Veronica Mars versus Lost

[takyris]

Okay, I know that stations don't talk to each other a lot, but if one station puts up its new fall season early, the other station might consider taking a gander, no?

Veronica Mars, the quirky show that didn't find much of an audience, has been renewed, and will be airing after America's Next Top Model, which is good for getting a nice lead-in (in UPN numbers, at least), but not so good when airing after ANTM puts you in competition with Lost.

Come on, UPN. Do some focus group testing. Think hard on this one. You put your well-written suspense show up against... ABC's well-written suspense show, whose numbers blow your show's numbers out of the water? I have no magical Tivo access, but I'm going to guess that a majority, if not a vast majority, of the people who watched Veronica solve the mystery of Lily Kane's murder this season also watched Evangeline Lilly prove herself to be the cutest little possible-murderer ever stranded on an island with a roguish con-man and a doctor with father issues.

Why not, now that you know where Lost is airing, put up a show that doesn't have much direct competition in terms of audience? Put up one of the black-audience sitcoms! Put up one of your reality shows! Sure, there are people who watch black-audience sitcoms and Lost, but the percentage of crossover -- the percentage of people who are going to have to pick one or the other -- is a heck of a lot better than it is with a show that, in as much as it appeals to anyone (a mark on its ratings, not its quality), appeals to the same people who are watching Lost.

Rrrrrgh.

Here's hoping it airs at a different time in my new homeland, the Mighty Maple Leaf of the North!

 

[Jdvn1]

I watch Veronica Mars but not Lost.

 

[Mark]

Why not, now that you know where Lost is airing, put up a show that doesn't have much direct competition in terms of audience? Put up one of the black-audience sitcoms! Put up one of your reality shows! Sure, there are people who watch black-audience sitcoms and Lost, but the percentage of crossover -- the percentage of people who are going to have to pick one or the other -- is a heck of a lot better than it is with a show that, in as much as it appeals to anyone (a mark on its ratings, not its quality), appeals to the same people who are watching Lost.

Wow. You have numbers on this, I assume?

 

[takyris]

Jdyn1: Glad to hear it. That's one, at least.

Mark: Man, the reason Ignore lists don't work for me is that I'm always curious. If I could configure my Ignore list to write "Assume Mark either wrote something snippy or mis-copied a map-puzzle" instead of just "This user is on your Ignore list", that would solve a lot of my problems. The part where I mentioned my lack of Tivo access was me saying, "I don't have numbers on this." I'm going by the premises and genres of the shows. I don't have numbers on the likely crossover of Babylon 5 and Star Trek as compared to the crossover of Babylon 5 and Gilmore Girls, either, but since this is a site dedicated to roleplaying geekery and not statistics collection, I feel comfortable making a guess. If you'd like to come back with hard evidence that more people who watch Lost also watch Britney Spears:Chaotic or Kevin Hill than watch Veronica Mars, I will be happily relieved, albeit annoyed on a personal level at being one of the evident few who will have this problem. If, on the other hand, you're just coming in to be snippy, well, then, it's my bad for clicking "View Post Anyways."

 

[Mark]

I guess it is possible some people are unaware of how offensive certain assumptions might be.

 

[BrooklynKnight]

He's right though. To me this looks like the network intentionally trying to kill the show.

They were "forced" to renew it because of all the fan footwork. (this is only a certain point of view mind you). So if they put it up against a huge rated show, then they can complain that theirs gets no ratings, and take it off.

I really dont get what UPN's beef is with anything not african american that works.

Every single show that doesnt have a black cast gets put 6 feet under after 1 or two seasons. Its really starting to piss me off.

 

[takyris]

And again, my "Snippy insult or mis-copied map-puzzle" prognosis is correct. After this, I should probably just stop checking. The Ignore button is there for a reason.

Mark, I do not dislike black people. I do not dislike black-oriented television. I actually tried the sitcom starring Sidney Poitier's daughter, grand-daughter, something a year or so ago. It didn't do it for me, but that wasn't because of the fact that it was a show starring mostly black people and targeted mostly at black people. I'm bummed about Kevin Hill being cancelled, a show that I thought was the first network show since Homicide:Life on the Street to really attempt to be multicultural on equal terms, with more than just a token black person and more than just a token white person and an exploration of multiple cultures.

That said, if you'd like to pretend that there are no shows aimed at African-American viewers, then you go right on ahead. And if you'd like to pretend that an African-American-aimed sitcom like Girlfriends is going to lose more viewers to Lost, a suspense thriller, than Veronica Mars, a suspense thriller, you can also go right ahead. You'd be wrong, of course, but that's your right.

I'm not saying "put the African-American show up there so that it fails." I'm saying "put the African-American show up there because it's going to do better against Lost than Veronica Mars will in terms of retaining its audience."

 

[Mark]

Making personal attacks on me doesn't change the offensiveness of what you posted. That you don't realize it doesn't change that either.

 

[Tarrasque Wrangler]

To me this looks like the network intentionally trying to kill the show.

Will someone please explain this line of reasoning to me? Yeah, they spent a buttload of cash creating and promoting a show so they could secretly run it into the ground and anger messageboard posters. Why does everyone on the internet assume a network that does something they don't like must be puppy-kicking, grandma-evicting, waxed-moustache-twisting evil? Couldn't UPN, just maybe, be total clueless idiots?

They were "forced" to renew it because of all the fan footwork.

Yeah, right. People wrote in to save Manimal too.

 

[Fast Learner]

Any potential competition problems would be the simple result of genre clash, modern drama vs. modern drama. I agree that if UPN wanted to win viewers in the time slot, it would sure seem like running comedy vs. modern drama, or reality show vs. modern drama, or even comedy clip show vs. modern drama would be a better way to go.

Cultural target audience, however, has nothing to do with it, that's my bet.