The state of NBC

[wingwalker]

Good article on how NBC's turn around is doing and the uphill battle Comcast faces.

http://online.wsj.co...media_marketing

The graph is really interesting, it shows how the 4 networks have started the TV seasons out the past 4-5 years. While NBC is at the bottom, CBS is the most stable, hardly any year to year losses, amazing. FOX seems to the most volatile, and ABC, wow NBC may be at the bottom, but ABC is declining at a much faster rate. It's barely above NBC now. I know most in media (like this article) focuses on NBC, while ABC's declines have been mostly "under the radar", but I wonder if they'll start paying attention to ABC's ratings woes soon.

[aMLCproduction]

thanks for sharing. I have hope for NBC. CBS and esp ABC are in declines,

[Eric83]

ABC has yet to find any dramas to replace DH and Grey's. DH is done this year, PP could go either way and Grey's should be ending in the next couple years. Dancing with the Stars is hitting new lows, and they really don't have anything except maybe Castle and Modern Family.

NBC is just pathetic. Its future is very bleak, most of their shows are crap and if they aren't crap then they're getting crap ratings.

[wingwalker]

Yeah, NBC is in quite the hole. Like the article mentioned, they are now in this cycle where because there ratings are so low, it makes it harder for new shows to get an audience. Lets take NBC's Whitney for example, it's been getting about 4-5 million people & mid 2s in 18-49. You KNOW that regardless of the quality, if that same show was airing on CBS right now, it's viewers would be double that and it's 18-49 would probably be at least a 1/3 higher. Hell, CBS canceled [!@#$%^&*] My Dad Says last season and it averaged 10 million viewers & 3s in the demo nearly the entire season. NBC would almost be better off picking up CBS's cast offs LOL.

[Soapsuds]

NBC and now ABC looks like they will never get out of the bottom ranks. NBC is just dreadful. I only tune in for SNF and I use to see Harry's Law until it was moved....bad move from NBC...their best show in a long time and they move it to another day....so stupid.

[soapfan770]

ABC currently has found some success with Revenge and I enjoy the show but my biggest concern is can it be more than a one season wonder? As for the rest yeah the line-up has gotten stale and watching Grey's these days I give it til the end of this season.

[Soapsuds]

Last week Grey's was third in its timeslot losing to POI and The X-Factor.

[BingCherry]

ABC's always been kinda lucky in that every time they've done awful in the ratings, NBC's managed to do much worse. Plus, they still have DWTS (though it's having an off-season this fall) and MF (which is growing in leaps and bounds).

[wingwalker]

While ABC's dramas look bleak outside of Revenge (and maybe Good Christian Belles come mid-season), I think ABC has a better future in that it's comedies are gaining traction. ABC seems to be returning to what worked for them in the 90s & that's family comedies (Roseanne, Home Improvement, Family Matters, etc) Today they have Modern Family, The Middle has grown in ratings every season, Suburgatory and Last Man Standing doing well so far. All family comedies. NBC, they have no traction in their drama or comedy department. Harry's Law like you mention, last I looked was the only scripted show they have that tops 10 million viewers, where as on CBS, it's rare if a show doesn't top 10 million LOL.

[Soapsuds]

The only comedy that looks appealing to me on ABC is Last Man Standing..reminds me of the good old ABC comedy Tuesday block. The rest of the comedies I just cant stand.

[Y&RWorldTurner]

NBC is a lost cause, not one scripted show appeals to any wide demographic on that network.

ABC is swiftly approaching that territory too.

[Toups]

CBS will rarely get "props" from me because they rarely put on an ambitious show. They don't try hard enough to do something different - I can see why because they want a broad audience. But I'm always going to be more pro NBC/ABC/FOX when it comes to networks because they at least *try* to put on different or ambitious, or heavily serialized shows. Like this year, NBC's got "Awake" and "Smash." ABC's got "The River," "Once Upon a Time," "Pan Am," and "Revenge." FOX has "Terra Nova, " "Touch," and "Alcatrez." Conventional wisdom will say most if not all these show will only get 1 season or less, two if they're lucky.

The best dramas are on cable anyway.

[Ryan Chamberlain]

The fact is all network TV especially NBC has been stuck in a rut since around 2004. When all the older shows (save for a few) started to end and no interesting scripted programming was being produced to replace it. There's only been a few decent new shows since then. (Grey's, PP, Castle, Mod Fam...and a few more)

Network TV as it was known from the early 2000's and before is DEAD.

[TC]

That's how I see it. And when CBS falls it will fall hard, much like NBC did by relying too much on L&O and then futzing around with it.

[ljacks13]

My theory is as long as NBC is at the bottom of the ratings, DAYS is still in good shape since they draw about 2 million viewers a day which is not that much less than what they getting in primetime. It always seems that networks tend to play it safe when they are in trouble.