Author Topic: Syndie Outlook (Read 9148 times)

NickintheATL · « **on:** January 10, 2009, 03:57:22 PM »

B&C Report on the Syndie Market

Looks as if "Trivial Pursuit: AP" won't be back, or at least that's the indication felt. Some other shows won't return and even a few that were due to start this fall are in question.

The syndie run of "Are You Smarter..." is still a go at this point.

The alarming thing about this, but not surprising, is this quote from the end of the article.

Quote

In lieu of purchasing new first-run shows, for which stations lack cash in a very down advertising market, stations are expected to double- or triple-run existing shows. With ratings so low for daytime time slots, station executives say it makes sense to fill those slots with programming for which they have already paid.

Yikes!

CarShark · « **Reply #1 on:** January 10, 2009, 05:26:41 PM »

As glad as I am to see some of those truly awful judge and talk shows go, it unfortunate to see the syndie market tightening up even more. Where is a new game show supposed to debut?

The major networks remain obsessed with gs's old-skewing demos and frequently cancel shows before they even have time to grow an audience. The cable channels seem to be content getting the rerun rights of late model network dramas and comedies. (Lifetime paid $750K per ep for How I Met Your Mother well before the typical 100 episode mark) I would have figured that their best chance would be on GSN, but they're having more success with poker shows and only have a second season of Catch 21 and the umpteenth revival of Newlywed Game in the near future. They'll probably rerun the 300-odd episodes of Lingo into nothingness. I'm not saying it's mid-90s bad, but the future isn't too bright for the genre.

rugrats1 · « **Reply #2 on:** January 10, 2009, 05:55:32 PM »

Quote

With ratings so low for daytime time slots, station executives say it makes sense to fill those slots with programming for which they have already paid.

Or, failing that, programming for which others have paid -- in other words, "infomercials".

calliaume · « **Reply #3 on:** January 10, 2009, 06:08:59 PM »

Are there any restrictions to double- or triple-running Wheel of Fortune or Jeopardy?

Jimmy Owen · « **Reply #4 on:** January 10, 2009, 06:51:07 PM »

[quote name=\'calliaume\' post=\'205968\' date=\'Jan 10 2009, 06:08 PM\']
Are there any restrictions to double- or triple-running Wheel of Fortune or Jeopardy?
[/quote]

In my market, J! runs on the CBS affil at night and on the co-owned MYTV affil in the daytime. The ep on the MY station is one from the previous season.

Matt Ottinger · « **Reply #5 on:** January 10, 2009, 07:58:23 PM »

[quote name=\'Jimmy Owen\' post=\'205972\' date=\'Jan 10 2009, 06:51 PM\']In my market, J! runs on the CBS affil at night and on the co-owned MYTV affil in the daytime. The ep on the MY station is one from the previous season.[/quote]
Aside from it being on two different stations, that's pretty much the standard for the Jeopardy package. Many stations that carry the show also air reruns from same-time-last-year in another time slot. I don't know any that run them back to back, since most stations pair it with Wheel.

Frankly, I've always felt that double-runs cheapen a show, and there very well may be a clause in the KingWorld contracts that says you can't do it with Wheel or Jeopardy. If not, it seems like we'd see a lot of stations air, say, an hour of Wheel before the news and an hour of Jeopardy after.

Chelsea Thrasher · « **Reply #6 on:** January 10, 2009, 08:45:29 PM »

What I've always thought might be an interesting idea (not necessarily saying it's market-feasible, mind you) is to offer stations "Best of" Wheel/J! packages - an *older* season of each series (beyond the one-year-old episodes already offered as a package, at least for J!). Episodes could either be just a linear run of past episodes or cherry-picked episodes from the series' runs. While not suitable for most stations for late evenings, it could certain offer an interesting alternative for morning or late evening programming.

calliaume · « **Reply #7 on:** January 10, 2009, 09:02:03 PM »

