Subject: ABC isn't THAT bad....
From: jsnell@sdcc13.ucsd.edu (Jason Snell)
Date: 1991-06-13, 22:00
Newsgroups: alt.tv.twin-peaks,rec.arts.tv

In article <1991Jun13.192850.8862@watson.ibm.com> rubin@watson.ibm.com (Bill Rubin) writes:
> >In  <20438@sdcc6.ucsd.edu>  orovner@sdcc13.ucsd.edu (Oleg Rovner) writes:
>> >> 7. How many of you ever watch ABC? Now, how many will be
>> >> watching once Peaks is gone? Oh yeah, "perfect strangers" and
>> >> "who's the boss" are on top of MY list. So, how about letting
>> >> ABC just how many viewers they lost with the cancellation, not
>> >> just less viewing hours, but less real live viewers.
> >
> >Unless your TV doesn't have any way of changing channels, and you were
> >leaving it on ABC the rest of the time just so you could watch TP, how are
> >you going to convince them that you're going to watch it less now than you
> >did with TP, with the obvious exception of that one hour a week.  Were you
> >watching the other shows because you thought ABC was so great to give you
> >TP?  TV ratings points are not based on how many people watch a station in a
> >given week, they are based on the specific time slot.
> >
> >-- Bill rubin@watson.ibm.com

ABC isn't bad, as far as the three BIG networks go. I mean, honestly, I used
to be an NBC guy.. I liked the NBC shows the best. But now I like ABC better.
Honestly, even though they axed what I consider two of the best shows of all
time (Twin Peaks, and the BEST show ever, "Max Headroom"), the fact is that
they did put them on the air. and they gave both of them a second-season
committment-- something I really do find commendable. After all, their ratings
were not GREAT, and it was clear (to me at least) that they weren't going to
do any better... but ABC took the chance.

Now, this is not to defend the ratings system. I think that Twin Peaks has a
big following, one that doesn't translate well when it comes to the way that
A.C. Nielsen measures ratings. But I think it's out there.

One other thing about ABC: they do have, IMHO, some of the best TV on the air.
When the new schedule came out, I jumped for joy (well, not literally) when I
found they were bringing "Anything But Love" back. We lost Twin Peaks, but at
least one "marginal" show (and a damned fine one) is coming back. And I also
find "Wonder Years" and "Doogie Howser, M.D." superior shows, too. (Is this
blasphemy? Twin Peaks was #1 (or 2, depending on how much I like ST:TNG) in my
heart, swear to god, a.tv.tp'ers...) So perhaps ABC is just the lesser of two
evils, and I'm afraid that Twin Peaks was TV the likes of which will NEVER
pass this way again, at least on a major US network.

Anyway, I can see why ABC killed TP. It didn't perform in the ratings, and
that's how they make their money. I can't see that the ratings would ever get
better. What TP needs is a medium where it can be financially healthy.. if it
can be that overseas, then Lynch/Frost should just keep makin' them, and
syndicate it. If a movie will bring in bucks, go for it. But -- honestly -- if
I were running ABC, I'd have cancelled it. BUT-- I would have offered them a
TV movie. And if I were running CBS, I'd call and offer 'em money to put it on
at 11:30 p.m. once a week.... 

So don't attack ABC too much. They're putting out better stuff than the other
networks, at least right now. Did you see CBS' schedule this year? Eeeawwwgh..

-jason

-- Jason Snell / jsnell@ucsd.edu / University of California, San Diego "There's nothing quite like urinating out in the open air" - Dale Cooper