ABC will face reality to lift ratings, but can it work?
By Gary Levin
Posted 1/15/2003 10:26 PM / Updated 1/16/2003 12:19 PM
LOS ANGELES (USA Today) -- ABC is turning to a heavy dose of reality TV to goose its ratings, but in doing so it risks diluting its new image as the family-friendly network.
Consider a batch of programs due in coming weeks to ride on the coattails of hit dating drama The Bachelor, including:
·Are You Hot?: The Search for America's Sexiest People.
·Extreme Makeover, in which contestants have plastic surgery before cameras.
·All American Girl, a talent competition measuring brains, athletics and, of course, beauty.
A show also is in the works in which family members fight over a still-living relative's inheritance.
Though viewers seem fixated on reality even as new sitcoms and dramas are struggling, ABC promises not to overwhelm viewers, concentrating the shows in just a few hours of the network's 22-hour prime-time schedule.
Despite appearances, "there is no massive move to reality," programming chief Susan Lyne says. "But there's no way broadcast networks are going to ignore a genre that has the kind of appeal these shows do." (Related item: The ABCs of reality TV success .)
Yet the "reality craze can be like crack for network executives," an addictive fix for the failure of other series, she says.
Two years ago, ABC relied too heavily on Who Wants to Be a Millionaire without developing enough new sitcoms and dramas, a mistake Lyne promises not to repeat: She bought an unprecedented 80 scripts for proposed dramas next fall.
Even ABC's competitors acknowledge it has made strides this season (aided by The Bachelor, of course) from a dismal 2001-02 year. ABC has stopped its ratings freefall: Though its total audience is down 5% from record lows, the network has gained among young viewers, which translates to higher rates for advertisers.
Yet all four of its new fall dramas have been canceled. And despite some success with returning family comedies among new shows, "aside from 8 Simple Rules, nothing can be considered a clear success," Magna Global USA analyst Steve Sternberg says.
ABC Entertainment chairman Lloyd Braun says it will take time to recover from a seven-year slump masked only by the temporary success of Who Wants to Be a Millionaire.
"Now it's about plugging holes, not stopping an avalanche," he says. "That's totally different from where we were a year ago."
By Gary Levin
Posted 1/15/2003 10:26 PM / Updated 1/16/2003 12:19 PM
LOS ANGELES (USA Today) -- ABC is turning to a heavy dose of reality TV to goose its ratings, but in doing so it risks diluting its new image as the family-friendly network.
Consider a batch of programs due in coming weeks to ride on the coattails of hit dating drama The Bachelor, including:
·Are You Hot?: The Search for America's Sexiest People.
·Extreme Makeover, in which contestants have plastic surgery before cameras.
·All American Girl, a talent competition measuring brains, athletics and, of course, beauty.
A show also is in the works in which family members fight over a still-living relative's inheritance.
Though viewers seem fixated on reality even as new sitcoms and dramas are struggling, ABC promises not to overwhelm viewers, concentrating the shows in just a few hours of the network's 22-hour prime-time schedule.
Despite appearances, "there is no massive move to reality," programming chief Susan Lyne says. "But there's no way broadcast networks are going to ignore a genre that has the kind of appeal these shows do." (Related item: The ABCs of reality TV success .)
Yet the "reality craze can be like crack for network executives," an addictive fix for the failure of other series, she says.
Two years ago, ABC relied too heavily on Who Wants to Be a Millionaire without developing enough new sitcoms and dramas, a mistake Lyne promises not to repeat: She bought an unprecedented 80 scripts for proposed dramas next fall.
Even ABC's competitors acknowledge it has made strides this season (aided by The Bachelor, of course) from a dismal 2001-02 year. ABC has stopped its ratings freefall: Though its total audience is down 5% from record lows, the network has gained among young viewers, which translates to higher rates for advertisers.
Yet all four of its new fall dramas have been canceled. And despite some success with returning family comedies among new shows, "aside from 8 Simple Rules, nothing can be considered a clear success," Magna Global USA analyst Steve Sternberg says.
ABC Entertainment chairman Lloyd Braun says it will take time to recover from a seven-year slump masked only by the temporary success of Who Wants to Be a Millionaire.
"Now it's about plugging holes, not stopping an avalanche," he says. "That's totally different from where we were a year ago."
Weirdos.
