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Can "Ugly Betty" survive a move to Friday nights?
ABC has announced its new fall schedule and one change stands out -- Ugly Betty will be moving from the Thursday night time slot that's been its home for the past three seasons to Friday nights. Is this the latest reason to worry about our favorite administrative assistant in clashing patterns? Friday is a night when few people watch TV and when networks dump shows facing low expectations -- recent Friday night programs include short-lived disasters like the Parker Posey sitcom The Return of Jezebel James and the controversial Book of Daniel. It's also a night when struggling shows are allowed to wither and die -- ABC sent Men in Trees and Six Degrees to Fridays for their final seasons. Will Betty experience a similar fate? This is just the latest bump Ugly Betty fans have faced. After watching ratings drop, the show was put on hiatus a few months ago to make room for the Megan Mullaly comedy In The Motherhood. Gay reporter Michael Ausiello got a comment on the move from ABC president Stephen McPherson: "I love the show [and] America [Ferrera] is one of our biggest stars... [But] you look at [Betty's declining ratings on] Thursday night and we think we have a big opportunity with Flash Forward. You have to make some bold moves sometimes. To me, I'd love to see [Betty] have a great run on Friday night the way Ghost Whisperer has [for CBS]." Meanwhile, Michael Urie voiced optimism on his Twitter feed:
There is reason for optimism. After all, Joss Whedon fans were certain that a Friday night time slot spelled doom for Dollhouse and that show will be returning for a second season, due to a large number of DVR and online viewers. Could something similar offer hope for Betty? Submitted by on Tue, 2009-05-19 12:59. |
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I Think....
Inconvenient
Three great shows on Friday
Friday Night Lights and Dollhouse can be viewed on Hulu, and soon Ugly Betty will be available too. Watching on a TV screen is better than a computer screen, but at least the commercial breaks are shorter online.
Ugly Betty has been going
Formulaic Writing
They started to use a really bad formula:
1) Betty is with someone who seems like the perfect man.
2) Current boyfriend has flaws exposed while a new and attractive stranger comes into her life.
3) Betty ditches old boy for new.
4) New boyfriend's flaws are explosed while a new and attractive stranger comes into her life.
Repeat as necessary.
I watch what I like, not what's on based on time/day.
I don't are what day/time a show is on or what it's "up against" -- if it's something I like I'll watch it, regardless. If I'm home, awake, and not busy at the time it airs I'll watch it then. If not, I'll often record it and watch it that way at my convenience. If that's not possible or I decide not to do that for some reason, I'll watch it online.
I like UB, so I watch it. How I do that and when it's on are pretty irrelevant to me.
Love the show but...
asynchronous tv consumption
Yeah, I'm not really sure that date and time or as significant now as they were in the past in terms of vierwship.
Most network shows are available on the network's website or hulu or fancast, etc
With TIVO and DVR, I don't think conflicting shows are as much or an issues as they might have been in the past.
Also, for anyone who's interested, there is a really cheap cord your can but to attach your laptop to your television (even older model tvs) so you can watch whatever is on you computer on your tv screen.
I got it at radio shack and it takes like 5 minute to plug it in.
Some shows I watch I have no idea what day or time they even come on because I only ever watch them on my computer and I' ve never missed an episode.
"Heterosexuality is not normal, it's just common." (Dorothy Parker)
Ratings matter, sadly
So many shows live or die on the overnight Neilsen ratings, which are terrible to begin with, but they don't take into account streaming the shows or DVR viewings. Fox this year was the first to acknowledge those additional viewers when it renewed Dollhouse - none of the other networks seem to care. So Friday night, which can probably post big DVR boosts, can be the kiss of death for a show if nobody counts those numbers.
Sadly, our network TV is still run like it was in the 1970s, with a few Neilsen families watching live determining the fate for all of us. Everybody knows the system doesn't work, and everybody knows that the technology to make it better is actually sitting in most of America's homes, but inertia or privacy concerns keep a larger sample of the population from having a voice. Minorities, including GLBT households, are sdaly under represented in today's current system.
The times they are a-chainging
One thing that's interesting about the current TV landscape is that it's in major flux right now. The Nielsens are still problematic, but online viewing and DVR technology (depending on the DVR) can deliver more accurate numbers... problem is getting advertisers to change how they determine what they'll pay. (I suspect some of that hesitation is actually using new technology as an excuse to negotiate lower ad rates... at least, I'd like to think advertisers know better than to think a "live" viewer is much more valuable than one who FFs past an ad on their DVR.)
Ratings still matter, but technology is slowly changing things. Reportedly, DVD sales are what got Arrested Development renewed for two seasons and Dollhouse is the first time the network pointed to DVR viewers as a reason to keep the show (even though advertisers don't want to pay for DVR viewers). Thing is, it's not clear that ABC is thinking that way yet. It may have renewed a bunch of bubble shows but in most cases that came down to the usual arguments of the-ratings-are-good-if-you-squint-and-look-from-this-angle (see NBC labeling The Office and 30 Rock the "most upscale" comedies when they were low-rated) or critical praise. If viewers keep following Betty online or via DVR maybe that will save it, but those numbers haven't helped an ABC show before.
At the least, the move takes away some pressure for Betty to perform. Thursday is the most expensive ad night and every time Betty lost viewers, it cost ABC a lot more money than a similar tune-out for a Friday show.
One way networks can get advertisers to pay for DVR viewers is through product placement. So, unfortunately, this might mean we can see more scenes where Willi and Daniel argue about where the Cherry 7-Up ad should go in the next issue.
Betty
I'm actually not much of a Betty watcher. I've been more the Smallville/Supernatural viewer on Thursdays. On Friday's it was the Terminator/Dollhouse. I'll watch them vs Betty. When I've seen Betty it hasn't really appealed to me (Though I will say on Halloween my dart team captain was a picture perfect copy of Betty - so I watched a few just so I could rate him ).
I think once Betty arrives on Hulu (Awesome news that ABC is joining Hulu) I'll sit back and watch from the beginning)
All that being said, its a rare show that survives Fridays for long that's been moved there.
Don't Know