Could Paul Reiser destroy NBC by getting old people to watch the network? - Sitcoms Online Message Boards

Mr. Television · 03-23-2011, 11:00 PM

http://www.salon.com/entertainment/t...how/index.html

The Paul Reiser Show
Wednesday, Mar 23, 2011 10:01 ET

Could Paul Reiser destroy NBC?
The network seems terrified that a new sitcom from the "Mad About You" star will become a hit. Why?

By Matt Zoller Seitz

"I've managed to get everything in my life that I ever dreamed of," says Paul Reiser in a trailer advertising "The Paul Reiser Show," his first sitcom since "Mad About You." "The only problem is, I'm not dead yet. So what do I do next?"

How about airing on Thursday nights, becoming a surprise success, and accidentally destroying NBC?

No, really. Space is available at 8:30 p.m. on Thursdays -- a time slot about to be vacated by the just-canceled "Perfect Couples." Starting April 14, the network will plug that hole with Reiser's sitcom, which was announced as a possible fall, 2010 series last spring, then got downgraded to a possible mid-season replacement, then sat on the shelf. NBC must have made a gun-to-the-head decision to put "The Paul Reiser Show" on its most buzz-worthy night. As recently as Monday, Hollywood trade paper stories about the networks' 2011 summer lineups listed Reiser's sitcom as unscheduled. "The Paul Reiser Show" has six episodes in the can, but so far NBC has only committed to air four -- enough to help its Thursday-night lineup stagger through the spring.

Both Reiser's sitcom and NBC's awkward handling of it say a lot about the mentalities of sitcom producers -- and the demographic-obsessed networks that control their fortunes.

Originally titled "Next," "The Paul Reiser Show" is the latest in a long line of comedies exploring the lives of rich and famous performers. Reiser plays Paul Reiser, who made scads of money as the producer-star of "Mad About You" and now finds himself adjusting to life outside the spotlight. You've seen this kind of thing before. In fact, you saw it this season on Showtime's marvelous "Episodes," in which Matt LeBlanc played Matt LeBlanc, former star of a show called "Friends." You also saw it on "The Comeback," "Fat Actress," "Curb Your Enthusiasm" and CBS's short-lived "Bette."

On paper, Reiser's series would seem an OK fit for Thursday, a night stocked with improv-driven, often acutely self-aware sitcoms: "Community," "The Office," "Parks and Recreation," "30 Rock" and "Outsourced." Yet NBC resisted adding "The Paul Reiser Show" to its schedule on any night. Why?

It could be because NBC just didn't think it was good -- but that didn't stop the network from airing the lackluster "Outsourced" and stubbornly supporting its presence on Thursdays. I can't vouch for the quality of "The Paul Reiser Show," having only seen parts of the pilot -- I'll review the whole thing the week it airs -- but based on clips and a synopsis, it looks like another laid-back, semi-improvised comedy. Early scuttlebutt says it's a pleasant but unremarkable sitcom; yet it supposedly tested well with focus groups, and pleasant-but-unremarkable sitcoms have been known to catch fire and stay on the air forever.

The most intriguing theory I've heard (via TV writers and network veterans) is that NBC shelved the show because it was scared it might become an unlikely hit and damage its hard-won identity as a broadcast network with youth appeal. Reiser turns 54 on March 30, and most of the major characters on his new sitcom are over 40. NBC is obsessed with the 18-to-49-year-old demographic -- really the 18-to-34-year-old demographic, though it doesn't mind if a few old-timers watch alongside the young 'uns. The network had to give Reiser's show a shot at some point because "Mad About You" made ungodly amounts of money for NBC in the '90s. But it has an over-50 star who is no longer a household name -- and for a youth-obsessed network, that's a problem.

According to this theory, if the "The Paul Reiser Show" did well enough to get renewed and be considered an anchor for whatever night it played, NBC would be forced to reshuffle its programming to find complementary lead-ins and follow-ups -- meaning non-youth-appeal shows with stars in Reiser's age range. That would have jacked up the average age of viewers on whatever night "The Paul Reiser Show" aired, and driven down advertising rates (because advertisers pay more to reach younger viewers whose buying habits aren't set).

In this scenario, even a modestly successful run for "The Paul Reiser Show" could cause long-term financial headaches for NBC by turning at least one night of the week into Old Folks' Night, with discount coupons for advertisers. If that night turned out to be Thursday -- with high school and college-age viewers tuning out the minute Reiser appears on-screen -- the effect would be seismic. The network is already struggling to figure out what to do with "Harry's Law," the David E. Kelley drama starring 62-year-old Kathy Bates. It's doing well on Mondays at 10 p.m. despite a weak lead-in, "The Event," and provides a nice segue into the older-skewing local news and "The Tonight Show." But the network will be hard-pressed to build a night around "Harry's Law" if it returns next year, and if it puts one or two more shows on the air starring 50- or 60-something leads, wags will start joking that NBC is morphing into CBS in the early '90s, when its identity was defined by "Murder, She Wrote" and "Diagnosis: Murder."

