
 |
|
May 24, 2013
May 22, 2013
John Thorne:
They launched the 'Arab Spring' but now yearn for the good old days of a strongman
May 20, 2013
Richard A. Serrano: Is Meir Kahane's assassin now a changed man?
Melissa Healy: Genetic copies of living people from embryos no longer science fiction
Jewz in the Newz by Nate Bloom : Jews Inducted into Rock Hall of Fame; Anton Yelchin co-stars in New "Trek" film; Kutcher (but not Kunis) visits Israel; Jewish TV Star Praises Jewish Rap Star
The Kosher Gourmet by Cathy Pollak: WARNING: This WALNUT CAKE WITH PRALINE FROSTING, perfect for afternoon coffee, is addicting
May 13, 2013
Rabbi Nathan Lopes Cardozo: Why the giving of the document that would permanently change the world could only be done in desolation
David G. Savage: Church-state, literally? Supreme Court weighing public school graduation in a church
May 10, 2013
Rabbi Berel Wein: Be all that you should be
May 8, 2013
Peter Ford: Why China is welcoming both Israel's Netanyahu and Palestinians' Abbas
Warren Richey: Obama administration quietly backs out of appeal over new contraceptive mandate
Fred Weir: At Kerry-Putin meeting, US-Russia relations thaw --- a tad
The Kosher Gourmet by Leela Cyd Ross : Almost too pretty to eat, this colorful salad with Sicilian inspiration will tickle the taste buds and delight your visual sensibility
May 6, 2013
May 3, 2013
Kids, kittens the Same? With employee perks at struggling Internet pioneer Yahoo! it's hard to tell
Sandy Kleffman: Artificial kidney offers hope to patients tethered to a dialysis machine
April 29, 2013
Roy Gutman: Poland's new Jewish museum celebrates life, doesn't revisit Holocaust
Mark Clayton: Terrorism in America: Is US missing a chance to learn from failed plots?
Kim Murphy: Boston Bomber's 'Svengali' Revealed
Pete Spotts: Tiny satellites + cellphones = cheaper 'eyes in the sky' for NASA
April 26, 2013
Clifford D. May: Defense in the Age of Jihadist Terrorism
Sharon Palmer, R.D.: How to feel your best -- with plenty of energy, a healthy weight and optimal mental and physical function -- without driving yourself batty
April 24, 2013
|
| |
Jewish World Review
June 21, 2012/ 1 Tamuz, 5772
TV networks have some explaining to do
By
Barry Koltnow
http://www.JewishWorldReview.com | (MCT)
An open letter to the people in charge of programming for the major television networks from the people who watch that programming.
To whom it may concern: You stink.
Would you like a second opinion? OK, you really stink.
In fact, I am so incensed right now that I would like to inform you that you have been the object of an obscene gesture.
What could possibly have drawn such ire? What could have turned a passive viewer like me into an angry protester?
It was the announcement of the fall TV schedule, of course.
Each year, I must suffer through a betrayal at the hands of the bottom-line executives who run the networks. These people wouldn't recognize a broken promise if it slapped them across the face.
New dramas are introduced for the coming fall TV schedule that have interesting hooks or storylines. It could be the one-armed man that Richard Kimble is chasing in "The Fugitive," or the mysterious time-travel situation on "Alcatraz."
When a network puts that show on the schedule, there is an implicit agreement to deliver an ending to the viewers. The only thing that is not implied is a full seven-year run. Some shows last longer than others, but that doesn't absolve the network of its responsibility to the viewers it suckered into watching its show.
If you set up an unresolved plot device, you should be obligated to complete the story and answer all the questions you raised before you take the show off the air.
This wasn't as big a problem in the past, when networks gave new shows more time to find an audience. These days, if a show doesn't produce acceptable ratings immediately, it is in danger of being canceled.
Canceling a show, and putting hundreds of people out of work, is done without conscience by network executives. It is no different than any other business, in that respect.
But I maintain that a television show is different because it involves public airwaves. If you produce a show with a built-in mystery, and then cancel the show before the resolution of that mystery, the network has perpetrated a fraud on the viewing public.
Even worse is how this practice has changed the viewing habits of the television audience. Many experienced TV watchers understand how the medium works. We know to keep an eye on the weekly ratings. If a new show is having some difficulty in drawing big numbers, it is an easy leap in logic to assume that the show is doomed. As a result, we stop watching. Why get invested emotionally in a new show when you know it's going to be canceled?
Do you understand how insidious this is? It becomes a self-fulfilling prophecy. The ratings are low, so we stop watching. We stop watching, so the network cancels the show.
But if there were some sort of penalty for premature cancellations, such as a seven-figure fine, it might be a deterrent from early withdrawal from the schedule.
Here are a few current examples of shows that have been yanked from the fall schedule. They should not have been canceled without first answering the questions raised in the series premieres. It's only right. The same executives who worry about declining audiences then go out of their way to turn off the very audiences they covet so much.
1. "Alcatraz" Huh? Would you like to explain how all the inmates and guards disappeared from the prison in 1963, only to reappear in present-day San Francisco without any knowledge of how it was done? I'm starting to suspect that the show's creators set up a scenario that they couldn't resolve. Perhaps they thought they had seven years to come up with an explanation for their premise? If that is the case, I apologize to the network.
2. "Awake" OK, which is the real reality? Is it the one in which his wife is alive, or the one in which he still has his son? Do I have to assume that he was really in a coma all along, and that both the wife and son are dead? I have no choice but to make assumptions.
3. "Missing" I'm surprised that a movie star of Ashley Judd's standing could be enticed to do a TV series without a promise to keep it on the air for several seasons. They even made her a producer. Was she a producer in name only?
4. "The River" Well, I guess we'll never know what happened to that guy on the earlier trip down that scary river. Thanks a lot.
5. "Unforgettable" I wonder what really went on in her childhood. The star of the show was incapable of forgetting anything, but the people who ran that network apparently forgot the obligation to their viewers. I think I feel another obscene gesture coming on.
Every weekday JewishWorldReview.com publishes what many in the media and Washington consider "must-reading". Sign up for the daily JWR update. It's free. Just click here.
Comment on Barry Koltnow's column by clicking here.
Previously:
The night Johnny Depp made me a star
Summer movies: the dark horses
Lindsay, Ashton, Kim --- are they kidding?
Readers pick their favorite baseball movies
Our 10 favorite baseball movies
The most over-hyped movies of 2012
The 10 worst best pictures ever
The greatest Oscar acceptance speech NEVER given
The worst biopics ... ever
20 celebrity questions that must be answered in 2012
The Golden Globes are meaningless
The 10 Most Annoying Celebrities of 2011
The funniest comedy teams
Fake celebrities ignite real controversy
Hollywood: Stop spoiling our movies
Mob expert reveals his favorite gangster flicks
Good riddance, Harry Potter
The coolest car movies ever made
Our favorite teacher movies
Are women funny?
Our special snarky summer movie guide
The 10 most pressing show biz questions
Readers weigh in on the royal wedding
The royal wedding: I don't get it
Readers reach verdict on lawyer column
Our favorite lawyer movies ever
Readers pick their worst Oscar winners
The 10 worst best pictures ever
25 hit-man movies to die for
The 10 greatest sidekicks ever
The 10 biggest celebrity missteps of 2010
Who's cooler than Steve McQueen? (Answer: nobody)
The best revenge movies ever
The good old days, when celebrities weren't train wrecks
Making sport of celebrities
Youth will be served? Don't give me that trash!
A celebrity answer is no answer at all
Caution: geniuses at work
© 2010, The Orange County Register; Distributed by McClatchy-Tribune Information Services.
|
|

