For whatever reason, Sci-Fi is pushing back the season premiere from the previously announced January date to April. THIS is why the networks are losing me as a viewer, decisions like this. I think I now watch on a regular basis only six shows- Galactica, House, Mythbusters, The Office, 24, The Price is Right (guilty pleasure), and three football games a week (I also watch documentaries and science shows). That’s it. And I used to be a RABID TV watcher.
Of the six shows I listed, I’m three weeks behind on House, and if the new season of 24 is not a marked improvement over last year, I’m done watching it.
Of all the new shows that have come out the past year, only a handful looked like something worth watching, though I didn’t. Why? I have been paying attention to how the networks treats their shows. If it is not a near-instant hit, it’s gone within a month. I have NO confidence that the network give any new shows a decent chance at finding an audience, and I will not invest my time and energy in any new show only to see them gone in a flash (call this my Firefly rule).
One of my all time favorite shows, Hill Street Blues, was in the toilet ratings-wise its first year. The network believed in the show, though, and renewed it for a second year. Do you think they would have done that if the show debuted today? Are you kidding me?
The writers guild has voted to strike, possibly as soon as November 1st (when the contracts run out). The hope of the writers being that this will hit the studios TV production much more that a later strike would. This whole thing, though, is counter-intuitive to me. You’re already losing viewers to DVDs, movies and video games. And now you want to have NO NEW PROGRAMS for months due to a strike?
The six shows I watch regularly may turn into one… or none… very soon.