CBS 10pm Sun and Mon

[radiolives]

Should CBS instead of left CSI: Miami alone on the 10pm Monday timeslot and placed the new Hawaii 5-0 on Sunday night at 10pm? I don't remember the kind of rating CSI: Miami had on Monday night but that show is still getting great numbers with its new time slot on Sunday at 10pm.

 

[imhomerjay]

They made several bold moves rather than rest--which helps avoid the risk of too much stagnation. Bringing better numbers to Sunday helps them, after Cold Case ran out of gas there last season (flip flopping with the Three Rivers, that didn't click). Sometimes you need to take risks to set yourself up for the future. Rather than wait until Miami ran out of gas, they took the shot (ditto moving CSI New York).

Ask ABC how well that "resting on current sucess" thing worked out with Millionaire.

 

[1069_KIFR]

Yesterdays New York Times had a great article on CBS. They reported that CBS has the number one or two neilsen wins every night of the week. CBS has built every night around established shows, and their spin offs. Unlike other networks, CBS does not have a secondary cable outlet to run their old programs. They make a bundle on broadcasrting their network owned shows to overseas markets. A good article.

 

[radiolives]

ABC ran Millionaire 5 times a week. That was their most popular show. Now it seems Dancin With The Stars is their popular show.

 

[imhomerjay]

Yes, Dancing remains a big success for ABC now, and at three hours of the week, it certainly takes up a good chunk of real estate, but they've got enough other things going on now that the other nights can stand up well (generally) on their own. They still need to figure out the Wednesday 10 pm/Thursday 8 pm puzzles, and to come up with some plans for the end of Housewives and Grey's Anatomy--just as CBS needs to be thinking about CSI's eventual replacement, etc.

 

[ding12]

Housewives has some rejuvenation with Vannessa Williams. I'm not sure about Grey's Anatomy.

I think most notably, NBC needs to call it a day for The Office. I still watch it, hoping it's funny, but it mostly isn't. The show has changed too much from what it once from couple years ago, and along with the BBC version, it's been exhausted.

Community is bright, and I usually watch it on my DVR, but I rarely look forward to seeing it right away. I don't see Outsourced lasting long.

With Community, P&R and 30 Rock, NBC has some shows but none of them appeal to a broad enough base on the level of Modern Family (on ABC), Friends, Everybody Loves Raymond, etc. But that's what NBC needs. At least one show on Thursday night that can bring that pull and isn't near its end. I like the fact that NBC is stickisng to laugh track free comedies, though.

It also seems like Thu at 10pm for NBC is close enough and treated to being Friday night, on NBC now.

 

[radiolives]

Minute To Win It is a popular show on NBC but that isn't part of the fall schedule is it?

 

[imhomerjay]

It was moderaltely successful and will be back later, but not on the initial fall schedule.

As for Housewives, whether or not it sees a little new energy isn't really the point; it's still a case of "sooner rather than later" for its eventual end, and that's why ABC needs to be thinking about what shape the schedule will take when that time comes.

 

[FreddyE1977]

Logic would seem to dictate that whichever show draws a stronger female demo should be put up
against Monday Night Football. And judging from what I saw in the premiere that is likely not Five-0.

 

[bpatrick]

Yesterdays New York Times had a great article on CBS. They reported that CBS has the number one or two neilsen wins every night of the week. CBS has built every night around established shows, and their spin offs. Unlike other networks, CBS does not have a secondary cable outlet to run their old programs. They make a bundle on broadcasrting their network owned shows to overseas markets. A good article.

CBS is eventually going to have to take a lesson from history: after the tremendous programming development of the early '70s that gave us "All In The Family," "M*A*S*H," Mary Tyler Moore, Bob Newhart, "The Waltons," "Maude," and "Kojak" (and allowed CBS to have nine of the top ten shows in 1973-74, "Sanford And Son" being the exception), the Eye Network got complacent, allowing ABC to take over the number-one slot (with a little help from the family-hour rule, which neither CBS nor NBC was prepared for) in 1976. If I were programming CBS I'd be preparing against the day when "CSI" and "NCIS" and their spinoffs are no longer gold for the network.

ABC also needs to do the same thing; back then it let "Happy Days," "Laverne & Shirley," etc. to drag on too long (plus some ill-advised scheduling moves in the fall of 1979), by which time CBS had a fresh batch of hot shows, led by "Dallas" and "The Dukes Of Hazzard". "Desperate Housewives," "Grey's Anatomy," and even "Dancing With The Stars" won't run forever either.
(Homer, I think you said the same thing in fewer words; I just wanted to point out that CBS and ABC have both fallen from number one in the past because of complacency.)

As for NBC, I saw in this week's "Entertainment Weekly" that there's a new team ready to replace Jeff Zucker that is reportedly working on some ideas that could jump-start the Peacock Network. The article couldn't resist mentioning that NBC was still number one when Zucker took over; now it's number four.

 

[justpassingthough]

They made several bold moves rather than rest--which helps avoid the risk of too much stagnation. Bringing better numbers to Sunday helps them, after Cold Case ran out of gas there last season (flip flopping with the Three Rivers, that didn't click). Sometimes you need to take risks to set yourself up for the future. Rather than wait until Miami ran out of gas, they took the shot (ditto moving CSI New York).

Ask ABC how well that "resting on current sucess" thing worked out with Millionaire.

Agreed. CBS has played it smart for over a decade now, by making deliberate programming moves to spread out their hits, yet avoid overexposure. I remember everyone thought they were crazy for moving "Survivor" and "CSI" to Thursday to combat the NBC Must See TV juggernaut and we all know how that turned out. People said they were crazy for moving "Big Bang Theory" to an already crowded Thursday, but it seems to be holding its own.

CBS is smart because they program like networks used to program in a way that the others no longer do. They tend to keep a fairly stable block of shows, nurture the shows they know can develop into hits, and then capitalize by moving a show or two each year.

Les Moonves isn't so stupid to not realize that "CSI" and "NCIS" and a few other hits are long in the tooth. He pulled shows like "Without a Trace" and "Cold Case", that while they were still competitive in their timeslots, had clearly run their course.

I fully expect to see "CSI" somewhere else on the schedule next season, with "the Mentalist" and possibly a developing show liike "NCIS: LA" moving to Thursday at 9 and 10.

 

[imhomerjay]

Logic would seem to dictate that whichever show draws a stronger female demo should be put up
against Monday Night Football. And judging from what I saw in the premiere that is likely not Five-0.

There is the little matter of a highly successful Sunday Night Football franchise, too.

Audience tastes are cyclical. CBS is playing it smart and reaping the rewards, but let's be realistic--they, like everyone else, will have up and down periods, and some of that is beyond their control, just as it will be for whoever takes the lead when that time comes, and on and on it goes.

CBS's run has been impressively long (and perhaps more interesting is that they've actually taken over the lead in the 18-49 demo for now; obviously it's early going, but given it's been a long time since they were in that position, it's still noteworthy).