In another cost-cutting measure, NBC has trimmed its initial episode order of next year’s “Day One.”
The series was given a 13 episode order by the Peacock network when it was given the green light last year. That’s now been trimmed to four episodes that NBC will air on the “wait and see” approach. If the episodes are successful, NBC will order more. If not, those four episodes will be it.
The series, from “Heroes” scribe Jesse Alexander, follows a group of survivors in a post-apocalyptic world. NBC had already begun to cast doubts on the series earlier this year when the network said that the series would probably only run for one season.
Two episodes are currently completed and Alexander will now work to make sure the next two tie up loose ends and don’t leave audiences hanging too much.
The producer tried to put an optimistic spin on things, pointing out that “Battlestar Galactica” started out as a mini-series and then went on to run for four seasons.
Are we suffering from a batch of execs who graduated 10 years ago with the philosophy that any show that doesn't gain an audience after 1 or 2 episodes is screwed?
When are network bigwigs going to learn from the creators of television programming that in order to gauge a show's success it needs at least 13 episodes and plenty of support advertising from the network?
Jeez guys....this isn't rocket science.
Agreed Sam.
If the current network execs were in charge when Seinfeld came out, that show would have been canceled prematurely. They need to give shows a chance before pulling the plug.
I can think of many shows that would have ended up on the chopping block if they were using the criteria then that execs appear to off-handedly offer up today.
As you mentioned Seinfeld is a prime example of a show that took nearly half a season to garner an audience, and now it is considered the greatest sitcom to have ever aired on television. Others include shows now considered the ultimate in groundbreaking and classic television viewing:
M*A*S*H
All in the Family
ER
Twilight Zone (the original with Rod Serling)
The Andy Griffith Show
The Cosby Show
The Mary Tyler Moore Show
Bewitched
My Three Sons
Laugh-In
The Dean Martin Show
The Carol Burnette Show
The Flip Wilson Show
Happy Days
Newhart
Because execs used a different measuring stick during these show's debut, they were given at least a half a season, others a few season, to capture an audience and in everyone the dividends paid-off big time in merchandising deals, syndication royalty rights and so much more. Almost all of those listed above are considered true classics and all future shows are measured against them.
Now we have a list of shows, that if execs were using the same criteria for measuring success would still be on the air today, or at least would have remained on the air for more than a few episodes:
Firefly
Arrested Development
Studio 60 on the Sunset Strip
Drive
Defying Gravity
Sliders
Farscape
Dark Angel
The Invisible Man
The Tick
Now and Again
The 4400
Kings
Pushing Daises
Eli Stone
Moonlight
Kyle XY
I have no doubt many of you could add to this list but I think I've adequately made my point.
What you expect from a network that has Jay Leno coming on every night at 10pm.
OK, I hate to sound like a shill for the studios, but...
Our shows are incredibly expensive to produce. And execs are probably not fans of the genre. So we are expecting execs to pour tons of money into shows they probably don't get. That's a tall order.
Add to that the fact that we scifi fans have a glorious tendency to "eat our own". Do you remember the initial buzz around "Firefly" and "Defying Gravity"? If I remember correctly, it was a rousing chorus of "Meh"....
So remember the next time you are tempted to tag a show with "Not nearly as good as Battlestar" or "Quantum Leap was better", the networks are listening.
And would it kill you to watch a show live once in a while? You don't have to be in the room...just let the TV run in the background. I know its stupid, but this is the way the networks keep score. It's their ball and bat, we have to play by their rules for now.
Yours for what its worth...
Lisa:
I understand what your argument is, but look at the list that Sam provided of older shows that took a little time to get started. A lot of them are sitcoms, not very expensive.
Also, the problem with "Firefly" and "Defying Gravity" is that there was how poorly the shows were handled. Fox screwed up the order for "Firefly "episodes, and the only time I heard "Defying Gravity" promoted was on Slice.
If the execs give a show an honest chance, and it still fails, then by all means pull the plug. The problem is they don't give genre shows a fair chance.
It sucks that they are scaling it down, for now, but that doesn't mean it won't make it in the long run.... I have hope... I really think Day one is going to be AWESOME, and maybe a 4 hr premiere event will be just what it needs to draw in the maximum audience......