Originally Posted by AlexiR:
“I'm not suggesting they throw things onto the schedule completely at random but with a couple of exceptions I think they just have to completely ignore what the opposition is doing. They cannot afford to start trying to second guess where ABC, CBS and Fox are going to schedule all but their biggest hits (Modern Family, American Idol/X Factor, Big Bang Theory). At this stage NBC has to accept they aren't going to get great or even good ratings for the majority of their slots and rather than trying to fix everything at once they need to focus their resources on a couple of slots and then hope for the best everywhere else and hope that some distinctive and quality shows will just find an audience basically on their own. As I said if I were them my sole focus for Fall 2012 would be on Thursday 9PM. I'd have a new comedy in that slot and I would throw all the promotional weight behind it I can muster (and NBC can still muster a lot of that). If they get that 9PM slot right then the rest of Thursday should receive a halo effect and rise as well which will solve a night for them.”
Yeah I agree with that, they need to look at fixing one night at a time and Thursday could be the starting point. Even if they can just get a new comedy to break a 3 consistently at 9pm then they're onto something, particularly if the 9:30pm show is also solid. It gives them a starting point at least, especially with The Office still doing OK-ish numbers earlier.
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“I think Biggest Loser is overexposed at this point and desperately needs to be reduced to one cycle a year. I'd go for midseason next year rather than Fall just because it provides a longer gap for audiences to actually miss it. Plus it gives them a solid(ish) banker on the shelf for midseason when sections of the Fall schedule inevitably collapse again.”
You're right, it desperately needs a break. It would just be an easy way to fill Mondays in the Fall, but really they are probably better off keeping it for the Spring. What do you think of the idea of bringing Celebrity Apprentice forward to the Fall with Biggest Loser taking the Sunday slot in the Spring? It could work, but maybe Apprentice is best kept for midseason to avoid rushing it back as bringing it back too soon could lead to a decline. Plus it gives them the option of putting Biggest Loser somewhere in midweek. I do really hate the idea of putting The Voice on in the Fall though so they need to have something.
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“Who's Still Standing doesn't need to be strong. It needs to be cheap and keep its head above a 1 and I think it can manage both of those. Fear Factor meanwhile has done relatively well in a couple of 2 hour blocks since its return so I imagine they'll look at keeping it that way. Although I think 90 minutes is probably better.”
I just think they're better off using Who's Still Standing as something to use occasionally during the season and then mainly air it during the Summer where it could do nicely. Fear Factor should definitely be on the Fall schedule though, but I'm pretty sure that the 2 hour episodes were just 2 hour long episodes put together, so I think 2 whole hours every week would be too much.
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“Grimm is a tricky one. I somewhat agree that it should stay on Friday but at the same time its hard to justify keeping it there when they're going to need something familiar to anchor the schedule around. I think with a decent promotional push it can probably survive away from Friday next year if it needs to.”
How the repeats do on Thursdays over the next couple of weeks may give a small indication of how it would do away from Fridays but I guess with a big promotional push (and maybe a bit of exposure after AGT in late Summer) it could do alright, maybe in the Monday 10pm slot.
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“With the possible exception of Parks I'd get rid of them all.”
Normally I'd agree that Community and 30 Rock should definitely go but with Community coming up for syndication they'll probably get it really cheap so they might as well order it even if they end up just showing it on Fridays, in dead slots or even in the Summer. If 30 Rock is renewed it should just be for one final 13 episode season to wrap it up. SVU is the closest thing they've got to a moderate hit drama just now so they should probably bring it back, even if it doesn't get a slot straight away.
Originally Posted by C14E:
“Monday:
8pm - Fear Factor
9pm - NEW DRAMA
10pm - Grimm
Tuesday:
8pm - Community
8.30pm - 30 Rock
9pm - NEW DRAMA
10pm - Parenthood
Wednesday:
8pm - Whitney
8.30pm - Up All Night
9pm - NEW DRAMA
10pm - Law & Order: SVU
Thursday:
8pm - Parks & Recreation
8.30pm - The Office
9pm - NEW COMEDY
9.30pm - NEW COMEDY
10pm - Awake/Unscripted filler
Basically, it opens the key 9pm slot for new content every night and allows them to focus on those slots.
But keep it simple. If they want the next Heroes or Lost or 24 remember that they all had a really mainstream selling point. So far they've got pilots set in worlds with no energy, 10 minutes in the future with families of mechanical humans... I might be wrong to write them off. They might have wonderful scripts. But will they be marketable? No.
It's not perfect, there are flaws. But the big problem with NBC is that they're basically starting with nothing so there will be glaring weaknesses whatever schedule they settle on.”
I like those Monday and Thursday schedules in particular. Fear Factor could probably do a 2 or so at 8pm so if they can get a drama to build on that and feed into Grimm they'd have a decent night. I really like the idea of The Office at 8:30pm as it gets it out of the 9pm hour but means it wouldn't face BBT. It'd provide an alright lead-in for the 9pm comedy too. Not sure if I'd put all 5 of Community, 30 Rock, Whitney, Up All Night and Parks onto the Fall schedule straight off. Maybe have new comedies on Tuesday, another new comedy and Parks on Wednesday and burn off 30 Rock/Community on Thursday at 8pm. Like the idea of new stuff at 9pm every night too, and I completely agree they need to be accessible shows with a clear hook that will be relatively easy sells.
As for 10pm, I really hope Awake does alright as it'd give them something to work with. Grimm could do OK on Mondays but I don't think I'd bother with Parenthood. If it was still performing as it was earlier on in the season then fine, but I think it's too low now.
I think if they're going to leave AGT in the Summer then they should use it to launch a few things. Maybe give Grimm a week or two out of it and launch the new comedies after it or a new drama after it too. Speaking of AGT, looks like they aren't bothering with a fourth judge as filming begins this weekend and Howard Stern has tweeted a picture of the three Xs next to each other. A shame as they could do with someone younger on there.
