2000-2001 PART I
The original plan for this installment was to focus on a key move in the 2000-2001 fall schedule. But, even a glance at the six-network universe will remind us of seismic shifts that set the course for the next few years. Of course, the reality-show phenomenon began here. CBS challenged the NBC Must-See-TV Thursday line-up. ABC tried to strip WHO WANTS TO BE A MILLIONAIRE four nights a week. FOX re-ignited its comedy line-up with MALCOLM IN THE MIDDLE. The WB began its "second wave" of teen dramas with GILMORE GIRLS.
While all of this was happening, there was a move at The WB that reflected the slow death of the repeat. But first...
Quick reminder of how few programming options there were in 2000:
At this time, HBO had a small number of scripted series: OZ, THE SOPRANOS, CURB YOUR ENTHUSIASM, ARLI$$ and SEX AND THE CITY. Over at SHOWTIME, it was THE OUTER LIMITS and BEGGARS & CHOOSERS. MONK and THE SHIELD, which began the quality wave that defined networks such as USA and FX were still two years away. Shows like LA FEMME NIKITA and SON OF THE BEACH called USA and FX home back then. So, as I focus on the broadcast networks, remember that there wasn't the growing competition that was only around the corner.
Throughout television history, shows were really bought for two airings. The ability to repeat the shows, mostly in the summer, helped finance them. Viewers got a chance to revisit these episodes or catch those you missed the first time as NBC said in 1998, "It's New to You!"
BUT IT'S NOT NEW TO ME!
Repeats weren't always in favor. In olden times, there were replacement shows in the summer for 60s and 70s variety shows. As 1980s serial dramas such as the mighty DALLAS and DYNASTY lost traction with summer repeats in their later years, other programming was brought in. Fox found themselves in a similar situation by the late 90s when hot shows like BEVERLY HILLS 90210 and MELROSE PLACE had repeats that wouldn't perform. They started running promos that these shows would air "no repeats." Occasionally, they would be pre-empted or air a "behind-the-scenes" special but for the most part, you could come back each week and follow the story from September to May. 30-34 episodes a season were produced!
ABC had a problem with its hit drama, NYPD BLUE which was closely identified with its Tuesday 10:00 slot. For most of its 1993-2005 run, BLUE aired there and many shows have struggled in that slot since. Production problems plagued the series the previous season making it difficult to schedule. When the 1999 fall schedule was announced, ABC rested the show. This did not used to happen with a network's top drama. Networks didn't want to keep a hit off the schedule for months. ONCE & AGAIN premiered in the slot that fall and BLUE was held until January 2000.
The good thing was that it had a full 22 episodes to run, resulting in no repeats. BLUE was another of those serialized dramas that lost viewers when reruns were scheduled.
THE FROG'S PLAN
Since there was great appeal to having more original episodes during the traditional broadcast season, The WB made a calculated strategy in the fall of 2000.
I was lucky to get hired by The WB programming department in 1999 as a coordinator. Having worked at other broadcast networks throughout the 90s, I arrived at the youth-driven "weblet" as an old-timer. The shows were aimed at the 12-34 year old demographic, and its young staff was raised on television. These were my people! I had an amazing front-row seat at the hottest network at the time.
The Big Four (ABC, CBS, NBC and FOX) still had big hits but were all in a state of flux. SEINFELD was gone, THE X-FILES lost David Duchovny and Gillian Anderson and EVERYBODY LOVES RAYMOND proved to be the salvation of CBS's comedy line-up. As mentioned earlier, reality shows such as SURVIVOR and MILLIONAIRE were changing television and we will look at that in Part II. But the WB had the young stars with buzz-worthy shows that were blanketing magazine covers. Sarah Michelle Gellar and James Van Der Beek were some among the youngest hosts ever on SATURDAY NIGHT LIVE, which then had been on for 25 years. Gellar, Jessica Biel, Jamie Foxx and others cracked through to star in movies while still on television shows-- on a network that didn't even air seven-nights-a-week.
How is this for mind-blowing trivia: ABC only had two hit dramas at the time (NYPD, THE PRACTICE), NBC had four hits and an up-and-comer (WEST WING, LAW & ORDER, ER, SVU, PROVIDENCE and THIRD WATCH), FOX had two (X-FILES, ALLY McBEAL) and CBS had at least half a dozen but a few were winding down (JAG, TOUCHED BY AN ANGEL, JUDGING AMY, DIAGNOSIS MURDER, WALKER, DISTRICT, NASH BRIDGES). Although the bar was lower, The WB also had at least a half dozen (7TH HEAVEN, BUFFY, ANGEL, DAWSON'S CREEK, FELICITY, CHARMED). This, along with THE SOPRANOS and OZ on HBO, was the backbone of television drama.
