Goodbye Rich Cronin

[Pyramid80]

Looks like Rich Cronin is resigning.......

Story Here!

(MODERATOR NOTE: Threads merged. -DZ)

[uncamark]

Rich Cronin, who as president and CEO of GSN brought the network into the black and into twice as many homes, despite lingering image problems and a failure to totally rebrand the channel as a reality-friendly network, is leaving the channel at the end of the month.  Hollywood Reporter story:

http://www.hollywoodreporter.com/hr/conten...af463e8dc1582ca

And note that most of the kudos mentioned in the article were more for the success of the gsn.com web site than for the television channel itself.

[PYLdude]

2 minutes ago...beat to the punch by Pyramid80

[MyronMMeyer]

They'll probably replace him with another repeat of "Chain Reaction", until they've developed another new GSN original.

-M

[BrandonFG]

He’s leaving at a pretty bad time for GSN. Their ratings are mediocre, if not downright bad, and they still have the same identity crisis they had six years ago. The only good thing is that the number of viewers more than doubled.

Hopefully, the new CEO can find a consistent identity for the network, and cut out the tacky look, i.e. obvious speed-up and slowdowns, and cutting off the ending in the middle of the credits. That’s not a rant on the credit squeezes, it just looks cruddy.

[toddyo]

So what will Rich Cronin receive when he leaves GSN?

[xavier45]

[quote name=\'toddyo\' post=\'157181\' date=\'Jul 11 2007, 12:25 AM\']
So what will Rich Cronin receive when he leaves GSN?
[/quote]

He will probably recieve a supply of "Lee Press On Nails".

[Gromit]

A parting gift?

Sorry, I got nothing.

[Clay Zambo]

[quote name=\'Gromit\' post=\'157189\' date=\'Jul 11 2007, 01:14 AM\']
A parting gift?
[/quote]

Oh, more than one.  An assortment of lovely parting gifts.

Some departing executives will receive...

[CaseyAbell]

Good: Cronin got the network into twice as many households and stopped the red ink that was drowning GSN in 2001. The casino shows broadened the network's demo reach, and Lingo did okay with the traditional audience. The Millionaire purchase was the best thing the network ever did.

Bad: No big consistent ratings winner since Millionaire, which is why the numbers have sagged steadily since 2004. Amazing Race was a slight exception but rapidly burned out.

Other: Will the next president have an appearance on a game show in his resume?

In the interest of the Fairness Doctrine (gag), this is a downbeat story on Cronin to balance the generally favorable story that started the thread. By the way, I didn't realize that High Stakes Poker was the network's highest rated show overall. I just thought it was a demo play. No wonder it gets all of Monday prime time.

[Jimmy Owen]

Gemstar is looking for a buyer for TV Games Network (as well as the other TV Guide holdings).  Maybe Cronin could hook up with whomever is the new owner and expand their focus beyond horse racing?

As the article stated, the primetime gameshows on over-the-air tv did GSN in.  That's why I advocate zigging when they are zagging.  Inferior GSN game shows are not gonna beat J!/WOF and the network game shows.  All-casino shows in prime might be the way to go short-term.  Daytime should stay as is.

[CaseyAbell]

Daytime is down, too, as the B&C story points out. I think the quickest fix is Meredith Millionaire in prime time and TPiR in daytime, if GSN could pry the rights loose. Of course, they could always try a complete Spike-ish rebranding of the network away from game shows entirely. But GSN is apparently profitable now, a welcome change from the bad old days. So maybe they'll just pinch pennies, live with what they've got, and hope the ratings turn up or at least stop declining.

[Jimmy Owen]

With CBS relaunching TPIR, I don't think they would want to invite any unfair comparisons by having the old ones in circulation.  As someone who enjoys traditional game shows most, I'd rather have classic game shows in the daytime for selfish reasons, it's comfort food and something to watch when nothing else is on.

I'm not sure what the makeup of viewership is in the daytime for cable generally.   Most people are working, so is there a need to put a whole lot of effort in daytime cable?   Do people actually watch the sports networks in the daytime or are they just there to fill the big screen at the restaurant with the sound turned down?   Movies in the daytime are good, but if I want to sit down and watch them, I have to tape them and watch later.  I would imagine stay-at-home moms leave on Nick and Disney for the kids rather than GSN.  Who is watching cable in the daytime?

[uncamark]

[quote name=\'Jimmy Owen\' post=\'157236\' date=\'Jul 11 2007, 11:47 AM\']
With CBS relaunching TPIR, I don't think they would want to invite any unfair comparisons by having the old ones in circulation.  As someone who enjoys traditional game shows most, I'd rather have classic game shows in the daytime for selfish reasons, it's comfort food and something to watch when nothing else is on.

I'm not sure what the makeup of viewership is in the daytime for cable generally.   Most people are working, so is there a need to put a whole lot of effort in daytime cable?   Do people actually watch the sports networks in the daytime or are they just there to fill the big screen at the restaurant with the sound turned down?   Movies in the daytime are good, but if I want to sit down and watch them, I have to tape them and watch later.  I would imagine stay-at-home moms leave on Nick and Disney for the kids rather than GSN.  Who is watching cable in the daytime?
[/quote]

Hardly anyone, when it comes to the entertainment channels.  That's why none of those channels are doing any original shows during daytime.  Discovery's the exception with their home and how-to shows, but they're not really entertainment (and does TLC still run the "Story" franchises?).  The news channels have their audiences, CNBC and Bloomberg have the businesses using them as wallpaper, the sports bars have the sports channels using them as wallpaper.  That's about it.

Hell, even Lifetime, which was formed out of the merger of two channels, one of them called "Daytime," doesn't do original daytime anymore--and "Attitudes" was its flagship when it first became a women's channel.

[davemackey]

[quote name=\'uncamark\' post=\'157258\' date=\'Jul 11 2007, 03:02 PM\']
Hell, even Lifetime, which was formed out of the merger of two channels, one of them called "Daytime," doesn't do original daytime anymore--and "Attitudes" was its flagship when it first became a women's channel.
[/quote]
Wasn't it Lifetime that did that show about wives of famous people called "Are You Anybody?" Or am I thinking of some project from one of its forebears.