WHICH TV NIGHT(S) ARE A WASTE ?

[quadraphonic]

If Saturday night is a waste, why is the Final Four on Saturday?

That's a big night for people to go out to bars to watch it.
They won't do that for COPS or Perfect Strangers or Sanford & Son.
Then, like Nate said, the actual championship is on a Monday.

What about the other 51 weeks?

 

[anotherguyTN]

Although I don't watch much network programming on Saturday nights (A lot of times I'm working), I'd rather see them keep prime time and not turn it back to the local stations. Too many stations would just fill it with infomercials.

I wondered for years why CBS or ABC didn't do Saturday night college football before it actually happened. If ABC does well enough with it, it looks like it would make sense for them to possibly go to Saturday night sports year round. THey could carry NBA basketball in the Winter and early Spring, and NASCAR in the Summer, and posibly add Major League Baseball if they could get a new contract with them.

 

[Starbucks]

You made a logical point. The problem like I mentioned in my post is that no matter how times get hard, their is more media entertainment then there was back in the recessions of 74' or 82' , or even 89-90. What did you have back then?....a nice component stereo? Even Movie Theaters have been faced with hard times. They find it more economical to put 8-9 plus small theaters under one roof then shoot for a huge crowd with one big current movie in most cases. Even they have gone to a similiar niche crowd. Yes the Lawrence Welk crowd could see what's new on their local affiliates...but no one wants them. They sure aren't going to invest in a budget for that. Sorry...it's just going to be "Cops " for now.

This whole Saturday night argument sounds more like a chicken-and-egg question to me. Is the dearth of good Saturday night programming due to a smaller audience because most people prefer to do something else on Saturday? Or do most people prefer to do something else on Saturday because there's nothing good on TV? With the recent economic downturn and people cutting back, one could have made the argument that it might have been a worthwhile risk to try to grow a Saturday night audience with some quality programming. The problem is, such endeavors don't have staying power. As soon as things improve, or people get tired of staying home, the audience will disappear again.

We won't see quality Saturday night programming until there's so much good content available, there's no other place to put it. Not likely to happen in my lifetime. I'm increasingly reaching the conclusion that the only TV nights that are a waste are the ones ending in "Y".

 

[Starbucks]

If Saturday night is a waste, why is the Final Four on Saturday?

When did that become a TV series? Oh I get it....it's an April Fool's post ;D

 

[imhomerjay]

This whole Saturday night argument sounds more like a chicken-and-egg question to me. Is the dearth of good Saturday night programming due to a smaller audience because most people prefer to do something else on Saturday? Or do most people prefer to do something else on Saturday because there's nothing good on TV? With the recent economic downturn and people cutting back, one could have made the argument that it might have been a worthwhile risk to try to grow a Saturday night audience with some quality programming. The problem is, such endeavors don't have staying power. As soon as things improve, or people get tired of staying home, the audience will disappear again.

There's no chicken and egg situation. The audience left while the networks were all still programming originals on Saturdays. It was a gradual decline, perhaps, but perfectly clear. There's no original programming of note because the audience chose to do other things.

 

[firepoint525]

It could be worse: The networks could start playing paid programming on Saturday nights! ;D

Although I don't watch much network programming on Saturday nights (A lot of times I'm working), I'd rather see them keep prime time and not turn it back to the local stations. Too many stations would just fill it with infomercials.

I'm already seeing Time-Life infomercials on network TV on Friday and Saturday evenings, when I actually think to turn the TV on! It's actually the best and most entertaining programming on TV on Friday and Saturday evenings!

But in fairness, the rest of the week isn't much better anymore. :

 

[firepoint525]

You made a logical point. The problem like I mentioned in my post is that no matter how times get hard, their is more media entertainment then there was back in the recessions of 74' or 82' , or even 89-90. What did you have back then?....a nice component stereo? Even Movie Theaters have been faced with hard times. They find it more economical to put 8-9 plus small theaters under one roof then shoot for a huge crowd with one big current movie in most cases. Even they have gone to a similiar niche crowd. Yes the Lawrence Welk crowd could see what's new on their local affiliates...but no one wants them. They sure aren't going to invest in a budget for that. Sorry...it's just going to be "Cops " for now.

