NBC goes offscript for the 8pm hour

[KevC1980]

I found this article on Zap2it.com

Primetime isn't as prime as it used to be.

NBC Universal's announcement Thursday that it will restructure to save $750 million over two years marks a retreat in primetime, which has long been the petri dish for U.S. pop culture.

Instead of using the 8 p.m. timeslot to showcase its most popular scripted shows -- such as "The Cosby Show" in the 1980s and "Friends" in the 1990s -- NBC will fill the hour with game shows and other lower-cost fare.

As the cost of new scripted shows has soared, viewers this season have not been impressed with the new offerings. Networks have been disappointed with the results, particularly with several shows that premiered at 8 p.m.

"The audience just isn't there," Bob Wright, chairman of NBC Universal, said in an interview. "We have some of our best stuff at 8 o'clock, and it's struggling."

Wright said NBC's game show "Deal or No Deal," CBS' durable "Survivor" and ABC's "Dancing With the Stars" have built solid followings at 8 p.m. FOX also airs its "American Idol" performance shows at 8 p.m. And most reality or game shows like those are a fraction of the cost of scripted programs.

Broadcasters have been gradually scaling back the number of hours they program with expensive shows. Saturday has become a night of reruns. FOX has become a ratings contender by filling only two prime-time hours on most nights.

Prominent Hollywood producers said NBC's move was not all that surprising.

"You're seeing this season a lot of expensive shows failing right out of the gate. And that's money they're not going to get back," said Greg Garcia, creator of NBC's "My Name Is Earl," which currently airs at 8 p.m. Thursdays.

David Nevins, president of Imagine Television, which produces "Friday Night Lights" for NBC, said, "I'll take a little less shelf space for more focus. For a network, launching too many shows at once tends to kill off all of your ducklings."

At NBC Universal, the cost cutting will go beyond the broadcast network's prime-time programming, which has suffered through two dismal seasons in fourth place and has become a drag on the earnings of parent General Electric Co. Every division of the once-proud peacock will be trimmed, from NBC's news-gathering operations to the Universal film studio. Division heads have been asked to identify personnel to cut and areas to streamline to boost profit.

The planned layoffs total 5 percent of NBC Universal's full-time workforce of 15,000.

"We've been looking across to the company to see where we might have some overlap," said Jeff Zucker, chief executive of NBC Universal Television Group. "It turns out there is a lot."

Several advertisers and academics questioned the wisdom of NBC setting aside a third of its prime-time schedule for reality shows that, like scripted programs, are hit or miss. They said NBC's real problem was that it hadn't found a sitcom that could perform like "Friends" did. NBC currently has scripted programs at 8 p.m. on Tuesday ("Friday Night Lights"), Wednesday ("30 Rock" and "Twenty Good Years") and Thursday ("My Name Is Earl" and "The Office").

Advertisers and TV producers pointed out that networks have had much success over the years at 8 p.m. This fall, CBS successfully launched "Jericho," a scripted show about the aftermath of a nuclear blast, and ABC found a beauty in "Ugly Betty."

"I just think it's a shame to give up a time slot that's yielded so many hits over the last 20 or 30 years," said Josh Berman, creator of "Vanished," which has struggled to find an audience on FOX. "So many hit shows that have gone to reap hundreds of millions of dollars have originated in the 8 or 8:30 time slot."

Some NBC Universal executives privately regard the company's restructuring plan — dubbed NBCU 2.0 — as an effort by Zucker to lay out a forward-looking plan that will impress GE, whose chief executive, Jeffrey Immelt, is weighing who will eventually succeed 63-year-old Wright. Zucker, the former "Today" executive producer, soared up the corporate ladder, but during his tenure NBC's prime-time fortunes have plummeted.

Zucker dismissed such speculation. "This is not about me," he said. "This is about doing my job to make sure that we are well positioned for the future. We will see greater changes in the media industry in the next five years than we have seen in the last 50 years."

With NBC removing drama's and comedies from the 8 to 9pm timeslots to save money...NBC should move the comedies from wednesday night and do a two hour comedy block on thursdays again..

Earl, The Office, Scrubs, and 30 Rock... (wouldn't that be incredible...) they can put 20 Good Years out of its misery...

Here is what i think NBC should do when they follow through with this plan

Sundays (after football) Reality Show, Friday Night Lights, Black Donnoleys

Monday- Deal or No Deal, Heroes, Studio 60

Tuesday- 1 vs. 100, Law and Order Criminal Intent, SVU

Wednesday- Deal or No Deal, Jeff Goldblums new show, Medium

Thursday- Earl, Office, Scrubs, 30 Rock, Er

Friday- 1 vs. 100, Las Vegas, Law and Order

and if FNL or Studio 60 continue to flourish, there still needs to be room for Crossing Jordan...(but i would take the new shows, over that show anyday..)

[poohbear19]

You have just picked my ultimate comedy block!! Last season, I wanted Earl, Office, and Scrubs on one, Tuesday, night.

I'm not fond of My Name Is Earl and The Office possibly going up against CSI and GA, they will definitely start to lose more viewer. Last season, it didn't seem bad... because it was just CSI, but with GA, I can see them moving to another night.

[Chris B]

NBC just needs quality programming. Their reality shows are generally too awful to really make a dent. Look at what ABC did...they simply launched a bunch of really good shows with widespread appear and it worked for them. NBC did a good thing with Heroes and it paid off, but overall they didn't launch a lot of shows that had big hit potential.

They just need to work on developing really strong shows.

[bellcurve]

NBC is run by a sinking ship of fools.

