Sunday, January 17, 2010

Network Kerfuffle

Of all the innumerable and embarrassingly public details of the infighting at NBC over its late-night lineup, the most curious to me is that Leno's poor ratings at 10 p.m. are unnaceptable to affiliates because they cause affiliates to lose viewers for their 11:00 news shows.

Are Americans really so lazy, are they such sorry slobs, that they choose their 11:00 local news based on which network had a better show on at 10:00? Can they not conjure up enough energy to click their remote controls when the news comes on? Presumably this means that most Americans will watch one local news show on Tuesday and a different one on Thursday, if they like different network fare on the different nights. Do they not develop preferences in news shows too?

I guess local news shows are just a commodity, like wheat or ibuprofen -- the product must be so standardized that it doesn't matter whom you buy it from. Which raises the even bigger question, why watch the local news anyway? Do you really need to know about every local crime and fire?

3 comments:

Dan said...

That's a fantastic observation, and one that I had not really taken notice of before.

The Beatles, obviously, were truly great. One of my favorite songs is "Oh! Darling" because of the opening three notes. The opening notes are an augmented chord, and it creates great tension at from the beginning. Don't see it used much. Whenever I listen to the song, I start the song over a couple of times just to appreciate it.

Anyways, great weekend post. Maybe I'll get a new phone...

D said...

Whoops! I apparently clicked "comment" on the wrong post... Obviously, that is intended to be a comment on the "All You Need is Love" post...

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