"Playboy" Plays No More

Yesterday, The Playboy Club was the first new show of the 2011-2012 season to get the ax (one of the two new network Mad Men-lite shows).

The show's problem?  Not enough BUNNIES!!!

Not to say “I told you so” (and all other show issues aside) just thought I’d say "I told you so" and re-direct back to this post I did not too long ago about the perception of cable shows like Mad Men’s popularity vs. the reality of their low ratings (or at least, ratings that wouldn't fly on broadcast network TV).  Just like last season’s cable-esque Lone Star, Playboy couldn’t get enough viewers to stay afloat.  On the flip side, Pan Am, ABC’s Mad Men-lite show, has had better ratings so far (though that show suffered a big drop from week 1 to week 2…which is typical, but it does put them in the danger zone...I also imagine the show isn't cheap to make).

Overall, I’m not sure I totally have a point.  While it didn't really grab me, I thought Playboy was fairly enjoyable though it did have issues (like the target audience...men or women?) and even though it flopped, I suppose I'd rather see a network take a chance on a show like that than rehash a tired but more network friendly property like Charlie’s Angels (which by the way, hasn't fared much better in the ratings game).

But still, I don't want the demise of shows like Playboy to hurt the chances of other risk taking shows that might have more ratings appeal so all we have left are crime procedurals.  Nothing against crime procedurals, but I'd prefer that every show on TV not be a cop show.  And don't forget, not all crime procedurals succeed.  Prime Suspect, a crime procedural (and another new NBC show) is floundering big time...and that's despite a movie star in the lead role and good buzz from critics.

Emmys Wrap Up - Broadcast Networks Rising

Did you watch the Emmys last night?  Overall, I thought it was a pretty good show.  A little fashion, a few funny sketches, some awkward Charlie Sheen time, and Jane Lynch doing a nice job hosting and performing in some funny pre-recorded bits.  While the show played it pretty safe and by the book  (i.e. it ran on time and Ricky Gervais didn’t host) there were a few upsets/surprises that kept me interested till the end.

I was especially happy with all the top acting wins -- Jim Parsons and Melissa McCarthy who are personal favorites of mine, along with Julianna Margulies for The Good Wife (which I love), and Kyle Chandler for FNL (which I also love).  Also, very pleased with Peter Dinklage's win for Game of Thrones (which I predicted even before he was nominated…okay not a stretch if you'd seen the show).

I was also really thrilled that Jason Katims won the big writing award for FNL.  As an aspiring writer of TV drama, this is an award whose winners and nominees I really take note of (sometimes even more so than the best show nominees and winners) and considering I've loved the writing on FNL, and the fact that the show has been severely under appreciated (awards wise), and the fact that I really like Katims' other show, Parenthood, it’s so nice to see him get the recognition he deserves.  To me, that win was probably the best surprise of the night.

On that note, I think I was surprised all night by how much the cable networks seemed to falter compared to the amount of nominations they got.  I mean sure, HBO can’t win them all, but the broadcast networks really seemed to hold their own.  First, there was the big loss by nominations juggernaut Mildred Pierce.  While Kate Winslet still won for playing the title role (and looked lovely doing it) the show lost out to a PBS show.

On the comedy side, Modern Family clearly dominated, winning acting awards in both categories it was heavily nominated as well as winning for directing, writing, and the show itself.  As I mentioned before, the other acting awards in comedy both went to shows on CBS.  If you’re a comedy writer who really wants to write a cable style dramedy right now…I’d say, that's cool and maybe you're going to have the next big thing, but maybe also make sure you have a good network friendly comedy in your portfolio because that’s clearly what’s hot (both critically and ratings wise) right now.

On the drama side, broadcast network (and former network) shows also made strong showings, with my personal favorite FNL getting two big awards for acting and writing, and Julianna Margulies nabbing the well deserved best actress award.

Now, maybe these couple of wins don’t seem like a lot when you consider the supporting actor nods, directing, and best show all went to non-broadcast network shows, but when you also consider how many nominations a network like HBO or a show like Mad Men gets every year, I’d say the broadcast networks did a pretty darn good job not letting any one cable show run away with it (hey, even Matt Weiner seemed surprised Mad Men won...I was right there with him, I thought for a second that FNL was going to pull off the big upset and take it).

Overall, despite the Mad Men win, I still felt like the Academy's choices really made the point that a show doesn’t have to be on basic or even pay cable to have the best writing and the best leading roles for actors (two things I think a lot of viewers and critics have not felt the past few years).

I guess a win by Mad Men must still feel good for some networks (cough, ABC and NBC, cough) who doubled down on 1960s shows this upcoming season (Pan Am and Playboy Club).  I guess we'll see if the solid Emmy performance of broadcast network shows (and somewhat faltering Emmy performance of cable shows) affects the ongoing TV development season but...I'm just saying...I’d love to see every network go after the next FNL or Good Wife just as hard as they went after the next Mad Men.  Make it happen broadcast networks.  Make it happen.

EDIT: Just saw this article from Deadline which talks about broadcast networks great Emmy performance this year... check it out!

