By
Graig Uhlin
Arizona Daily Wildcat
Now that the Olympics are over, the new fall TV season can finally begin. Although this year it is simply going from drab programming to drab programming. But be forewarned: this is not another column about how network programming, with its unoriginal content and amateurish writing, deserves its own circle of hell in Dante's "Inferno" - one where network executives have to pitch to themselves insipid sitcoms about trendy twenty-somethings with really, really cool hair.
Come to think of it, that would make a great reality show. Someone call an agent.
Really, this column only intends to lament, complain, whine like a three-year old to its mother about how completely unexciting this new fall season is. To adapt a quote from the summer film "Chicken Run," the entire fall season flashed before my eyes - it was really boring. Does anyone care? Seriously, anyone? By a show of hands.
That's what I thought.
The problem is that the networks are relying on the same old business paradigms for programming and scheduling that they always have. Some caveman, shortly after discovering fire, was heard to utter "must see TV."
Moreover, in the face of competition from the Internet and cable, the networks still refuse - much like their viewers - to get their lazy butts off the couch and do something about it.
What needs to be done? What would put life back into network programming? I do, indeed, have some suggestions.
First, there is no divine law requiring all new shows to debut in the fall. Obviously, the networks have concerns about advertisers needing reliability in the debut of new shows, as well as the idea that it is easier to promote these shows at one time and under the guise of event programming.
But really, that is all beside the point. All those who think this is all beside the point? By a show of hands.
That's what I thought.
The networks should take a cue from cable channels like HBO, where programming debuts at several points throughout the year. The time of the debut is determined by when the quality of the show is ready, producing then, good shows that people want to watch.
Network television should evolve to be less rigid in its scheduling techniques. Forget the annual cycle of debuts in fall and reruns in summer that have stagnated network entertainment, and let television evolve to be more fluid like the Internet - where the viewer is constantly presented with new shows, new people, new everything.
And do not start thinking the viewers will become confused and lost, futilely holding their remotes in their hands without a clue as what to do with this "radical" change. People will adapt and they will tune in. If you build it, they will come, or something like that.
Okay, so really I only had one suggestion, but it is a big one. It would require network executives to completely rethink the concept of network programming. I have other suggestions, all of which are equally valid and enlightening, but I doubt anyone wants to hear them.
By a show of hands.
That is what I thought.