BUFFY and DAWSON'S CREEK were the GAME OF THRONES and STRANGER THINGS of their day. I liked these shows but found my favorites to be the later shows that broadened the network, GILMORE GIRLS, SMALLVILLE and the short-lived GROSSE POINTE. The network was building an empire of pop culture favorites and although I wasn't in scheduling at the time, I got to watch as the strategy came together. And then, there was FELICITY, which is the inspiration for this chapter of the blog.
FELICITY premiered in 1998 after BUFFY on Tuesdays at 9. The network had followed a traditional method of using hit shows to feed into new shows, night by night. 7TH HEAVEN (1996 premiere) had grown into a hit on Mondays and eventually was the lead-in for BUFFY. Then, Tuesday was launched in 1998 with BUFFY and the new series, DAWSON'S CREEK. DAWSON'S moved over to Wednesdays to make room for FELICITY that fall. With FELICITY's success, it was decided to move it to Sundays at 8 in 1999 replacing an all-comedy line-up. For the past three years, WB had aired sitcoms on this night. As I mentioned with my 1979 installment about the mega-hit MORK & MINDY, moving a mega-hit can be dicey. I also subscribe to the practice of moving shows close to where they were the previous season. On the creative side, it is daunting for a sophomore season to live up to the popularity of the first. Although there weren't drastic creative changes in season two, Felicity changed her look and her new haircut wasn't very popular.
Whatever caused viewers to lose interest, the urgency was clear. Your new hit show is struggling and it's important to preserve it. The WB schedulers wisely shifted FELICITY to a protected spot after DAWSON'S CREEK that January on Wednesday nights at 9.
TIME SHARE
As many fans of television know, the production of a 22-episode season is a train that has to keep moving from July to April. By the time the holidays arrive, series often hit a wall and are only an episode or two ahead. It's not unusual to pre-empt shows during December or run holiday specials. But once January comes, followed by February sweeps, you've now used up maybe six or seven more episodes and there needs to be a rest on the schedule to save episodes for the May sweeps.
It doesn't seem unusual now, but The WB decided to avoid repeats in the Wednesday 9:00 slot by doing a time share. They announced FELICITY would be there in the fall. Sophomore show JACK & JILL would run in January with FELICITY returning in the spring with its remaining episodes. JACK & JILL, as many know, didn't last but this move helped preserve FELICITY so that it could get to a fourth season for syndication. It also made the network more appealing with fewer repeats. In previous years, shows had certainly been put on hiatus for a few weeks to return later within season. But FELICITY clearly had one of the early "split seasons" that was deliberately planned.
Like NYPD and FELICITY, we've seen more of this strategy in the following years. It wasn't often then that mid-season shows were given a deliberate January time slot. Over the decades, shows would be renewed as mid-season replacements to be back-ups, or like in the case of SEINFELD in 1990, as an act of faith that this show may not be strong enough for the fall but let's bring it back and give it a chance. They would replace failing shows but not necessarily known where they would wind up. Now, January became more of a destination for your favorite shows to return. Today, many shows don't return until January or later.
Now, if you want to talk about a runaway train, Fox's 24 grew into a hit and, in those days, would actually produce 24 serialized episodes. But the gaps that would result during a 35-week season could hurt the show's momentum. So, in 2004, Fox strategized that they would rest the fourth season of the hit and save all the original episodes to run uninterrupted in January 2005.
PROTECTING "YOUR" NIGHT
If you look at cable networks now, especially HBO which started the practice, many shows now air on the most-watched night, Sunday. HBO started rotating shows so that every 13 weeks or so, you would have something new whether it be THE SOPRANOS, SEX AND THE CITY, SIX FEET UNDER or now, GAME OF THRONES and VEEP. AMC does the same thing having hit gold with MAD MEN, BREAKING BAD and THE WALKING DEAD. Showtime, Bravo and many other networks save their shows for Sunday.
FX began a hit streak with THE SHIELD, NIP/TUCK and RESCUE ME on Tuesdays at 10. They eventually moved to other nights at 10 but their viewers know where to look. Netflix drops new shows often on Fridays, Hulu on Tuesdays, etc. Your blockbuster movies often reach theaters on Fridays.
HBO and AMC, for example, have tried to launch shows, even returning shows, on other nights and it's been a struggle. The broadcast networks, which entered the 21st century with mostly movie nights on Sunday, eventually knocked them away for series. I don't have to tell you how tough Sunday night is on your dvr now.
Many signature nights have been hit hard by the changes in programming over the years. NBC and CBS have abandoned their key comedy block nights, only to return to them in the hopes of marketing a familiar message. They want you to remember Mondays on CBS and Thursdays on NBC are their homes for comedy. CBS now has an important comedy block on Thursdays, as well. Their competitiveness on this night can directly be sourced back to the 2000-2001 season.
Next time: More on the ramifications of the 2000-2001 schedule. If you haven't examined it before, it's new to you!
No comments:
Post a Comment