Debbie:
I can’t help but notice the increasing amount of scripted summer television on the networks these days. Just a few years back, we had repeats and reality (and the occasional USA show). Now, I’m having trouble fitting in all the summer shows I want to see and still catch up on some regular season shows I’ve been meaning to embrace (like The Good Wife). USA seems to be suffering a similar malady, since they are holding Psych over until the fall because they have so many shows to air this summer (phooey on that decision!).
What do you make of all the new scripted shows? On the one hand, I think it’s a great idea, since there’s always decent new TV to watch. The flip side is that the lack of reruns are surely hurting the ratings of the regular season network shows.
Bob:
What do I make of all the scripted shows? I’m going to reveal my inner asshole here and be blunt: I think that the vast majority of them suck. We’ve talked a lot about the concept of “fluff” on television, and more often than not “summer” programming on basic cable is just fluff.
Certainly, there are exceptions. I can’t wait for the incredible Breaking Bad to come back after such a long absence. It is most definitely not light summer viewing, which is probably why it’s one of my favorites. I’m excited for more brilliant social commentary and satire from the very funny Louie CK. Weeds and The Big C will be returning on Showtime. And all those basic cable “fluff” shows? I do enjoy Leverage quite a bit.
The rest of them, however, I can do without. I know shows like Burn Notice, Covert Affairs, White Collar, and Royal Pains are popular with a lot of viewers, and I’ve given them all a decent chance. They just didn’t keep my attention. Sure, they are fine shows, but I just want more. I am a self professed TV snob, you know?
Overall, though, I love that there is a lot of fresh programming during the summer. With so many ways to find shows that you want to see these days (On Demand, Netflix, DVDs, HULU, streaming on network sites), it just doesn’t make sense for the networks to put up repeats. if people want to see something they missed, they’ll be able to find it.
Debbie:
I still wonder, though, even with all of those options you mentioned, if the ratings of the regular network shows are hurt by the vast amount of original summer programming. Back in the day, when you had a handful of shows to choose from and they were all repeated all summer long, shows really had a chance to get eyes on them. I know that Alias and Grey’s Anatomy repeats were what got me watching those two shows originally.
And what about some of the new summer shows, like Alphas and Combat Hospital, Suits and Love Bites — surely you’ll be watching those … and Teen Wolf too. OK, I could barely type that in without stopping to hold my aching sides, what with all of the laughing and all….
Bob:
Yes, but didn’t DVDs get you to watch Supernatural?
Honestly, I’m not quite sure yet what I will be watching this summer. Nothing new has me terribly excited, but I will check them out and hope that one or more really surprises me!
Debbie:
I did catch up on Supernatural with the DVDs, but that was already three seasons in. My point with those others is that they were only a half or one season in, and it was easy to catch up on the reruns. They clearly gained new viewers that way, but I don’t think there’s as much of that going on right now.
So how do you feel about the vast amount of scripted summer television? Good, evil or somewhere in-between?
Clacked by Debbie McDuffee
on Jun 09, 2011 @ 14:00 EST5EDT
. . . . .
*gets his best Fiddler On The Roof voice tuned up and begins to sing*
“Progressiooooooooooooooooon … progression … progression! Progressiooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooon … progression … progression!
The chiefs want the bucks, the channel wants its ratings, the peoples … they want to be entertained. Choices, folks … choices!
There are a lot of minds to fill with fluff and otherwise, be they reality programming, scripted programming or the latest in ShamWow™ technology.
I’m looking forward to Louie and Rescue Me. Everything else I don’t really care about. I’ll probably watch True Blood, but mainly because someone I know that I’m hanging out with will be watching it. I used to like Burn Notice and when I catch an odd episode I’ll enjoy it, but I lost any interest to keep up with the show weekly a long time ago. I have yet to get to get around to watching Breaking Bad, its on a list of shows to watch so maybe I’ll get to the 1st season at some point this summer. Right now I’m actually rewatching Alias for the 1st time since it went off the air. I feel like its actually the perfect kind of show for summer viewing blending summer movie action with the serial mythology that always (well not always, probably just Lost) seems to draw me into a show.
