Explaining Networks and Timeslot Changes

[hells_half_acre]

Chris Engler, who is general manager and vice-president over at SyFy, has been doing posts on Boing Boing explaining the logic behind the things TV networds do.

He's had some great ones: How to keep your favorite show on the air, why shows get canceled, etc...

Today's is "Explaining 12 Things TV Networks Do That Seem Crazy"

One is about changing a show's time-slot - which I thought might be relevant to share, since there is a chance that Supernatural may make a move to Friday.

In particular, I thought this may be the reasoning behind moving Supernatural:
5) If a show was doing well in its old slot but the network thinks it can do even better in the new slot, it might get moved to try and make it even more successful.

Because Supernatural DOES do well (for the CW) in it's time-slot, and it is up against really stiff competition. Since he explains later in the post that networks still base ratings on Nielson and not DVR - just think how much better Supernatural's ratings might be if there weren't people out there having to chose between Fringe, Grey's, and Supernatural as to which one gets DVRed.

Anyway, just thought I would share.

Sadly of course, my problem with Supernatural being moved to Friday's is that Friday's is a "going out" night...so, there's always that to consider.

Comments

[micaiah67.livejournal.com]

Most people I've talked to seem to think Friday night is the kiss of death but Friday would actually be better for me since I always stay up late on Thursdays discussing the show, etc. and then have to drag my butt into work on Friday morning. I think true fans of the show are going to watch it no matter what night it comes on but I do think they should change the rating system. Too many people DVR and watch online nowadays.

[hells-half-acre.livejournal.com]

Yes, I agree. And, I mean, worse comes to worse and I want to go out Friday night, for the time being I can catch the east-coast feed of the show at 6pm.

But yeah, I definitely think they should change the rating system. Especially have some way to track the shows popularity in illegal downloads. Some of us can't afford DVRs (actually, some of us only have cable because their roommates insist on it).

[micaiah67.livejournal.com]

LOL, I don't have a DVR either. I do have a couple of old VCR's...they're so old they don't even tape well anymore. Most of the shows I watch come on the same two nights (Tuesday and Thursday) so I have to do some serious VCR juggling....er....well, not literal juggling but you know what I mean, right? :)