I was watching the final episode of FlashForward this morning and it occurred to me that, while it wasn’t a perfect show, it did have potential. Given that there are a lot of TV shows which have no potential, are mediocre at best, then why had FlashForward been cancelled? The easy answer is a lack of viewers; not enough viewers means less advertising dollars, less advertising dollars means that the show doesn’t cover its costs. A simple business decision that anyone would make.
The next logical question is why was there a decline in viewers? According to TV studio executives it is all down to the viewers: people don’t like heavily serialised shows, people don’t relate to the characters, people find the plot too confusing, people can’t start watching in the middle of a series. What the execs universally fail to consider is that it might be their own fault, not the viewers. I have therefore come up with some free advice for TV executives to make good TV shows more profitable.
The first nail in the coffin of any good TV show is a lack of consistency in scheduling. With this in mind can I suggest the following:
No Hiatuses
Nothing is more frustrating when watching a heavily serialised show, than a gap of 3 months in the middle of a season. I’m sorry, maybe it is just me, but when I get into a story I don’t appreciate it being put on hold for long enough that I forget what was going on. Not only is it hard to remember what happened before the break, it is hard to remember why you watched the show in the first place and therefore why you start watching it again.
I don’t think there has ever been a show that has fully retained its viewership after a hiatus. The reasons for this are simple: 1) Loss of momentum - the show has to build interest and momentum from scratch, 2) Lack of caring - the audience forgets why they watched the show in the first place, 3) It is a good sign that the show is about to be cancelled - so why bother watching it again.
The only time a show should ever be put on hiatus is if it has already been cancelled and the network has finished episodes to show. If the show hasn’t already been cancelled the hiatus is almost sure to kill it anyway.
No Random Skip Weeks
Similar to the above, it is incredibly annoying when you tune in for a show only to find it not on. I understand that sometimes networks need to skip a week for special events: Christmas, the Superbowl etc but the disruption seems to be maximised rather than minimised. It isn’t too bad in the UK, generally only the network covering a sporting event interrupts its programming and there is a maximum of one weeks interruption for things like Christmas and Easter. American networks on the other hand, just seem to randomly decide not to air shows for the sheer hell of it. I can just imagine the program scheduler sitting in a meeting and saying; “It’s Bob’s dog’s birthday this week, better run repeats so he doesn’t miss anything.”, it genuinely seems that arbitrary.
Knowing that a show will be on from week to week makes it much easier to build momentum and for the audience to get excited about it.
No Day/Time Changes
This has to be the most obvious observation of all time, but if you change the day or time you air a show, you will definitely lose viewers. Put simply a lot of people watch TV when they have free time, if that free time no longer coincides with your show they will stop watching. Furthermore you won’t pick up viewers who’s free time now coincides with the show because they have missed the start of the season. It would be bad enough if there was one change, but some shows are shuffled around at random.
The first step in retaining viewers is simply not to annoy the hell out of them by making it difficult for them to continue watching the show. Next time I will look at how - heaven forbid - networks could attract viewers mid-season.
[712 Words]
Friday 28 May 2010
Friday 21 May 2010
2010 Reading List - Quarter 2 Update
This is just a quick summary of my progress towards one of my Arbitrary Dividing Point In Time Resolutions. Some of you may have noticed the 2010 Reading List in the sidebar of the blog, i'm using this to keep track of what i have been reading each week.
You might be thinking: "But Steven, Quarter 2 isn't finished until the start of July, why are you updating now?". Well unlike the first quarter, i have been reading more than 1 book a week consistently since the start of April and consequently have finished my 14 books for the quarter in 7 weeks. There are a couple of reasons for this:
1) More Fiction - This quarter i read 4 fiction books and i finished them more quickly as they require less concentration (so i can read later into the night) and are generally more compelling than non-fiction books.
2) More Re-Reading - I re-read 3 of Malcolm Gladwell's books; other than the fact his writing is almost as compelling as well-written fiction, it is always faster to re-read a book than read it fresh.
The theme of 'influencing, marketing and sales' that i predicted in the Quarter 1 Update didn't quite materialise. The closest i came to those topics was Speak Human, which is almost an anti-marketing book - in a good way. In fiction i have made a start on reading some Sci-fi classics (more to come in Quarter 3) and two Neil Gaiman books (Neverwhere recommended by @TFerriss and American Gods as part of #1b1t) both of which were excellent. In non-fiction, the only lose theme i could claim is epistemology - how to we know what we think we know. While i had not previously made the connection - and it is not explicit - most of Malcolm Gladwell's work relates to epistemological failures; why what we think we know is wrong. The Knowing Doing Gap, The End of Faith and The Design of Business could also fall under this category.
I'm much happier with my reading rate now and am really enjoying it, so no predictions for a theme next quarter.
Other Arbitrary Dividing Point updates:
1. Business - No progress other than starting company.
2. Business - No progress other than starting company.
3. Travel - No progress, but expected it to be back-weighted in the year.
4. Reading - See Post Above.
5. Writing - Managed to write in my Moleskine every day since the last post.
6. Watching - Still watching 2 or 3 shows every day. Quite a few of the shows i watch just now are finishing and i will not be picking any up next year, so that should help.