Arnold Ahlert
Mitch Albom
Jay Ambrose
Michael Barone
Barrywood
Lori Borgman
Stratfor Briefing
Mona Charen
Linda Chavez
Richard Z. Chesnoff
Ann Coulter
Greg Crosby
Larry Elder
Suzanne Fields
Christine Flowers
Frank J. Gaffney
Bernie Goldberg
Jonah Goldberg
Julia Gorin
Jonathan Gurwitz
Paul Greenberg
Argus Hamilton
Victor Davis Hanson
Betsy Hart
Ron Hart
Nat Hentoff
A. Barton Hinkle
Jeff Jacoby
Paul Johnson
Jack Kelly
Ch. Krauthammer
David Limbaugh
Kathryn Lopez
Rich Lowry
Michelle Malkin
Jackie Mason
Ann McFeatters
Dale McFeatters
Dana Milbank
Jeanne Moos
Dick Morris
Jim Mullen
Deroy Murdock
Judge A. Napolitano
Bill O'Reilly
Clarence Page
Kathleen Parker
Star Parker
Dennis Prager
Wesley Pruden
Tom Purcell
Sharon Randall
Robert Robb
Cokie & Steve Roberts
Heather Robinson
Debra J. Saunders
Martin Schram
Greg Schwem
Culture Shlock
David Shribman
Roger Simon
Lenore Skenazy
Michael Smerconish
Thomas Sowell
Ben Stein
Mark Steyn
John Stossel
Cal Thomas
Dan Thomasson
Bob Tyrrell
Diana West
Dave Weinbaum
George Will
Walter Williams
Byron York
ZeitGeist
Mort Zuckerman

Robert Arial
Chuck Asay
Baloo
Lisa Benson
Chip Bok
Dry Bones
John Branch
John Cole
J. D. Crowe
Matt Davies
John Deering
Brian Duffy
Everything's Relative
Mallard Fillmore
Glenn Foden
Jake Fuller
Bob Gorrel
Walt Handelsman
Joe Heller
David Hitch
Jerry Holbert
David Horsey
Lee Judge
Steve Kelley
Jeff Koterba
Dick Locher
Chan Lowe
Jimmy Margulies
Jack Ohman
Michael Ramirez
Rob Rogers
Drew Sheneman
Kevin Siers
Jeff Stahler
Scott Stantis
Danna Summers
Gary Varvel
Kirk Walters
Dan Wasserman

Tech Q&A
Mr. Know-It-All
Ask Doctor K
Richard Lederer
Frugal Living
On Nutrition
Bookmark These
Bruce Williams
|