Running Studio 60 thread (spoilers)

This week, Giants-Cowboys did beat whatever ABC had on MNF last year in an apples-to-apples comparison. Granted, probably a great matchup vs. a weak matchup... but we're also talking about cable vs. b'cast.

If you're ever looking for an apples-to-apples comparison, you have to find a number called "U.S. Households" (or US HH).

For a better discussion of this, go to the J-board.

DD - ESPN is not re-inventing, but they do a superior production from a technical standpoint, and everybody in the industry knows it. Why is MNF thriving on cable? A combo of factors, I'm sure.

Bochco et al might have say but not "final say." And the bottom line is, they let Sorkin make a dumb move.

Now I have friends in the news division of NBC-- journalists-- who are paying for it with their jobs, however indirectly. Please understand how upsetting that is.

 

To steal a line from Broadcast News:

This is a brutal layoff. And all because they couldn't program Monday nights.

 

There is no way Sorkin had final say over Studio 60's time slot. Simply no way. His previous shows haven't been successful enough from a ratings standpoint to warrant NBC giving him that kind of power.

But of course I do sympathize with your friends who are losing jobs.

 

We're now blaming Aaron Sorkin for your friends losing their jobs?

I have that right?

 

Lugs, first let me say that I adore you, so don't take any of what I'm about to say personally.

However...

The suggestion that NBC would have to cut 700 jobs because Studio 60 isn't drawing 13 million viewers and episode is ridiculous. I'm sorry NBC's news division is being gutted, but it isn't the fault of Aaron Sorkin, regardless of what the TV trade magazines say. It's complete schadenfreude. NBC has been a poorly-run network for nearly a decade now, and if they truly did place all their hopes in the basket of Studio 60, then Jeff Zucker is the dumbest man on the face of the earth, especially considering how Sorkin flamed out so spectacularly while writing the WW by getting addicted to mushrooms and freebasing coke in Maureen Dowd's kitchen. If NBC was that criminally stupid as to pin all their hopes on an ex-drug addict with three and a half seasons of good, popular television under his belt, they deserve whatever comes their way. This is a network that is bleeding millions of dollars because they have made a litany of foolish decisions recently. Why haven't they come up with programs like Grey's Anatomy? Or LOST? Or 24? Whatever they decided to pay Sorkin, I seriously doubt it was such a giant pot of gold that they were worried they might have to start buring old Seinfeld scripts to stay warm in the winter because they couldn't afford to keep the heat on. Sorkin may have said, "I'd prefer not to go up against Grey's Anatomy" but the suggestion that he stormed into someone's office and demanded a Monday time slot is silly. And I'd bet a lot of money is has more to do with television writers enjoying watching a smug know-it-all like Sorkin trip over his shoelaces because he's poking a stick at an institution (television) that refuses to be reformed and is incappable of serious self-analysis.

Your beef is with Bob Wright and Jeff Zucker, and whomever the head of their news division is, not Sorkin.

 

Well, there's that, and there's also the fact that he wrote the only thing worth watching on that network for four years while the rest of the people in the building tried to sell Friends spinoffs.

Fuck, man, Sorkin's a writer. Blame the suits who made NBC a last-place network long before he got there.

 

Have you seen the production credits at the end of House? NBC/Universal is shown. The reruns are on USA, a sister network of NBC.

I may be making an assuption here, but I can't help but think that NBC had first right of refusal to put House on its schedule. And if that's true, the guy who made the decision to pass on it should be demoted today.

 

zeke,

From a story about the layoffs:


The sessions follow weeks of smaller job cuts at NBC's syndication unit, for example, and rumors of much wider layoffs and other belt-tightening measures. While the expensive acquisition of NFL football games on Sunday night is driving NBC's average primetime ratings up this season, the network is suffering crucial misfires.

The high-profile drama Studio 60 on the Sunset Strip has disappointed. The network had been counting on promotion in its new Sunday Night Football franchise to bring viewers to the Aaron Sorkin series, which bears a huge price tag thanks to its big-name ensemble cast. But the show has performed below expectations in the ratings indicating a show centered around television fails to hold the same gravitas for the audience as one based at the White House.

http://www.broadcastingcable.com/article/CA6382811.html?display=Search+Results&text=sorkin

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Look-- bottom line-- my instincts were it was a bad slot, and it's proving to have been a bad slot.

But what do I know? I'm just some TV sports chick...

 

You're an awesome TV chick, one we all love and respect, but your beef isn't with Sorkin, it's with NBC.

 

Wasn't WW originally on Monday night?

Maybe Sorkin thought he could get his core WW audience by having the same time slot?

 

NBC ordered three more scripts for Studio 60.

http://www.hollywoodreporter.com/hr/content_display/television/news/e3i0q3OxqCLwzMmcELOftALHg%3D%3D

 

It may not be good money after bad. WW started slowly in both the ratings and artistically. The crucial hit-making decision was getting Martin Sheen front and center as Bartlet. Who in this ensemble could become that protagonist?
Matthew Perry is more than capable if they get him a new girlfriend.