New TV Program Cancellations Begin—”Dark” Dramas Among First to Go

October 9, 2006
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New TV Program Cancellations Begin—”Dark” Dramas Among First to Go

CBS and NBC have begun chopping low-performing new programs, to go along with Fox’s placing of Happy Hour on "hiatus." CBS has cancelled its ill-advised drama Smith, and NBC has dropped Kidnapped. The networks’ penchant for "dark" dramas seems to have backfired in these instances, and it seems likely that more casualties will happen soon.  It was easy to predict that Smith would be a disaster. The show’s central characters are thieves, and not attractive, suave, clever ones like those played by Pierce Brosnan, Catherine…

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Paul Hollander on the Persistence of Ideology

October 7, 2006
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Paul Hollander on the Persistence of Ideology

I’ve been out of town again for the past couple of days, this time unexpectedly without internet access. (The previous time, I expected it.) So, as a reward for your fine patience, I append here my article in the current print edition of National Review. It’s a look at the distinguished sociologist Paul Hollander’s new book, The End of Commitment, which deals with how people manage to hang onto their ideologies even though the facts thoroughly and vividly contradict their ideas. It’s an interesting and…

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NBC’s “Friday Night Lights”—A Must-Watch

October 4, 2006
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NBC’s “Friday Night Lights”—A Must-Watch

I’ll be very interested in seeing how the new NBC show Friday Night Lights (Tuesdays, 8 p.m. EDT) does in the ratings, as it is the most dramatic, thoughtful, and interesting new show I’ve seen thus far this season. Based on the popular movie of the same name, which itself was in turn based on a book of the same name, Friday Night Lights tells the story of a small Texas town’s high school football team as it makes a run for the state championship.…

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New TV Series Having Rough Time, Old Standbys Strong

October 4, 2006
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New TV Series Having Rough Time, Old Standbys Strong

NBC’s critically acclaimed Studio 60 on the Sunset Strip, helmed by superstar producer Aaron Sorkin (The West WingI), is floundering in the ratings. In its first three weeks it has lost 4.5 million viewers, one-third of its premiere-night audience. ABC’s Ugly Betty was the only new show to break into the Nielsen top 10, benefitting from a strong lead-in by Grey’s Anatomy, now the number 2 show in the ratings. CSI: Crime Scene Investigation has retaken the number 1 slot after Grey’s Anatomy received the…

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“Bravo” for the Omniculture

October 3, 2006
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“Bravo” for the Omniculture

One of the biggest trends of the past couple of decades has been the increasing commercialization of what used to be thought of as a counterculture. The 1950s and ’60s movement to question all existing values quickly entered the mainstream, and in the 1980s it basically became the mainstream, insofar as there is such a thing in our fractured Omniculture. The values pursued are originality, passion, assertiveness, authenticity, and the like. In the Omniculture, a place without a central set of widely shared values, enormous…

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Liberty and Culture

October 2, 2006
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I’ve just returned from a conference on great Americans’ contributions to the nation’s ongoing discussion of liberty and order. What struck me most strongly was the fact that our opinions on liberty depend so greatly on our cultural treatment of the issue, and that the latter depends so thoroughly on leadership. To read the speeches and other writings of great leaders such as Washington, Jefferson, Lincoln, and the two presidents Roosevelt (as much as I disagree with the positions of these last two individuals), one…

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The Wanderer. . . .

September 27, 2006
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We’re going to be out of the office for a few days, until Monday, and posting may be a bit hit-or-miss. But there are literally dozens of items in the archives here, so please take the opportunity to browse around and catch up on the large amount of interesting material that you may have missed.

