End of a Golden Age?
Only 3 terrestrial episodes of Buffy to go. I know most "fans" have seen it already, either on video or satellite, but I've been patiently waiting for the BBC2 broadcast, because, hey, I like heavily edited episodes.
Yes, I could have got satellite, at any time, but the fact is the only channel I would have wanted is Sky One. And while you might get to see a season earlier than you would on terrestrial, once you have, the waiting is just the same.
I refuse to pay a subscription for a load of rubbish I don't want. No interest in watching filums on telly; no interest in sport on telly; no interest in repeats, lifestyle programmes, reality tv, quiz shows, DIY shows, moving to France shows, cartoons etc etc.
You'll be realising by now that I have a highly specialised enthusiasm for Golden Age series, for the era of Bochco, Carter, and (no, not Bert, Joss) Whedon.
But now? With programmes like Homicide, NYPD Blue, Murder One, X Files, Millennium, and now Buffy becoming memories, it's hard to see what's coming up. ER is still going, and Enterprise (but struggling for ratings), and there are odd seams of quality, like Alias, and CSI. But what Alias and CSI have in common is a flashiness, and instant-on, that makes them enjoyable, but already formulaic. CSI reproduced itself almost immediately with a Miami setting, and that ginger haired tosser who wears sunglasses indoors, but watching one is pretty much like watching the other, but with more sunshine.
And the same sorts of things are happening on both sides of the Atlantic, as far as ratings panic is concerned. First of all, for example, BBC2 built its X Files audience, week by week, year by year, until BBC1 felt they had to have it. BBC1 then randomly chopped and changed its time and day of broadcast, showed episodes out of order with utter contempt for the audience, held off showing episodes until people got fed up and went out to buy/rent the video. And then of course the audience figures fell and they panicked some more.
This happens in the States too. One network has a successful show, so the other networks sacrifice another successful show against it, trying to win back audience share for that crucial hour, for that crucial day of the week. In the meantime, the audience switches off, plays computer games, rents or buys a video, waits for the DVD box set.
Channel 4 bought Angel, wanting some of the Buffy success, but then they treated it as a children's programme, showed it at 6 in the evening before most of the audience are ready to watch, edited it to death, then showed it so late at night that only owls and unemployed insomniacs are watching. Time and time again, the audience is treated with disdain, pissed off to the point of apoplexy, and lost in huge numbers. Even Channel 5 have moved Alias, from prime time to graveyard slot on a Sunday night.
The West Wing, that's a good show. But Channel 4 show it first to subscribers, so they get a million or so less viewers for the terrestrial broadcast, so they stick it on late at night, so that they lose another million or so viewers. Then they panic.
I tell you, it is but a short step from the moron who wants to be famous and goes on a reality TV show, to the moron who ends up running the station. From children's tv presenter, to Top of the Pops producer. And all the idiots who run television stations have one thing in common. They probably don't watch TV. They don't understand "appointment to watch" TV; they don't get "Must See TV," because they're too busy stuffing their faces in posh restaurants and attending openings at the Barbican. All they see are numbers on a spreadsheet, audiences shrinking, audiences slipping out to the pub, because there's nothing but crap on, night after night.
Just as record companies no longer understand the concept of the career, the nurturing of talent, television companies no longer understand the concept of the audience that builds. It was only 10 years or so ago that the X Files, that quirky, different, shot in the arm, began to build its audience, but they've already forgotten. The Carters and Whedons of the future are not being given a chance to build plots, storylines, characters, whole worlds, in the way that they were even 5 years ago. Multichannel tv is what it was always going to be: quantiturds of channels and nothing on.
Yes, I could have got satellite, at any time, but the fact is the only channel I would have wanted is Sky One. And while you might get to see a season earlier than you would on terrestrial, once you have, the waiting is just the same.
I refuse to pay a subscription for a load of rubbish I don't want. No interest in watching filums on telly; no interest in sport on telly; no interest in repeats, lifestyle programmes, reality tv, quiz shows, DIY shows, moving to France shows, cartoons etc etc.
You'll be realising by now that I have a highly specialised enthusiasm for Golden Age series, for the era of Bochco, Carter, and (no, not Bert, Joss) Whedon.
But now? With programmes like Homicide, NYPD Blue, Murder One, X Files, Millennium, and now Buffy becoming memories, it's hard to see what's coming up. ER is still going, and Enterprise (but struggling for ratings), and there are odd seams of quality, like Alias, and CSI. But what Alias and CSI have in common is a flashiness, and instant-on, that makes them enjoyable, but already formulaic. CSI reproduced itself almost immediately with a Miami setting, and that ginger haired tosser who wears sunglasses indoors, but watching one is pretty much like watching the other, but with more sunshine.
And the same sorts of things are happening on both sides of the Atlantic, as far as ratings panic is concerned. First of all, for example, BBC2 built its X Files audience, week by week, year by year, until BBC1 felt they had to have it. BBC1 then randomly chopped and changed its time and day of broadcast, showed episodes out of order with utter contempt for the audience, held off showing episodes until people got fed up and went out to buy/rent the video. And then of course the audience figures fell and they panicked some more.
This happens in the States too. One network has a successful show, so the other networks sacrifice another successful show against it, trying to win back audience share for that crucial hour, for that crucial day of the week. In the meantime, the audience switches off, plays computer games, rents or buys a video, waits for the DVD box set.
Channel 4 bought Angel, wanting some of the Buffy success, but then they treated it as a children's programme, showed it at 6 in the evening before most of the audience are ready to watch, edited it to death, then showed it so late at night that only owls and unemployed insomniacs are watching. Time and time again, the audience is treated with disdain, pissed off to the point of apoplexy, and lost in huge numbers. Even Channel 5 have moved Alias, from prime time to graveyard slot on a Sunday night.
The West Wing, that's a good show. But Channel 4 show it first to subscribers, so they get a million or so less viewers for the terrestrial broadcast, so they stick it on late at night, so that they lose another million or so viewers. Then they panic.
I tell you, it is but a short step from the moron who wants to be famous and goes on a reality TV show, to the moron who ends up running the station. From children's tv presenter, to Top of the Pops producer. And all the idiots who run television stations have one thing in common. They probably don't watch TV. They don't understand "appointment to watch" TV; they don't get "Must See TV," because they're too busy stuffing their faces in posh restaurants and attending openings at the Barbican. All they see are numbers on a spreadsheet, audiences shrinking, audiences slipping out to the pub, because there's nothing but crap on, night after night.
Just as record companies no longer understand the concept of the career, the nurturing of talent, television companies no longer understand the concept of the audience that builds. It was only 10 years or so ago that the X Files, that quirky, different, shot in the arm, began to build its audience, but they've already forgotten. The Carters and Whedons of the future are not being given a chance to build plots, storylines, characters, whole worlds, in the way that they were even 5 years ago. Multichannel tv is what it was always going to be: quantiturds of channels and nothing on.
posted by Anonymous at
Friday, December 05, 2003
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