Wednesday, March 15, 2006

What I'd like to tell TV Execs

It is frustrating to settle in to watch your favorite show only to find it's a) a rerun or b) not on. In the winter I do often spend my weeknight evenings in front of the television. I have a few suggestions for the powers-that-be for improving television schedules:

1) Episodic shows do not rerun well especially when random past shows are thrown into the middle of the current new season. Please show the full new season; then rerun it in order. "Lost," for example, has me totally lost with the frequent old shows interspersed among the new ones. "24" gets it right!
2) Give new shows a chance to find an audience. After the money has been spent to hire cast & crew, prepare a set, promote the show, give it a chance. I have heard that this or that new show is good or funny only to find that I couldn't watch because it was cancelled after 2 or 3 episodes. Some shows are instant hits; others take time to develop viewers. Along the same lines moving shows to different nights & time slots in the middle of the season is also confusing!
3) Don't give us too much of a good thing. When the "Millionaire" first debuted, it was a huge success so the network decided to air it a million times. Over saturation killed it fairly quickly. It appears that "Deal or No Deal" may suffer the same fate.
4) Taking HUGE breaks(aka hiatus)causes viewers to either forget about the show or to change their viewing habits so that they no longer care about the show. Would it be so terrible to run a show totally through all it's episodes; then begin a different show? Right now, some shows are interrupted for months with a new show, then the old one returns.

Once daylight savings time arrives, I will no longer care since being outside will trump anything on TV for me. In the meantime bring on March Madness!!!

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