Will Somebody Please Save NBC? - Sitcoms Online Message Boards

TMC · 11-09-2009, 10:22 PM

Quote:

It’s easy to enumerate how dire things are for the network: The fourth-place finishes, night after night, in both total viewers and the 18-to-49-year-old demographic that still serves as TV’s gold standard. The absence—for the third year running—of any new hit show. (For the week ending November 1, NBC placed exactly one series in the top 30.) The continued attrition of the network’s Thursday-night lineup, which throughout the eighties and nineties was the bedrock of both NBC’s wide appeal and its yearly Emmy tally and now has only The Office and 30 Rock keeping that old tradition-of-quality candle burning. And the fact that the network’s one big prime-time ratings success—Sunday Night Football—goes off the air in early January, making the season’s second half, particularly after the Winter Olympics, even bleaker.

NBC’s latest Dark Age began a few years ago, but worsened last December, when Zucker, who has run or overseen the network’s entertainment programming since 2000, announced that Jay Leno, the departing host of the Tonight Show, who was grumbling about handing the reins over to Conan O’Brien, had won a whopper of a consolation prize: five hours of prime time a week. Good-bye, five scripted dramas. Hello, one cheap-to-make replacement that, for all the promises about new concepts and creative rejuvenation, would end up being a bland clone of Leno’s Tonight Show, when it arrived ten months later. Zucker hung tough when his decision was trashed by TV writers angry that a talk show was going to put many of them out of work, and critics who, noting that Leno’s late-night run had not been distinguished by a whole lot of innovation, saw the move as a statement: We’re not even going to pretend we’re trying anymore.

Zucker saw it as a statement as well: This is a business, and we’re in it to make money. Phrases like “managing for margins” (meaning “We don’t care if fewer people watch as long as we make a profit”) were incanted as new gospel. When critics carped, he shrugged; when the head of the network’s Boston affiliate threatened not to air the show, NBC slapped him back in line. Leno, Zucker explained, would provide 92 weeks of original programming over two years for a small fraction of what it costs to produce and license scripted dramas. Preemptively redefining success downward, NBC let it be known that a barely detectable 1.5 rating among 18-to-49-year-olds (meaning consistent last-place finishes) would be an occasion for boardroom high fives.

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Marvo301 · 11-09-2009, 10:31 PM

If you want to save NBC the first step is to get rid of Zucker!!!

Retro4Life · 11-09-2009, 10:43 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Marvo301

If you want to save NBC the first step is to get rid of Zucker!!!

Hear, hear!

:

catlover79 · 11-09-2009, 11:06 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Marvo301

If you want to save NBC the first step is to get rid of Zucker!!!

BINGO!! Once they do that, there's nowhere to go but up.

James28 · 11-09-2009, 11:34 PM

The Nationa Broadcasting Company is back to its late 70-early 80s bleakness as I, James Terrell, wonder why Jeffrey Zucker should be overthrown from his position as CEO of NBC.

catlover79 · 11-09-2009, 11:42 PM

How long has Jeff Zucker been at the helm of NBC, anyway?

DSfan · 11-10-2009, 12:01 AM

I'm just wondering, did NBC only start to go downhill once Friends finished in 2004?

yankeesrj12 · 11-10-2009, 12:12 AM

Perhaps NBC should cancel 30 Rock. Awards don't equal ratings! Move Community or Parks & Recreation behind The Office. NBC has the right idea with shrinking The Biggest Loser to 1 hour 30 minutes and launching 100 Questions at 9:30 during midseason (or at least for now). Dump Heroes, its a loser. Keep Jay Leno on Tuesdays and Thursdays ONLY. Surely but slowly NBC can rebuild itself, but they need to find some good shows and get rid of almost all the crappy ones (so almost the whole network).

Retro4Life · 11-10-2009, 12:18 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by yankeesrj12

NBC has the right idea with shrinking The Biggest Loser to 1 hour 30 minutes

Uhm, The Biggest Loser is on for AN HOUR AND A HALF? And it was shrunk from an even LONGER running time?

catlover79 · 11-10-2009, 12:47 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by DSfan

I'm just wondering, did NBC only start to go downhill once Friends finished in 2004?

Don't forget, Frasier went off the air at the same time as Friends, which couldn't have helped matters any.

benjamoon · 11-10-2009, 01:12 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by yankeesrj12

Perhaps NBC should cancel 30 Rock. Awards don't equal ratings! Move Community or Parks & Recreation behind The Office. NBC has the right idea with shrinking The Biggest Loser to 1 hour 30 minutes and launching 100 Questions at 9:30 during midseason (or at least for now). Dump Heroes, its a loser. Keep Jay Leno on Tuesdays and Thursdays ONLY. Surely but slowly NBC can rebuild itself, but they need to find some good shows and get rid of almost all the crappy ones (so almost the whole network).

