TWELVE REASONS WHY NBC IS A LAST-PLACE NETWORK

[TMC]

http://warmingglow.uproxx.com/2012/0...network#page/1

In 1976, NBC unveiled a new logo to replace their ubiquitous peacock. It was fancy-looking N made up of two trapezoids, and it cost more than $600,000 to develop. Thing is, a Nebraska PBS affiliate already had a similar-looking logo — which only cost $100 to design. To avoid a lawsuit, NBC paid a $1 million package to the Nebraska station, along with another $55,000 to, according to Mental Floss, "pay for the costs related to not only the legal battle, but the development and implementation of a new logo."

Moral of the story: NBC has been a screw-up for years; it's only become particularly noticeable in the network's awkward post-"Seinfeld"/"Friends"/"E.R"-era. And that sucks, because they've aired some of the best TV shows of all-time. That's why they're so easy to pick on: we tease because we love. Here are 12 reasons why NBC is in last place amongst the Big Four, with some helpful advice, too.

NBC would also like me to remind you to WATCH "SMASH," THE MONDAY AFTER THE SUPER BOWL, in case you haven't seen the ads for the show every three seconds for the last two months.

#12. Karma

#11. Dane and Whitney

#10. “The Firm”

#9. Reliance on Scripted Imports

#8. Yanking Around “Grimm”

#7. Lack of a HUGE Reality Show

#6. "Knight Rider"

#5. Jeff Zucker

#4. XFL

#3. Pulling “Community”

#2. "The Jay Leno Show"

#1. Still Pretending "Friends" Is On

[waichingliu81]

the glory days of NBC of the 70s-90s are long gone. the only way they can regain their success is if the sitcom came back with a bang and they had as say 3, 4 sitcom shows doing well.

[yankeesrj12]

Pulling Community was a good decision, but they just have to find a replacement.

[benjamoon]

This article has a lot of good points but the Community part lowered their credibility. That show should have been pulled years ago - so what if it has a rabid fan base, it's a TINY rabid fan base.

I do think they'll have success with season 2 of "The Voice" but they have a long way to go even if that works.

[Tubehead]

were the love for hereos?

[James]

What? No mention of The Playboy Club? No mention of Howard Stern joining America's Got Talent? Talk about incomplete!

[*Pleasant Tomorrow*]

The very type of shows you’re best known for, the shows we use to define your network, appeal to a demographic that no longer watches TV on Nielsen-approved devices. Advertisers are apparently as dumb as we’ve always thought, and are still content to use Nielsen numbers. What they don’t understand is how valuable it can be to know you’re reaching a very specific group of people. That’s what you have to do: Make advertisers understand the value of a smaller, far more focused audience.

ACCURATE.

[mets82]

Uh, the XFL?? Really? That was 11 yrs. ago!! How is Jeff Zucker not number 1? He was in charge of NBC and he made the decisions, so how is he not number 1?

[CommonTater]

I'm a dinosaur on this forum I guess. I was born in 1956 and except for being old, it's somewhat of a blessing because I remember being a kid and having just 3 channels and something was always on that we all enjoyed and we looked forward to watching on those few channels each night. TV was pure entertainment, no reality because life is still reality enough.
We had one TV and watched as a family and we didn't worry about anything sexual, or cussing. I am grateful for those memories because times have changed so much and not for the better.

Some may call me a prude but I'm just a lady who has high morals and values and believe it or not there are still a lot of people like me around, some are older, some are younger.

A lot of people no longer pay for cable or a dish because of the lack of decent programming and that in my opinion is all about the almighty dollar.
The networks feel they can profit more from reality type shows (no big salaries to stars) BUT if they would offer real entertainment that the entire family could enjoy, I believe they would increase their ratings resulting in more cash in their pockets. I have been told family shows won't work today (by a few on here) but I disagree! There are a large enough number of people who want just that. We have spoken, they just refuse to listen. They continue to do remakes of older shows and movies because they know what we like but we don't remakes! They just refuse to accept the truth.

[TMC]

Originally Posted by mets82

Uh, the XFL?? Really? That was 11 yrs. ago!! How is Jeff Zucker not number 1? He was in charge of NBC and he made the decisions, so how is he not number 1?

Speaking of which:
Zucker can't program a network, but he's an expert in super-sizing

NBC's Jeff Zucker has given up

Will Somebody Please Save NBC?

NBCU Boss Zucker Immune to Woes of Conan and Jay

Op-Ed Columnist - The Biggest Loser - NYTimes.com

[megamanj2004]

Originally Posted by TMC

Speaking of which:
Zucker can't program a network, but he's an expert in super-sizing

NBC's Jeff Zucker has given up

Will Somebody Please Save NBC?

NBCU Boss Zucker Immune to Woes of Conan and Jay

Op-Ed Columnist - The Biggest Loser - NYTimes.com

IMO, Jeff Zucker is the LONE cause of NBC going from #1 all the way to last-place in a span of 4-5 years because of his inability to find any real decent programming to consistently keep NBC competitive in the top of the ratings and his overall mediocre attitude running NBC says it all, period.

Heroes started off strong but couldn't sustain for the long run. Deal or No Deal (as inane as it was, IMO) kept NBC going for a little bit but it too couldn't keep NBC fighting in the ratings game for long.