7. Blog At Least Once A Week - Recently most of my posts have been pretty weak, but there have been a couple that i am reasonably happy with.
You might be thinking: "But Steven, Quarter 2 isn't finished until the start of July, why are you updating now?". Well unlike the first quarter, i have been reading more than 1 book a week consistently since the start of April and consequently have finished my 14 books for the quarter in 7 weeks. There are a couple of reasons for this:
1) More Fiction - This quarter i read 4 fiction books and i finished them more quickly as they require less concentration (so i can read later into the night) and are generally more compelling than non-fiction books.
2) More Re-Reading - I re-read 3 of Malcolm Gladwell's books; other than the fact his writing is almost as compelling as well-written fiction, it is always faster to re-read a book than read it fresh.
The theme of 'influencing, marketing and sales' that i predicted in the Quarter 1 Update didn't quite materialise. The closest i came to those topics was Speak Human, which is almost an anti-marketing book - in a good way. In fiction i have made a start on reading some Sci-fi classics (more to come in Quarter 3) and two Neil Gaiman books (Neverwhere recommended by @TFerriss and American Gods as part of #1b1t) both of which were excellent. In non-fiction, the only lose theme i could claim is epistemology - how to we know what we think we know. While i had not previously made the connection - and it is not explicit - most of Malcolm Gladwell's work relates to epistemological failures; why what we think we know is wrong. The Knowing Doing Gap, The End of Faith and The Design of Business could also fall under this category.
I'm much happier with my reading rate now and am really enjoying it, so no predictions for a theme next quarter.
Other Arbitrary Dividing Point updates:
1. Business - No progress other than starting company.
2. Business - No progress other than starting company.
3. Travel - No progress, but expected it to be back-weighted in the year.
4. Reading - See Post Above.
5. Writing - Managed to write in my Moleskine every day since the last post.
6. Watching - Still watching 2 or 3 shows every day. Quite a few of the shows i watch just now are finishing and i will not be picking any up next year, so that should help.
7. Blog At Least Once A Week - Recently most of my posts have been pretty weak, but there have been a couple that i am reasonably happy with.
Friday 14 May 2010
Note To Self:
Stop leaving blog posts until Friday.
There were at least 3 points throughout the week when I had a good idea for something to write about and some momentum, but decided to just wait until Friday. Now it is Friday and not only have I wasted the morning and a good part of the afternoon doing not a lot, but I just cut the tip of my left ring finger, making it rather painful to type (damn 's' being a common letter). So for the second week in a row, there will be no half-decent - or at least effortful - attempt at a post.
The worst thing is I finally have a desk and keyboard at a sensible height for comfortable typing, but I can't appreciate it due to the cut on my finger.
< / whinge >
There were at least 3 points throughout the week when I had a good idea for something to write about and some momentum, but decided to just wait until Friday. Now it is Friday and not only have I wasted the morning and a good part of the afternoon doing not a lot, but I just cut the tip of my left ring finger, making it rather painful to type (damn 's' being a common letter). So for the second week in a row, there will be no half-decent - or at least effortful - attempt at a post.
The worst thing is I finally have a desk and keyboard at a sensible height for comfortable typing, but I can't appreciate it due to the cut on my finger.
< / whinge >
Friday 7 May 2010
Been Electioneering
Yesterday i posted this digram just before going to vote:
And i think it maybe it requires a little more explanation.
Firstly i do care about democracy, voting and the results of elections. What i find it hard to do is care about something which i have an incredibly limited ability to change. Maybe it is because i'm not involved in a political party. Maybe it is because in the UK there is so little relationship between the overall percentage of votes in the country and the actual power of the political parties. Maybe it's because national democracy is such a huge averaging of public opinion that it is hard for anything to stand out.
So what would make me care more about party politics?
If there was more polarisation between the parties and i found myself strongly agreeing or disagreeing with their policies. (e.g. it is easy to disagree with the BNP).
If politics was more meaningful on a smaller scale and my communities preferences were less likely to amount to nothing because of the preferences of other areas (e.g. if Scotland became independent).
Who knows, maybe being able to be apathetic about political parties indicates a positive convergence in politics and policies...
Firstly i do care about democracy, voting and the results of elections. What i find it hard to do is care about something which i have an incredibly limited ability to change. Maybe it is because i'm not involved in a political party. Maybe it is because in the UK there is so little relationship between the overall percentage of votes in the country and the actual power of the political parties. Maybe it's because national democracy is such a huge averaging of public opinion that it is hard for anything to stand out.
So what would make me care more about party politics?
If there was more polarisation between the parties and i found myself strongly agreeing or disagreeing with their policies. (e.g. it is easy to disagree with the BNP).
If politics was more meaningful on a smaller scale and my communities preferences were less likely to amount to nothing because of the preferences of other areas (e.g. if Scotland became independent).
Who knows, maybe being able to be apathetic about political parties indicates a positive convergence in politics and policies...
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