I agree to an extent... I like "Parks" better than "Community" but I think it would make the most sense to move "Community" after "The Office." "30 Rock" gets lots of awards but it clearly is not going to grow its audience, why not give a new show like "Community" a chance to develop an audience outside of the 8pm lead-off. I don't think they should necessarily cancel "30 Rock" but I'd move it to the 8pm hour (maybe 30 Rock-Parks-Office-Community ?)

Also, I do think it's smart to launch "100 Questions" at the Tues 9:30 slot and it would be good to see "Leno" just Tues/Thurs or just MWF

TMC · 11-10-2009, 01:24 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Marvo301

If you want to save NBC the first step is to get rid of Zucker!!!

The arguement that NBC under Jeff Zucker has become a joke is really nothing new:
Zucker can't program a network, but he's an expert in super-sizing

NBC's Jeff Zucker has given up

yankeesrj12 · 11-10-2009, 04:24 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Retro4Life

Uhm, The Biggest Loser is on for AN HOUR AND A HALF? And it was shrunk from an even LONGER running time?

It's been on for 2 hours for about 3 or 4 seasons now (counting Fall and Spring). NBC plans to shrink it to 1:30 in January (for the new season) which I will love if they do! 2 hours is great, but a bit too long.

TVgeek14 · 11-10-2009, 06:02 PM

Face it guys NBC is dead.Zucker wants to drive it into the crowd and then he will move on to the next network.He is trying to kill TV itself.Someone kill him and save NBC and then TV will be saved...until Jill Farren Phelps comes along.

MickeyMac · 11-10-2009, 07:17 PM

NBC has been long past saving for years.

11-09-2009, 10:31 PM	#2
Marvo301 I'm NOT a Blockhead! Forum Celebrity Join Date: May 17, 2002 Location: The Great White North Posts: 21,450	If you want to save NBC the first step is to get rid of Zucker!!!
	__________________ Only a life lived for others is worth living. Albert Einstein A life isn't worth living unless it has impact on other lives. Jackie Robinson Be always at war with your vices, at peace with your neighbors, and let each new year find you a better man. Benjamin Franklin

11-09-2009, 11:34 PM	#5
James28 Member Forum 3000 Club Member Join Date: Apr 14, 2007 Posts: 3,967	The Nationa Broadcasting Company is back to its late 70-early 80s bleakness as I, James Terrell, wonder why Jeffrey Zucker should be overthrown from his position as CEO of NBC.

11-09-2009, 11:42 PM	#6
catlover79 God Bless Val Forum Addict Join Date: May 29, 2006 Location: Bewitched in Ohio Posts: 70,376	How long has Jeff Zucker been at the helm of NBC, anyway?

11-10-2009, 12:01 AM	#7
DSfan Member Senior Member Join Date: Sep 15, 2006 Location: Canada Posts: 1,204	I'm just wondering, did NBC only start to go downhill once Friends finished in 2004?

11-10-2009, 12:12 AM	#8
yankeesrj12 Member Forum 4000 Club Member Join Date: Oct 09, 2008 Posts: 4,335	Perhaps NBC should cancel 30 Rock. Awards don't equal ratings! Move Community or Parks & Recreation behind The Office. NBC has the right idea with shrinking The Biggest Loser to 1 hour 30 minutes and launching 100 Questions at 9:30 during midseason (or at least for now). Dump Heroes, its a loser. Keep Jay Leno on Tuesdays and Thursdays ONLY. Surely but slowly NBC can rebuild itself, but they need to find some good shows and get rid of almost all the crappy ones (so almost the whole network).

11-10-2009, 06:02 PM	#14
TVgeek14 Member Frequent Poster Join Date: Apr 11, 2009 Location: UK but Watch US Shows on Internet Posts: 247	Face it guys NBC is dead.Zucker wants to drive it into the crowd and then he will move on to the next network.He is trying to kill TV itself.Someone kill him and save NBC and then TV will be saved...until Jill Farren Phelps comes along.

11-10-2009, 07:17 PM	#15
MickeyMac Member Forum Star Join Date: Jun 18, 2008 Location: Kalamazoo, Michigan Posts: 19,004	NBC has been long past saving for years.