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TV Networks’ Ratings Up—Including Fox

September 27, 2006
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TV Networks’ Ratings Up—Including Fox

The TV networks’ ratings for "premiere week," when many returning shows have their first new episodes of the season, were up over last year’s performance. As Reuters reports: CBS on Tuesday claimed victory as the most watched television network in prime-time during last week’s fall premieres, but more people tuned in overall than last year, giving each network victories to tout. Led by crime dramas "CSI," "CSI: Miami," and "Without a Trace," CBS drew an average of slightly over 13 million viewers a night, up…

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Fox’s New Shows Struggling

September 27, 2006
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The Fox TV network debuts its shows earlier than the others, in an evident effort to get them off to a good start before the real competition begins. However, if a show doesn’t click early, it’s likely to be on a short lead once the other nets begin running new episodes of their top programs. Hence, Fox is reshuffling its lineup a bit, which probably presages some imminent cancellations. Broadcasting and Cable reports that Fox’s ratings have declined rather more than the net’s management and…

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Magazines Instituting Hiring Freezes

September 27, 2006
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In an effort to show better profitabilty to their corporate conglomerate owners, magazines are instituting hiring freezes to reduce expenses through attrition. Advertising Age reports: Hachette Filipacchi Media U.S., where ad pages through August are down 6.1%, according to TNS Media Intelligence, has a freeze under way. And at Time Inc., where pages are off 2.9% through August, the heads of finance and human resources have gotten together over the past month to look at all open positions; which vacancies actually get filled will be…

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“The Gridiron Gang,” the Philosophy of Determinism, and Freedom of the Will

September 26, 2006
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“The Gridiron Gang,” the Philosophy of Determinism, and Freedom of the Will

The Gridiron Gang, mentioned immediately below, is a very good film, by the way, well worth seeing. Starring Dwayne "The Rock" Johnson," the film is based on the true-life story of a juvenile-home worker who put together a football team that helped some of the young men learn good character and thereby find a way out of the gang life which sucks in so many young people today and destroys their lives.   Watching the film, one feels great sympathy for the boys even while…

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Jackass Number 2 Hits Big

September 26, 2006
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Jackass Number 2 Hits Big

Jackass Number 2 was the weekend movie box office champ with an impressive take of $29 million. Jet Li’s Fearless came in second at $10.5 million. The football movie The Gridiron Gang came in third with about  $9.5 million, showing a strong continued appeal in its second week. Although overall box office take was down for the third consecutive week, reflecting a year-long trend, Jackass Number 2 outgrossed the first Jackass move by $6 million and earned back its production costs in just the first…

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Nielsen to Report Viewership of TV Commercials

September 25, 2006
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I’ve written frequently about how technology is changing the media industry—both on this site and in articles such as today’s piece on media consolidation on Tech Central Station—and one of the most significant events yet is about to happen: the Nielsen service is about to begin reporting on how many people watch the advertisements on commercial programs, in addition to the previous convention of reporting how may people watch the surrounding programs. The first such ratings will be released on November 18 of this year. …

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ABC Rethinks Saturday Nights, Shuns Babysitters

September 24, 2006
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ABC Rethinks Saturday Nights, Shuns Babysitters

Saturday night has long been a desert on television because the networks and cable channels came to the conclusion that nobody worth chasing for advertisers is at home then. Hence they largely programmed cheap shows that had a chance of appealing to babysitters. Much of the Saturday night programming in recent years has been replays of theatrical movies which most people have already had several chances to see in the theater and on other cable channels, magazine programs about murderers, and reruns of shows that…

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Offending Christians OK at NBC, Bothering Atheists Not an Option

September 23, 2006
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Offending Christians OK at NBC, Bothering Atheists Not an Option

Yesterday we noted that NBC is leaning toward including Madonna’s mock crucifixion scene when it airs her concert special in November. Catholic and Orthodox church organizations have protested the aging pop star’s inclusion of the scene in her concert shows, and they will undoubtedly view a decision by NBC to run it as an insult to Christians. As noted yesterday, NBC is probably going to run the scene, and there will probably be complaints from Christians. NBC will undoubtedly be willing to endure any controversy…

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