I think modern technology (and “reality” TV) has pretty much eliminated the summer rerun cycle. If someone wants to watch a major network show and missed it in its first run, there are plenty of opportunities to catch up–maybe Hulu, maybe the network’s website, maybe iTunes, or later, DVDs or Netflix streaming. For cable network shows, there are even more options. Most are broadcast 2 or 3 times a week, or run in marathons when a new season approaches, or run continually at 3am, a la AMC and “Breaking Bad”. With DVRs, that gives you many, many opportunities to find shows.
So why should TV be filled with reruns during the summer? I’m thrilled that there are so many scripted options now, mostly on cable networks. I caught up with “Breaking Bad” during one cycle of its 3am runs, using my TiVo, and I’m looking forward to the new season. Ditto for what’s left of “Men of a Certain Age”, and upcoming, “Louie”, “Leverage”, “White Collar”, and at least one of the new shows, “Falling Skies”.
Television used to be filled with good shows, terrible shows and reruns. That was bad enough, then it went all Star Wars and found the dark side: reality television. I don’t care how light, fluffy and substance-free a scripted show is, it’s still part of the rebel alliance fighting back against the creeping black tide of reality dreck. So, because of that alone, I’m thrilled to see more scripted shows on in the summer. And, yes, I do enjoy a lot of the USA fluff. I started watching a lot of those shows because my youngest daughter both wanted to and it was something we could watch together. I’m amazed at how attached I’ve gotten to some of them now.
And Debbie, I totally agree with you that moving Psych to the fall was a super crappy idea. USA has enough room on their schedule to put it on during the summer and I fear that this fall we’ll see a steep decline in ratings for the show and then the subsequent demise of same. Remember, USA is owned by the same people that own Syfy so let’s call what they’re doing to Psych, “Pulling a Syfy.”
Everything you just said. Could not agree more. Lighter shows are kind of welcome in the summer for me, and if it means I don’t have to contend with infomercials, endless reruns, and above all crap reality tv, the more the merrier I say.
Speaking of SyFy, Eureka returns July 11th IIRC As. Does warehouse 13
I really don’t understand how “too much to watch” is a complaint in 2011, to be honest. That’s what DVRs are for. Lets not look the network gift horses in the mouth ok? They could always return us to infomercials, reruns and reality TV. For my part, I’m forever grateful to USA for providing so much fun summer entertainment. I’d recommend rechecking out White Collar again if you only caught the first couple episodes. I can’t live without that show now. Royal Pains can be a bit frustrating in its lack of direction, but the hilarious Paulo Costanzo keeps me coming back for more.
I’m with Tom & Kate, and particularly ScottH. I look forward to the Summer Scripted shows, and find many of them much better than many that the Networks offer in their Fall Primetime. Apparently, so do the networks–haven’t you noticed how some of the cable shows have managed to find time on the network schedule? Of course, they are treated as new on the network, and if you hadn’t caught them on cable, you wouldn’t know–L&O CI, and the previous Monk episodes are typical examples. As ScottH says, with Tivo, DVR’s, Hulu, and even that old standby VCR–I don’t find any real desire for reruns. I’m with Tom on so-called “Reality” shows. Another pet peeve, why do “news” shows like “60 Min”/”Dateline”, etc., think reruns are appropriate. The people who anchor and produce them supposedly are full-time employees of the networks, and really shouldn’t have to take time to produce new scripts (in fact) I remember some of the older anchors on “60 min” complaining that many of their productions were shelved, because they didn’t have time–why not put these on in the summer instead of retreads.
I was just thinking that even though there are a lot of original programs airing in the summer it seems like many of them are starting a bit late. Right now there isn’t much on that’s both scripted and first-run. June’s pretty dead and July looks like the big month for premieres.
Sorry, I’m just grousing because I haven’t much to watch right now and Tommy gets cranky when his TV doesn’t give fresh entertainment. Bad TV…bad!