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TV Bites With
Neena Louise |
TV's Summer Rerun Wasteland
by Neena Louise
Here we are again in that most wretched period in TV land: Summer Rerun
Season. Though this has never been TV's finest hour, this year is
particularly abysmal.
It is a new world we live in, since that horrific day of September 11th,
but TV has responded with either shamelessly exploitive pieces on that
tragedy (watch any prime time news magazine and you'll see what I mean),
or mindless fluff that's so devoid of anything - either good or bad -
that you might as well be watching a test pattern. I think it speaks
volumes on how terrible this past television season was when so many
networks (especially the Big Three: ABC, CBS and NBC) are already
running endless promos for the upcoming fall season.
Over and over again, I've seen promos touting "From the makers of
[fill in hit series here]. Coming this fall." First of all,
"fall" is up to 5 months away, since many series often don't
premiere until October or November or even later. Secondly, I don't know
how stupid they think viewers are to believe that a series "from
the makers of" means it's automatically going to be worth watching.
And since WHEN do networks start promoting a fall series at the
beginning of the summer??? Does this mean we will be subjected to weeks
and weeks of tiresome, endless, mindless promos of some upcoming series
that probably isn't that good since it needs weeks and weeks of
tiresome, endless, mindless promos?
It's just more evidence that the networks (especially those wretched Big
Three) think we're so stupid and mindless that we'll automatically tune
into a series "from the makers of" and think "Well, gosh,
golly. It's 'from the makers of', so of course it will be good."
I've got news for the Big Three: viewers actually have brains. Creative
talent does not a hit make (duh), and just what decade are you in to
think it does? Do you not realize there are dozens (nay, hundreds) of
cable and satellite networks that cater to exactly what the viewers want
and not what YOU think we should want?
If I were King of all TV, I would run the season's repeats back-to-back
(similarly to what NBC did with Scrubs in late June) and fill the
rest of the summer with uncut theatrical movies, pilots for the upcoming
season, pilots of series that didn't make the fall lineup and, yes, as
much as I hate to admit it: silly, witless, harmless, mindlessly
diverting nonsense. Dispense with the 9/11 "shoulda-woulda-coulda"
think pieces; the increasingly tasteless "horny women desperately
chasing men" reality crap; repeats of repeats, etc., etc. Such lazy
and unimaginative fare really isn't necessary since there is enough
time, talent, money and - most importantly - viewers to support better
summer programming.
Why has no one thought of creating programming JUST for summer? Sure,
there's the "midseason replacement" (though I don't know
what's so "midseason" about June), but those series rarely
last the summer and are often such obvious throwaway "we don't
care" series that they are an insult - both to viewers and the
creative talents that get wasted. Most dedicated television viewers
eagerly await the start of the new fall season with anticipation akin to
a dog drooling over Kibbles 'N Bits. So why not create a series that only
runs in the summer to appease viewers while they wait for fall? Not as
an experiment; not as a "replacement"; not as a "there's
nothing better, so why not this?"; but an actual Summer-Only
series? There really, truly are people that really, truly watch just as
much television in summer, so why not create something good, intelligent
and maybe a little goofy just for them, just for the
summer? And no matter how well received, never run it during any time
period other than summer. If such a series gained an audience, ratings
would be in the stratosphere, sponsors would be happy, networks would
make money, viewers would have something better to watch than tiresome
reruns or trash like Bachelorettes in Alaska and all would be
well in the world of television.
Cable and satellitle networks realized the need for quality summer
programming some time ago. When are the Big Three (and Fox) going to get
a clue? This summer's repeats of this past season's ho-hum series simply
aren't worth watching twice (they weren't even worth watching once), and
I, for one, will be renting a lot of movies this summer.
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