In Defense of the Networks

[depudor]

In my quest to become a one-woman unpopular opinions thread, I’ve chosen to tackle an issue that’s been bugging me for quite some time, and that is the tendency of fandom (not specifically VM fandom, but any fandom) to blame the network when a show has problems.

The subject came up at The LoVe Shack the other day, on this page, and I couldn’t hold

Comments

[schnappycat]

Very interesting read. Thanks. Your posts are always extremely informative for those of us not in the know. I never blamed the network execs, but it's mostly because I never felt informed enough to know who to blame. Now I have some things to think about.

Your background about Smallville is fascinating. It's fairly amazing that a show that got off to such a shaky start is now a long-running and popular series (that I actually think is good again this season). And some of the DC stuff I did know, but didn't realize that KW was fired over his vision of a Joey/Dawson pairing. I can't imagine where that show would have gone if he had remained on. Yay for Greg Berlanti.

Good stuff. It's like a little industry tutorial.

[depudor]

And some of the DC stuff I did know, but didn't realize that KW was fired over his vision of a Joey/Dawson pairing.

Well, I have to admit that isn't the full version of the story, which is much uglier. Partly because I feel sorry for him and his emotional problems(and partly because it might be slanderous), I like to leave out the part where the writers would arrive in the morning to find KW passed out drunk under his desk and unable to function. That probably was the real reason he was fired. But the Joey/Dawson thing played a part in all of it.

And, to be quite honest, I think KW is a better writer than GB.

[schnappycat]

Yeah, I suppose being passed out would be grounds for dismissal, good writer or not. That's too bad. I did like KW's work (the first season of DC was quite good), but I don't really know enough to compare the quality of his writing to GB since I liked Everwood very well, too. KW did the Hidden Palms pilot, right? I haven't seen it yet (I thought I had it DLed, but can't find it), but I remember you saying you liked it.

[herowlness]

I still hold VM S1 (minus the finale - depending on my mood on a given day) as the best season of TV ever - bearing in mind that I don't watch TV, so there's probably some excellent stuff out there that I haven't seen. But still, it just blows me away, with how absolutely incredible and compelling it was. S2 was a downer, for me, and S3 has been better, but I find my interest in VM waning all the same

[depudor]

I totally agree -- networks don't want shows to fail. They put so much time and effort into them -- it's just a waste when they get canceled (at least, it was in the days before every show that lasts 12 episodes can be released on DVD).

I guess that a lot of people think all networks do is schedule and cancel shows. But there's so much else that they're involved in and invested in where the shows are concerned.

Whether it's VM because GG isn't dark enough of a lead inThis gets me every time. VM had bad ratings in the first season; the fans blamed the bad lead-in (which is dumb in and of itself, since successful shows don't need lead-ins). So UPN renewed it and gave it their very best lead-in, ANTM. The ratings went up, but then went back down. The fans complained that it was because the show was opposite Lost (which really was no excuse, since ANTM had beaten Lost the previous year in the target demo of young females), or that it was because ANTM was the wrong "type" of lead-in. So the CW put VM with what everyone agreed was

[shipperx]

This sounds amazingly like the Studio 60 complaints on TWOP.

[xcalmsurrenderx]

This is a very enlightening post. I honestly had no idea about all of what network execs do because they usually only get the most hype/buzz when they're cancelling beloved shows. Not to mention, as you pointed out, showrunners like RT often blame them when stuff go wrong. I think the most positive network stuff I've heard recently was about ABC and how it has managed to produce huge hits like Lost, Desperate Housewives, and Grey's Anatomy

[depudor]

I think it was JD/Duncan issue was probably a combination of things. It makes sense that the network wanted someone better-looking for the love interest, since they're picky about things like that, and I think the "JD played it too dark" thing was Rob's way of explaining it to Jason, since he couldn't say, "You're too ugly." But I don't think it was an actor issue for Rob -- he really loved his Duncan character and saw V/D as true love. I think he put L/V together in S1 because it provided one last big red herring and made the big Aaron reveal work, but he had no idea how much the audience would love it. But he wanted to go back to V/D, and he figured he could make us love that, too. But when the ratings started dropping, the network probably pointed out to him that his plan wasn't working.

That's my theory, anyway.

[mishane]

Wow. I found the DC stuff very interesting. I really never knew that. As a P/J fan I'm very happy they went that way. I'm also embarassed to say I never realized KW got fired. Wow. I'm learning so much today.

[depudor]

Yeah, what's funny is that there was another showrunner between KW and GB who also got fired. DC was a mess at that point. GB was only a staff writer (lowest-level writer), but they promoted him because they needed somebody who knew the show, and GB was close to KW and like a more stable version of him. GB was only 25 or 26 when he took over the show.

[pinz824]

If you look at my profile/journal and decide I'm not a psycho stalker or industry insider posing as someone else... could you friend me?

I haven't followed twop since Buffy but just recently got into VM. Your posts there and here are all fabulous and really interesting and I'd love to read along. :)

[depudor]

No prob. I will be going through my new friendies tomorrow.

And thanks for the love!