy” and “Scandal” (http://www.vulture.com/2014/02/what-we-need-from-tonights-scandal.html) honcho Shonda Rhimes “is the straw that stirs the drink at ABC (http://tvline.com/2014/02/27/ratings-greys-anatomy-scandal-once-upon-a-time-split-seasons/)” after both of her shows returned last night to big numbers, says Ad Week.
Read more at http://www.hitfix.com/tv-tattle#QeM0jHaxKsBThcjF.99

Scandal has single-handedly saved ABC from being a total failure this season. (And Grey's and Modern Family, but they're older and past their ratings peaks).

That's why I think the Goldbergs will be around for awhile. It seems to gaining steam and is (at least to me)pretty good. I think it can be a huge hit if it keeps going the way it is.

I agree...Disney hindered ABC.

I watched ABC in the 90's, it had "Home Improvement", "Growng Pains", "Who's the Boss", "Drew Carey Show", and "Mr. Belvedere" to name a few. It also had MNF and TGIF.

But 1995 came in and changed almost everything starting with "One Saturday Morning" and making TGIF more for teenagers by letting go of "Family Matters" and "Step by Step".

After "Millionaire" ended its popularity...ABC just went to ****! TGIF is gone, MNF is gone, even "Wonderful World of Disney" is gone!

And ABC wonders why The Oscars lose more and more viewers...I really wish they'd play more classical film clips on the Oscar Ceremonies than rambling speeches!

ABC seems to not stick their necks out for any start up TV show these days. If the show does not do well in the first 3 episodes; it usually is canceled by the fifth episode and many times is not shown or aired again - even if it has another 5 or 6 episodes to go.

I am not impressed by this type of management style. The people in programming department seems to me, don't know a "hit or a flop" when they sign a show on and then decide to cancel it just after one to three episodes. If I were a producer of a TV show; the last network I would shop it to; is ABC!

They have no faith in their judgement! Why not fire the director of programming?

http://variety.com/2014/tv/news/abc-struggles-with-low-ratings-high-drama-casualty-rate-1201125815/

“Mind Games” is expected to become the third Tuesday failure, as ABC struggles in 4th place both in total viewers and in the key 18-49 demo.
Read more at http://www.hitfix.com/tv-tattle#OiW4KzUgjQsz582H.99

http://t.co/F558HNvD2G

As the NY Times reports, ABC has had to depend on female viewership since it's the only major network without NFL games: "More strikingly," reports Bill Carter, "the top five most popular shows among women are on ABC, as well as seven of the 10 most popular. All of those shows have an audience that is more than 70 percent female. (No. 1 is “Grey’s Anatomy” with an audience just under 76 percent female.)"
Read more at http://www.hitfix.com/tv-tattle#iges5kCY9cCMrUAC.99

http://www.hollywoodreporter.com/news/anne-sweeney-top-disney-exec-687567

ABC is positioning itself as increasingly women-focused. Can a broadcast network successfully skew toward one gender?

Sweeney: Actually, more women watch television than men. So one of the things that Paul Lee realized when he took the job was that we had a very, very strong, loyal group of women who were ABC viewers to the core. I think he paid a lot of attention to that.

Iger: I’m kind of a fan of choosing the best shows and not being burdened by a so-called brand or by one demo. I think audiences today are sophisticated. And so I like to think that we are more expansive in our thinking about what we develop and what we program.

You did go after NFL Thursday 
night rights that went to CBS. 
What happened?

Sweeney: We didn’t get them. (Laughs.) Honestly, I don’t know why. Whatever deal was struck was a deal they wanted more than ours.

How big will sports be for ABC in the coming years?

Iger: Not very. The sports brand for us is ESPN. That was the decision I made years back, maybe to some extent at the expense of ABC from a male demo perspective. But ABC did just fine. In the years I had Lost, Desperate Housewives, Grey’s Anatomy, for instance, we were perfectly happy with essentially programming a nonsports network. ESPN does program football [on ABC] Saturdays in the fall, and I watched a great basketball game on ABC today that was produced by ESPN. The Lakers beat Oklahoma City.

ABC has problems with its own shows right now.

http://forums.tvnewstalk.net/index.php?/topic/13622-could-nbc-collapse-altogether/

http://forums.tvnewstalk.net/index.php?/topic/13622-could-nbc-collapse-altogether/#entry105504

I'm actually pretty sure that ABC, not NBC, is the lowest rated of the "big four" networks, partially because NBC is buoyed by ratings blockbusters like Sunday Night Football and The Voice. At the same time, ABC's "hit" series like Dancing With the Stars and The Bachelor have been progressively dropping, and their midseason replacement series have premiered to nones of people watching. I'd be more worried about the future of ABC, not NBC.

http://forums.tvnewstalk.net/index.php?/topic/13622-could-nbc-collapse-altogether/#entry105507

