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NBC changes: Is the Peacock croaking?
I’m still trying to make sense of NBC’s announcement last week that part of its new cost-cutting plan includes replacing scripted programs at 7 p.m. (Central Time) with reality and game shows.
Compared with reality shows, scripted comedies and dramas are way more expensive. We’ll concede that. But making some kind of across-the-board change in the early prime-time hour seems shortsighted, to say the least.
For one thing, reality and game shows are rarely repeated, so NBC will get a one-shot profit — assuming the shows are successful. For another thing, this reality obsession is going to burn itself out eventually, and when it does, NBC will have a Monday-through-Friday schedule with gaping holes at 7 p.m.
Ratings analysts and TV experts weighed in last week that NBC’s announcement, along with staff cuts in the entertainment and news divisions, smacks of desperation. No kidding. The network is in a crash-and-burn period at the moment in prime time, finishing fourth in the ratings behind CBS, ABC and Fox most weeks.
But the plan to stack reality shows into one time period every night of the week just seems wrong.
The highest-rated new series this season is ABC’s “Ugly Betty,” and it airs Thursdays at 7. CBS’s “Jericho” is doing well in the early time slot on Wednesdays, and veterans “NCIS” is a certified hit on Tuesdays, along with “Prison Break” on Mondays.
If dramas, like the fabulous but under-rated “Friday Night Lights,” aren’t becoming breakout hits at 7 p.m., move them later and spend some money developing comedies. Sitcoms are in a slump right now, but all it takes is a couple of good ones to revive the genre. And in the long run, they’ll be more successful than reality shows because they live on in reruns. … and because we’re not ashamed to admit we watch them.
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