Premium Nets Are Changing the Face of TV

Last week I watched the season finale of HBO's Treme, the season premiere of the ABC's The Glades, & the latest installment of NBC's Persons Unknown. The difference in overall quality of the shows hit me like a freight train. Treme was a well written, well produced tragic send off of its 1st season. The Glades came off of as Dark Shadows w/ a Desperate Housewives twist (if not for the cliffhanger ending, I would have deleted it from my DVR timer). I do like Persons Unknown, but feel it is holding back, no where near realizing its full potential.

You know, it has gotten to the point where I am tempted to downsize my Dish Network subscription to just the Premium Cable Networks. If not for the very verbal backlash from my family, I would probably do just that.

Why do this?

Because, w/ a few exceptions, there really isn't anything I can't live w/o on the broadcast or basic cable networks. Now if I lost HBO while True Blood was airing new eps, I'd drive myself crazy wondering what is happening. Then there are HBO shows like Treme, & the upcoming Boardwalk Empire & A Game of Thrones. Don't even get me started on all the shows I'm missing on Showtime and Starz, (both of which I had a subscription to at one point, but unfortunately we can only afford one premium package). The premium networks are where to get good, intelligent TV.

When you think about it, it is amazing how much has changed in the last 10-15 years. Before the Sopranos & Sex In the City, the premium nets were all about attracting subscribers via the "latest, greatest blockbuster only found here." Now it's their original programming which they tout. Not to mention, they have no reason to really pay attention to Nielsens, which are designed for measuring viewer count for advertising revenue. All HBO, Showtime, Starz, etc care about are attracting & retaining subscribers. My guess is they trade reporting from satellite & cable carriers (Dish Network, Comcast, etc) for licensing fee credits (thus all the 3 months free deals). When you think about it, the premium networks don't give a shit about how old a viewer is, whether or not they own or rent, of if they're going to the mall w/n the next week to burn some cash. They don't care as long as that particular person is subscribed to and watching their network.

The entertainment industry is changing. The Nielsen system has been outdated since before the Commodore 64. Advertisers are more frugal w/ their spending, often opting to go with the cheaper online alternative to get their brand out. Not to mention, major networks have no patience w/ original programming if they need to grow an audience, often opting to go with the much cheaper reality programming "alternative programming". The basic cable nets have the patience to grow audiences w/ shows (especially if it receives positive critical & blogger reviews), but most either don't have or are unwilling to risk more than a bare-minimum production budget. The premium networks, however, create a TV show in a similar manner of a movie. They spend the budget to create a well crafted TV experience. They even have the entire season in the can before it airs...total opposite of the major networks, who order scripts by the episode (hmmm, maybe that is why many network shows seem disjointed).

However, I believe over the next 5 years, we're going to see more and more networks following the "HBO model". We're already seeing evidence of it now. AMC's Breaking Bad, SyFy's Caprica, & FX's Justified to name a few. Though they might not necessarily have the budget of the premium networks, each is an ambitious, intelligent TV experience. I am certain we will see these examples & a more cable original programming nominated along side, if not dominating, in most categories come the July 8th Emmy announcements. If the past couple of years hold true, many cable series will beat out their major network counterparts and take home the Emmy.

Okay, so maybe I'll keep my basic cable subscription. I don't think I'd be able to function w/o having access to Breaking Bad, Caprica, or SG-U when their new seasons premiere. I'll also be keeping my HBO subscription, but keeping a close eye on the other premium networks. DVDs are cheaper than two more $9 - $12 per month subscriptions...well, that is until I start buying 3 or 4 of their shows per quarter. The premium nets don't have enough programming hours to be there...yet...but every year it seems like they add more programming hours, & every year the shows get more ambitious in both scope and production values.

Cheers!
6/27/10

REVIEW: One Discriptive Best Fits SG-U's Preultimate Season 1 Episode, Intense

I don't even know where to begin. SG-U's penultimate Season 1 episode Incursion Pt.1 just proved it is the 2nd most intense TV show currently being broadcast (next to only Breaking Bad). Seriously, it is very difficult to talk about the episode w/o leaking spoilers like Destiny leaks atmosphere.


Photo from SyFy.com

One of the tells of a great serialized series is the episodes bleed into one another, making it difficult to distinguish when one episode ends & the follow up begins. Such is the case w/ "Subversion" & "Incursion Pt. 1". Young does vent the cell effectively killing Telford (whose in Rush's body...it is a communication stones thing, makes perfect sense if you watch SG-U from the beginning). That is the opening scene, & the episode does not slow down from there.

