Can Thursday Night Save Network TV?

[TMC]

http://www.vulture.com/2014/09/can-t...etwork-tv.html

By Josef Adalian

Here’s how big Thursday-night TV used to be: During the mid-’90s, when NBC populated the evening with Friends and Seinfeld and ER, some 75 million Americans made a point of watching at least a portion of that lineup every week. Two decades on, like everything else in TV, the numbers for that night are a whole lot smaller. Last season, the combined average audience on Thursday for ABC, CBS, NBC, and Fox was around 33.5 million viewers — or about the same as the audience for ER or Seinfeld alone at their peaks. More distressing for the networks, nearly 7 million viewers had abandoned Thursdays in just the previous year. With dramatic declines like these now common throughout the week, after decades of Chicken Little predictions about the impending demise of network TV (or the notion of one or more of the Big Four moving to the somewhat friendlier climes of cable), it seems as if the sky is finally falling.

[Frenky]

Originally Posted by TMC

http://www.vulture.com/2014/09/can-t...etwork-tv.html

Or 80s when Cosby, Family Ties and Cheers were getting 40-50 million viewers.

I don't think it can be saved, nothing scripted gets at least 20 million in L+SD on weekly basis.

[MrCleveland]

Doubt it...

Despite Prime-Time being the highest rank when it comes to commercials...Must-See Thursday is gone like the Passenger Pigeon and The Sega.

Cable and the internet took those people, back in the 80's and 90's people STILL watched the Big Three during Prime-Time. Now, these stations need a show that's ground-breaking and there's one problem...It's been done before or it's been done to death!

[mets82]

I think with the NFL it can be saved. The NFL draws huge ratings. I think what hurts the networks is that there are too many channels now a days but there are not those vintage classic shows, like The Cosby Show, Seinfeld, ER etc. that there used to be.

[Frenky]

Originally Posted by mets82

I think with the NFL it can be saved.

Even that will depend on which teams are playing, last game got around 11 million viewers (combined with NFL telecast) and I don't think that CBS will have TNF forever, NFL Network probably wants it for itself.

[vampirevsrobot]

Originally Posted by MrCleveland

...Cable and the internet took those people, back in the 80's and 90's people STILL watched the Big Three during Prime-Time. Now, these stations need a show that's ground-breaking and there's one problem...It's been done before or it's been done to death!

I doubt it, let's just go back 10 years ago -- 2004

1. Honestly there weren't exactly any more cable channels than there are today (or at least successful ones) and cable TV is dying just as fast as the Networks.

2. The Internet itself is just about as in many homes as it is today.

Either the Nielsen data is extremely flawed (as it has been rumored for decades but never seriously challenged) or the black hole of "demographics" is going to essentially send all of TV straight to hell.

I mean really, 18-49 is now 18-34...then what's next?

12-24...

then what?

2-12??

30 years from now...is every show going to revolve around a drooling baby with animal like cartoons in the background?

A subpoena is in order if you ask me...

[Yong Fang]

The Big Four networks are losing their audience to a lot of competition from upstart networks like AMC, A&E, HBO and many others doing new shows and content and now the Internet and You Tube.

I can also watch a TV show anytime I like, literally. I do not need to rush home to watch a show, or having to time my VCR or whatever. I watch what I want, when I want.

Try to make a long story brief, when I was about 16-17 years old in 1983-84, I got a traffic ticket in my suburban community. The arseholes would not allow me to pay the fine since I was underage. I had to bring in a parent to pay.

S**t! Went home to tell my parents and got yelled at, and since my parents love doing things the most difficult and inconvenient way possible, went to underage traffic court....ON A THURSDAY NIGHT. No Family Ties (just for Justine Bateman's ass in those tight blue jeans of hers), no Cheers, no Night Court (ARGH!) and no Hill Street Blues (MAD. Very mad.)

Those shows eventually came on, the next summer between seasons, or years later on another format. But the networks were in a lot more control of the audience than they do now, people have more choices and more conveniences.

[irehtman]

I think Thursday Night NFL should be moved to ABC instead!

[EmoJoe]

Originally Posted by vampirevsrobot

I doubt it, let's just go back 10 years ago -- 2004

1. Honestly there weren't exactly any more cable channels than there are today (or at least successful ones) and cable TV is dying just as fast as the Networks.

2. The Internet itself is just about as in many homes as it is today.

Either the Nielsen data is extremely flawed (as it has been rumored for decades but never seriously challenged) or the black hole of "demographics" is going to essentially send all of TV straight to hell.

I mean really, 18-49 is now 18-34...then what's next?

12-24...

then what?

2-12??

30 years from now...is every show going to revolve around a drooling baby with animal like cartoons in the background?

