Friday, May 20, 2016

UPFRONT MUSINGS - THE NETWORKS GET THEIR MOJO BACK

On Tuesday morning after seeing the ABC Upfront announcement, and after evaluating the FOX and NBC schedules on Monday I tweeted out the following:



So this year the networks are acting like broadcast networks and casting their cable envy aside. This is gonna drive certain people bonkers.

Over the course of the next two days I found myself in two "conversations" on Twitter about both the relevance of the Upfronts and the level of creativity and quality in what was being peddled by the networks.

The first discussion was with Tim Goodman, Television Critic for the Hollywood Reporter and professional Bitcher and Moaner. Tim is that guy who, for decades you see standing on a street corner with a crazed look on his face carrying a sign saying "The End Is Near". He has coined the two TCA
annual events the "Death March With Cocktails" and each year mocks the Upfronts claiming both the networks and advertisers are in denial regarding the reality of Broadcast Television. It's only 8-9 billion dollars about to change hands. Tim also believes he could do the job of a Network President (or whatever the title de jour is) better than the incumbents but then questions why anyone would want such a well compensated job. Our exchange ended with the following tweet on my part.   


4 comments:

  1. My biggest problem with remakes and movie adaptations is that they don't seem to work. For every Hawaii Five-O, Buffy or Parenthood, there's an Ironside, a Lethal Weapon, a Bad Teacher, a Minority Report, a Kojack, a Napoleon Dynamite, a Fugitive, a Rush Hour, Fast Times etc.

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    1. For every show that succeeds, there are several that fail. Remakes and adaptations aren't necessarily more likely to follow this trend than shows in general do.

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  2. I don't think it's fair to put Lethal Weapon inside of this box. The pilot was very strong, and it was great to see the leads embrace their versions of Murtaugh and Riggs which works.

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  3. " Someone needs to explain to me why it all has to have the seal of approval of the cultural elite. "
    THIS.

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