ABC or Disney better get rid of Paul Lee. He certainly isn't doing the network any favors in terms of finding shows that the viewers will find compelling, and will return to week in and week out. And ABC is my favorite of the big four. I hate to see it not doing well. I grew up with ABC.

http://forums.tvnewstalk.net/index.php?/topic/13622-could-nbc-collapse-altogether/#entry105509

I'm still happy to see shows like Grey's Anatomy getting 3.0 in its 11th or so season? That being said the network seems to have NO plans beyond Modern Family and a few other hits. The network needs some new energy flowing.

http://forums.tvnewstalk.net/index.php?/topic/13622-could-nbc-collapse-altogether/#entry105510

I understand where people may get the idea that NBC is crap and will govaway. NBC seems to allow their own talent to make jabs and use self deprecating humor about the networks bottom line, reputation and past ratings woes. The most frequent offenders are the late night hosts and their shows: Jay Leno when he was on the Tonight Show did it for years (well before the Conan fiasco), Jimmy Fallon and Seth Meyers both do it, Saturday Night Live does it and when 30 Rock aired it was constantly making fun at the corporate culture of GE and later Kabletown.

Speaking of the corporate culture it's also allowed NBCUniversals cable channels. Kathy Griffin talks trash about Bravo where she makes fun of the SVP and current late night host Andy Cohen along with all the other programming on the network. On the E! network Chelsea Handler constantly talks about how stupid E! programming is and the Kardashians on her show. A second show on E! I think takes it a step further is The Soup which regularly plays clips from The Kardashians, E! News and The Today Show (mainly from the fourth hour). Like Chelsea, Joel McHale mocks the networks budget which is well deserved because his show is just filmed in front of a chroma key wall.

One of the most recent jokes and the best that I can remember was when Jimmy Fallon hosted Saturday Night Live this season. The sketch was Family Feud, led by Kenan Thompson doing his clueless Steve Harvey impression. It was Team NBC being led by Justin Timberlake, playing Jimmy Fallon, versus Team CBS, led by Jimmy Fallon playing Jim Parsons as Sheldon Cooper. The only jab that was made at NBC was when Steve mentioned what charity the teams would be playing for CBS for the Red Cross and NBC for the NBCUniversal company.

Despite NBCUniversal being so open and allowing of self deprecating humor it appears to me that this does not happen at all on the other networks like ABC and CBS. I will say though Fox does allow itself to be mocked through Family Guy in the occasional episode that I have seen.

Like many of you said before if any of the big four networks were to die I think it would be ABC. From the outside it appears to me that Disney does not take the ownership of the network seriously and doesn't realize that sometimes you would have to spend more to make a profit, much like what happened to NBC during the last years of GE ownership.

ABC has only has Good Morning America and out of all of primetime the only hit is Scandal. They seem to be stubborn and think that filling up two nights of valuable real estate with season 18 Dancing With the Stars and 18 seasons of the Bachelor thinking they will once again be hits, news flash their viewers are dropping and the ones who still watch are the diehard fans (NBC will have a similar problem if they keep airing two seasons of The Voice a year.)

ABC has problems with its own shows right now.

With all due respect, that's pretty much the most if not the whole point regarding what's wrong w/ ABC this moment! :happyface :wave:

none of the Big 4, or even CW or MYNETWORKTV are going away any time soon

http://www.adweek.com/news/television/abc-yanks-cord-mind-games-156630

That timeslot has become a “dead zone” after the failures of “Lucky 7,” “Killer Women” and “Mind Games.”
Read more at http://www.hitfix.com/tv-tattle#v2oPc1Y5zppxjQYc.99

http://www.hollywoodreporter.com/news/anne-sweeney-top-disney-exec-687567

http://adage.com/article/media/abc-a-woman-problem/292404/

Advertisers are complaining that ABC is too reliant on female shows, including aging dramas like “Grey’s Anatomy."
Read more at http://www.hitfix.com/tv-tattle#jYpqUJLzag7JT4fI.99

http://forums.tvnewstalk.net/index.php?/topic/13622-could-nbc-collapse-altogether/

http://www.google.com/url?q=http%3A%2F%2Fvariety.com%2F2014%2Ftv%2Fnews%2Fpaul-lee-seals-new-contract-as-abc-entertainment-group-chief-1201157537%2F&sa=D&sntz=1&usg=AFQjCNGAQHqyO_kJZpVxa1myQnG0AEG3qQ

Paul Lee Seals New Contract as ABC Entertainment Group Chief
by Cynthia Littleton

There’s bound to be a lot of movement inside the Disney/ABC Television
Group in the coming year as Ben Sherwood takes the reins from outgoing
president Anne Sweeney. But one thing that won’t change in the near
future is the leadership of ABC Entertainment Group.

Paul Lee has sealed a multi-year deal to remain president of the
group, which encompasses the entertainment operations of ABC network,
the ABC Studios production division and entertainment fare for Disney
syndication and ABC Daytime. His contract renewal talks were under way
well before Sweeney’s plan to step down in January was announced last
month.

