The TV Schedule Is Feast or Famine
I know I’ve rambled on about this before, but why do all the decent shows come on at the same time?
Mondays are okay right now, because Chuck is still on hiatus. So, I watch How I Met Your Mother, the second half hour of One Tree Hill, and Gossip Girl. I watch Castle live if I’m up, on DVR if I’m too sleepy.
Tuesdays are a wasteland, with only 90210 to entertain me.
Wednesdays at 8 are also completely useless, but then 9pm is packed. Glee is on then, Modern Family and Cougartown play on ABC, and now Friday Night Lights is back.
Thursdays are full, but not unmanageable, with FlashFoward and the Vampire Diaries at 8, and Supernatural and The Office/30 Rock at 9.
Wouldn’t networks be more successful if they didn’t force us to timeshift our shows? The more we timeshift, the less interested we are in watching shows live. The less we watch live, the less valuable the ad slots become. And, the less likely we are to even watch on TV at all, turning to the Internet more and more to watch our favorite shows on our own schedules.
And, wouldn’t shows all do better if they weren’t in direct competition for viewers? Put Vampire Diaries opposite Mercy, which is unlikely to have much audience crossover. Put Modern Family and Cougartown opposite NCIS or NCIS: LA. And, please, put something decent on opposite Melrose Place. Then everyone is more likely to find a show that appeals to them in every timeslot, rather than every show crammed into four slots throughout the week, with nothing in the others.
I’ve had to give up on shows in the past because I can only handle two shows in each timeslot. One to watch, and one to DVR. That’s is why I gave up Grey’s Anatomy a few years back. (Well, that and the fact that it was chore to watch a show filled with characters who had become completely unlikeable.) And why I’ve never given some shows I would probably like a chance.
What hard decisions have you had to make? Have you gotten a back-up DVR so you can record more shows? Have you prioritized your shows so that some are always live, some are DVRed unless the live show is in a repeat, and some are Internet-only?
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Tags: television
Uncategorized | Jennifer Roland | 
October 27, 2009 7:00 am
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By Jean, October 28, 2009 @ 8:05 am
I agree, Jen. Having worked in television, I know they used to make somewhat logical choices regarding programming – trying to pull viewers from similar shows, or programming for the exact opposite audience. Nowadays, tho, I have a funny feeling there isn’t any logic applied to anything in the television industry. Except for whatever logic gets them to the bottom line. And the networks are long overdue to overhaul their tendency to program to the lowest common denominator!
My problem night this season is Thursday. My DVR records two channels, and I have two VCRs set up to record as well. So I can, if pushed, record four and watch a fifth channel live (although my choices on the VCR and live are limited to the analog channels my cable provider sends out). So I DVR Vampire Dairies and Supernatural (watching SPN live, of course) on CW, and Bones and Fringe on Fox, and VCR FlashForward and Grey’s. I haven’t quite gotten to the point of divorcing Grey’s – but it’s getting close. I do love FlashForward tho! I’ve been watching Bones live, and I may have to change to FF.
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