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The Daily Star, Oneonta, N.Y., Emily Popek column
Jan 12, 2009 (The Daily Star - McClatchy-Tribune Information Services via COMTEX) --
About a month ago, TV critics were mourning the death of the television networks after NBC announced that Jay Leno's new talk show would be filling its 10 p.m. time slot, historically reserved for hard-hitting hourlong dramas.
For those of us who have grown up -- mostly -- in a world where cable television predominates, the significance of this move may be hard to grasp. Writing about the proposed launch of "The Jay Leno Show" in December for the New York Times, television critic Alan Sepinwall noted that "the generation after mine has never known life without cable, and the generation after that won't know a life without streaming video. Having only three TV channels to watch must sound as quaint to them as radio plays do to me."
(In case you're wondering, I think I fit somewhere in that generation that has never known life without cable -- although I didn't experience it personally until age 6 or thereabouts.)
The Leno move has been described in almost unequivocally negative terms by critics. Sepinwall called it "as inevitable as it is sad"; Bill Goodykoontz of the Arizona Republic said it was symptomatic of a "languishing" network "willing to try almost anything." Rob Long of the Los Angeles Times reminisced about his own stint as a TV producer 15 years ago, as network execs were fretting over the retirement of Johnny Carson and weren't sure how Leno would handle the "Tonight Show." Long had the "stupid idea" to move the show to 10 p.m., saving the network big bucks.
The president of NBC blasted the 28-year-old Long for his suggestion, telling him that "the day we have to do that is the day we have to shut the whole thing down."
Yet NBC shows no signs of leaving the broadcast dial.
Writing for AdAge.com earlier this month, Brian Steinberg opined that "while TV-industry suits and ad buyers will tell you a vast difference exists between (networks and cable channels), it's all the same to a kid channel-surfing his way up and down the cable box."
I may not be a "kid," but I see his point. I tend to view ABC, NBC, et al., as slots on the dial, the same as TNT, ESPN or Bravo. More so, I often find it difficult to remember which network goes with which program. This is either a sign of premature aging, or an indication that NBC and ABC's efforts at branding have failed to make an impact on me. So if the networks do "die," what will that mean?
One recently deceased network has been clawing its way back from the grave via the Internet. In a move fitting for the network that brought us "Buffy the Vampire Slayer," the WB has found an afterlife as a Web network, TheWB.com. In addition to a robust archive of programming, the site has produced some new programs. The New York Times reported that WB.com's original reality series "Rich Girl, Poor Girl" has ranked among the top 100 iTunes programs since debuting in October.
When any media tries to swim rather than sink into the vast sea of the Internet, content -- more so than a slick interface or a catchy URL -- has the ability to buoy up a website or drag it down to the depths. The Internet serial "Dr. Horrible's Sing-Along Blog," which rocketed up the iTunes chart and is now available on DVD, silenced any remaining critics who thought a Web-only program couldn't capture enough viewers to make an impact -- an honor the creators of the 2007 web series "Quarterlife" may have been hoping for, but failed to earn.
"Dr. Horrible" was a direct result of the 2008 Writers Guild of America strike -- another event that was supposed to spell the end of scripted television. Creator Joss Whedon told Entertainment Weekly that the project was borne out of "the desire to do something other than picketing." The resulting three-act sci-fi musical netted 2.2 million viewers within its first week on the digital airwaves, complete with ubiquitous server crash, signifying a bona fide Internet phenomenon.
Whedon, whose previous offerings have struggled to retain the favor of network execs, cited the creative freedom of Web work as one of the forces that motivated him. In a July interview with National Public Radio, Whedon said the program was "an effort to send a message to the (Hollywood) community that there was another way ... that we could create content and ultimately create jobs without the studios."
While Whedon said the numbers aren't in to prove whether or not "Dr. Horrible" represents a viable business model, one thing is clear: good content will draw viewers, whether that content lives online, on network television or on a cable channel. If the networks can continue producing high-quality content, they can surely keep the Reaper at bay for the foreseeable future.
For more stories, visit http://www.thedailystar.com/. Copyright (c) 2009, The
Daily Star, Oneonta, N.Y. Distributed by McClatchy-Tribune Information Services.
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