The CW's poor decision-making is hurting its shows
So anyone else starting to think that this merger of the WB and UPN has become a mistake?
Their decision-making has been poor to begin with:
-Waiting until September to launch the network. Well, I could see why(maybe the two networks' deals with their affiliates didn't expire until then).
-Picking up 7th Heaven based on its ratings, never mind the fact that the WB advertised the show's "final episodes" for months, never mind the fact that the WB was cancelling it because it cost too much to produce the show. Thus making the CW look like hypocrites, as they only renewed Reba because they didn't want to pay Reba's producers $20 million to cancel it(plus the WB and UPN merged to presumably cut costs themselves).
-Poor promotion. I've preached for months, whether here on LJ or on FanForum(which I borrowed from phantomlord_lop): The CW is part of the Viacom/CBS, Time Warner, and Tribune media conglomerates. How do you expect something to succeed if you don’t promote it? I mean, with all these corporations owning different networks, there simply is no excuse for a show to fail these days.
The bottom line is, by not promoting all its shows equally, the CW is shooting itself in the foot, and as a result, the CW is only doing slightly better than it was as seperate networks.
The network suits told Veronica Mars creator Rob Thomas(and all the other producers) that they were promoting 1)the network as a whole, 2)America's Next Top Model and Beauty And The Geek, and 3)Gilmore Girls. I can understand that: they needed to promote the network itself to re-establish themselves, Top Model is their #1 rated show, and Gilmore Girls was their #1 rated drama series. But some viewers complained of seeing more ads for 7th Heaven than any other show. One Tree Hill also got some promotion, but at least OTH benefitted somewhat from the promotion(two episodes got above 4 million viewers).
While Veronica Mars did get some promotion for the final episode of the first of what was to be three mystery arcs(which turned into two because VM was picked up for 20 episodes instead of the usual 22), and did get its highest ratings(3.44 million viewers) for the season(which actually caused CBS CEO Les Moonves to ask CW President Dawn Ostroff how VM did so well), that's all they got, and after the first episode of the second arc did well, but not as expected against the State of the Union address, the show was swallowed up by an American Idol-inflated House.
Likewise, One Tree Hill was up against American Idol, and being hurt by having a weaker lead-in, then the network made the OTH fanbase nervous by pushing back its return date from late-March to May 2nd because the Pussycat Dolls show(the show that's running in place of VM until May 1st) did just as well or better in its Wednesday repeat than its Tuesday first-run episode and replacing OTH reruns on Sundays with 7th Heaven reruns.
However, several TV analysts feel that OTH is in good shape to return for a 5th season in September, while VM is screwed.
It's funny. Both Veronica Mars and One Tree Hill are being screwed over by the network, and yet among all the CW's returning dramas, both shows are up significantly in total viewership(totals found from various sources, mainly Television Without Pity and Wikipedia):
Veronica Mars
last season on UPN: 2.3 million viewers
this season on CW: 2.82 million (up 22.5%)
One Tree Hill
last season on WB: 2.82 million
this season on CW: 3.09 million (up 9.6%)
Smallville
last season: 4.68 million
this season: 4.72 million (up 0.8%)
Gilmore Girls
last season: 4.61 million
this season: 4.46 million (down 3.25%)
Supernatural
last season: 3.82 million
this season: 3.35 million (down 12.3%)
7th Heaven
last season: 5.28 million
this season: 3.67 million (down 30.5%)
The difference, though, is that OTH is doing better in those all-important 18-to-49 demos than VM is. Supernatual, meanwhile, is stuck in the toughest time slot on television(Thursdays, 9pm/8pm CT) against CSI and Grey's Anatomy.
Since Supernatural is being given the benefit of the doubt by having the toughest time slot on TV, shouldn't Veronica Mars be given that same benefit since it's up against House? One Tree Hill is going to be up against the American Idol results show for at least three weeks.
Shouldn't a major increase in total viewership still count for something? It must, since the CW cancelled its only new drama series, Runaway, after three weeks. But I guess the demo are more important.
Like I said, I'm just going to enjoy the last few episodes of VM next month and whatever happens, happens. I'll have the DVD's and Heroes replaced VM as #1 favorite TV show, with Drive #2, and My Name Is Earl now #3.
