U.S. television networks, suffering from falling ratings and advertising sales during the recession, are self-administering a stimulus package of comic relief.
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Posting an email I sent my leaders here:
Now Guys,
Some of you never heard what I said about this topic for the last four to five years, but I have been saying that we will know that the culture has changed when TV brings back REAL comedy.
I have also been saying that the TV networks have been doing something that I thought was purposeful in leading us to more and more reality series shows and dramas. I felt like we were ever becoming more cynical and hard. It has even changed the atmosphere of the nation. For many years, I have felt like TV was really attempting to change culture, teach generations and even control thinking.
I have said quite a few times that we have not had any GREAT comedies since Friends, Cheers, Seinfeld, and even back to MASH. I am reminded of a conversation I had with a co-worker right here at my cubicle in 2005 when I said that we needed to see a return to good clean comedy. We talked about how we had gone into a dark place in entertainment. He said back that he thought the times had passed. I said that I felt like once we hit a hard time again, the networks would turn us back to things that are light-hearted to heal our pain and hurt.
Today, read this article: http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601109&sid=aPoYZMoKWpPw&refer=home
If you were one of the ones I had this conversation with, sound off and tell me what you think.
I am just blown away that so many things I have been feeling in the last decade are coming to pass. This is truly an interesting and exciting time. If the things such as a global economic downturn, the bursting of a housing bubble, the need for churches to re-enter community service, and the reigniting of revival in third world countries that are in need of US aid, then I believe I am right in the next thing.
WE ARE IN THE MIDST OF A KINGDOM WIDE FULL SCALE REVIVAL! We have not see it yet, but we are already in the midst of the upturn. BE AWARE that Jesus is with us and that this year is our best year YET! Keep your eyes open and RECOGNIZE GOD’s activity around you. EVERY DAY we need to see GOD at work and give HIM glory. This is NOT just positive thinking. I am meaning that we need to truly look around and be thankful for all that we ALREADY HAVE. We are NOT recognizing the day of HIS visitation.
Woe on Unrepentant Cities
20Then Jesus began to denounce the cities in which most of his miracles had been performed, because they did not repent. 21″Woe to you, Korazin! Woe to you, Bethsaida! If the miracles that were performed in you had been performed in Tyre and Sidon, they would have repented long ago in sackcloth and ashes. 22But I tell you, it will be more bearable for Tyre and Sidon on the day of judgment than for you. 23And you, Capernaum, will you be lifted up to the skies? No, you will go down to the depths.[d] If the miracles that were performed in you had been performed in Sodom, it would have remained to this day. 24But I tell you that it will be more bearable for Sodom on the day of judgment than for you.”
Rest for the Weary
25At that time Jesus said, “I praise you, Father, Lord of heaven and earth, because you have hidden these things from the wise and learned, and revealed them to little children. 26Yes, Father, for this was your good pleasure.
27″All things have been committed to me by my Father. No one knows the Son except the Father, and no one knows the Father except the Son and those to whom the Son chooses to reveal him.
28″Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest. 29Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. 30For my yoke is easy and my burden is light.”
TV and media are showing us the condition of America. We are in pain. That being the case, CHURCH, we must get active.
I am not SUPPORTIVE of TV. Many of you know that I got rid of mine after September 11. I just couldn’t take the exploitation. And I am NOT happy with the line-up. I am just pointing at an indicator that is showing that the American people are in a very different place today than they were last year this time.
Maybe a softening of hearts is at hand. At any rate, Church, it is time to get out there and encourage again.
Blessings!
pd
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U.S. television networks, suffering from falling ratings and advertising sales during the recession, are self-administering a stimulus package of comic relief.
News Corp.’s Fox will add four comedies in September, the network said at annual meetings with advertisers this week in New York. NBC is moving Jay Leno to a prime-time slot for five nights. Walt Disney Co.’s ABC gathered ad buyers at Lincoln Center to highlight two hours of laughs planned for Wednesdays.
