NBC Executive: Network Has Two Years To Turn Things Around

[EmoJoe]

Originally Posted by cherryade

Agreed. I think Greenblatt/Salke have an obsession with playing it safe and making shows broad, which will sometimes work with drama but completely fails with comedy.

Yep, basically. They want to please everyone by making paint-by-numbers shows that follow the formulas of shows that worked for other networks...but that's just not what makes a hit comedy. Shows like Go On and Animal Practice tried to appeal to everyone by being "safe" enough to appeal to broad audiences but also kind of concept-y to please critics, but they wound up not having enough broad appeal or critical appeal and came off as giant, desperate failures. This year's comedy crop at least seems to be trying to appeal to a more specific audience (FAMILY!) so we'll see if that'll pan out.

Originally Posted by robyrob

i don't see how they can take ANY credit for the success of Grimm - Grimm has been successful DESPITE their best efforts to bury it.

Who knows whether they were trying to bury Grimm or turn it into their new Friday flagship...but either way, it worked, so good for them I guess? It's funny how the shows Greenblatt puts less effort into seem to perform better. Grimm was shoved to Fridays and Chicago Fire was quietly launched behind the dying SVU, but they're probably the biggest scripted successes of the Greenblatt era so far - and saw much more success than hugely promoted shows like Smash and Go On.

[Mr. Television]

Originally Posted by EmoJoe

Yep, basically. They want to please everyone by making paint-by-numbers shows that follow the formulas of shows that worked for other networks...but that's just not what makes a hit comedy. Shows like Go On and Animal Practice tried to appeal to everyone by being "safe" enough to appeal to broad audiences but also kind of concept-y to please critics, but they wound up not having enough broad appeal or critical appeal and came off as giant, desperate failures. This year's comedy crop at least seems to be trying to appeal to a more specific audience (FAMILY!) so we'll see if that'll pan out.


Who knows whether they were trying to bury Grimm or turn it into their new Friday flagship...but either way, it worked, so good for them I guess? It's funny how the shows Greenblatt puts less effort into seem to perform better. Grimm was shoved to Fridays and Chicago Fire was quietly launched behind the dying SVU, but they're probably the biggest scripted successes of the Greenblatt era so far - and saw much more success than hugely promoted shows like Smash and Go On.

I don't know what they were thinking about with Smash. I watched the first episode and wanted to tear my hair out. It was awful.

[robyrob]

Originally Posted by cherryade

Agreed. I think Greenblatt/Salke have an obsession with playing it safe and making shows broad, which will sometimes work with drama but completely fails with comedy.


The problem with Zucker/Reilly and Zucker/Silverman was never scripted development, it was Zucker's crazy strategic decisions and obsession with cheating the system. The shows they made under the traditional pilot process were generally good.


Disagee. I think it's an ideal Friday show. They tried to take it to the next level with moves to Monday/Tuesday but it didn't work. That said, I do think NBC needs to make their scheduling less erratic.

I also wouldn't be surprised if the main reason Grimm was made is because Greenblatt is friends with Sean Hayes.

i think Grimm is great for Fridays - but the network really didn't promote it much or do much for it during the first season or so, and now that practically all of their other shows have failed they want to use it's success to fill weak spots in their schedule, instead of leaving it where it is and letting it continue to be successful on its own.

[catlover79]

Originally Posted by Stuck In The '70's

I do like Chicago Fire and Revolution so NBC is on the right track. Getting the ratings though is another matter. They better hope the Voice holds up.

They'll eventually run The Voice into the ground, just like Fox did with American Idol.

[James28]

NBC (aka "Flop City" ) will probably let one or two (or probably three) of their new shows for the 2013-14 season become a hit, especially by their crappy standards.