Is NBC Serious?

[1069_KIFR]

Good thing Oldsmobile has gone away.

 

[searadiofreak]

Good thing Oldsmobile has gone away.

Yeah, in today's image-conscience world, the name "OLDSmobile" just wasn't working anymore.

However, I give credit to Buick for developing some actually good product lines in recent years. Unfortunately, their reputation is right behind OLDS.

Wait...what was the topic here? I have honestly forgotten. Oh, NBC...and are they serious?

I think NBC is struggling with many issues right now, but probably will come out OK at the end of the day. With the right programming people and the right upper management they should be able to dig out. Of course, now they must deal with Comcast, another distraction that could delay their rebound.

 

[DToTheJ]

My parents live in a 55+ Senior Neighborhood and a lot of their neighbors drive Buicks. There's a running gag that you can't live in the neighborhood if you don't drive a Buick. (Of course its not true. My dad has an Audi Wagon. My mom a Chevy Malibu).

But hey, why stop there, tell us their license plate and registration numbers!

 

[FreddyE1977]

Actually I think that one of Jay's biggest problems is that format just does not work in a 60 minute timeframe.
Going back to the more leisurely and flexible Tonight Show format would appear to make some sense. However
I can't imagine many NBC affiliates agreeing to dump their 11PM local news to accommodate that.

 

[quadraphonic]

There has definitely been some tweaking though, especially in the open. The traditional 'Here's the show, featuring these guests, now your host' open has changed to 'Here's the show, now your host', followed by the mob rush upfront to Jay as the 'featuring these guests' part is said during the mob rush before the monologue. The opening, which formerly featured old pictures of Jay through his life now has current-day pictures of him in various settings instead (which is an improvement; I looked at the original title card and it makes you think Jay's going to host the show when he's 17 before his 1970 prom).

Uh...really? I suspect most people took from the former opening exactly what I took from it - here's how Jay looked when he was younger, and it must mean he's had a long career in comedy. There was nothing wrong with that.

And not to be picky, but he was born in 1950, so his senior prom would have been 1967 or 68.

Maybe he missed a lot of classes working on his "comedy."

 

[LKellerIII]

Actually I think that one of Jay's biggest problems is that format just does not work in a 60 minute timeframe.
Going back to the more leisurely and flexible Tonight Show format would appear to make some sense. However
I can't imagine many NBC affiliates agreeing to dump their 11PM local news to accommodate that.

What? You've lost me on that one. The Tonight Show is also 60 minutes long - has been since the show was shortened from 90 minutes back in the Johnny Carson era - 1980 if I remember correctly. If anything, the late night time slot has more and longer commercial interruptions than Jay now has in prime time.

 

[vchimpanzee]

Good thing Oldsmobile has gone away.

They haven't made Oldsmobiles since the 1970s. The cars may have had the name but there was nothing special about them. Now the 1960s Oldsmobiles were the best looking ones. The 1950s Oldsmobiles were close behind.

Same for the Pontiacs. There just wasn't anything special about any of these cars after about 1977.

 

[vchimpanzee]

The problem with so much that NBC does is that they are serious, but most normal people recognize that they are really nitwits.

Most normal people aren't terribly concerned with the backstage business concerns of a TV network...until their fave show is cancelled, perhaps.

Or unless they are wildly exaggerated by Emmy-winning writers, directors and actors.

 

[Jul]

Leno is killing the ratings for the 11 PM newscasts on the NBC stations. WCAU for example: http://www.lauranachman.net/?p=3105

 

[vchimpanzee]

I know at 27 1/2 I'm just a young, punk, but BUICK is an old fogey car. My parents live in a 55+ Senior Neighborhood and a lot of their neighbors drive Buicks. There's a running gag that you can't live in the neighborhood if you don't drive a Buick. (Of course its not true. My dad has an Audi Wagon. My mom a Chevy Malibu).

Hey, I have an '84 Regal. It has given me a lot of trouble so I got a '97 Mercury. Yes, I know, lots of old fogeys drive those.

Now Buick was another car that looked great in the 50s and 60s.

 

[searadiofreak]

Good thing Oldsmobile has gone away.

They haven't made Oldsmobiles since the 1970s. The cars may have had the name but there was nothing special about them. Now the 1960s Oldsmobiles were the best looking ones. The 1950s Oldsmobiles were close behind.

Same for the Pontiacs. There just wasn't anything special about any of these cars after about 1977.

Oldsmobile vehicles were being built as late as 2004. I assume your comment meant to imply they didn't build original products after the 70's. Somewhat true, but Olds had been a part of GM since 1908.

You're right about Pontiac. Same deal, there. Pontiacs might be a good bargain right now, as they can easily be serviced by any Chevy-Buick-GMC dealer in the future. Now, back to on-topic, NBC...

 

[MBird]

Maybe they could run AS THE WORLD TURNS in primetime once CBS gets done with it!

 

[only1moore]

Remember what NBC did to "Search For Tomorrow" and "Another World?" I'm sorry but the writing was already on the wall for ATWT.

 

[LKellerIII]

Good thing Oldsmobile has gone away.

They haven't made Oldsmobiles since the 1970s. The cars may have had the name but there was nothing special about them. Now the 1960s Oldsmobiles were the best looking ones. The 1950s Oldsmobiles were close behind.

Same for the Pontiacs. There just wasn't anything special about any of these cars after about 1977.

Oldsmobile vehicles were being built as late as 2004. I assume your comment meant to imply they didn't build original products after the 70's. Somewhat true, but Olds had been a part of GM since 1908.

You're right about Pontiac. Same deal, there. Pontiacs might be a good bargain right now, as they can easily be serviced by any Chevy-Buick-GMC dealer in the future. Now, back to on-topic, NBC...

Sorry to wander back off topic to cars, but what vchimpanzee probably meant was that GM cars became very generic after the mid 70s, sharing engines and most other internal mechanics. I had a 76 Olds Cutlass Vista Cruiser - it was a tank, but still had an Olds engine. It was the top selling car in America for a few years in the mid 70s.