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UPN wants to keep WWE on their schedule for next year.

O

oldvnewschool

On Thursday during the Television Critics Assocaiton Winter Press Tour in

Pasadena, CA. UPN made their programming announcements.

The President, Dawn Ostroff, wants to keep WWE Friday Night Smackdown on UPN.

and negotiatons are underway as we speak with Vince McMahon.

But if I were McMahon I would consider if USA would consider carrying another

WWE show on their schedule and maybe return Smackdown to Thursday Nights.

Or maybe Bravo or TBS could be interested.

That's just me, but what does the average wrestling fan here thinks about it.

Should Smackdown stay where it is at right now?

Move to another network?

Or die off all together?
 
> On Thursday during the Television Critics Assocaiton Winter
> Press Tour in
>
> Pasadena, CA. UPN made their programming announcements.
>
> The President, Dawn Ostroff, wants to keep WWE Friday Night
> Smackdown on UPN.
>
> and negotiatons are underway as we speak with Vince McMahon.
>
>
> But if I were McMahon I would consider if USA would consider
> carrying another
>
> WWE show on their schedule and maybe return Smackdown to
> Thursday Nights.
>
> Or maybe Bravo or TBS could be interested.
>
> That's just me, but what does the average wrestling fan here
> thinks about it.
>
> Should Smackdown stay where it is at right now?
>
> Move to another network?
>
> Or die off all together?
>

I think Vince is quite happy to be back with USA, and now that they're part of the huge NBC Universal family, is offering alot more to his company than CBS Corporation. As far as UPN goes, I think they're happy with the ratings they've garnered for the show's move to Fridays. But I sincerely think that Vince will try to get the show moved to a cable network within the NBC Universal family, most likely USA.
 
> On Thursday during the Television Critics Assocaiton Winter
> Press Tour in
>
> Pasadena, CA. UPN made their programming announcements.
>
> The President, Dawn Ostroff, wants to keep WWE Friday Night
> Smackdown on UPN.
>
> and negotiatons are underway as we speak with Vince McMahon.
>
>
> But if I were McMahon I would consider if USA would consider
> carrying another
>
> WWE show on their schedule and maybe return Smackdown to
> Thursday Nights.
>
> Or maybe Bravo or TBS could be interested.
>
> That's just me, but what does the average wrestling fan here
> thinks about it.
>
> Should Smackdown stay where it is at right now?
>
> Move to another network?
>
> Or die off all together?

I'm sure 'Smackdown' isn't doing better ratings-wise on Fridays instead of Thursdays, but would UPN really off one of it's more reliable shows?
USA adding another night of pro-wrestling (recorded, not live) doesn't seem all that far-fetched, but it'd probably be on weekends.

'Smackdown' Thursdays often drew pretty respectable 18-49 ratings for UPN; part of me wonders how the show would do on Fox with the same timeslot. No chance of that happening, though.
<P ID="signature">______________
"I have the feeling about 60% of what you say is crap."--David Letterman underestimates Bill O'Reilly</P>
 
Were "Smackdown!" to leave UPN, I would think the network will replace it with "urban" movies.

Could NBC itself pick-up "Smackdown!", especially if it is moved to Saturday nights in prime-time (perhaps 8 to 10 P.M. ET/PT)?? It would probably do better than what it does now on UPN, and probably likely do better than the reruns NBC currently runs in that timeslot.

Another issue should NBC or any of it's sister cable networks pick-up "Smackdown!": Would NBC/Universal buy all or a large part of WWE from the McMahon family?? Doing so would likely prevent another company from taking WWE telecasts away from NBC/Universal.

I think "Smackdown"'s future may depend on how badly Vince McMahon wants to use over-the-air television to promote both live WWE cards and pay-per-view events. The truth is that "Smackdown!" and "Raw", for the most part, are infomercials to promote WWE live events and pay-per-view telecasts. If "Smackdown!" leaves broadcast television, it could very well cease to exist, with the talent of it and "Raw" consolidated onto the latter, perhaps with "Raw" expanding to three hours to accomodate the additional talent.

