Has NBC Lost Its Opportunity?

[TheInquisitiveOne]

Hello everyone!

If this is off topic to some of you, I apologize. However, I had to write this.

NBC tried to get a jump on the competition by airing the (hopefully soon-to-be-canceled) Joey and the first third of The Apprentice during the 7-8pm (central) hour. However, the football pre-show held its own against the spinoff and the Donald. What is worse, Thursday (Monday) Night Football actually beat The Apprentice in the 8-9PM hour. This came from tvgameshows.net, and I know how many of you feel about the Perfesser. I am just passing off information...

...and here's why. Survivor: Vanatu premieres at 7pm next Thursday, and that has been CBS' second-in-command to CSI on Thursday Nights. In your opinion, has NBC lost the opportunity to reclaim lost glory, or will the overrated new sitcom and Will and (Falling from) Grace be able to hold off?

Thanks in advance for the responses!

The Inquisitive One

[urbanpreppie05]

For the first time in ages...Thursday night will be competitive. This will be interesting to see. However, if Survivor's not that interesting this time, it could fall in either court.

BTW, (and off-topic) Joey wasn't that bad. Considering the slew of horrendous new sitcoms in the last 4 years, this was like friggin' masterpiece theater. And from what the critics are saying about the rest of the upcoming shows, things aren't going to be much better.

[Jay Temple]

Granted.  Joey won't be appointment TV, but it was watchable.  That's more than I can say for the show where (I hope I remember this right) Hank Azaria was a sports anchor and we saw the things he imagined, sort of like Herman's Head.

[reason1024]

Are you thinking of Inside Schwartz with Breckin Meyer?IMDB Entry

I hope you're not implying Herman's Head was a bad show, but if you are there are probably lots more people who agree with you than with me!

My gut feeling says that The Apprentice and Survivor will be a dead heat; what's ABC doing for the rest of the season on Thursdays?

The Apprentice may pull ahead by adding loyal viewers from their double-run episode(s?).  The first eppy promised a second showing later in the week with 20 or so extra minutes of boardroom footage.

[tvwxman]

[quote name=\'reason1024\' date=\'Sep 11 2004, 03:19 AM\']

My gut feeling says that The Apprentice and Survivor will be a dead heat; what's ABC doing for the rest of the season on Thursdays?
 [/quote]
 Color bars. Can't hurt, will likely get the same ratings as new eps of whatever, and will save the Mouse money in the end.

Stockholders rejoice!

[GS Warehouse]

[quote name=\'tvwxman\' date=\'Sep 11 2004, 08:06 AM\'] [quote name=\'reason1024\' date=\'Sep 11 2004, 03:19 AM\']My gut feeling says that The Apprentice and Survivor will be a dead heat; what's ABC doing for the rest of the season on Thursdays?[/quote]
Color bars. Can't hurt, will likely get the same ratings as new eps of whatever, and will save the Mouse money in the end. [/quote]
 Test patterns got better reviews than what ABC is showing in that time slot.  I don't think new drama life as we know it (yes, all lowercase) will even make it to the tribal merge or the first corporate shuffle, whichever occurs first, and here's why:
- It's drawn too many comparisons to My So-Called Life, which ABC reluctantly cancelled after just one season ten years ago.  Strike one.
- Even so, I don't see any potential Claire Danes's in this cast.  Strike two.
- Kelly Osbourne.  Enough said.  Strike three, you're out.

Since AFAIK, neither Danes nor Osbourne ever did any game shows, I better change the subject.  If WWtbaM was still on Thursday at 9, how would The Reege have done against fellow New Yorker The Donald?

Stockholders rejoice!

They're rejoicing now that Michael Eisner is leaving.  That's how bad the economy is: I was perhaps the most productive and efficient employee at my workplace, and they downsized me anyway.  Eisner got paid tens of millions to run Disney into the ground!

[Jay Temple]

[quote name=\'reason1024\' date=\'Sep 11 2004, 03:19 AM\'] Are you thinking of Inside Schwartz with Breckin Meyer?[/quote]
That's the one.  Hank Azaria had an equally unwatchable show, or so I'm told, around the same time.

I hope you're not implying Herman's Head was a bad show, but if you are there are probably lots more people who agree with you than with me!

No, I loved HH, which made me all the angrier that IS was so bad.  I was among those disappointed when they started spending less time in Herman's head.

[uncamark]

[quote name=\'tvwxman\' date=\'Sep 11 2004, 07:06 AM\'][quote name=\'reason1024\' date=\'Sep 11 2004, 03:19 AM\']

My gut feeling says that The Apprentice and Survivor will be a dead heat; what's ABC doing for the rest of the season on Thursdays?
 [/quote]
Color bars. Can't hurt, will likely get the same ratings as new eps of whatever, and will save the Mouse money in the end. [/quote]
My line on NBC Thursday night for a long time was that at 8:30 they could run a tape of Warren Littlefield, Scott Sasso or Jeff Zucker having lunch, put a laugh track on it and still pull a 25 share.  That's not going to be true anymore.

The bad thing, of course, is that the first ratings for the new era of Must-See Thursday show NBC still doing well, but not as well as previous years.  "The Apprentice," to remain semi-on-topic, in particular, was nowhere near as [The Donald] yuuge [TD] as the first time around.  Les Moonves must be licking his chops--although if "Survivor" starts to lose its legs, Les may find out directly how they do it in "The O.C.," bitch.

ObGameShow:  "Trump Card."  That wasn't yuuge.