8PMEST is the PERFECT timeslot for any scripted primetime show. People have just finished watching their local news, WHEEL OF FORTUNE, JEOPARDY!, or other syndicated shows and they are usually juiced and ready for primetime. Or at least that is how I am. Even if it is just INSIDE EDITION or ACCESS HOLLYWOOD, people who are indecisive about what they want to watch will probabaly stay tuned for the first ten minutes before channel surfing to see what's going on. If it's another game show or reality show, people are gonna flip over to see something else. Period. It's easier to gain an audience at 8PM instead of 9PM. Reality shows are not strong enough lead-ins. Period.

I think, if anything, NBC should have went in the other direction and aired non-scripted programming at 10PM, or just give up the 3hr block altogether and do what FOX is doing: two-hours in primetime. I'm sure the affiliates wouldn't mind an hour-earlier newscast. They could get a head-start on all of their late-night shows(airing Leno at 11:05EST instead of 11:35). FOX has been successful in this regard and I don't see them bloating their primetime schedule anytime soon.

If they INSIST on low-cost programming to fill the 8PM timeslot, I would hope some genius at the Peacock decides to do a PASSIONS Highlights Episode(narrated by Juliet Mills) on Friday Nights, ala MyNetworkTV. This would be great exposure for their crippling soap, cheap because NBC owns it anyway, and bound to rope in that 18-49 demographic that hates Jennifer Love Hewitt and GHOST WHISPERER.

I do believe that NBC is committing suicide with this move. No one is gonna watch DEAL OR NO DEAL or 1 vs. 100 5 Days a Week. It's just not gonna happen.

[Toups]

ABC started this trend:

Sunday: Extreme Makeover: Home Edition

Monday: Wife Swap

Tuesday: Dancing with the Stars

Wednesday: Dancing with the Stars: Results Show

Friday: America's Funniest Home Videos

[KevC1980]

oh wow..Toups...Funny i never realized ABC already did that..No one made a big deal out of them doing it....i honestly think its a good idea for NBC, as it gives a strong anchor to the night for other shows...Look how well Deal or No Deal helped Hereos...I just want the 9 to 11 hours to remain scripted...

[Ridge]

I think NBC did pretty well with its week of Deal or No Deal last year (and was it this year too?). I don't think they won the slot all week but they did better than their actual shows. IA, good programming will bring in the viewers but NBC has a struggle in bringing in all the viewers that it lost over the years. Heroes is fricken awesome and should get higher ratings, which I think it will, as time progresses. The network needs to show faith in its shows. Studio 60 is not a 10pm show, IMO. It should be 8 or 9. I like Sorkin's way of story telling but at 10pm on Monday I end up falling asleep before the show is over. I also like their Wednesday comedies and think they should show faith in them and let them continue even if they don't do that hot.

[SIPort]

Well, they just made my Tivo planning easier...LOL

And, I don't watch any of those shows. ...so, for this viewer, if NBC does the same, I won't be watching them either.

[Errol]

At least they didn't make a major announcement about it. And AFV doesn't air on Friday's

[Toups]

Oh, I just went to the ABC.com site. I guess it was an old schedule: http://abc.go.com/primetime/schedule/2006-07/index.html

[JER Soaps Fan]

bellcurve, may I say I REALLY like your suggest. "Passions" highlights in primetime would be great! I hope there would be a way to make it "NBC Daytime" highlights and include "Days," too. But hopefully, NBC will realize the potential of that idea. Because the daytime needs all the help it can get. And the shows CAN get higher ratings if the nets think outside the box.

[bellcurve]

DAYS gets enough exposure on SOAPnet. They wouldn't need highlights as bad as PASSIONS would.

They may have started the trend, but at least most of their reality programming seems varied. NBC will fill that week with nothing but DEAL OR NO DEAL. And that will get so old, SOO fast.

Well, ABC didn't learn its lesson with WHO WANTS TO BE A MILLIONAIRE? until it was too late. Thank God Meredith was able to salvage what was left of the network audience and build on it in syndication.

If DEAL OR NO DEAL goes celebrity, consider this show finished. Game show fans are as much purists as we soap fans are. They wanna see Joe Blow from Kansas winning the money, not a celebrity for charity.

BTW, NBC: Year 2000 called. They want their gameshow back!

[sungrey]

I don't wanna throw water on this, but I just had a thought: Passions might be in danger with this announcement. Ya, it's renewed through next summer, but if NBCU's woes continue at that point I could see PSNS being sacrificed.

As for the 8pm announcement, it's dumb, stupid NBC as usual. It's not that scripted shows are failing at 8, it's THEIR scripted shows that are failing at 8.

DOND is a great show, but two days a week is enough. 1 vs 100 is decent, but one or two days a week is plenty.

[DaysGal]

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NBC just needs quality programming. Their reality shows are generally too awful to really make a dent. Look at what ABC did...they simply launched a bunch of really good shows with widespread appear and it worked for them. NBC did a good thing with Heroes and it paid off, but overall they didn't launch a lot of shows that had big hit potential.

They just need to work on developing really strong shows.

I agree. The only show I watch on NBC primetime is L&O SVU.

Deal or No Deal was fun the first few episodes, but that's it.

I watch for drama and NBC is really lacking in this department.

[JER Soaps Fan]

sungrey, bite your tongue! And at the same time, let's hope and pray that JER gets his act together and gets this show back up in the 2s. I can't see NBC maintaining a one-soap network with just Days, especially since it owns 'Pash,' but I still want this show to get back in those great 2s.