Disney topper Bob Iger has said that he tabbed ABC News prez Sherwood
as Sweeney’s logical successor as soon as Sweeney let her intentions
be known to him last summer. But Iger has also voiced his support for
Lee despite ABC’s rocky performance with new programs during the past
two seasons.

Lee has been at the helm of ABC since July 2010. He came to the
Alphabet after a successful six-year run at the ABC Family cabler, and
before that he ran the BBC America cabler in its startup phase.

ABC declined comment on Lee’s deal.

http://www.deadline.com/2014/05/abc-win-may-sweep-first-time-14-years/

ABC has finished first in the demo the past five weeks.
Read more at http://www.hitfix.com/tv-tattle#jdDPvihmSEFmMEep.99

http://uproxx.com/tv/2015/05/heres-why-abc-is-the-best-broadcast-network-on-television/

By Dustin Rowles • 05.08.15

Among the prized 18-49 demographic, ABC was the No. 1 network on television last week, according to Nielsen ratings. The network is quietly enjoying a great season, and it’s doing so without the benefit of the NFL, without a singing competition, and in spite of the dwindling ratings of Dancing with the Stars. Typically, a strong season in the ratings means a network has more freedom when it comes to programming; they can ditch the low-rated fare and rely on their anchor series to carry them another season while they continue to rotate in new series.

When a network is riding high, they often shed their lowest performers and rely on their anchor series to allow them time to develop new shows. Look at NBC: They’ve basically built their lineup around NFL Sunday Night Football, The Blacklist and The Voice, and instead of being patient with new shows, they throw them against the wall to see what sticks (and since Bob Greenblatt took over as president, they’ve greenlit more than 20 sitcoms (http://www.pajiba.com/trade_news/heres-a-quick-look-at-nbcs-sitcom-track-record-since-the-network-decided-to-sell-out.php), and none of them have yet been picked up for a third season, although Undateable might break that streak).

Fox is the trigger happiest of all networks, one that’s been canceling series too soon for over a decade (Enlisted, Surviving Jack, Ben and Kate, to name a few recent examples), and it’s gotten to the point with Fox that no one wants to get invested with a series because they can’t trust that it will come back. It’s practically the “Canceled Too Soon” network. Meanwhile, CBS is consistent, but all they really have are a gaggle of procedurals, laugh track sitcoms and Survivor (its best “procedural,” Person of Interest, made the mistake of serializing, i.e., becoming an interesting show, and now it’s on the brink of cancellation, as well).

In its upfront announcements last night, ABC did something exceptional for a network in its situation. Instead of relying on its hit shows to carry next year while they develop a lot of new series that might or might not work, ABC decided to do something novel: It renewed all their quality series, regardless of ratings. Yes, they dropped Forever and Resurrection (because they weren’t good), and Cristela (which has a small but passionate following, but not real critical support), but they surprised a lot of people by sticking with all of their “good” shows, despite tepid ratings.

That meant the beloved Galavant, the well-liked Fresh off the Boat, the critically well-received, but dismally-rated American Crime, and their bubble show, Agent Carter, will all get second seasons. Even Secrets and Lies got renewed, and I’ve barely even heard of that series, although it now has my attention (Revenge was canceled last week, but I think everyone — including the cast on that show — knew the series had run its course). Unlike Fox, which renewed New Girl, despite miserable ratings because it has little else, ABC wasn’t in a position where they had to pick up these low-rated series, either. They had the Chevy Chase/Beverly D’Angelo series and another Marvel spin-off they could have run with, but they declined in both cases in favor of giving these other series time to find an audience.

ABC is suddenly a network we can rely upon not to cancel promising series. That means more than you might think. It’s difficult to get too invested in a series if we aren’t confident it will stick around. ABC, in fact, has a remarkable run of consistency: Besides freshman series Blackish and How to Get Away from Murder getting picked up for another season, Grey’s Anatomy is going into its 12th season, Castle is going into its eighth, Modern Family and The Middle are going into their seventh, Scandal and Once Upon a Time are going into their fifth seasons, The Goldbergs and Marvel’s Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D are getting third seasons (despite being on the bubble their first years). As important, they don’t move shows around on the schedule too much. Once Upon a Time anchors Sunday, Castle and Dancing with the Stars are Monday mainstays, Marvel gets Tuesday, the family sitcoms dominate Wednesday, and Shonda Rhimes gets Thursday all to herself. Those are nights you can count on.

Network television may be losing its relevance and its ratings, but ABC has made a nice little niche for itself with Marvel series the geeks will talk about, Shonda Rhimes shows that dominate Twitter on Thursdays, and comfortable family sitcoms that get consistent ratings on Wednesday. The network has an identity, it has consistency, and we can rely upon it, which is not only why it’s getting the best 18-49 ratings, it’s why it’s the best broadcast network on television in 2015.