For American television viewers, the new primetime TV season is three months away. However, for insiders who analyze the video landscape and television marketplace, the season has already begun.To help evaluate the rocky television content and advertising landscapes, Baseline Intelligence, a part of the New York Times Company, is proud to announce the inaugural edition of Primetime Television Insight – a series of three annual reports assessing key small-screen trends and audience changes. Read More
Over the past decade, the broadcast networks have aged dramatically. Ten years ago, there were six broadcast networks that appealed to substantially different audiences. While this shift in program genres is largely responsible for the broadcast networks’ audience aging, it is not the only cause. Read More
Expert Television Analyst Steve Sternberg discusses why a great TV pilot does not always result in a great TV series. READ MORE
A pilot that still has a modicum of life and hope left is “Gimme Shelter” written by Hannah Shakespeare (is that really her last name?) about a team of physicians and surgeons who man a mobile unit that travels the country serving the uninsured poor. Again, the premise is interesting, the character development is superb and the pacing is straight out of “ER.” Here, the difficulty to overcome is the network that bought it, CBS, known for its difficulty in assimilating character-driven (as opposed to plot-driven) drama into its schedule. Read More
Ah, yes, the age old question, here posed by Lewis Carroll in Through the Looking Glass. Do pigs have wings? Given some of the Network pickups, we’ll soon find out because in lieu of what they chose, they left some absolutely wonderful pilots standing at the curb. I will not express surprise, as some were just too good and unusual to ever find a place, no matter what, no matter where; some were made for the wrong network; some were miscast; and some were… well I don’t know why they weren’t picked up. Read More
It’s time to talk of cabbages and kings again – this year’s crop of pilots picked up to series that have lots to offer. Previously, one could have gotten the impression that there was little to love in the upcoming season. Although I will attempt to watch an episode of every new show, there are actually quite a few that I’m looking forward to. Read More
The Daytime Emmy Awards has been a staple for soap opera fans in particular since they first aired on May 21, 1974. Nearly four decades later, many questions are being asked not just about this event but about the daytime soap opera itself. READ MORE
When they write about the 2010-2011 season (and they probably won’t), they will have to note that this was the year of the Rom-Com with a substantial number of them being picked up to series awaiting the Fall shake-down (oops, I meant shake-out). READ MORE
It’s time to talk of cabbages and kings – this year’s crop of pilots. I am able to judge only on what is on the page, for not having seen the produced versions of these scripts I can only hope that the good scripts were done justice...READ MORE
The great thing about the internet is that it allows each of us to share ideas with the world in an infinitesimal amount of time. READ MORE
