Were The Networks Wrong To "Abandon" Saturday Nights??

[pab]

A while back I watched a BBC documentary called "Who Killed Saturday Night?" Even British TV experienced a major drop off in Saturday viewers from the days of Morecambe and Wise's variety show, when British Saturday TV was at its peak.

What's interesting is that the documentary was first aired in 2004, a year before the return of "Doctor Who" made Saturday night TV cool again.

Another interesting thing to note about British Saturday TV is that it isn't all what we would consider "prime time." Saturday programming over there starts at "tea time," or 5 PM-8 PM. Shows like "Doctor Who," "Robin Hood," and "Merlin" brought family viewers back to their TV screens in the late afternoon and early evenings, laying the groundwork for what we would consider "prime time."

Now, if an American network were courageous, they would consider handing 9 PM-11 PM on Saturday back to their affiliates, and program family friendly fare from 5-6 PM and 7-8 PM instead. The right shows in those time slots will attract viewers before most people head out for the evening, or convince those who are staying at home to perhaps stay tuned for the prime offerings.

Let's also remember that even though it wasn't specifically scheduled at that time by a network, most stations that carried "Star Trek: The Next Generation" aired it Saturdays at 7 E/6 C. Early Saturday programming can work where prime time flops.

 

[Morgan Wick]

I would like to see either ABC or CBS (preferably CBS) air college basketball on Saturday
nights (I prefer CBS since they have the SEC).

Actually, ABC doesn't have any college basketball other than... the *SEC* Championship. And that gets at why you'll see the opposite happen: sports keeps marching inexorably to cable.

 

[Joseph_Gallant]

As illustrated by the examples from the United Kingdom, in countries outside of the United States, Saturday is often seen as a good night for high-appeal events or specials to air on TV.

During the NHL season, Canada's CBC Television has broadcast weekly Saturday-night NHL games for as long as there has been television broadcasting in that country (the first season of "Hockey Night In Canada" was 1952/53, just weeks after CBC's first TV stations in Montreal and Toronto went on the air).

 

[Joseph_Gallant]

As for why the US networks largely abandoned Saturday evenings, I've wondered for a while if part the reason isn't related to the present ownership situations of the major networks. Just consider that...(ABC, The CW, Fox, and NBC are under common or partially-common ownership with a motion picture studio, while for a time, CBS was as well)


I can see how in order to avoid one leg (the TV portion) of a major company trampling on another leg (the film portion) of the same company, the TV leg might just acquiesce to the film leg on what is a highly important and profitable day of the week for that leg.

I have wondered about that as well, but I don't think it's that valid as an excuse.

Most moviegoers are under 30. That should not be the cause of people over 30 not watching much TV on Saturday nights.

 

[michael hagerty]

Boomers' parents, having come up through tough times that included the Depression for some of them and World War II for all of them, tended to live much more frugal lives than Boomers are as adults, and than younger generations of adults do...especially after they started their family. The idea that they "had to" have a "date" or "party" night every week that involved going out to a restaurant or a club would have been dismissed by most of Middle America's Middle Class. So everybody was home on Saturday night. Church attendance was much higher 40 years ago, as well...which made Saturday night dinner, TV, baths for the kids and bed so you could be ready for Sunday morning.

It's not like that anymore.

 

[Joseph_Gallant]

Right now, Saturday evenings in February belong to college basketball (for those stations that carry it).

But probably only in areas where there are no NHL or NBA teams and the local major-college men's basketball team is "the biggest sport in town" during that time of the year (read: Connecticut, much of North Carolina, Las Vegas, and other areas like those).

I suspect that in the largest markets, local broadcast or (most likely) cable coverage of games involving hometown pro teams (baseball in Spring and Summer; hockey and basketball in Fall and Winter) dominate the local TV ratings on Saturday nights.

Could that have also played into the networks' decision to "abandon" prime-time on Saturdays??

 

[fybush]

So everybody was home on Saturday night.

Quite the generalization there...and certainly not true of my grandparents, who were all solidly in the middle of the middle class, and who were all born between 1902 and 1914. My grandmother, who lived to just shy of 95, had Saturday night social plans (usually involving dancing) almost to the day she died.