Perception vs Reality...cable shows on network TV

I read an interesting blog post this week about perception vs. reality.  Go ahead, read it!  It tells the story of a store owner being asked what their best selling item is and the store owner guessing incorrectly based on a couple recent sales.  In reality, their bestseller was a totally different item and if they’d filled their stock room with the wrong item, they would have paid the price…literally…they would have over bought the wrong item.

This reminded me of a conversation I was having the other day with some fellow baby and aspiring writers about networks wanting cable shows/buying up scripts for cable-like pilots.  While I know many people are excited about this trend, I think it is fueling its own perception vs. reality problem.  The perception is that cable shows are extremely popular.  I mean…aren’t they?  All your friends do is talk about Mad Men and have Mad Men parties and change their Facebook profile pics to their Mad Men-ify yourself equivalents.  And Mad Men wins all the awards every year.  So, Mad Men is super hot…right?

Wait...what was that question, again?

Reality check.

These are the ratings for the 2010-2011 season.

So…write the next American Idol and you’re all set!  Kidding.  The point is that among scripted shows, the most popular in terms of total viewers were show like NCIS, NCIS: LA, The Mentalist, Criminal Minds, and CSI.  In other words, crime procedurals. And what about cable shows? Well, take a look at what was on top this past week.

This link changes every week but on top are gonna be reality shows like Jersey Shore and Pawn Stars, sports if it's sports season, and...more procedurals like The Closer, Rizzoli & Isles, Burn Notice and reruns of NCIS.  Also, the scripted shows aren’t nearly as watched as the network procedurals (they tend to top out around 6 million viewers).

And…once again, back to the ubiquitous Mad Men.  Their most watched episode of the past season had 2.47 million viewers, and their highest rating ever was their season 3 premier back in 2009 which was 2.76 million viewers (numbers courtesy of the sometimes inaccurate Wikipedia).  Does this mean Mad Men isn’t popular?  No way.  It's certainly popular enough for AMC, though it's not their most watched show (that would be The Walking Dead).  And hey, don’t underestimate the power of network advertising.  Not everyone has basic cable, and maybe if Mad Men was on Fox, way more people would watch.  Also, plenty of shows succeed with limited appeal.  Heck, the CW dedicates itself to shows that only cater to a very specific demographic, like Gossip Girl, and that show often has fewer viewers than Mad Men...but I digress…

My point is, I guess I think there is currently a false perception that cable/cable-like shows are really popular/hot (not just critically) and that false perception might manifest itself next season.  A few networks seem to be going for shows that are more cable...and even a couple Mad Men-like period shows (Pan Am and The Playboy Club).  But, remember Lone Star last season?  I believe I read an article where Kyle Killen said Fox wanted a “cable show” for network and that’s where Lone Star came in…and well…Lone Star was critically acclaimed but only brought in around 3-4 million viewers in their first 2 episodes.  Those would be record breaking numbers for Mad Men, but clearly, no good for Fox.

Anyway, I’m not saying it’s dumb to write cable-y shows (I’m writing one myself) or that I don't want to see more shows like Mad Men and maybe a few less procedurals…just that maybe there’s gonna be a backlash if a lot of these cable-y shows for networks don’t draw big enough audiences to stick around next season.

Time Flies - 100th Post!

This is my 100th post, yay!  I know I haven’t been blogging every day, I guess I’ve just been trying to focus on writing that new pilot right now.

Speaking of…writing this pilot has been a new and interesting experience.  For starters, the show is a lot more “cable” than what I usually write, which is cool with me…I like to watch cable shows and I'm trying to stretch myself after all.  It’s also my first time tackling a “period piece.”  That is to say, the pilot isn’t set in 2011.  The experience has been fun, but before I can really get into the writing of the actual script, I’m having to do a lot of research…library here I come!

Google Classic: For researching your retro TV show

Like I said a few posts back, I wanted to do something more out of the box for this pilot since the last one I wrote was much more mainstream.  As it happens, I had this seed of an idea I’d kicked around a while back, but I thought the premise was too “out there” or rather there was just something about it that did not work.  I came back to it recently and realized that the real problem I had with the idea was that it wasn't convincing as a modern story.  By setting it in a different time period, it suddenly became plausible to me.

So yeah, I guess you can say I’m getting on the Mad Men/Boardwalk Empire train.   And why not?  Period piece type shows are very hot right now.  Both of those shows (Mad Men and Boardwalk Empire) are magnets for awards, and more importantly, even though both are cable shows, they seem to be the type of shows that networks want.  There were several “Mad Men effect" shows as I called them this pilot season and 2 of them, Pan Am and The Playboy Club, got picked up.

I do worry that my sample will look stale if both those new network shows fail and people cool to the idea of retro set shows, but I’m trying not to think about that right now.  After all, even if this trend does briefly end next year, I don’t think period pieces will stay gone for long.  Before we could time travel with Mad Men there was Happy Days, Laverne & Shirley, The Wonder Years, Homefront, I'll Fly Away, American Dreams, Swingtown, and That 70s Show just to name a few. I think there will always be a place for shows that either feed our love of nostalgia or that take us back to a different time we didn't get the chance to experience.