Television industry week in review
March 2nd, 2007 by screenwriterguy
 February was exhausting for poor little me, what with all the watching I had to do. It’s sweeps month, so every show busts out its best stories, and if you miss an episode, people WILL be talking about it around you the next day. Setting my schedule around my watchlist was a must. And somehow the Oscars managed to suck up more than 20 hours of my time last week, only to culminate in that Scorsese love-fest that should have happened 25 years ago instead.
Anyway, I took a few days off from the ol’ blog to rest from the intense bombardment of quality entertainment. However, I’ve noticed quite a few very interesting goings-on this week, many of which could be signs of things to come in television. Here are a few: |
- Marking an all-time low in Hollywood’s willingness to take risks only on concepts with built-in recognition value, ABC is developing a series off of the cavemen from the Geico commercials. That’s right. All of us wannabe TV writers can struggle eternally to break in, but a prime time network TV pilot is going to the Geico cavemen. Couldn’t they at least pick a funny commercial? I’d sooner see the damn gecko get a show.
- This is Spinal Tap auteur Christopher Guest is going to direct the pilot for Arrested Development creator Mitch Hurwitz’s adaptation of British sitcom The Thick of It for ABC. That’s a whole lot of subtle, genius comedy in one project. It’s destined to be brilliant! I predict cancellation in four episodes…
- I had heard rumblings that Lost might be on the outs. But this week the two co-executive producers on the show signed a 3-year deal with ABC to eventually take over the show. So maybe the castaways aren’t getting home anytime soon.
- And of course there’s all that business in the headlines about Grey’s Anatomy, with Katherine Heigl leaving contract talks. (You have to read the full story on this, it was voluntary renegotiations on the part of the producers she walked out of, and she still under contract for three years. Long story short, it’s a non-issue.) And supposedly the rest of the cast is giving Kate Walsh the cold shoulder since the possibility has arisen that she will be the one singled out for a spin-off. Am I the only one who thinks that maybe the Grey’s cast is just making up new behind-the-scenes drama, for publicity’s sake?
- Even though the giant evil space octopus that is American Idol has spread its tentacles once again into Thursdays, last week’s My Name is Earl and The Office maintained ratings shares consistent previous weeks. What’s this? Idol has a weakness? And it’s the humble sitcom?
- Are You Smarter Than a 5th Grader? debuted to 27 million viewers, the biggest series premiere in the last eight years. It seems like FOX’s strategy of giving up and just showing baseball in the fall, then dominating with idol in the spring is working. Following Idol paid off big for House, and now 5th Grader. Why couldn’t FOX have given Arrested Development an Idol lead-in?
- NBC has given Las Vegas an early pick-up for a fifth season. Here’s why this matters at all. Broadcast communication law used to insist that networks and production studios be separate entities. Recently the law changed (Republican Congress) to allow networks to produce their own programming, meaning they can benefit from syndication and DVD revenues. As Variety points out, NBC is a partial owner of Las Vegas, and as such, it’s in their interest to see the show push past the magic 100-episodes mark, even if the shows ratings might not otherwise deserve renewal. Look for more and more shows to get a slightly more fair shake from networks if the networks have a vested interest.
- In perhaps the most interesting trend of all (if two entities can make a trend,) NBC is putting all the episodes of Andy Barker, P.I. online BEFORE the show airs on TV. The pilot of the new Jeff Goldblum vehicle Raines will also have its pilot online before the show debuts via the airwaves. This follows FOX streaming all of the episodes of Rob Cordry as The Winner online. Add to this DVD releases of pilots, such as Black Donnellys and Studio 60 available via Netflix before the shows aired, plus DVD story-to-date titles for shows like Battlestar Galactica (Sci-Fi is an NBC property,) and it’s clear that the networks are ready to try some new strategies. It will be interesting to see if this trend produces measurable results, and how FOX, NBC, and other nets will react if it does.
Posted in Seriously, America?, TV Shows, Industry News, General Musings |
Mar 2nd 2007 at 10:01 am
but… I like the caveman… he’s really funny… that actor is sooooo good. seriously. jaded a bit, screenwriterguy?
Mar 3rd 2007 at 4:17 am
People have been accusing me of grumpiness lately. I’m in a good mood, I swear. Meanwhile, I’m pretty sure it doesn’t make me jaded to think that there are better options for show inspiration than car insurance adverts.