NBC’s Thursday ratings dive
Tuesday, April 17th, 2007 | 145 commentsFrom MediaWeek:
NBC’s ongoing rating woes were clearly visible on Thursday, April 12, with its combination of My Name is Earl, The Office [Safety Training], 30 Rock, Scrubs and ER resulting in the network’s worst performance in the traditional (September to May) season since at least the inception of People Meters (1987) — and perhaps historically — on this once-pivotal evening.
Wow. What is going on here?
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I think part of the problem is the complete disconnect between Earl and The Office. I mean, Earl is redneck humor while The Office is white collar humor. Even disregarding the possible difference in writing quality, it doesn’t strike me that the same people would laugh at trailer parks and office shenanigans.
I’ll bet the people at earltally.com wonder why people think the office is funny…
The Office is great, 30 Rock I’ve liked since the start and seems to be getting better, My Name is Earl has its moments but I don’t make an effort to see it, Scrubs needed to go a while ago, never liked that one.
Studio 60 was/is great. Is that even on anymore?
The Black Donnellys was another show I liked and they pulled the plug.
Of all the shows that might be in danger I hope they keep 30 Rock.
The Office is going no where :)
I thought Studio 60 sucked big time btw.
30 Rock is really really funny and a lot of people still haven’t caught on to this show for whatever. Scrubs is great too. I never quite got around to liking My Name is Earl.
NBC’s thursday lineup is full of show’s that have niche audiences. They have relatively small but loyal audiences. They are not exactly ratings giants and NBC shouldn’t expect them to be. 30 Rock and The Office especially feature very particular types of humor which a lot of people just don’t get. I hate to say that these shows are too smart for a lot of people but they sorta are.
I’m a little scared for 30 Rock, I hope NBC doesn’t make a rash decision with it. I also hope they don’t go too crazy with the lineup shuffles. I’m a little scared they might change the nights and only make the ratings situation worse.
I often agree with Kushman’s analyses and I think he has good taste in shows. If you didn’t follow the link below, here’s a snippet:
“Part of the problem is that the NBC comedies are unusual and quirky in their rhythm and tone, and they take some getting used to. Many viewers are so fed up with weak, unfunny comedies that they don’t stick around long enough to get a feel for shows like, say, “30 Rock,” which gets funnier every week.”
I’d add that some of NBC’s shows, particularly The Office, 30 Rock and Studio 60, are shows that are character-driven and subtly written. That means they don’t necessarily appeal to the masses. To be blunt, it takes someone with some smarts to enjoy comedy that isn’t plainly obvious. I don’t mean to offend but there are simply people who don’t get The Office or miss the references on 30 Rock or can’t keep pace with the dialogue on Studio 60. What’s unfortunate is that NBC, if they want to compete, will be forced to dumb down their product.
I think everyone’s made really good points…NBC needs to come on over and see what the fans are saying- they don’t give us enough credit!
I think the main thing that has brought down the ratings have been all the re-reuns- Putting in all those breaks makes everything really anticlimatic.
They need to put The Office on at 7 to go up against Ugly Betty…If I remember correctly, Friends went on at 7, leading the Thursday night lineup since it was the anchor…they should follow suit.
Ha. Thursday nights on NBC are the only times I ever watch NBC, except for Studio 60.
I don’t think the Office is the problem in the Must See TV lineup. It is the other shows bringing the average down. Looking at the 18-49 demo (which is the one that truly matters) for the week, The Office was actually 16th amongst all programs
Link : http://www.usatoday.com/life/television/news/nielsens-charts.htm
For me, The Office is not “must-see-TV.” I can wait for it to go on sale at Best Buy.
The numbers may not be accurate but they do mean something to advertisers.
Their source is Nielsen Media Research which is an outdated useless system. Until they update the way they get their research, these numbers mean nothing.
#18- I completely agree with moving ER to Mondays. I’m surprised the show iss even still on, and I honestly don’t know a single person who watches it. That would boost the ratings of Thursday night all together.
I agree with everyone when I say NBC messed up with that LOOONG break in march and then giving us 2 episodes and then another repeat. It’s ridiculous.
Come on, NBC…you have something good here…don’t screw this one up.
If the Office is the highest rated comedy in NBC’s line-up for Thurs night, NBC should put it first at 8:00 and hopefully draw more fans to the other shows. Then it could go head to head with Survivor and Ugly Betty. Those audiences don’t leave halfway through their show to tune to the Office at 8:30. It would probably be better as an hour show as well, since it is competing against hour shows, but I’m afraid we just wouldn’t get as many new episodes throughout the year if they made it an hour.
#32- F yes. Arrested Development on Thursday nights w/ The Office? I would probably wet myself.
I really don’t know what comment to make considering everyone has pretty much hit the nail on the head. I personally don’t care for Earl, but i do like The Office, 30Rock (after watching it for the first time last Thurs), and Scrubs. I usually just DVR CSI so i can watch 30Rock and Scrubs.
OK, then, here’s the linky goodness
Wrath of Tan. I like it.
Seriously though, please post away. :)
Rick Kushman has a column in today’s Sacramento Bee (sacbee.com) that looks at some of the reasons for NBC’s Thursday night woes. It’s in the “Entertainment” section of their website.
I’d post the link but don’t know if that’s kosher here at OT. As a longtime lurker but only recent poster, I wouldn’t want to incur the Wrath of Tan.
Fillipino office fan - the problem with that theory is they didn’t give us anything new this season. This season they went straight to the tired old TV formula of keep the romantic leads apart through contrived obstacles. That arc has led to a lot of “haven’t I seen this 3,000 times?” reaction by viewers.
Putting the romantic leads together earlier than expected, which is what many thought was happening after Casino Night, would have been doing something innovative.
Filipino Office Fan, I agree.
And at my high school, every Friday I go around asking “did you watch the office last night?!?!” And I’ll always get “nos.” When people say they’ve scene it this season, they say they saw an episode from early in Season 3. JAM at this point won’t get you causal viewers. And I’ll confess to having been sucked up in the drama, which needs to go away. I don’t care if Jim and Pam ever get together, because that’s not the Office. The Office is Jim playing pranks on Dwight.
I find the numbers hard to interpret, and it seems like the crew involved with The Office read the fine print when it comes to their ratings – i.e. specific demographics instead of overall numbers.
I have to agree with everyone else who has said that the NBC schedule is to blame for the strange ratings drop. And they’re doing it with a lot of their shows – The Office, My Name is Earl, Heroes, etc. It’s really frustrating when you get into a routine and then they pull the plug on you for a month. I’m a loyalist with these shows, and I have to make myself keep my enthusiasm. With the weather getting warm, they better throw some new stuff at me consistantly or I’m going to find other entertainment.
A few other notes:
* ER has got to go. Enough already. Give Maura Tierney her own show, or something, just kill that dinosaur.
* Bringing in Arrested Development is not only an impossibility, it’s idiotic. NBC would never spring on a show that grabbed ratings that dismal, no matter how critically acclaimed it was. Now maybe if they had developed that show THEMSELVES, like The Office, and stuck with it you might have something. Plus, really folks, it wasn’t that good. Really.
* Though it will probably never happen, moving The Office to an hour-long program would be fantastic. The super-sized episodes almost always seem to have the best flow.
* There could very well be a large population of JAM crybabies out there who just can’t handle any other storyline. The relationship that kick-started this series could end up burying it. But we all saw that coming, right?