H
HomerJay
Guest
Re: CBS Postgame Show and "60 Minutes" (Was: Fox NFL Postgame Show)
I think what you’re proposing is a solution in need of a problem.
60 Minutes has built one of TV’s most venerable brands by being consistent in delivering a series of in-depth, longer stories packaged in a one-hour format. For the most part, the show does not delve into the Dateline style of expanding and contracting the show and altering that formula to fit various needs. (That’s not an indictment of Dateline or any other program; just a comment on the path CBS has chosen for 60 Minutes.)
For half of the country, there’s no issue to begin with, so there’s no need to invest resources (manpower, equipment, what have you), to produce mini segments that definitely won’t be seen by half of the country, and may or may not be seen by the other half. They can’t be consistent with what the rest of 60 Minutes is all about, so it cheapens the brand….and for what?
Most CBS stations and most Fox stations are in completely different situations, and the idea that CBS stations are tremendously suffering by not having their late news start at 11/10 on the dot is not reality. By and large, the CBS Sunday night movie is well programmed and delivers a strong audience, which, when the movie runs late, in turn delivers a captive audience to those seeking late news at 11:15 or 11:30…or whatever.
Die-hard viewers of a particular station will come back if they can’t wait up for the movie to end on those approximately 10 weeks or so that are impacted. Consider WPVI in Philadelphia and Monday Night Football. For 17 weeks, news viewers on Monday nights who might normally tune to Action News find another alternative, and come right back on Tuesday when the schedule goes back to normal.
Unlike CBS affiliates, many Fox affiliates have built being “first” into their overall marketing for their late news. Thus, there is more of a competitive disadvantage to shifting the newscasts. Moreover, Fox historically does not deliver, on a consistent basis, anywhere near the same size audience from 9-10 pm ET that CBS does from 10-11 pm, so, by definition, the “captive” audience for the Fox newscasts would be less valuable, making it more important to have the shows start on time more often.
CBS’s solution makes the most sense for their situation, and Fox’s approach makes more sense for them. It’s not an either/or scenario.
> But you can, besides the highly-promoted segments, schedule
> several short (5-6 minutes each) segments that can be
> dropped from an expanded-during-NFL-season version of "60
> Minutes" should the show not start on-time at 7:30 P.M. ET.
>
> For instance, a 90-minute "60 Minutes" during football
> season could contain three major segments (12-15 minutes
> each), Andy Rooney's commentary, and four short segments of
> 5-6 minutes each that aren't promoted during the week before
> the show. These short segments can be deleted if the late
> afternoon CBS NFL game runs long to insure that "60 Minutes"
> would end at 9 P.M. ET (assuming that the "NFL Today"
> postgame show were to extend to aproximately 7:30 P.M. ET).
>
I think what you’re proposing is a solution in need of a problem.
60 Minutes has built one of TV’s most venerable brands by being consistent in delivering a series of in-depth, longer stories packaged in a one-hour format. For the most part, the show does not delve into the Dateline style of expanding and contracting the show and altering that formula to fit various needs. (That’s not an indictment of Dateline or any other program; just a comment on the path CBS has chosen for 60 Minutes.)
For half of the country, there’s no issue to begin with, so there’s no need to invest resources (manpower, equipment, what have you), to produce mini segments that definitely won’t be seen by half of the country, and may or may not be seen by the other half. They can’t be consistent with what the rest of 60 Minutes is all about, so it cheapens the brand….and for what?
Most CBS stations and most Fox stations are in completely different situations, and the idea that CBS stations are tremendously suffering by not having their late news start at 11/10 on the dot is not reality. By and large, the CBS Sunday night movie is well programmed and delivers a strong audience, which, when the movie runs late, in turn delivers a captive audience to those seeking late news at 11:15 or 11:30…or whatever.
Die-hard viewers of a particular station will come back if they can’t wait up for the movie to end on those approximately 10 weeks or so that are impacted. Consider WPVI in Philadelphia and Monday Night Football. For 17 weeks, news viewers on Monday nights who might normally tune to Action News find another alternative, and come right back on Tuesday when the schedule goes back to normal.
Unlike CBS affiliates, many Fox affiliates have built being “first” into their overall marketing for their late news. Thus, there is more of a competitive disadvantage to shifting the newscasts. Moreover, Fox historically does not deliver, on a consistent basis, anywhere near the same size audience from 9-10 pm ET that CBS does from 10-11 pm, so, by definition, the “captive” audience for the Fox newscasts would be less valuable, making it more important to have the shows start on time more often.
CBS’s solution makes the most sense for their situation, and Fox’s approach makes more sense for them. It’s not an either/or scenario.
> But you can, besides the highly-promoted segments, schedule
> several short (5-6 minutes each) segments that can be
> dropped from an expanded-during-NFL-season version of "60
> Minutes" should the show not start on-time at 7:30 P.M. ET.
>
> For instance, a 90-minute "60 Minutes" during football
> season could contain three major segments (12-15 minutes
> each), Andy Rooney's commentary, and four short segments of
> 5-6 minutes each that aren't promoted during the week before
> the show. These short segments can be deleted if the late
> afternoon CBS NFL game runs long to insure that "60 Minutes"
> would end at 9 P.M. ET (assuming that the "NFL Today"
> postgame show were to extend to aproximately 7:30 P.M. ET).
>