I realize this all sounds bizarre, like the plot of "The Producers" in reverse. But it is, in fact, how programmers think -- and they've been thinking that way for so long that viewers are trained to think that way, too.

"As a member of the target viewing audience who was 14 when [Reiser's] previous show went off the air, what would draw me to this new show?" asked a reader in the comments thread of a Zap2It article about the NBC pickup. "I think most people in my age group are generally unfamiliar with Paul Reiser as either a comedian or an actor, except for the 'Curb Your Enthusiasm' appearance." "Just what that 18-49 demographic wants ... 30 minutes of Paul Reiser!" said a HitFix reader. "This should be on TV Land with the new Betty White show," said a commenter at Deadline Hollywood.

I never liked "Mad About You" and find Reiser only fitfully amusing. But for purely mischievous reasons, I'm rooting for the show to become a gigantic hit. I love imagining the hippest programmers at the hippest broadcast network reading the overnight Nielsen ratings on April 15, reenacting Edvard Munch's "The Scream," and driving to work muttering about how that horrible old man Paul Reiser ruined everything.

catlover79 · 03-24-2011, 12:36 AM

I thought Jeff Zucker already destroyed NBC.

Marvo301 · 03-24-2011, 12:49 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by catlover79

I thought Jeff Zucker already destroyed NBC.

Me too! I can't imagine Paul Reiser could do any more damage to NBC than NBC has already done to itself!!

ryan423 · 03-24-2011, 01:36 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Stuck In The '70's

"Just what that 18-49 demographic wants ... 30 minutes of Paul Reiser!" said a HitFix reader.

Hahaha, that was me!!

robyrob · 03-24-2011, 02:32 PM

geez are they stupid? - "old-timers night" should be Saturday night when the young ones are out dancing and destroying their livers and whatnot.

catlover79 · 03-24-2011, 02:56 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Marvo301

Me too! I can't imagine Paul Reiser could do any more damage to NBC than NBC has already done to itself!!

I remember one joke Jay Leno made once. There was some type of building fire in Burbank, where the NBC building is and where his show (and Days of Our Lives) tapes. He said, "When I first heard there was a fire in Burbank, I thought someone was trying to burn down NBC for the insurance money!"

Marvo301 · 03-24-2011, 05:00 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by catlover79

I remember one joke Jay Leno made once. There was some type of building fire in Burbank, where the NBC building is and where his show (and Days of Our Lives) tapes. He said, "When I first heard there was a fire in Burbank, I thought someone was trying to burn down NBC for the insurance money!"

That's probably the only way NBC could make money these days!

catlover79 · 03-24-2011, 08:44 PM

Yup!!!!

Retro4Life · 03-24-2011, 08:50 PM

Am I the only one who yearns for a return to shows that feature actual CHARACTERS rather than just 'wink and a nod' version of the stars? I'm so tired of the 'smirky office comedies' and the self-referential mirror kissing of the stars.

I suppose it's way too late for this, but does anyone know how to actually WRITE anymore?

catlover79 · 03-24-2011, 08:51 PM

^ No, you're not. I completely agree!!

Retro4Life · 03-24-2011, 08:52 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by catlover79

^ No, you're not. I completely agree!!

Well, that's two of us!

MariposaLKB · 03-24-2011, 09:19 PM

Make that 3 LOL! For the record, I loved Mad About You (probably because I was a recently-married 30-something myself at the time)--but as the article says, we have seen this before. Even sitcoms that actually are written these days seem calculated only to be "hip" (to the extent of being offensive in most cases). Those of us outside the usual demographic need something to watch and laugh at! Have writers these days even heard of All in the Family or MASH, for example? A good mix of the real, the topical, and the poignant along with the double entendre and the outright hysterical.

Retro4Life · 03-24-2011, 09:32 PM

^ Writers today don't take their cues from life, as the MASH and AITF writers did; they take it from other sitcoms. There is no connection between what's happening onscreen and the experiences of our own lives, it's all attitude and irony, which has its place and is funny in context, but can and will NEVER take the place of comedy that has as its heart the shared human experience

Marvo301 · 03-24-2011, 10:02 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Retro4Life

^ Writers today don't take their cues from life, as the MASH and AITF writers did; they take it from other sitcoms. There is no connection between what's happening onscreen and the experiences of our own lives, it's all attitude and irony, which has its place and is funny in context, but can and will NEVER take the place of comedy that has as its heart the shared human experience

Very well said!!