Welk reruns still air on the local PBS station on Saturday evenings. Maybe yours too! Check your local listings. 8)

 

[firepoint525]

I bring an interesting perspective to this discussion. About 10 years ago (July, 2000, to be exact), NBC aired three hours worth of Freaks and Geeks on a Saturday evening. I only knew about this because I was a fan of the show, and had previously read about it on their website. The show had been cancelled the previous March, and these three episodes had never been aired, but were already "in the can," so to speak. Again, I would never have known about it had I not read about it on their website. I am guessing that NBC's "expense" to air these episodes was pretty close to zero, since they had already been taped. Maybe only the cost of the electricity to beam them over the satellite to the affiliate stations. Maybe I should have taken note of the commercials that aired with these episodes, because this had to have been one of the deadest possible zones for TV advertising. Maybe NBC paid them (the advertisers) to run spots with them on a Saturday evening during the summertime!

 

[anotherguyTN]

There is one semi-regular Saturday night show for me - The Red Green Show on my local PBS station, unless it's prempted by sports, parades, or begathon specials, which happens too often. It's more like Red Green is used for filler whrn they don't have anything else.

 

[Drucifer]

That was a doozie! What you all are asking for is for someone to entertain you. What do the people entertaining you have to gain?

You are kidding, right? Please, tell me your joking.

 

[ansky212]

I usually make Saturday nights (and sometimes Friday nights) my Redbox night and rent a movie. It's a nice break from regular TV. I also watch a lot of sports on weekend nights.

 

[quadraphonic]

That was a doozie! What you all are asking for is for someone to entertain you. What do the people entertaining you have to gain?

You are kidding, right? Please, tell me your joking.

The "doozie" reference was to the idea of running more buses on Sunday so more people will ride.

So far as for the tv thing, it's only a few of us here saying "We'd really watch if there was quality programming, other conditions, etc. etc."
Yall have only offered "it can't hurt to try" as the best defense. You haven't really talked about how you would appeal to "everyone else" with any regularity, to draw people who are disinterested now.
"It can't hurt to try" is not usually good enough for people who actually have investments in the programming, just for the armchair programmers. How would you get more people interested in Friday and Saturday nights? It's chicken-and-egg.

 

[Drucifer]

That was a doozie! What you all are asking for is for someone to entertain you. What do the people entertaining you have to gain?

You are kidding, right? Please, tell me your joking.

The "doozie" reference was to the idea of running more buses on Sunday so more people will ride.

So far as for the tv thing, it's only a few of us here saying "We'd really watch if there was quality programming, other conditions, etc. etc."
Yall have only offered "it can't hurt to try" as the best defense. You haven't really talked about how you would appeal to "everyone else" with any regularity, to draw people who are disinterested now.
"It can't hurt to try" is not usually good enough for people who actually have investments in the programming, just for the armchair programmers. How would you get more people interested in Friday and Saturday nights? It's chicken-and-egg.

Thanks, thats a bit easier to wrap my brain around. That's the one problem with a board like this, trying to read the brain behind the message Your point is also right on. It's one thing to point out the problem yet another to provide a return per dollar idea. While I agree that in simplistic terms, creating compelling and entertaining television (or radio) for that matter should be the goal, I have yet to hear or see any feasible ideas. Not that they don't exist, I just don't think we have seem them.

 

[dhett]

This whole Saturday night argument sounds more like a chicken-and-egg question to me. Is the dearth of good Saturday night programming due to a smaller audience because most people prefer to do something else on Saturday? Or do most people prefer to do something else on Saturday because there's nothing good on TV? With the recent economic downturn and people cutting back, one could have made the argument that it might have been a worthwhile risk to try to grow a Saturday night audience with some quality programming. The problem is, such endeavors don't have staying power. As soon as things improve, or people get tired of staying home, the audience will disappear again.

There's no chicken and egg situation. The audience left while the networks were all still programming originals on Saturdays. It was a gradual decline, perhaps, but perfectly clear. There's no original programming of note because the audience chose to do other things.

You missed my point.

 

[ding12]

When we saw the proliferation of cheap DVDs (and later Netflix), movies-on-demand, video games, the internet, and countless other forms of cheap in-home entertainment.

Video games were big in the late 80s/90s.

