Comments on: UPDATED: Premiere Week 2010 – NBC

By: Erin Copple Smith

Erin Copple Smith — Sat, 25 Sep 2010 19:50:47 +0000

I think they probably figure that cable channel audiences aren’t quite as strictly loyal as they were once believed to be (but, frankly, I doubt they ever were). The logic is probably that audiences who missed the original airing of The Event will do a DVR search to find it and then watch it wherever it’s airing. By putting the show on its many cable arms, it’s providing ample opportunity for those seeking it out to find it. And Oxygen audiences may stick around, or they may just change the channel. The odds of them being offended or becoming active anti-fans is pretty small.

Minimal risk, maximum opportunity for exposure. NBCU views it as a win-win, is my guess.

By: Evan Elkins

Evan Elkins — Sat, 25 Sep 2010 16:30:52 +0000

I agree, and I think the problem with Outsourced is that it doesn’t seem interested in grappling with these problems in a remotely substantive manner (granted, this is just the pilot–though I hold out little hope that the show will improve in this regard). And while I juiced up the angry tone a bit for my review, I feel ultimately like the program represents a missed opportunity. Every time it takes a step toward toward interrogating the political/economic/cultural issues that lie on its surface, it immediately retreats into its comfort zone of tired cliches, xenophobic tropes, and lazy scatology.

It does raise the question, I suppose, of what a sitcom that both provides laughs and offers a more interesting take on these issues might look like. But it doesn’t look like this.

By: Jason

Jason — Sat, 25 Sep 2010 14:24:26 +0000

I was curious what folks would have to say about ‘Outsourced.’ I will say that–issues of white privilege aside–the question about how the show negotiates, and even attempts to naturalize, the decimation of the US economy is a valid one. I’m not so much thinking of discourses of victimization, but rather the idea that substantive discussion on why the economy is eroding, and on how to rebuild it, becomes explicitly pushed aside by programs that try to get us to just relax and “laugh” about it.

By: Kyra Glass

Kyra Glass — Sat, 25 Sep 2010 02:58:26 +0000

I knew you would have the best explanation for this. I am on board with the cross network promotion idea. On the other hand if you want positive buzz airing a show on a channel like Oxygen with an audience that may actively dislike the show seems imprudent. I will be interested to see how the NBC strategy works out.

By: Jason

Jason — Fri, 24 Sep 2010 13:28:35 +0000

So, there’s an obsession with chronology and timelines? Apparently, the writers don’t know what the word “event” means.

By: Erin Copple Smith

Erin Copple Smith — Fri, 24 Sep 2010 00:39:26 +0000

I think this aligns pretty neatly with NBC’s current strategy of viewing all of their holdings as parts of a whole rather than separate entities. Much more than any other conglomerate, NBC likes to make use of its disparate arms to promote its own stuff. They don’t allow pesky elements like branding get in the way.

By: Erin Copple Smith

Erin Copple Smith — Fri, 24 Sep 2010 00:35:34 +0000

Agreed. Hysterical.

By: Derek Kompare

Derek Kompare — Thu, 23 Sep 2010 02:01:12 +0000

This strategy must have been cooked up the new owners, Kabletown…

By: Kyra Glass

Kyra Glass — Thu, 23 Sep 2010 00:36:30 +0000

My complete and utter hatred of The Event was somewhat tempered by my enjoyment in reading Sean’s post. However that certainly isn’t enough to get me to go back for a second helping. After several days of contemplation of what exactly makes a show so very very bad I have decided that they were simply trying to hard. Trying too hard to be exciting, too hard to be mysterious, too hard to be fast paced. At the end The Event was confusing rather than exciting, frustrating rather than mysterious and frenetic rather than fast paced. It reminded me of nothing so much as a You Tube fan video put together from a bunch of genre thrillers, without the unifying background music.
Even worse is that NBC seems to have absolutely no idea who its audience for the series is. The pilot is being re-aired several times before next Monday’s second episode. It will re-air on USA Saturday and SIMULTANEOUSLY on Monday at 7 pm on Oxygen, Syfy, and Bravo. Now re-airing the first episode for a show that is serialized makes some sense to me, re-airing it on Syfy also seems like a good fit. But Oxygen and Bravo????? Are scheduling decisions being made by the manatees South Park thinks write Family Guy? To make matters worse which of these channels will or won’t re-air subsequent episodes is entirely unclear. The fact that the seeming incoherence of the first episode has moved into the scheduling of repeats makes me even more concerned.

By: Sean

Sean — Wed, 22 Sep 2010 18:59:42 +0000

ONE SECOND AGO No problem, glad you enjoyed it. 🙂