The Weird State of Television

Many who know me know of my love of Television. The television show is probably my favorite medium in all of media and so I've become someone who watches just about everything. I will try just about every show and see how it is and if it's of interest to me I'll keep going. I've been doing this for about two years now and one thing which I never really noticed up until this point is how many shows don't last. From what I can tell, this is because of two sets of people. The big Television Networks, and the semi-fans.

The Television Networks. We all know the big television networks. ABC, CBS, NBC, FOX. These ones are the powerhouses. Pilots come to these guys and they go through extensive processes until they are eventually shown. Most shows seem to go through these channels, and a lot of them get cancelled. One of the big things is ratings, and currently the internet doesn't count towards ratings, only the good old fashioned watching them when they air. Not even DVR viewings count right now. When DVR and Internet viewings begin to count, I'm predicting in probably a year or so, then shows will start to thrive again. Online communities will actually be able to do something for shows. At least that's what I hope. But some people are being smart, and they're going elsewhere. One of the biggest shows on television now is Battlestar Gallactica which made the smart move in going to the Sci Fi network. A network which would never cancel your show. Sure the big four have bigger budgets but they also have greater risk. USA has Monk, Pysch and now Burn Notice. CW (formerly the WB) lasted well because of Buffy and Angel. Don't worry, I'll talk about our pal Wheadon a little later. Now it does well on shows like Gossip Girl and Reaper. There are even smart people like Adam De La Pena, a man who tried with the bigger of the comedy channels Adult Swim and Comedy Central with short lived shows Minoriteam and I'm With Busey. Both did okay but not well enough on the big channels so he went to the then all video game channel G4 and did the show Code Monkeys which has done really well on that channel. Good solid shows are starting to show up on these lower channels because they know it's too high a risk on the networks. But alas, I must say it's not just the networks fault.

The Semi-Fans. We have an epidemic in television right now. The Semi-fans or the Bandwagon fans. They're unwittingly changing the rules for television and making it a lot harder to get a show to work. There are two shows which have already started to fall into this line and I can only see it growing. Arrested Development and Firefly. Most of you reading this love both of these shows, and hey, I do too. We all do, and we all think, "oh why did these shows get cancelled." Well they got cancelled because no one watched them. Sure with something like Firefly you can say the network screwed it, and yes, it did, but in the same token, how many of you would have even known about the show or even given it a chance if it had run in order? How many fans of the show found out about the show after it was off the air? Now Arrested Development, same question, how many fans of the show began fighting for it when it was doing it's last run of episodes, or even after it aired started yelling for change. The thing is, the average tv viewer doesn't come easy, they fight. They fight everyone hard to not allow themselves to be sucked into a show. The US Office didn't even really gain it's following until the second season or mostly it's third. TV fans don't want TV shows, it's as simple as that. Only after someone they trust sits them down and force feeds it to them do they start to like it. I can think of five people, some in whom might even read this blog who I specifically told after the first season of Arrested Development to watch that show. All of whom blew me off and all of whom are two years after that fact bigger fans of the show then I am. One of those people even said they had watched an episode and thought it was stupid.

So what happens with these fans? Let's take Joss Wheadon for a moment. Mr. Wheadon is the man who brought us such shows as Buffy, Angel, Firefly and currently Dollhouse. You'd have to be living under a rock to not know who this guy is. Currently this guy has a very big fan base of semi-fans. Mostly people who don't want to admit they like tv and will only watch his shows. Here's where the problem lies. Firefly was a beautiful show, and it went the rounds once on dvd, friends showed friends who became huge fans. People cried because of the characters. The show became their first tv hit. Then they stopped watching tv again, Dr. Horrible came out and they went Ga-Ga over it, and rightly so, it was a good thing which came out at a fantastic time. But then came Dollhouse. Did anyone watch My Own Worst Enemy? Haven't heard of it? It came out about 6 months ago and had a very similar plot and did it really well, but no one really heard of it and it died, because no one gave it a chance. Now Dollhouse comes out with a very similar plot but comes with bad reviews and fans are grabbing hold and not letting go. Because they love Wheadon. But yet they aren't willing to touch any other show even if it's better, because it's not Wheadon. Now here's where the problem comes in, if you followed that. Show dies, becomes huge and then show's creator becomes big and then gets free show. Pushing Daisies looks like it will do the same thing, it started to gain traction before it died but in DVD sales it'll be huge. The creators will likely make something else in a year or two and it'll become big. So do we need to have shows which are good die? These fans seem to think so. Only after it dies can it become good.

So what can be done? Semi-fans will always be semi-fans. They dislike television as a whole. The thought of being a television watcher is not what they want. They want to be contributing members of society and they don't want to get into television. That's fine, they should at least have a friend who knows their tastes and can tell them what to watch. A TV reviewer is a good thing, read someone's TV review each week, a quick read and see if there's anything new that sounds like something you'd like. Don't be afraid to try an episode if it sounds intriguing. And don't wait until someone has to force feed it down your throat. If they're doing that, the show is already dead. For instance here's one, if you're still reading this, go watch Reaper. Do it now. You will like it, and it will stay fresh and can easily stay long term. Go check it out, the first season is on dvd, it's super good. There, now don't fight it, because I'm sure after it's dead some other friend will force you to watch it and you'll love it and you'll forget I told you to watch it because semi-fans, that's what they do. Prove me wrong. Prove me wrong by watching a good show.

That there is my tv rant. Shows will come and go, some will be good, some won't. But that's what tv reviewers are there for, to tell you whether or not you'll like it.