[quote name=\'Seth Thrasher\' post=\'205979\' date=\'Jan 10 2009, 09:45 PM\']
What I've always thought might be an interesting idea (not necessarily saying it's market-feasible, mind you) is to offer stations "Best of" Wheel/J! packages - an *older* season of each series (beyond the one-year-old episodes already offered as a package, at least for J!). Episodes could either be just a linear run of past episodes or cherry-picked episodes from the series' runs. While not suitable for most stations for late evenings, it could certain offer an interesting alternative for morning or late evening programming.
[/quote]
This is more like what I was thinking. Somebody watched these two in the morning all those years...

vtown7 · « **Reply #8 on:** January 10, 2009, 09:35:34 PM »

CHEX-TV in Peterborough, which is an privately-owned affiliate with the CBC, has a slightly alternative schedule on CHEX-TV2 in Durham County, just outside of Toronto. They run the previous day's Wheel/J! at 11 am in the morning.

They also used to run Price at 4 pm, but the rights have moved over to OMNI/Rogers.

Ryan

gamed121683 · « **Reply #9 on:** January 10, 2009, 10:03:39 PM »

[quote name=\'vtown7\' post=\'205987\' date=\'Jan 10 2009, 09:35 PM\']

They also used to run Price at 4 pm, but the rights have moved over to OMNI/Rogers.

[/quote]

Interesting. I remember being in Toronto about six years ago. I was with family in the downstairs basement watching a channel called Prime (they aired like old sitcoms and dramas. Sort of like TVL in the States). I still vividly recall watching their primetime lineup from 8-10PM:

8:00PM--The Cosby Show
8:30PM--The Golden Girls
9:00PM--The Price Is Right

At 9:00PM, we flipped back and forth b/w TPIR and Simpsons reruns on Comedy, but that's beyond the point. The point is that it was weird yet cool at the same time to see a channel program a game show that late in the evening that was not named GSN. The above quote just reminded me of that.

/I just wanted to share. As you were.

rugrats1 · « **Reply #10 on:** January 11, 2009, 02:33:09 AM »

I read that Price on Prime was a little... "interesting" -- many of its shows were replays right off the feed for CBS's stations, including the Special Reports. Some episodes were "clean" episodes, though one that aired on Prime featured an unedited version of the Showcase, in which after Bob introduces the showcase, the screen faded to black and Bob gave some last-minute instructions to the contestant before the showcase started.

GS Guy · « **Reply #11 on:** January 11, 2009, 02:47:40 AM »

Interesting how some people are interested in watching reruns of classic game shows. You do realize that in so doing, the odds of selling new game shows in syndication dwindle because it looks like people don't want new products. I would think there would be support for the new game shows so that there would be more.

It's been 6 months. What are the opinions of DDOND and TPAP? Shouldn't TPAP get a second season? What about DDOND? Ratings aside...

Craig Karlberg · « **Reply #12 on:** January 11, 2009, 04:21:20 AM »

Ack! First CBS has the gumshoe to pull M$P from its schedule, now we hear talk of stations TRIPPLE-RUNNING some shows next fall? I may be happy on the sports front right now, but not in the game show department. What a way to start 2009 for me. YUCK!

vtown7 · « **Reply #13 on:** January 11, 2009, 08:19:36 AM »

I remember watching alot of Price on Prime - if memory serves, they were about a month behind on the airings. Global had the rights at that time - they aired on CH in the mornings (formerly CHCH/OnTV) and then on Prime in the evenings. Prime became TVTropolis, which now counts reruns of reality shows, Deal, 5th Grader and a show called Inside the Box. Has anyone seen that last one?

Ryan

Matt Ottinger · « **Reply #14 on:** January 11, 2009, 09:53:45 AM »

[quote name=\'GS Guy\' post=\'206001\' date=\'Jan 11 2009, 02:47 AM\']It's been 6 months. What are the opinions of DDOND and TPAP? Shouldn't TPAP get a second season? What about DDOND? Ratings aside...[/quote]
"Ratings aside..." is certainly an unconventional way to judge whether a show should get picked up for a second season.

Also, you make it sound like we're doing something wrong by not supporting new game shows, no matter how bad they are. That's not how it works. A producer has to create a show that people want to watch.

Author Topic: Syndie Outlook (Read 9148 times)

CarShark

rugrats1

rugrats1

GS Guy