After the AMPTP's petulant withdrawl from last week's talks there comes the disconcerting news that NBC's ratings are being so affected by the [even poorer than normal] programming they are using to fill the gaps, they've been driven to refunding the Advertisers for low-rated commercials.
They're paying an average of $500,000 each for missing the pre-agreed ratings levels. This is the first time a Network has needed to do this in years, and it's a sad comment that it comes as little surprise to find the Net in question is NBC.
Networks usually offer free commercial runs, called 'make-goods,' to repay any viewer shortfalls, but NBC has no free time left as they [in common with every other Network] are cramming as many commercials as they can get on the air in order to exploit the viewers and the Season as much as possible.
CBS, ABC and Fox also are having to reimburse their advertisers by giving ad space for free. With the kind of disingenuous spin you'd expect, they're all blaming their failure on the use of a new ratings formula, but experts disagree. It's the strke. People are sick of all the repeats and they're switching off. Thousands of them!
The Nets had enough new shows to last until late November, and repeats won't really take over until mid-January - And that's when a certain, repugnant material will make significant contact with the air conditioning. At that point the ratings and the profits will start heading downhill....Fast!
And what do the intellectual midgets in charge plan to do to reverse this hemorrhage? They're going to play wall-to-wall Reality - what else?! A format which every member of their audience blessed with an IQ in excess of that found in a door-knob has already made it abundantly clear they can't stand.
'American Gladiators' and "Celebrity Apprentice' and upcoming debuts like 'Knight Rider,' are all re-makes, being dusted off to avoid creating new shows.
And this, according to the suits, is a policy that will make their ratings go up ??
If proof were even needed that the average American TV executive has the creative capacity of navel fluff, here it is. They drive the Writers onto the picket lines to avoid paying them a decent share of the infeasible profits their creativity generates, then they re-hash shows from three-decades ago to fill the resulting scheduling gaps they're too intellectually shallow to enhance any other way.
Wouldn't it be simpler to pay the people with talent to do their jobs? Then the ratings would recover, the Advertiser rebates won't bankrupt them and they'd all keep their jobs.
...Or do you think that might be too complex to grasp?
They're paying an average of $500,000 each for missing the pre-agreed ratings levels. This is the first time a Network has needed to do this in years, and it's a sad comment that it comes as little surprise to find the Net in question is NBC.
Networks usually offer free commercial runs, called 'make-goods,' to repay any viewer shortfalls, but NBC has no free time left as they [in common with every other Network] are cramming as many commercials as they can get on the air in order to exploit the viewers and the Season as much as possible.
CBS, ABC and Fox also are having to reimburse their advertisers by giving ad space for free. With the kind of disingenuous spin you'd expect, they're all blaming their failure on the use of a new ratings formula, but experts disagree. It's the strke. People are sick of all the repeats and they're switching off. Thousands of them!
The Nets had enough new shows to last until late November, and repeats won't really take over until mid-January - And that's when a certain, repugnant material will make significant contact with the air conditioning. At that point the ratings and the profits will start heading downhill....Fast!
And what do the intellectual midgets in charge plan to do to reverse this hemorrhage? They're going to play wall-to-wall Reality - what else?! A format which every member of their audience blessed with an IQ in excess of that found in a door-knob has already made it abundantly clear they can't stand.
'American Gladiators' and "Celebrity Apprentice' and upcoming debuts like 'Knight Rider,' are all re-makes, being dusted off to avoid creating new shows.
And this, according to the suits, is a policy that will make their ratings go up ??
If proof were even needed that the average American TV executive has the creative capacity of navel fluff, here it is. They drive the Writers onto the picket lines to avoid paying them a decent share of the infeasible profits their creativity generates, then they re-hash shows from three-decades ago to fill the resulting scheduling gaps they're too intellectually shallow to enhance any other way.
Wouldn't it be simpler to pay the people with talent to do their jobs? Then the ratings would recover, the Advertiser rebates won't bankrupt them and they'd all keep their jobs.
...Or do you think that might be too complex to grasp?