I'd say DVDs, PPV and increased cable and mini-dish adoption, and cable channels targeting audiences is what killed broadcast on Friday and Saturday night. Personally, our family went straight from broadcast TV to Dish Network (around 1999), skipping analog cable only, but eventually going to cable as a bundled service once it offered high speed internet.

Widespread adoption of VOD via the internet (e.g. Netflix on Demand) is fairly recent.

 

[quadraphonic]

That was a doozie! What you all are asking for is for someone to entertain you. What do the people entertaining you have to gain?

You are kidding, right? Please, tell me your joking.

The "doozie" reference was to the idea of running more buses on Sunday so more people will ride.

So far as for the tv thing, it's only a few of us here saying "We'd really watch if there was quality programming, other conditions, etc. etc."
Yall have only offered "it can't hurt to try" as the best defense. You haven't really talked about how you would appeal to "everyone else" with any regularity, to draw people who are disinterested now.
"It can't hurt to try" is not usually good enough for people who actually have investments in the programming, just for the armchair programmers. How would you get more people interested in Friday and Saturday nights? It's chicken-and-egg.

Thanks, thats a bit easier to wrap my brain around. That's the one problem with a board like this, trying to read the brain behind the message Your point is also right on. It's one thing to point out the problem yet another to provide a return per dollar idea. While I agree that in simplistic terms, creating compelling and entertaining television (or radio) for that matter should be the goal, I have yet to hear or see any feasible ideas. Not that they don't exist, I just don't think we have seem them.

Sometimes it's hard to 'splain stuff on the internets too. It's a whoooolllle lot easier to say "They should do this, they did it before," or "they should do that like they did in the 70s" based completely on what we think we'd like to see [and when we'd like to see it, and how we'd like to have it delivered, etc. etc. etc.]. By the time we finish adding our qualifiers into "what they should do" we're down to a niche market of one.

I agree, the goal for programmers should be to get viewers, have compelling and entertaining television, whatever the peops want. But it seems to me that programmers have been on "maintain, don't lose" for so long, and there are so many other options for entertainment, that the return on their investment wouldn't be high enough, and so their interest in doing the work isn't really all that high. It's a cycle. If one or even a couple of programmers were to find a way to make entertaining and compelling programming on Friday and Saturday nights, it would be "too little too late" pretty much. They might stand out above the other networks, but it still won't stand out as much as it did in the 70s, when there were only a few tv options.

I wish it were different, but realistically.... :-[

 

[jsu5381m]

At least during the fall CBS could do a The NFL Tonight on Saturday night. That would be good for west coast people who can't get up early enough to see the pregame show or those at church on Sunday morning.

 

[arnoldevns]

Saturday is the biggest waste and it sure didn't used to be that way.
Gone are the days of some of the most popular shows of the week being on Saturday. (Love Boat, Fantasy Island, etc)

Fox wins Saturday pretty much every week with Cops and America's Most Wanted. Even they have tried to do scripted stuff there, but went back to AMW after just a few weeks.

The overall numbers for that night are so meager that it's just not worth it to the networks to devote serious resources to the night. It may be that 48 Hours is new that night, but that's an inexpensive news magazine. You just don't find scripted one hour dramas playing new episodes on that night. (or scripted sitcoms for that matter)

I believe at least one network has talked about giving the night back to affiliates. I think that would be a big mistake.

I would like to see the networks use the night for something other than repeats. I think NBC used to run a movie on Sunday nights then repeate it the next Saturday. Why not do it reverse? Run it first on Saturday and repeat it a week later on Sunday night.

Maybe take some shows that didn't work out on another night and run original episodes on Saturday (heavily promoted too) to see if one of them will get a following there.

 

[Starbucks]

They tried that already during the summer. As far as testing shows that did not workout during the weeknight, it still had a small audience , because right away along with the small promotion of the evening....people assume it's still second tier programming. Or they'll air a show that's been cancelled....but three episodes were never shown , and they'll try it out for Saturday and still gets low results.
Movies? I'll go to Netflix, Showtime, AMC, TNT etc. PLEASE! Give up already...... quit trying to save things like AM radio, turntables, newspapers, cassette recorders, soap operas, Facsimile and Shortwave receivers, I Love Lucy etc. Your reading this on the internet... now move on.

 

[Drucifer]

There's the best idea I have heard so far. WOW! Resurrect the Mystery Movie. Show part 1 on a weeknight and the second part on Saturday night!