 

[landtuna]

Boomers' parents, having come up through tough times that included the Depression for some of them and World War II for all of them, tended to live much more frugal lives than Boomers are as adults, and than younger generations of adults do...especially after they started their family. The idea that they "had to" have a "date" or "party" night every week that involved going out to a restaurant or a club would have been dismissed by most of Middle America's Middle Class. So everybody was home on Saturday night. Church attendance was much higher 40 years ago, as well...which made Saturday night dinner, TV, baths for the kids and bed so you could be ready for Sunday morning.

It's not like that anymore.

My parents are the ones you are talking about. Although I remember going out to eat a couple times per month as a kid I don't remember what night of the week it was. But I also remember weekends were for socializing. With neighbors (canasta and bridge games), grilling out, eating at the relatives and picnics in the park/mountain.

 

[michael hagerty]

So everybody was home on Saturday night.

Quite the generalization there...and certainly not true of my grandparents, who were all solidly in the middle of the middle class, and who were all born between 1902 and 1914. My grandmother, who lived to just shy of 95, had Saturday night social plans (usually involving dancing) almost to the day she died.

You're right, that was an over-generalization. I'll amend that to it was more common for families to be at home on Saturday nights back then.

 

[nomadcowatbk]

So everybody was home on Saturday night.

Quite the generalization there...and certainly not true of my grandparents, who were all solidly in the middle of the middle class, and who were all born between 1902 and 1914. My grandmother, who lived to just shy of 95, had Saturday night social plans (usually involving dancing) almost to the day she died.

You're right, that was an over-generalization. I'll amend that to it was more common for families to be at home on Saturday nights back then.

today if families are home on Saturday night, they'll just find a cable channel with family programming or watch a movie from somewhere (netflix, blu-ray). Weekly syndicated shows don't work anymore.

 

[quadraphonic]

Now, if an American network were courageous, they would consider handing 9 PM-11 PM on Saturday back to their affiliates, and program family friendly fare from 5-6 PM and 7-8 PM instead. The right shows in those time slots will attract viewers before most people head out for the evening, or convince those who are staying at home to perhaps stay tuned for the prime offerings.

I have thought that same thing a few times.

 

[michael hagerty]

It's not a bad idea. They've floated the concept of moving prime time an hour earlier on the coasts (7-10 PM, with late local news at 10 and Letterman/Leno/Kimmel at 10:35) on the theory that people have to get up earlier and earlier to deal with longer morning commutes.

 

[landtuna]

"Families" home on Saturday evenings would be young parents with young kids (the "Disney" crowd). Empty nesters would likely be out on the town (excepting perhaps the elderly) and single and married-without-kids would have plans outside the apartment too.

There is still a market for sports and family-friendly programming but whether advertising revenue would be enough to pay for it is beyond my abilities.

 

[landtuna]

It's not a bad idea. They've floated the concept of moving prime time an hour earlier on the coasts (7-10 PM, with late local news at 10 and Letterman/Leno/Kimmel at 10:35) on the theory that people have to get up earlier and earlier to deal with longer morning commutes.

One of the great things about living in the Mountain time zone is that programming generally begins an hour early here and on weekends we don't have to stay up past midnight for the conclusion to our sports programs. Of course, our workday usually begins at 8AM as opposed to 9AM in the east.

 

[michael hagerty]

It's not a bad idea. They've floated the concept of moving prime time an hour earlier on the coasts (7-10 PM, with late local news at 10 and Letterman/Leno/Kimmel at 10:35) on the theory that people have to get up earlier and earlier to deal with longer morning commutes.

One of the great things about living in the Mountain time zone is that programming generally begins an hour early here and on weekends we don't have to stay up past midnight for the conclusion to our sports programs. Of course, our workday usually begins at 8AM as opposed to 9AM in the east.

When I first moved here from the Pacific Time Zone, where I'd been all my life, I thought I'd never get used to a 10PM late news. Within a few months, the idea of staying up till almost midnight to catch the news and (then) Carson's monologue seemed positively barbaric.