In any event, I hope that "Smackdown!" will change to a live broadcast every week (unless the show originates one week from somewhere in Europe, in which case, the program would air on a tape-delay of a few hours owing to the time difference between the site of that week's "Smackdown!" show and North America).
 
great, more fake sports with people pretending to seriously hurt each other

<font face="-1">yay...
</font>
> On Thursday during the Television Critics Assocaiton Winter
> Press Tour in
>
> Pasadena, CA. UPN made their programming announcements.
>
> The President, Dawn Ostroff, wants to keep WWE Friday Night
> Smackdown on UPN.
>
> and negotiatons are underway as we speak with Vince McMahon.
>
>
> But if I were McMahon I would consider if USA would consider
> carrying another
>
> WWE show on their schedule and maybe return Smackdown to
> Thursday Nights.
>
> Or maybe Bravo or TBS could be interested.
>
> That's just me, but what does the average wrestling fan here
> thinks about it.
>
> Should Smackdown stay where it is at right now?
>
> Move to another network?
>
> Or die off all together?
>
 
I think if the WWE left UPN the network would go belly up. Maybe Mr. Vince can buy time on the "i" network for the WWE. *Sarcasim*.
 
Re: great, more fake sports with people pretending to seriously hurt each other

> yay...
>
Isn't that pretty much what all TV is. Fake sports, fake people, actors pretending to be something they are not. Using make up, girdles, various plastic surgeries to be something they are not. Wrestling is no different from any other form of entertainment on TV.<P ID="signature">______________
Once I figured out the meaning of life....Then I forgot to write it down.</P>
 
> On Thursday during the Television Critics Assocaiton Winter
> Press Tour in
>
> Pasadena, CA. UPN made their programming announcements.
>
> The President, Dawn Ostroff, wants to keep WWE Friday Night
> Smackdown on UPN.
>
> and negotiatons are underway as we speak with Vince McMahon.
>
>
> But if I were McMahon I would consider if USA would consider
> carrying another
>
> WWE show on their schedule and maybe return Smackdown to
> Thursday Nights.
>
> Or maybe Bravo or TBS could be interested.
>
> That's just me, but what does the average wrestling fan here
> thinks about it.
>
> Should Smackdown stay where it is at right now?
>
> Move to another network?
>
> Or die off all together?
>

It should stay on Friday, and preferably on UPN (although if it got cancelled, WWE would almost certainly buy time on "i" to keep it on in the US. They own a significant stake in the cable network it is shown on in Canada and need the brand split and dual house show tours to make money, so Smackdown wouldn't go away).

Putting it back on Thursday? Why do they want to be opposite Survivor and CSI or NBCs comedy block anyway? If they had to switch days, they should move it to Tuesday and make it a live show on those weeks it's normally taped on Tuesday (ie most of them).
 
>I'm sure 'Smackdown' isn't doing better ratings-wise on
> Fridays instead of Thursdays, but would UPN really off one
> of it's more reliable shows?
> USA adding another night of pro-wrestling (recorded, not
> live) doesn't seem all that far-fetched, but it'd probably
> be on weekends.
>
> 'Smackdown' Thursdays often drew pretty respectable 18-49
> ratings for UPN; part of me wonders how the show would do on
> Fox with the same timeslot. No chance of that happening,
> though.
>
I think I remember reading last time smackdown was up for a new contract, fox was indeed interested, but they wanted the show live. WWE didn't want to do that, because the stress of havning the production crew work on Thursdays, instead of Tuesdays was too much. Or something like that I forget the exact details.
 
>
> Or maybe Bravo or TBS could be interested.

Nope. Bravo = too upscale for rasslin.
TBS = Time Warner doesn't want rasslin on their channels...that's why WCW folded and Vince was able to buy its remains.
 
Re: great, more fake sports with people pretending to seriously hurt each other

> > yay...
> >
> Isn't that pretty much what all TV is. Fake sports, fake
> people, actors pretending to be something they are not.
> Using make up, girdles, various plastic surgeries to be
> something they are not. Wrestling is no different from any
> other form of entertainment on TV.
>

Actually, pro wrestling predates TV by about a half century.
 
> I think if the WWE left UPN the network would go belly up.
> Maybe Mr. Vince can buy time on the "i" network for the WWE.
> *Sarcasim*.
>

This time around, I don't think Vince wants to put all his eggs in one basket.

Hes out of the syndication business, having moved his "velocity" type programming to online status....

He got burned throwing both of his name shows with one company Viacom (Spike and UPN).

Right now hes in NBC/U s good graces with Raw...and has the backing of CBS' UPN for his over the air content.

UPN is a nice fit for "Smackdown". They have just enough programming to keep them afloat, plus hes the big fish in their little pond. His promos appear on the urban programming, while USA caters to the white and hispanic folks with cable.

Why change? Hes got two major tv networks happy with his output, and hes managing to make money, while keeping his feuding competition (TNA) at bay.

Right now , wrestling is in one of its 'down' periods. Revolving world champions...none of them having the true across the board charisma like Hogan, Austin or The Rock.

McMahon will bide his time...and, barring a huge economic downturn...win again.
 
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