The 2009/10 TV Season Thread

[Ananas]

So despite the rush to eulogize it last year, the television medium continues to be alive and kicking. The percentage of TV revenue derived the old fashioned way, from traditional ads, continued to be in the high 90s. And even though industry executives have not yet found out how to solve a problem like TiVo, live television viewership continues to be alive with an overwhelming majority of viewers choosing to watch shows as they air. Does that mean the industry isn't in flux? Certainly not, and some of the programming decisions made this year are indicating a recession trend towards new, more stable modes of thinking. This week marks the yearly "upfront presentations", where the TV networks will announce their fall schedules to ad-buyers and international networks. Are we ready to bitch about the short-sightedness of major networks for canceling our favourite low rated shows? Of course we are, this is the internet.

Up first on May 18th is FOX. They had a pretty good year in 2008-09, launching two very successful new shows in Fringe and Lie to Me as well as the cult favourite Dollhouse. They also re-launched the partnership of House and 24, while creatively re-igniting the latter. American Idol continued to dominate, even as its ratings slipped slightly, and Bones gave the network a solid if unspectacular foundation on Thursdays. So what strategy would they come up with for this year? Well, here's their fall schedule, courtesy of The Futon Critic (new shows underlined):

FOX PRIMETIME SCHEDULE: FALL 2009 (All Times ET/PT) MONDAY

8:00-9:00 PM HOUSE

9:00-10:00 PM LIE TO ME

TUESDAY

8:00-10:00 PM SO YOU THINK YOU CAN DANCE Performance Show

WEDNESDAY

8:00-9:00 PM SO YOU THINK YOU CAN DANCE Results Show

9:00-10:00 PM GLEE

THURSDAY

8:00-9:00 PM BONES

9:00-10:00 PM FRINGE

FRIDAY

8:00-8:30 PM BROTHERS

8:30-9:00 PM 'TIL DEATH

9:00-10:00 PM DOLLHOUSE

SATURDAY

8:00-8:30 PM COPS

8:30-9:00 PM COPS

9:00-10:00 PM AMERICA'S MOST WANTED

11:00 PM-Midnight THE WANDA SYKES SHOW (working title)

Midnight-12:30 AM ANIMATION DOMINATION ENCORES

SUNDAY

7:00-8:00 PM THE OT (NFL post-game)

8:00-8:30 PM THE SIMPSONS

8:30-9:00 PM THE CLEVELAND SHOW

9:00-9:30 PM FAMILY GUY

9:30-10:00 PM AMERICAN DAD

FOX PRIMETIME SCHEDULE: MIDSEASON 2010 (All Times ET/PT)

MONDAY

8:00-9:00 PM HOUSE

9:00-10:00 PM 24

TUESDAY

8:00-9:00 PM AMERICAN IDOL Performance Show

9:00-10:00 PM PAST LIFE

WEDNESDAY

8:00-9:00 PM AMERICAN IDOL Results Show

9:00-10:00 PM HUMAN TARGET (January) / GLEE (spring)

THURSDAY

8:00-9:00 PM BONES

9:00-10:00 PM FRINGE

FRIDAY

8:00-8:30 PM BROTHERS

8:30-9:00 PM 'TIL DEATH

9:00-10:00 PM DOLLHOUSE

SATURDAY

8:00-8:30 PM COPS

8:30-9:00 PM COPS

9:00-10:00 PM AMERICA'S MOST WANTED

11:00 PM-Midnight THE WANDA SYKES SHOW (working title)

Midnight-12:30 AM ANIMATION DOMINATION ENCORES

SUNDAY

7:00-7:30 PM ANIMATION DOMINATION ENCORES

7:30-8:00 PM AMERICAN DAD

8:00-8:30 PM THE SIMPSONS

8:30-9:00 PM SONS OF TUCSON

9:00-9:30 PM FAMILY GUY

9:30-10:00 PM THE CLEVELAND SHOW

Pilot descriptions can be found here, and trailers here.

Okay, so I think they've done a few things right here. Thursdays have been a barren wasteland for FOX ever since the network canceled The O.C. in 2007. For much of last season it was the graveyard for many-a bad reality series, but in the mid-season a trial run of Bones on Thursdays at 8pm provided some encouraging results. I'm impressed that they've taken a strong step forward to program aggressively on the night by pairing it with the freshman hit Fringe. Hopefully they'll also show enough patience to allow the pairing to grow. I'm not sure that So You Think You Can Dance is destined for success in the fall, but should it attract an audience it will be an ideal pairing for new series Glee. And the reality SYTYCD is an easy money maker anyway, so it's a small risk to take in a fall season where FOX is just happy to show up. Giving Lie to Me the House lead-in is probably a good move, the show trended downwards in the ratings from its mid-season debut and will require some help to establish a stable viewer base. And of course, the move to renew Dollhouse and manage for margins on Friday nights is one I can get behind as a fan of the show and even give them credit for a degree of prudent recession planning (and yes, that will make me a hypocrite when I rip NBC for it tomorrow).

And the bad? Well I guess their placing on the schedule is based on their multi-camera discount budgets, but I don't see much opportunity for momentum between the FOX sitcoms Brothers and 'Til Death and the returning Dollhouse. Brothers seems suspiciously placed to perhaps capture some of the Everybody Hates Chris audience, but if you're trying to attract CW-level audiences then what exactly are you doing running a major network? The placement of Human Target is I guess an obvious one (let it catapult off of the AI lead-in since it's your most buzzed new show), but I do feel like it would be an outstanding pairing for Dollhouse. Perhaps if DH can get some kind of foothold on Fridays a pairing with HT could be possible next year. And as much as I understand that it's tough to schedule a sitcom like Sons of Tucson on a network where the live-action sitcoms are the laughingstock of the industry, did they really have to schedule it in the middle of Animation Domination? One of these things isn't like the others...

All in all, I find myself interested in the new shows Glee, Human Target and Sons of Tucson. Past Life seems like it was Ghost Whisperer in its own past life, Brothers looks every sitcom that I don't need to see, and the Cleveland Show seems like the dilution of an already weakened brand. A more aggressive slate, if not as enticing as the slate that saw JJ Abrams and Joss Whedon brought on board.

And now to angry fans of The Sarah Connor Chronicles, over to you...

Edited May 18, 2009 by Captain Awesome

[Jimmy]

Have the other networks all supplied there new timeslots yet? I live in the UK and I'm interesting in what people think would be good shows to pick up.