Maybe Whitney, Up All Night, The Voice could try. Who knows but NBC still has a REALLY long way to go in order for to be any real threats to FOX and especially CBS.

The XFL? That was the worst-rated network primetime show in history.

[EmoJoe]

Originally Posted by *Pleasant Tomorrow*

ACCURATE.

This exactly. TV is changing, and people are watching NBC's shows, they're just not doing them on live TV. Now, I'm not going to try to say that Community is getting anywhere near as many viewers as, say, The Big Bang Theory. It is a small niche show, it was created to be a small niche show, and that's just what it is...same with all of NBC's comedies (aside from Whitney and Chelsea which are NBC's failed attempts to bring in a broad CBS like audience to their network). However they appeal perfectly to the demographic they are made for and I think there is something to be said for that. I'm a college student and I know a huge amount of people who watch 30 Rock/Parks & Rec/Community, certainly not the minuscule amount the ratings suggest. The problem is that many of them are not watching it on live TV - a concept that the ridiculously outdated Nielson system has yet to adapt to.

If NBC wants to try and get themselves back on top, they could probably try and find some kind of Modern Family like smash that appeals to all of America, but they've been doing just that for several years now to no avail. I really think their best bet is to just stick with the niche programming they have and attempt to capitalize on it somehow. I think it can be done. In fact, it has to be done because more and more people are turning to options other than watching things live on TV to get their shows (like the current young professional audience that NBC shows cater to do), and eventually the Neilson system is going to be horribly outdated (and consequently, it won't be only NBC shows getting the 1s in the demo).

Granted though, NBC got themselves into this hole partly because the audience they cater to has changed their viewing habits but also because they made a lot of bonehead decisions. Also...drama-wise, they're still a bit of a mess (though maybe Smash and Grimm can turn that around a bit). I'm definitely not saying they haven't done some truly stupid things. But at this point I think this is their best bet.

[Mr. Television]

Originally Posted by EmoJoe

This exactly. TV is changing, and people are watching NBC's shows, they're just not doing them on live TV. Now, I'm not going to try to say that Community is getting anywhere near as many viewers as, say, The Big Bang Theory. It is a small niche show, it was created to be a small niche show, and that's just what it is...same with all of NBC's comedies (aside from Whitney and Chelsea which are NBC's failed attempts to bring in a broad CBS like audience to their network). However they appeal perfectly to the demographic they are made for and I think there is something to be said for that. I'm a college student and I know a huge amount of people who watch 30 Rock/Parks & Rec/Community, certainly not the minuscule amount the ratings suggest. The problem is that many of them are not watching it on live TV - a concept that the ridiculously outdated Nielson system has yet to adapt to.

If NBC wants to try and get themselves back on top, they could probably try and find some kind of Modern Family like smash that appeals to all of America, but they've been doing just that for several years now to no avail. I really think their best bet is to just stick with the niche programming they have and attempt to capitalize on it somehow. I think it can be done. In fact, it has to be done because more and more people are turning to options other than watching things live on TV to get their shows (like the current young professional audience that NBC shows cater to do), and eventually the Neilson system is going to be horribly outdated (and consequently, it won't be only NBC shows getting the 1s in the demo).

Granted though, NBC got themselves into this hole partly because the audience they cater to has changed their viewing habits but also because they made a lot of bonehead decisions. Also...drama-wise, they're still a bit of a mess (though maybe Smash and Grimm can turn that around a bit). I'm definitely not saying they haven't done some truly stupid things. But at this point I think this is their best bet.

The problem with that is that the other networks don't seem to have that problem. They can still get viewers to tune into their networks. NBC has 3 hit shows and that's The Office, L&O SVU and The Voice. The other shows would have been canceled years ago if they were on another network. NBC will be getting into CW territory soon if things don't change. The Office and SVU have both seen better days. I honestly don't know what they can do to get people to watch their network. I think Jeff Zucker has ruined them. NBC has been in last place before but I don't ever remember it being this bad.

[EmoJoe]

The other networks don't have that problem because they don't have as much "niche" program aimed at younger audiences as NBC does, though they do have some (Cougar Town and Happy Endings on ABC are the exact same types of comedies as the NBC comedies and both have had ratings struggles, though Happy Endings seems to have found an audience thanks to being on after Modern Family - also Fringe on FOX, which has always been ratings challenged). And actually ratings have fallen across the board. Friends and Seinfeld used to get 30+ million viewers. Now if a show gets half that it's considered huge. Sub-10 million numbers used to be grounds for cancellation and now generally anything over 5 million viewers usually is considered a hit (unless it's on CBS - and yeah I know the demo numbers is what matters, but it's hard to find demo numbers for past shows so I don't really know what Friends or Seinfeld were getting lol). As more and more people are turning to DVR and online streaming for TV ratings will fall even further I'm sure. But my point was that the audiences NBC shows cater to are the ones who use these new methods, so that's (partly) why the ratings are so dismal.

Like I said though, plenty of it IS thanks to flat out dumb decisions. The hour-long Jay Leno Show was one of the worst decisions in TV history, and I don't know why NBC is still insistent on programming comedies in the Thursday 8:00 slot when they know they're going to get crushed by The Big Bang Theory. It's a combination of idiocy and shows that appeal to a demographic that just isn't watching as much TV anymore (mainly the comedies).

[icecream]

NBC= Nothing But Crapedies since Frasier ended