I also have to disagree. And I believe what’s really happening here is due to the way cable customers are changing their viewing habits with available technology, more than the types or quality of shows they prefer. If nothing else, the ongoing popularity of the insipid American Idol bears this out.
The phenomenon I’ve seen is rather that the broadcast networks often don’t KEEP series that are of any real quality. Firefly, Drive, Jericho, Wonderfalls are only a few that spring to mind. It’s not clear to me whether this is because their ratings mechanism is different (from that used by cable networks), but my sense is that it has to do with the obsolete Nielsen system and total dependence on advertising funds to produce programming.
Basic ($24) plus extended ($36) plus digital ($12) plus HD ($12) plus DVR service ($5) with our cable company already runs almost $90 per month. With taxes, that’s almost $100 per month. For television. Something we used to get free over the air. Despite the fact that we used to get all this for free, I don’t actually mind the expense so much as the fact that, along with that fee I’m also forced to watch (or record and fast-forward past) about 20 minutes of commercial ads for every hour I view. To boot, I’m constantly interrupted and insulted on some channels by pop-up advertising for other programs (I give it a year or so before these pop-ups start hawking sponsors’ products, if they haven’t already).
Unfortunately, cable channels have begun to follow suit in this regard. Pitch Black, for instance, which runs 112 minutes in its unrated version, is stretched to a 3-hour-plus time slot on the Sci Fi channel to make room for ShamWow ads. Aside from the fact that these constant interruptions utterly destroy any continuity a film or series episode may have, it’s simply an insult to be paying $100/mo. for access to entertainment in this way and THEN have to sit through over an our of advertising in order to watch a less-than-two-hour film. Conversely, for $18/mo. Netflix will send me the DVD and pay for return postage. For as many DVDs as I can watch. Including any series that’s gone to DVD. You do the math.
The bottom line is that any program (cable or network) has to be truly amazing for me to want to actually watch it as it’s broadcast. Very little broadcast network fare qualifies, but only slightly less than cable channel offerings, and I believe that’s mostly due to the business model used, which requires that if a series isn’t a blockbuster in its first weeks, it simply goes away. If it weren’t for DVR and one or two channels my wife prefers, I’d likely can the entire cable TV package and move to streamed video via Netflix, and use a cheap computer to stream stuff from FoodTV’s online library, etc. I may actually still do that.
Here’s my current mode of TV viewing. I no longer watch any broadcast or cable news programming. Ever. When I have time around dinner, I may catch 30 minutes of Cash Cab or Jeopardy. If/when I do, I almost always pause the show (via DVR) when it starts, go prepare something to eat, then come back and watch so I can fast-forward past the advertising – virtually in real-time. Beyond that I record Battlestar Galactica, CSI, 24 and Two and a Half Men on DVR and watch those at my leisure, skipping over ALL advertising.
But even that is changing now that I have DVDs and streamed video from Netflix. I never watched any of Heroes or Jericho or the first five seasons of 24 as they were broadcast. I viewed 24 on DVD (from Netflix) commercial-free, and thoroughly enjoyed it. I recently watched the entire season-and-a-half of Jericho in HD, commercial-free, at a pace of my own choosing. I didn’t have to wait a week between episodes or sit through inane ads, and I know beyond a doubt that this added to my enjoyment of those productions.
Here’s the thing: Jericho isn’t the best show I’ve ever watched, but it was entertaining enough to enjoy the way I did. It was NOT intriguing enough to watch as a broadcast network program and is no way attractive enough to watch as a CW re-run while being insulted by 30% of every hour dedicated to ads, plus their insulting and annoying pop-ups. I plan to view all three seasons of Heroes in exactly this way. Lost, ditto. Dexter, maybe. I may actually wait and watch the latest 24 this way as well, given the politically-correct turn it appears to be taking, or wait until it comes out on Blu-Ray.
Neither broadcast nor cable network execs appear to have the slightest clue regarding the way technology is changing people’s viewing habits. I’d absolutely rather sit through a 10th viewing of Lawrence of Arabia, in HD, commercial-free, than 90% of what I find on TV – on any station. And there’s a lot more than that available, with more coming on line every day. Before networks go the way of print media, they’d better get a handle on this.
