With the arrest of the Illinois Governor, Rod Blagojevich on Tuesday, I figured every columnist from the mainstream press to the alternate press would be writing of this “Sad and sobering” event as expressed by President-Elect Barack Obama. The same can be said of the bailout to the Big-Three where everyone is writing of that too. So, I thought I would switch gears and write of another event when NBC announced that they will be airing Jay Leno in the 10 PM time-slot five nights a week starting next fall. NBC will either strike gold or sink like lead.
On a personal level which I will get to, I am hoping for lead.
Being a political junkie at times, I too need a break from political programming where I do enjoy various dramas, comedies and documentaries. After all, everyone needs a break once in a while.
They stated that Jay Leno will present political comedy. If I want political comedy, I watch either “The Daily Show” or “The Colbert Report” Then again, being a political junkie who feels that while yes we do need a relief from the real-life drama that surrounds us, it is critical for many Americans to be taking what is going on within the political realm seriously.
Dare I say that even some politicians are comedic in their own right? Think Bush and the marvelous ‘Bushisms’ which have been a treasure-trove for political junkies during these past eight years. But, his comedic acts and blunders masked the enormity of his actions which had dire consequences.
NBC gave two reasons for airing Leno five-nights a week. First this type of TV format is economical instead of producing fictional dramas presently airing at that time on their network. Second they do see a commodity in Leno who was approached by ABC to move to their network.
Not being a fan of Jay Leno myself, I realize that others are. How will viewers who are not fans of Leno react to their television shows being axed presently airing at that time? Even if they are fans of his, I would hazard a guess that some maybe fans of others shows such as “Law and Order SVU” and “Law and Order” which currently airs at that time slot on Tuesdays and Wednesdays. If you are a fan of one of these shows or other shows airing on Mondays, Thursdays and Fridays, NBC just told you, “Drop dead” Note to NBC, on Fridays I watch CBS’s “NUMB3RS”
I then thought to myself, well they can knock them to the 9 PM time-slot, but will the family-hour of television allow for these programs to air in people’s homes especially when some can contain graphic violence? I can just hear the roars of outrage coming from some. I can see parents now having to block the 9 PM time-slot should any of these shows re-air at that time. Or will the shows I have mentioned above be canceled all together or moved to the USA network owned by NBC which currently airs “Criminal Intent” another “Law and Order” franchise?
I have to be honest, I am NOT a fan of NBC’s programming department and here is why: Years ago, they had a great line-up of creative programming on Saturday night called the Thrilogy and contained within this original programming was a show called “The Pretender” starring Michael T. Weiss and Andrea Parker. It was about a boy genius kidnapped at a young age by an evil think-tank called, ‘The Centre’ who exploited his genius and where he did escape as a grown man only to help better man-kind. I have to say that I liked the symbolism of that show. It aired for four seasons until NBC yanked it. I have to say it was one of my favorite programs and I now own all four seasons on DVD.
When TNT bought the rights to air the repeats of “The Pretender”, fans of that show went into hyper-drive asking for a conclusion to that show since NBC failed to do it. As a result two conclusive movies were produced and aired in response to this campaign. The first movie was, “Pretender 2001” followed up by the “Island of the Haunted” For fans of this show, we were grateful to TNT for producing these movies and yes, I own those movies on DVD as well. At least TNT listened to their viewers unlike NBC.
Also in that NBC line-up on Saturday night was “The Profiler” and “The Others” In my opinion these shows were creative in their content as well. So, what did NBC put in place? A wrestling program called, “Saturday Night Raw” produced by Vince McMahon who produces several other wrestling programs currently airing on the USA network.
But, “Saturday Night Raw” went belly-up and did not get any bailout and was yanked as well. It actually went into bankruptcy without any help from NBC
and faded into black. As a fan of “The Pretender”, and hearing this news, I became down right giddy and laughed hysterically. I then emailed NBC’s programming department with a one word response to this delightful news, “Hah!” What was left in its place is a line-up of repeats of various Law and Order shows.
Programmers often cite that it is not worth airing original programs on Saturday night because everyone is out. Well, that may be so for some, but aging boomers like me, many of us are at home. I do suspect with the economy in its fragile state, many more will be home. Networks often cut out this demographic group out in favor of the youth. Boomers are one of the largest if not the largest economic force and we are ignored.
NBC also pulled another wonderful program, “JAG” which was then picked up by CBS and ran for many years to come until it was canceled a several years ago. Through “JAG”, CBS produced a great spin-off which currently airs on Tuesday nights at 8 PM, which is also a favorite of mine, “NCIS” By the way, “JAG” also originally aired on NBC’s Saturday night line-up.
But, that is not the only blunder coming from NBC as they have pre-empted shows or rearranged shows without alerting its viewers. I would say that television viewers are a predictable bunch and to pull that stunt does not bode well and can hurt the advertising dollars coming into NBC.
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