Incursion also ties the loose end of who attacked the base in SG-U's premiere episode. This is the event that landed our marooned characters onto Destiny to begin with. The Lucian, an opposition group hell bent on getting their hands on alien technology, are using Rush (whose in Telford's body) to get onto Destiny. They do just that. After easily breaking through Col. Young's defenses, the resulting battle not only lands the pregnant T.J. as a Lucian hostage, but also leaves Cloe shot & lost in a previously unexplored portion of the ship w/ Eli (who is not known for his cool headedness in intense situations).

SG-U also does a great job in leaving certain plot elements unspoken. Though briefly acknowledged by Rush (now back in his own body), Destiny has obviously taken a disliking to the Lucian. Whether or not they play the Destiny card in the finale, certain events furthered my suspicion that Destiny is an A.I.

So strong the suspense and drama, I found myself sitting at the edge of my seat throughout the entire episode. I was so engrossed into Incursion that it was a physical shock when the screen blacked out after the final scene.

Stargate has come a long way since the planet of the week episodes of SG-1. SG-U not only proves it can be an amazing situational character drama, but also is raising the bar of what a serialized series can do.

Here's a clip from Incursion Pt. 2:

IMHO, a scene is the best "preview" to entice viewer interest & curiosity

Even More May Sweeps 2010

Yeah, yeah, yeah, I know I'm a big slacker. Know I should be publishing these daily instead of the the week of May Sweeps shots following below. All I can say about this is Time & Fatigue are my arch enemies, & they teamed up like villains in a bad Batman movie to thwart my every move. If it is any consolation, I am about 3 days behind w/ my photo editing. Probably the core element of my slacking on this blog.

Being the easily distracted fellow that I am, got a really funny idea for a blog entry yesterday, and spent my computer time putting together the 1st Draft. As some of you might already know, it is Upfronts week for the TV industry. Upfronts are a time when Networks announce their Fall lineup in hopes of pre-selling commercial spots to advertisers. Tomorrow (Thursday, 5/20), I'm going to publish a faux upfront for a network concept I've had in mind for some years now.

But I Digress. Here are last week's Sweeps tribute entries for my 365 Days project:

Tuesday, 5/9 (renewed for the 2010-11 season!)

V airs on ABC

Wednesday, 5/10

Since taking this photo, ABC has pulled Happy Town from their schedule. Remaining episodes will most likely air sometime this summer.

Thursday, 5/11 (renewed for the 2010-11 season!)

CW will most likely be moving Supernatural from Thursdays to Fridays (after Smallville) this fall.

Friday, 5/12

Fridays on SyFy (between SG-U & Caprica, SyFy Fridays haven't been this good since Farscape...BSG doesn't count since SyFy kept trying to move it to Sundays every other season)

Saturday, 5/13 (via DVR)

Airs Tuesdays on FX.

As always, click the picture if you want to read more about the featured TV show.

Cheers!
5/19/10

Networks, I don't get it...

There seems to be an annoying trend this Winter season. Networks are airing extremely abbreviated runs of episodes, and then preempting them/outright pulling them from their schedule. NBC has the Olympics, so there it is understandable...to a point.

Fox, for example, aired one new ep of House, then is skipping a week to air 2 hours of 24. Why not just have premiered 24 a week earlier, or House 2 weeks later? Wouldn't that be more consistent? I can't even express how pissed I am that we only get 3 eps of Fringe. Yes, I know ratings are down, but the show did so much better following American Idol, not to mention it wasn't competing against ratings behemoth CSI, & the more ratings modest Supernatural (which I'm sure attracts a similar audience...I know, 'cuz I'm one of them).

Cable nets aren't innocent of this trend either. Probably the big motivator for this post was the season finale of Sanctuary. Pulled in December for Christmas programming, it came back a few weeks ago to air only 3 episodes!? Part of me was kinda looking forward to the Sanctuary/Caprica combo on Fridays. Seriously, why not just have started the season earlier & run them all through?

I'm weird, being that I track shows I like. So when they come back on the air, I know when. Most people, however, aren't TV geeks, & aren't paying attention. Chances are they don't have a clue that show they liked is coming back unless they're lucky enough to catch a commercial. That is assuming they tune into the particular network of their show when it's off the air.

In a world where ratings make the network world go round, to me it makes no sense to have short spurts of shows before long breaks. Wouldn't it be more logical to air longer runs which will more ingrain a viewing habit to your network?

btw, Lost is now on Tuesdays @9p...moved yet again by ABC. Just thankful that they're going the air the entire season. ~whew~