03-23-2011, 11:00 PM	#1
Mr. Television 22 Years at Sitcoms Online Forum Icon Join Date: Jun 06, 2003 Location: Somewhere you're Not Posts: 62,128	Could Paul Reiser destroy NBC by getting old people to watch the network? http://www.salon.com/entertainment/t...how/index.html The Paul Reiser Show Wednesday, Mar 23, 2011 10:01 ET Could Paul Reiser destroy NBC? The network seems terrified that a new sitcom from the "Mad About You" star will become a hit. Why? By Matt Zoller Seitz "I've managed to get everything in my life that I ever dreamed of," says Paul Reiser in a trailer advertising "The Paul Reiser Show," his first sitcom since "Mad About You." "The only problem is, I'm not dead yet. So what do I do next?" How about airing on Thursday nights, becoming a surprise success, and accidentally destroying NBC? No, really. Space is available at 8:30 p.m. on Thursdays -- a time slot about to be vacated by the just-canceled "Perfect Couples." Starting April 14, the network will plug that hole with Reiser's sitcom, which was announced as a possible fall, 2010 series last spring, then got downgraded to a possible mid-season replacement, then sat on the shelf. NBC must have made a gun-to-the-head decision to put "The Paul Reiser Show" on its most buzz-worthy night. As recently as Monday, Hollywood trade paper stories about the networks' 2011 summer lineups listed Reiser's sitcom as unscheduled. "The Paul Reiser Show" has six episodes in the can, but so far NBC has only committed to air four -- enough to help its Thursday-night lineup stagger through the spring. Both Reiser's sitcom and NBC's awkward handling of it say a lot about the mentalities of sitcom producers -- and the demographic-obsessed networks that control their fortunes. Originally titled "Next," "The Paul Reiser Show" is the latest in a long line of comedies exploring the lives of rich and famous performers. Reiser plays Paul Reiser, who made scads of money as the producer-star of "Mad About You" and now finds himself adjusting to life outside the spotlight. You've seen this kind of thing before. In fact, you saw it this season on Showtime's marvelous "Episodes," in which Matt LeBlanc played Matt LeBlanc, former star of a show called "Friends." You also saw it on "The Comeback," "Fat Actress," "Curb Your Enthusiasm" and CBS's short-lived "Bette." On paper, Reiser's series would seem an OK fit for Thursday, a night stocked with improv-driven, often acutely self-aware sitcoms: "Community," "The Office," "Parks and Recreation," "30 Rock" and "Outsourced." Yet NBC resisted adding "The Paul Reiser Show" to its schedule on any night. Why? It could be because NBC just didn't think it was good -- but that didn't stop the network from airing the lackluster "Outsourced" and stubbornly supporting its presence on Thursdays. I can't vouch for the quality of "The Paul Reiser Show," having only seen parts of the pilot -- I'll review the whole thing the week it airs -- but based on clips and a synopsis, it looks like another laid-back, semi-improvised comedy. Early scuttlebutt says it's a pleasant but unremarkable sitcom; yet it supposedly tested well with focus groups, and pleasant-but-unremarkable sitcoms have been known to catch fire and stay on the air forever. The most intriguing theory I've heard (via TV writers and network veterans) is that NBC shelved the show because it was scared it might become an unlikely hit and damage its hard-won identity as a broadcast network with youth appeal. Reiser turns 54 on March 30, and most of the major characters on his new sitcom are over 40. NBC is obsessed with the 18-to-49-year-old demographic -- really the 18-to-34-year-old demographic, though it doesn't mind if a few old-timers watch alongside the young 'uns. The network had to give Reiser's show a shot at some point because "Mad About You" made ungodly amounts of money for NBC in the '90s. But it has an over-50 star who is no longer a household name -- and for a youth-obsessed network, that's a problem. According to this theory, if the "The Paul Reiser Show" did well enough to get renewed and be considered an anchor for whatever night it played, NBC would be forced to reshuffle its programming to find complementary lead-ins and follow-ups -- meaning non-youth-appeal shows with stars in Reiser's age range. That would have jacked up the average age of viewers on whatever night "The Paul Reiser Show" aired, and driven down advertising rates (because advertisers pay more to reach younger viewers whose buying habits aren't set). In this scenario, even a modestly successful run for "The Paul Reiser Show" could cause long-term financial headaches for NBC by turning at least one night of the week into Old Folks' Night, with discount coupons for advertisers. If that night turned out to be Thursday -- with high school and college-age viewers tuning out the minute Reiser appears on-screen -- the effect would be seismic. The network is already struggling to figure out what to do with "Harry's Law," the David E. Kelley drama starring 62-year-old Kathy Bates. It's doing well on Mondays at 10 p.m. despite a weak lead-in, "The Event," and provides a nice segue into the older-skewing local news and "The Tonight Show." But the network will be hard-pressed to build a night around "Harry's Law" if it returns next year, and if it puts one or two more shows on the air starring 50- or 60-something leads, wags will start joking that NBC is morphing into CBS in the early '90s, when its identity was defined by "Murder, She Wrote" and "Diagnosis: Murder." I realize this all sounds bizarre, like the plot of "The Producers" in reverse. But it is, in fact, how programmers think -- and they've been thinking that way for so long that viewers are trained to think that way, too. "As a member of the target viewing audience who was 14 when [Reiser's] previous show went off the air, what would draw me to this new show?" asked a reader in the comments thread of a Zap2It article about the NBC pickup. "I think most people in my age group are generally unfamiliar with Paul Reiser as either a comedian or an actor, except for the 'Curb Your Enthusiasm' appearance." "Just what that 18-49 demographic wants ... 30 minutes of Paul Reiser!" said a HitFix reader. "This should be on TV Land with the new Betty White show," said a commenter at Deadline Hollywood. I never liked "Mad About You" and find Reiser only fitfully amusing. But for purely mischievous reasons, I'm rooting for the show to become a gigantic hit. I love imagining the hippest programmers at the hippest broadcast network reading the overnight Nielsen ratings on April 15, reenacting Edvard Munch's "The Scream," and driving to work muttering about how that horrible old man Paul Reiser ruined everything.
	__________________ Sonny