-----
New Smallville tomorrow, and Heroes returns Monday.
Their decision-making has been poor to begin with:
-Waiting until September to launch the network. Well, I could see why(maybe the two networks' deals with their affiliates didn't expire until then).
-Picking up 7th Heaven based on its ratings, never mind the fact that the WB advertised the show's "final episodes" for months, never mind the fact that the WB was cancelling it because it cost too much to produce the show. Thus making the CW look like hypocrites, as they only renewed Reba because they didn't want to pay Reba's producers $20 million to cancel it(plus the WB and UPN merged to presumably cut costs themselves).
-Poor promotion. I've preached for months, whether here on LJ or on FanForum(which I borrowed from phantomlord_lop): The CW is part of the Viacom/CBS, Time Warner, and Tribune media conglomerates. How do you expect something to succeed if you don’t promote it? I mean, with all these corporations owning different networks, there simply is no excuse for a show to fail these days.
The bottom line is, by not promoting all its shows equally, the CW is shooting itself in the foot, and as a result, the CW is only doing slightly better than it was as seperate networks.
The network suits told Veronica Mars creator Rob Thomas(and all the other producers) that they were promoting 1)the network as a whole, 2)America's Next Top Model and Beauty And The Geek, and 3)Gilmore Girls. I can understand that: they needed to promote the network itself to re-establish themselves, Top Model is their #1 rated show, and Gilmore Girls was their #1 rated drama series. But some viewers complained of seeing more ads for 7th Heaven than any other show. One Tree Hill also got some promotion, but at least OTH benefitted somewhat from the promotion(two episodes got above 4 million viewers).
While Veronica Mars did get some promotion for the final episode of the first of what was to be three mystery arcs(which turned into two because VM was picked up for 20 episodes instead of the usual 22), and did get its highest ratings(3.44 million viewers) for the season(which actually caused CBS CEO Les Moonves to ask CW President Dawn Ostroff how VM did so well), that's all they got, and after the first episode of the second arc did well, but not as expected against the State of the Union address, the show was swallowed up by an American Idol-inflated House.
Likewise, One Tree Hill was up against American Idol, and being hurt by having a weaker lead-in, then the network made the OTH fanbase nervous by pushing back its return date from late-March to May 2nd because the Pussycat Dolls show(the show that's running in place of VM until May 1st) did just as well or better in its Wednesday repeat than its Tuesday first-run episode and replacing OTH reruns on Sundays with 7th Heaven reruns.
However, several TV analysts feel that OTH is in good shape to return for a 5th season in September, while VM is screwed.
It's funny. Both Veronica Mars and One Tree Hill are being screwed over by the network, and yet among all the CW's returning dramas, both shows are up significantly in total viewership(totals found from various sources, mainly Television Without Pity and Wikipedia):
Veronica Mars
last season on UPN: 2.3 million viewers
this season on CW: 2.82 million (up 22.5%)
One Tree Hill
last season on WB: 2.82 million
this season on CW: 3.09 million (up 9.6%)
Smallville
last season: 4.68 million
this season: 4.72 million (up 0.8%)
Gilmore Girls
last season: 4.61 million
this season: 4.46 million (down 3.25%)
Supernatural
last season: 3.82 million
this season: 3.35 million (down 12.3%)
7th Heaven
last season: 5.28 million
this season: 3.67 million (down 30.5%)
The difference, though, is that OTH is doing better in those all-important 18-to-49 demos than VM is. Supernatual, meanwhile, is stuck in the toughest time slot on television(Thursdays, 9pm/8pm CT) against CSI and Grey's Anatomy.
Since Supernatural is being given the benefit of the doubt by having the toughest time slot on TV, shouldn't Veronica Mars be given that same benefit since it's up against House? One Tree Hill is going to be up against the American Idol results show for at least three weeks.
Shouldn't a major increase in total viewership still count for something? It must, since the CW cancelled its only new drama series, Runaway, after three weeks. But I guess the demo are more important.
Like I said, I'm just going to enjoy the last few episodes of VM next month and whatever happens, happens. I'll have the DVD's and Heroes replaced VM as #1 favorite TV show, with Drive #2, and My Name Is Earl now #3.
-----
New Smallville tomorrow, and Heroes returns Monday.