A subpoena is in order if you ask me...

2004 was an incredibly different time. The "internet age" was still relatively new so TV on the internet wasn't really a thing yet - streaming didn't exist and the only real way to watch TV on your computer was to torrent it, which the general public wasn't tech-savvy enough to do at that point. DVRs were still too new to be widely used and cable had basically only just begun being a legitimate competitor for original scripted programming. (Arguably that trend really started with The Sopranos, which premiered in '99, and didn't extend to basic cable until The Shield on FX in '02).

A few years later once internet streaming services started up, DVRs because ubiquitous and cable started branching out more and more, network ratings began declining quickly. Arguably the big turning point was around 2007/2008, right around the time of the writers' strike - that led to a lot of people finding content in other means than just watching whatever was on TV and it's since then that ratings have really started plummeting every year.

[LUNCH]

I still think if the big networks,specifically ABC,CBS and NBC were even half as good as they were during the 1980s and before,they would have nothing to worry about,even with all the other ways of watching TV nowadays. When channels,any channels put the blame on other methods of viewing causing less and less viewers to watch them it's just an excuse in my opinion.

[Frenky]

Big 3 need to repeat 1984-1985 TV season - Cosby, Who's the Boss, Moonlighting, Miami Vice, Highway to Heaven, Murder, She Wrote.

1984-85: 48.5/77 CBS 16.9/27 NBC 16.2/26 ABC 15.4/24
1985-86: 49.1/76 NBC 17.5/27 CBS 16.7/26 ABC 14.9/23

[EmoJoe]

Originally Posted by LUNCH

I still think if the big networks,specifically ABC,CBS and NBC were even half as good as they were during the 1980s and before,they would have nothing to worry about,even with all the other ways of watching TV nowadays. When channels,any channels put the blame on other methods of viewing causing less and less viewers to watch them it's just an excuse in my opinion.

It has nothing to do with quality. You just remember the 1980s fondly because nostalgia is a powerful drug. But there was plenty of crap on then, and there was plenty of good stuff. Just like now!

The idea that you guys have that some magical, classic-esque show can just break down all of the barriers and limitations of broadcast TV surviving in the digital age is a fantasy, and it's never going to happen. It's not an "excuse", it's reality, and it is happening to every single entertainment medium. Music, movies, TV...all of them are seeing declines of traditional viewing/buying methods because this giant invention called the internet has completely revitalized the way we watch television. You really think quality, a totally subjective measurement that differs from one person to another, is the reason the ENTIRE entertainment industry is shifting? Do you think you're just lucky enough that your lifespan just so happened to coincide with the rise and fall of great television? I can appreciate being nostalgic for the "good old days", but let's not let it cloud reality.

[LUNCH]

Originally Posted by EmoJoe

It has nothing to do with quality. You just remember the 1980s fondly because nostalgia is a powerful drug. But there was plenty of crap on then, and there was plenty of good stuff. Just like now!

The idea that you guys have that some magical, classic-esque show can just break down all of the barriers and limitations of broadcast TV surviving in the digital age is a fantasy, and it's never going to happen. It's not an "excuse", it's reality, and it is happening to every single entertainment medium. Music, movies, TV...all of them are seeing declines of traditional viewing/buying methods because this giant invention called the internet has completely revitalized the way we watch television. You really think quality, a totally subjective measurement that differs from one person to another, is the reason the ENTIRE entertainment industry is shifting? Do you think you're just lucky enough that your lifespan just so happened to coincide with the rise and fall of great television? I can appreciate being nostalgic for the "good old days", but let's not let it cloud reality.

It's not only the quality of television I was referring to,even though I think the overall quality of the older shows is far superior,same goes for music etc.I also meant the TV channels themselves(CBS,NBC and ABC) were so much better. They did not have a million commercials,screen grafitti and all the other nonsense they pull nowadays.Daytime TV for example used to actually be good. And that's just the tip of the iceberg.I know technology has changed things,but internet or no internet these networks are shadows of their former selves in almost every single way.

[EmoJoe]

I guess the quality is pretty subjective. I like some older shows and find lots of them to be mind-numbingly dumb. Same with newer shows. There's a mindset on this forum that older automatically means better, which is unfair.

I agree with some of your criticisms and I'm not a big fan of the way the broadcast networks work either, but a lot of is desperation because their audience is so much more fragmented now than it was in the pre-cable and internet era. They could get away with a lot more because people only had three channels to choose from when watching television. Now there's hundreds of channels plus the internet, so the audience doesn't just fall into their lap anymore - they have to try harder, which occasionally means doing crazy things that don't work at all.

[king of comedy]

With the exception of CBS on Thursday and ABC, there might be hope.