Monday, May 16, 2011

Groundbreaking TV: An Oxymoron?

BOB Greenblatt, NBC's creative chief since February, is planning to revitalize his employer's flagging viewership with a dozen new shows for the fall season, explaining, "We've got to excite the audience again. I think the way you do it is with big ideas." Included in his groundbreaking efforts are a drama in which a cop protects the world from fairytale creatures, a musical set behind the scenes at a Broadway show, and a singing competition featuring regular people.

To help poor, misguided Bob, I offer a few of my own ideas completely free of charge:
1. Lose the laugh track. It is totally insane, annoying, ridiculous and insulting to believe that if viewers at home hear a recording of other people fake-laughing they will then find your stupid, inane scripts funnier--or even just funny.
2. Consider cutting the number of commercials from a constant barrage every eight minutes to just a few between shows. These days TV is merely a carrier for advertisements about products, and the number one product seems to be other TV shows which, when you are watching them, advertise the very one you are trying to watch right now except you can't because of those damn ads about the other shows.
3. Define "big ideas."
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4 comments:

  1. MitchMay 16, 2011 at 8:36 AM

    Here are a few more ideas for Bobby:

    (His problem is he is thinking -- and apparently not too well -- about PROGRAMMING, when he should be thinking about the MEDIUM itself. Does he not realize that TV and Internet are rapidly converging? And so:)

    1. Viewers choose the evening show line-up, write the scripts, pick the actors, heck, even choose the executives

    2. Call-in shows and other forms of viewer interaction exclusively using live webcams, so we can see some of the morons actually watching these shows (Better have a 10-second delay on this one)

    3. Political shows featuring my virulent cousins (no 10-second delay) . . . dark combination of talking heads and comedy

    4. Mockumentary end-of-the-world scenarios, an entirely different one every night. (I know, this is a programming idea, but I love this stuff).

    5. A variety show of rap music and discourse featuring our amazingly talented and thought provoking Latino (or is he Gallic) son Zack de la Rouda

    :-D

    ReplyDelete
  2. the droidMay 16, 2011 at 8:38 AM

    LOVE YOUR IDEAS! you should be in TV or politics! The world would be such a better place.

    ReplyDelete
  3. MitchMay 16, 2011 at 8:39 AM

    well I don't know about better but I promise more amusing

    ReplyDelete
  4. denebMay 16, 2011 at 3:16 PM

    AMEN on Mitch running the TV. I MIGHT start watching it then......but not until.

    ReplyDelete

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