03-24-2011, 12:36 AM	#2
catlover79 God Bless Val Forum Addict Join Date: May 29, 2006 Location: Bewitched in Ohio Posts: 70,376	I thought Jeff Zucker already destroyed NBC.
	__________________ "Jesus loves you and He approves this message." "I'm alive. I'm feeling good. I'm trying to live every moment as much as I can." - Valerie Harper, March 2013

03-24-2011, 02:32 PM	#5
robyrob certified wackball#3 Moderator Forum Icon Join Date: Aug 03, 2003 Location: hiding under the third booth at Arnold's Posts: 58,169	geez are they stupid? - "old-timers night" should be Saturday night when the young ones are out dancing and destroying their livers and whatnot.
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03-24-2011, 08:50 PM	#9
Retro4Life Accept No Substitutes Forum Veteran Join Date: Feb 04, 2009 Location: IL Posts: 6,708	Am I the only one who yearns for a return to shows that feature actual CHARACTERS rather than just 'wink and a nod' version of the stars? I'm so tired of the 'smirky office comedies' and the self-referential mirror kissing of the stars. I suppose it's way too late for this, but does anyone know how to actually WRITE anymore?
	__________________ Alex Reiger :[Trying to convince Louie not to antagonize Bobby] "It's not hard to make people feel bad about their lives. What's hard is making people feel good about their lives."

03-24-2011, 09:19 PM	#12
MariposaLKB She flies alone Forum 3000 Club Member Join Date: Mar 06, 2001 Location: The great unknown Posts: 3,436	Make that 3 LOL! For the record, I loved Mad About You (probably because I was a recently-married 30-something myself at the time)--but as the article says, we have seen this before. Even sitcoms that actually are written these days seem calculated only to be "hip" (to the extent of being offensive in most cases). Those of us outside the usual demographic need something to watch and laugh at! Have writers these days even heard of All in the Family or MASH, for example? A good mix of the real, the topical, and the poignant along with the double entendre and the outright hysterical.
	__________________ Within a cage Try to escape Her silent rage But no one ever listens... -Butterfly (Mariposa)

03-24-2011, 08:44 PM	#8
catlover79 God Bless Val Forum Addict Join Date: May 29, 2006 Location: Bewitched in Ohio Posts: 70,376	Yup!!!!

03-24-2011, 08:51 PM	#10
catlover79 God Bless Val Forum Addict Join Date: May 29, 2006 Location: Bewitched in Ohio Posts: 70,376	^ No, you're not. I completely agree!!

03-24-2011, 09:32 PM	#13
Retro4Life Accept No Substitutes Forum Veteran Join Date: Feb 04, 2009 Location: IL Posts: 6,708	^ Writers today don't take their cues from life, as the MASH and AITF writers did; they take it from other sitcoms. There is no connection between what's happening onscreen and the experiences of our own lives, it's all attitude and irony, which has its place and is funny in context, but can and will NEVER take the place of comedy that has as its heart the shared human experience