Chuck & Life vs The Peacock
By fred | December 8, 2008
Sometimes when you see how some series are being treated by their networks, it’s really a question that you have to ask yourself : can the people in charge all be such idiots ? Is it just that they don’t care about their shows and the millions of fans/viewers behind them and are completely incompetent, or do they just hate the shows and want them to fail ?
I think we all remember how last season was brutally interrupted when writers put their pencils down and asked for a fair deal over revenues generated from their own work. It was a really though time, and it affected about every shows on all networks. But now that this is all in the past, when looking back I think everyone agrees about one thing, at least.
You’ll surely remember how after the strike, not all shows came back on the air. Some did, and others did not. And for most networks, the rule was to bring back the well-established hits such as House, Desperate Housewives or Grey’s Anatomy, but not the newcomers, not the ones who were not yet installed and still trying to grow and find their audiences, in other words not the ones who actually needed the most to be brought back on the air.
It’s a well-known fact that hiatus do hurt the shows, see how it killed Jericho when during its first season, when CBS took it off the air, without any kind of support, promotion or reruns. Many just forgot about the show, probably assuming it had been canceled already. Even the big hits like Lost or 24 would be affected by (long) hiatus in the middle of their seasons, and that’s exactly why it never happens anymore.
When looking back, I think everyone agrees that one of the biggest mistakes networks did, after the strike, was not to bring back new series on the air. And it’s probably not just a coincidence that shows that had to suffer through a hiatus of 10 long months, 10 months without any promotion or reruns, have been struggling in the ratings this new season (see Chuck, Pushing Daisies, Eli Stone, Life…), while those who actually got back on the air have been hitting series high this new season (see Gossip Girl, The Big Bang Theory…)
You would assume that if they were in the same situation, networks would now know better, that they’d have learned from their mistakes and would not repeat them. And then comes NBC, and it’s midseason schedule. You see, because NBC is already blessed with the amazing successes of Knight Rider, Crusoe and other My Own Worst Enemy, they thought it would be a good idea to help Chuck and Life, who’ve been struggling in the ratings this season.
Because 10 months away from our screens wasn’t enough last season, the shows will be MIA for about 6 weeks, before returning to the air on 2009 only in February ! (Well, they still have a couple of episodes each to deliver this year, of course.)
Now, I realize that NBC is in the toilet thanks to Ben Silverman, but since they don’t want to fire him or anything, it seems they will take it out on the shows, and us, viewers. Because clearly this isn’t going to help, when all series will be returning in January, when new and returning series will be grabbing their audience in January, if you’re a fan of Life and/or Chuck you will have to wait one more month before you get to see your shows back.
Just so that people can forget about them, assume they’ve been canceled already, and move on. Just so that they can step back and have to start all over again, re-introducing viewers to the characters and plots, and struggling again to get back into viewing habits of millions. Just so that NBC can fill the air with new reality crap and other garbage Silverman is so fond of.
And I don’t know, maybe it’s me, but I gotta ask : does NBC actually want those shows to succeed ? Or do they just hate them, and us, and are trying to make sure they have enough reasons to cancel them when the time come ?
Take Life : first they mess with the show this season, trying to “sex things up” and stripping it from its intensity, its beauty, and its brilliance basically; then the show was moved to Mondays, no Fridays, no Mondays but then Fridays again. After that, it eventually moved to Wednesdays. Now if any of you out there still managed to keep up and tune in every week at the right time, let’s see what 6 weeks off will do.
Sounds to me like they’re really not trying to help the shows. If both Chuck and Life scored season high last week, maybe the best thing would be to get them back on the air as soon as possible, keeping them off the people’s eyes and minds for as little as possible during the summer, and nothing more, trying to capitalize on their recent bumps. But re-doing the same stupid mistakes again, the exact thing that has been proven many times to successfully hurt series and possibly kill new ones…
Maybe the Peacock doesn’t actually hate the shows, maybe there is another explanation. Actually, I can think of one other possible explanation myself, one that seems to fit perfectly – especially for NBC : they’re all a bunch of morons. Because at best, that’s just plain incompetence.
What do you think ? How will Chuck and Life do when they finally return next year, in February ? Is NBC just incompetent, or do they mean bad ?
