Sorry about this one. It's long and choppy.
[quote name=\'Modor\' post=\'223029\' date=\'Aug 14 2009, 02:22 PM\']I think GSN needs to expand their avenues. If they truly are "The Network for Games", why not pick up some sports programming? Show some college football or basketball on the weekends. I'm inclined to believe this would help pick up the ever-desired demographics. Then, run promos during those events for your other programs.[/quote]I thought they might go that way once they started
Extreme Dodgeball,
Ballbreakers and
Greek Games. Competitions and sports, rather than primarily studio games. If they wanted to do that, though, they should have done it before Versus decided to take on ESPN. That makes things even tougher to start now. To piggy back on your point, I didn't have a problem with the idea of video game programming from many moons ago, just that they did it in such a poor fashion by redubbing old British shows.
Another avenue I think GSN should take is to showing some movies once in awhile, that have games behind them; whether it be Quiz Show or Radio.
How much do you think it would take to air Slumdog Millionaire in primetime?
[quote name=\'Jimmy Owen\' post=\'223033\' date=\'Aug 14 2009, 02:53 PM\']Before SoapNet got them, I thought it might be a good idea for the Sony-owned soaps (Y&R and DOOL) to run in prime time, thus creating The Game and Soap Network (GSN).[/quote]I think daytime in primetime would have been something unique, exposing the shows to an audience that may not otherwise see it.
I think the bloom is off the rose for casino programming as well, though it might be good in late night following the NBC series.
Perhaps so, but GSN's gotten quite a bit of mileage out the poker shows and in first run,
they still do pretty well. I'm still laughing at all the yakking
Gabe Kaplan A.J. Benza did about the show possibly being cancelled despite having the highest ratings on the network at the time.
Maybe run it like the independent stations of yore, with Sony sitcoms in the morning, game shows in the afternoon, a couple of Sony's action shows at dinnertime, Sony movies in prime and game shows overnight. GSN would stand for "General Show Network" I'm not sure if cable operators would like this though; they seem to want things in niches.
[quote name=\'Loogaroo\' post=\'223054\' date=\'Aug 14 2009, 04:45 PM\']So the people scheduling GSN have to deal with what is essentially a transient audience - people who flip on the network, see a show they like, watch it to the end and resume channel surfing. The folks at GSN have to find a way either keep TVs on their channel, or give them a reason to tune in of their own volition.[/quote]What makes things worse for them, I'd imagine, was when cable operators started pushing it into the digital tier, like Comcast did in my area (Flint, MI). Instead of competing with 70 or 80 channels, GSN's now either non-existant or a single grain of sand in the 400-channel beach of life.
1a. If you must air million-dollar shows, limit each show to 1-2 airings a week.
The problem with that is, even though those shows have considerably shorter runs than a 5-a-day series, they are also the most visible and memorable. That's one reason why some were clamoring for Meredith Millionaire a couple years ago. There was the visibility with the longer run. They probably can't wait until they can do the same with daytime Deal.
2. Longer runs of your original series. Unless you plan on rotating them around, doing 8-week seasons of a show means that each episode is guaranteed to air at least six times during the year. If you extend those runs to 13 weeks, it cuts the number of repeats by a third. Whatever additional studio and staff costs you may incur will likely be recouped by the fact that all of the episodes will now stay fresher longer.
Well, GSN usually orders 65 episodes. I think they only did 40 for Friend or Foe and Catch 21. I think GSN in particular has been bad about letting new shows repeat too long since
Whammy! debuted and went into reruns for a year and a half before season two aired.
3. Rotate the bejeezus out of your library. On the other side of the coin, there's no reason to air your late-night and early-morning shows more than 13 weeks at a time.
They were doing that for a while. Both runs of Blockbusters. Three runs of Card Sharks. Tic Tac Dough, for a while. Now You See It at night.
[quote name=\'rwalker\' post=\'223070\' date=\'Aug 14 2009, 07:38 PM\']Anyhow, I really have to question the ratings, for example, Lane Chain Reaction. There's not that many, and how in the heck are they pulling those numbers with a suck product like that anyhow? Karn Feud is being replayed like all heck, but doing well. Even though most people enjoy the O'Hurley version more anyhow.[/quote]I think GSN Live is such a boost for all of the shows. To answer the Oodles questions, more often than not, you have to watch at least half of a segment. Like, they'll ask, "What was the $100,000 Pyramid category "A CHOPPING SPREE" about?" It'll show up in the second round and be the last one played. Meanwhile, you've watched about 5 minutes of play and GSN scores a point.