The networks, facing a battered economy and losing audiences to the Web, cable TV and video games, are taking a cue from marketers in betting that laughter may cure advertising declines. Advance ad sales for the 2009-2010 season may drop 15 percent to $7.4 billion, estimates Barclays Capital analyst Anthony DiClemente in New York.
“Our business is selling advertising, and advertisers at the moment like comedies,” Kelly Kahl, the chief scheduler at CBS, said in an interview.
CBS, the only major broadcaster to increase its audience during the TV season ending this month, added one new comedy to its September lineup. “Accidentally on Purpose,” starring Jenna Elfman as a single journalist who gets pregnant by a younger man, gives CBS six comedies on its new schedule.
General Electric Co.’s NBC, last in ratings among the big four networks, already had comedy as a focus on Thursday nights with “The Office” and “30 Rock.” It is adding to that by moving late-night comedian Leno to 10 p.m. five nights a week.
NBC has three additional comedies that will start in September, and two that will begin mid-season, including “The Marriage Ref,” a comic reality-show for which executive producer Jerry Seinfeld will give marriage advice. His “Seinfeld” was one of the biggest shows of the 1990s.
‘Night of Comedy’
NBC highlighted its commitment to comedy by hosting — in lieu of the typical party for advertisers — “A Night of Comedy” in New York. Leno and other network stars such as Amy Poehler and Tracy Morgan performed stand-up routines for marketers.
“We’re incredibly excited about our new and returning series and have more comedy programming than anyone else,” Ben Silverman, co-chairman of NBC Entertainment, said in a statement.
First-quarter ad sales declined at all four networks. New York-based CBS Corp. climbed 6 cents to $7.28 yesterday in New York Stock Exchange composite trading and is off 69 percent in the past year.
General Electric, based in Fairfield, Connecticut, gained 7 cents to $13.77 and has lost 57 percent in 12 months. That compares with drops of 31 percent for Burbank, California-based Disney, and 53 percent at Rupert Murdoch’s News Corp.
During last year’s upfront events, comedy was an afterthought. Fox previewed one animated comedy a year ago, NBC and CBS previewed two, and ABC didn’t have any.
‘Able to Laugh’
“The comedy genre has for a few years been considered dead, but we want diversity in the schedule and we want shows that deliver the audience,” Sam Armando, a senior vice president at Chicago-based media agency Starcom Worldwide, said in an interview. “There is the belief that in these times people want to be entertained and they want to be able to laugh.”
To showcase its slate, Fox followed the May 19 broadcast of “American Idol,” the top-rated show on television, with a one- hour preview of the musical comedy “Glee.”
“It’s the biggest screening ever,” Kevin Reilly, the president of entertainment at Fox broadcasting, said at his network’s May 18 presentation.
The preview of “Glee,” about a teacher who tries to restore glory to a faded high school glee club, was watched by 10 million viewers, according to Nielsen ratings.
ABC is introducing four new comedy shows on Wednesday nights. The sitcoms showcase veterans of past hits: Kelsey Grammer of “Frasier” fame will star in “Hank”; Patricia Heaton, formerly of “Everybody Loves Raymond,” will anchor “The Middle”; and former “Friends” star Courteney Cox stars in “Cougar Town,” about a newly single divorcee.
‘Crap Shoot’
To impress advertisers, ABC showed a full half-hour episode of “Modern Family,” a new comedy starring Ed O’Neill, the grousing husband from “Married With Children,” to about 2,500 advertising representatives inside Lincoln Center’s Avery Fisher Hall. They laughed throughout.
Typically, the clips shown at upfront events are no longer than a few minutes.
“We want to make a statement that this is the kind of quality and commitment we have to comedy,” Stephen McPherson, president of ABC Entertainment Group, told reporters prior to the screening. “Comedy was a big goal” for the fall schedule.
Exiting the event, an experienced hand was complimentary, though cautious about the new schedule.
“A lot of talent and time went into it,” Thomas S. Murphy, 83, the former Capital Cities/ABC Inc. chairman who sold the company to Disney in 1996, said in an interview. “But it’s still a crap shoot.”