 

[onairb]

It's not a bad idea. They've floated the concept of moving prime time an hour earlier on the coasts (7-10 PM, with late local news at 10 and Letterman/Leno/Kimmel at 10:35) on the theory that people have to get up earlier and earlier to deal with longer morning commutes.

'Early prime time' didn't last long in San Francisco(or Sacramento) in the early 90s; KRON (then NBC) and KPIX found that viewers had a hard time getting used to the early programming beginning at 7. (NBC kind of let 'The Golden Girls' die in '91-92 by moving it to 8 PM on Saturdays; KRON airing it at 7 at midseason didn't help).
The news shifting to 10 wasn't so bad, but neither station made much of a dent in the 10 o'clock news ratings for KTVU, which pretty much invented 10 o'clock newscasts. KGO (ABC) never made the switch, and benefitted by picking up 'Jeopardy!' and 'Wheel' for the 7-8 hour. More than two decades later, those two shows are still in that slot on KGO, and only one station in Sacramento still follows the early prime schedule.

 

[arnoldevns]

It's not a bad idea. They've floated the concept of moving prime time an hour earlier on the coasts (7-10 PM, with late local news at 10 and Letterman/Leno/Kimmel at 10:35) on the theory that people have to get up earlier and earlier to deal with longer morning commutes.

'Early prime time' didn't last long in San Francisco(or Sacramento) in the early 90s; KRON (then NBC) and KPIX found that viewers had a hard time getting used to the early programming beginning at 7. (NBC kind of let 'The Golden Girls' die in '91-92 by moving it to 8 PM on Saturdays; KRON airing it at 7 at midseason didn't help).
The news shifting to 10 wasn't so bad, but neither station made much of a dent in the 10 o'clock news ratings for KTVU, which pretty much invented 10 o'clock newscasts. KGO (ABC) never made the switch, and benefitted by picking up 'Jeopardy!' and 'Wheel' for the 7-8 hour. More than two decades later, those two shows are still in that slot on KGO, and only one station in Sacramento still follows the early prime schedule.

That didn't work because not everyone switched. 7-10 prime time like we have in the central timezone is better for bother the networks and stations. It just requires all the netwoks to make the switch or the viewers won't adjust.

 

[nomadcowatbk]

It's not a bad idea. They've floated the concept of moving prime time an hour earlier on the coasts (7-10 PM, with late local news at 10 and Letterman/Leno/Kimmel at 10:35) on the theory that people have to get up earlier and earlier to deal with longer morning commutes.

'Early prime time' didn't last long in San Francisco(or Sacramento) in the early 90s; KRON (then NBC) and KPIX found that viewers had a hard time getting used to the early programming beginning at 7. (NBC kind of let 'The Golden Girls' die in '91-92 by moving it to 8 PM on Saturdays; KRON airing it at 7 at midseason didn't help).
The news shifting to 10 wasn't so bad, but neither station made much of a dent in the 10 o'clock news ratings for KTVU, which pretty much invented 10 o'clock newscasts. KGO (ABC) never made the switch, and benefitted by picking up 'Jeopardy!' and 'Wheel' for the 7-8 hour. More than two decades later, those two shows are still in that slot on KGO, and only one station in Sacramento still follows the early prime schedule.

primetime probably started before a lot of people were home

 

[PTBoardOp94]

Most moviegoers are under 30. That should not be the cause of people over 30 not watching much TV on Saturday nights.

Meanwhile, theatre attendance is declining overall (down 19% in ten years and 10% in 3 years). The decline is most sharp among those aged 12 to 24. In 2011 the average 12 to 24 year old saw 22% fewer movies in 2011 than in 2009.

Therefore, I don't think theatre attendance is to blame for the decline of Saturday night TV.

 

[nelsonincharlotte]

The networks could, and should, be trying at least with Saturday. This could be a slot to experiment and allow shows to develop.

Watch what Fox is doing with its late-night slot on Saturday. If that's not "experimentation," I don't know what is.

http://www.nytimes.com/2013/07/07/a...t-in-animated-living.html?pagewanted=all&_r=0

For what it's worth, they're giving the affiliates back midnight-12:30 Eastern beginning in the fall. Read it on Broadcasting and Cable.