Now see, THIS is a response worth debating!
[quote name=\'CaseyAbell\' date=\'Aug 30 2005, 03:59 PM\']Sorry, I didn't mean to insult anybody. But a glance at GSN's schedule before 9:00 PM (and much of the schedule after 9:00) shows that the network is definitely not aiming for younger demos most of the time. Either that, or they're hopelessly incompetent, which I don't think they are.[/quote]
I'm not entirely sure I agree with you on the second point
Still, the third and I believe more accurate position would be that they're currently in a regrouping mode while they contemplate yet another new direction to pursue.
[quote name=\'CaseyAbell\' date=\'Aug 30 2005, 03:59 PM\']I think the network has largely given up on the young demo chase for most of its schedule, at least until the lineup changes significantly. There's really no other way to explain their recent programming decisions.[/quote]
I don't think it's a deliberate effort NOT to court younger demos, nor is it a complete acceptance that they're not going to reach the younger demos. I think it's what they're stuck with until the next original programming push. I really, truly think that GSN doesn't know what it wants to be. There have been too many quotes from Cronin that make it seem like he just doesn't like game shows, or at least doesn't believe in them as a viable product for a cable network. And he might be right. Still, I'd rather hear something like, "We have these great classic shows AND look what else we're doing!" It seems like what I've been hearing from GSN lately has been "Don't judge us on our dusty old relics, look what else we're doing!"
[quote name=\'CaseyAbell\' date=\'Aug 30 2005, 03:59 PM\']The only shows on today that look pitched to a "younger, hipper" audience are Amazing Race, Dodgeball, and (maybe) Street Smarts. [/quote]
Yeah, but that glosses over all the recent failures that don't happen to be on the air right now. Still, those are precisely the shows they're pouring the most promotional budget into, and the shows to which they give the prime slots. Look, I realize they have to fill the schedule, and what they have to fill the schedule with are traditional game shows, most of them older. That's a point you don't have to make anymore. They have what they have. It's what they're TRYING to do, and what they're TRYING to have that I'm talking about.
I agree with you that the trend recently has been back to what we've pretty much decided to call "traditional" shows. And I'm fine with that. Happy, even. I'm just not convinced that GSN is happy with it too. I'd love for them to prove me wrong.
Game shows ought to be the easiest, cheapest form of programming to produce. I'm not even talking about something like
Dodgeball. In my mind, they're spending too much money on
Lingo. They ought to have a huge slate of cheap, engaging games that people will watch because they like the game. Instead, they're pumping Liberty and Sony money into expensive acquisitions and expensive new series, and making sure you know that they don't WANT to be thought of as a "game show network" anymore. Just seems like they're shooting themselves in the foot, and have been for some time.