Post by tjaman on Oct 7, 2004 11:24:31 GMT -5
I wrote a column about ABC that appeared in today's paper. I thought I'd share it in here so we could say whatever we like about tv programming.
This will, of course, segue nicely into any comments we feel compelled to make about the WB.
Here is the column:
ABC needs to keep its keepers
by tjaman
There's a truly unsettling trend I'd like to talk about with the excellent programming additions on ABC.
You see, I've been hurt before.
It's not just me. A few visitors racing to Internet discussion boards to gush about the premiere of "Lost" two weeks ago and Sunday's premiere of "Desperate Housewives" felt compelled to express a little fear as well.
A number of viewers still fondly remember "Veritas: The Quest" -- an ABC show that vanished without warning or fanfare -- and "Miracles," which seemed like it had a lot of good potential before it followed "Veritas" into the aether.
And last season's debacle with "Stephen King's Kingdom Hospital" still stings, not to mention the bum's rush ABC gave to "The Drew Carey Show" over the summer hiatus.
Ratings
But there are two major differences about "Lost" and "Desperate Housewives" -- and, possibly, "Boston Legal," though I've not tuned in for that one. Captain Kirk just keeps turning up in the most bizarre places.
One: The ratings. "Kingdom Hospital," "Veritas" and "Miracles" all took a long time to "find" their audience. By the time they had, ABC had all but given up on the shows. Also problematic in the past has been ABC's penchant for moving their more interesting programs all over the grid and pre-empting them with no notice whatsoever with, oh, any stray programming they've got sitting around.
The first half of the pilot episode for "Lost" opened to 18.7 million viewers, making it the top draw ratingswise not only for that evening's programming, but for any non-franchise opener. The second half of the pilot, which aired last week, earned the network 16.3 million viewers. The second airing of both halves together on Saturday won its time slot as well.
"Desperate Housewives" broke even that record with an estimated 21.3 million viewers, according to TV Guide, and "Boston Legal" also won its timeslot. In terms of finding their audience, it looks like they've already found it.
Writing
Secondly, ABC is breaking ground with wickedly funny, tightly written dramatic storylines.
In wave after wave of so-called reality programming, each entry more outlandish and ridiculous than the last, it is extremely pleasant to tune into some legitimate storytelling plotlines with objectively defined plot arcs, stories with beginnings, middles and endings, stories where filler seems decidedly limited and where dramatic music is brought in to enhance the dramatic tension, rather than to supply it.
Instead, the formula concept of genre this story is a soap opera, that one is a comedy, this other is a drama, and so forth has been opened up. Television writers are taking risks. Witness a scene from the pilot episode of "Desperate Housewives," where a trophy wife who's conducting an affair with the gardener leaves a party and runs home to mow the lawn in her evening dress after dark so her lover doesn't get fired.
That scene is just pure comedy. Yet in the same episode, a widower -- whose wife, the show's narrator, commits suicide in the first minute or so of the production -- is digging up his swimming pool in the middle of the night. That is just mysterious and spooky.
Whereas other programs in the past have been hidebound in their plot choices, this kind of "dramedy" structure opens up a thousand different directions the story can go in, the vast majority of them quite good.
Ratings like these shows have received and the kind of cross-structural writing they use suggest that ABC has finally decided to coordinate its development choices and its programming decisions.
If they can keep it up, it may signal a comeback for the network, and a new love affair with its viewers.
This will, of course, segue nicely into any comments we feel compelled to make about the WB.
Here is the column:
ABC needs to keep its keepers
by tjaman
There's a truly unsettling trend I'd like to talk about with the excellent programming additions on ABC.
You see, I've been hurt before.
It's not just me. A few visitors racing to Internet discussion boards to gush about the premiere of "Lost" two weeks ago and Sunday's premiere of "Desperate Housewives" felt compelled to express a little fear as well.
A number of viewers still fondly remember "Veritas: The Quest" -- an ABC show that vanished without warning or fanfare -- and "Miracles," which seemed like it had a lot of good potential before it followed "Veritas" into the aether.
And last season's debacle with "Stephen King's Kingdom Hospital" still stings, not to mention the bum's rush ABC gave to "The Drew Carey Show" over the summer hiatus.
Ratings
But there are two major differences about "Lost" and "Desperate Housewives" -- and, possibly, "Boston Legal," though I've not tuned in for that one. Captain Kirk just keeps turning up in the most bizarre places.
One: The ratings. "Kingdom Hospital," "Veritas" and "Miracles" all took a long time to "find" their audience. By the time they had, ABC had all but given up on the shows. Also problematic in the past has been ABC's penchant for moving their more interesting programs all over the grid and pre-empting them with no notice whatsoever with, oh, any stray programming they've got sitting around.
The first half of the pilot episode for "Lost" opened to 18.7 million viewers, making it the top draw ratingswise not only for that evening's programming, but for any non-franchise opener. The second half of the pilot, which aired last week, earned the network 16.3 million viewers. The second airing of both halves together on Saturday won its time slot as well.
"Desperate Housewives" broke even that record with an estimated 21.3 million viewers, according to TV Guide, and "Boston Legal" also won its timeslot. In terms of finding their audience, it looks like they've already found it.
Writing
Secondly, ABC is breaking ground with wickedly funny, tightly written dramatic storylines.
In wave after wave of so-called reality programming, each entry more outlandish and ridiculous than the last, it is extremely pleasant to tune into some legitimate storytelling plotlines with objectively defined plot arcs, stories with beginnings, middles and endings, stories where filler seems decidedly limited and where dramatic music is brought in to enhance the dramatic tension, rather than to supply it.
Instead, the formula concept of genre this story is a soap opera, that one is a comedy, this other is a drama, and so forth has been opened up. Television writers are taking risks. Witness a scene from the pilot episode of "Desperate Housewives," where a trophy wife who's conducting an affair with the gardener leaves a party and runs home to mow the lawn in her evening dress after dark so her lover doesn't get fired.
That scene is just pure comedy. Yet in the same episode, a widower -- whose wife, the show's narrator, commits suicide in the first minute or so of the production -- is digging up his swimming pool in the middle of the night. That is just mysterious and spooky.
Whereas other programs in the past have been hidebound in their plot choices, this kind of "dramedy" structure opens up a thousand different directions the story can go in, the vast majority of them quite good.
Ratings like these shows have received and the kind of cross-structural writing they use suggest that ABC has finally decided to coordinate its development choices and its programming decisions.
If they can keep it up, it may signal a comeback for the network, and a new love affair with its viewers.