Veronica Mars versus Lost

[takyris]

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.

That was a more accurate way of saying what I was trying to say.

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

I'm not sure what the "it" you're referring to is, and I might disagree with you. If I'm remembering right, UPN's African-American-cast sitcoms did pretty well, for UPN, against NBC's white-people-in-overlarge-apartments sitcom line. The shows had different-enough audiences that they could effectively be considered different types of shows -- maybe not as much as the difference between a sitcom and a procedural drama, but at least as much as the difference between a family-friendly WB sitcom and a raunchy man's man sitcom on Fox.

Which is not to say that no black people watch LOST, or that no white people watch Girlfriends.

Regardless, I'm apparently massively racist, and UPN is being completely smart by scheduling a suspense thriller against a much more popular suspense thriller, instead of putting one of their sitcoms, one of their reality shows, or some other not-competing-for-the-same-market show on against LOST. I'll get cracking on my white supremicist Veronica Mars site this weekend, with petitions to get Weevil kicked off the show.

 

[ShinHakkaider]

I'm not sure what the "it" you're referring to is, and I might disagree with you. If I'm remembering right, UPN's African-American-cast sitcoms did pretty well, for UPN, against NBC's white-people-in-overlarge-apartments sitcom line.

Well this is how networks build thier numbers when they first start out, with shows aimed at black audiences. Theyre relativley cheap to produce and they have a built in audience whose needs, for the most part, are not being met with the major networks. Both WB and FOX (more WB thought) did this at the beginning. Once they have thier numbers up a bit that means more advertisers, more advertisers means more revenue, more revenue means more money, more money means they have the money to produce shows aimed at the 18-34 market of mostly white folk.

It's just how it works, this info comes from a friend, a WHITE friend who I went to school with and used to work in TV here in NY.

 

[ShinHakkaider]

Regardless, I'm apparently massively racist, and UPN is being completely smart by scheduling a suspense thriller against a much more popular suspense thriller, instead of putting one of their sitcoms, one of their reality shows, or some other not-competing-for-the-same-market show on against LOST. I'll get cracking on my white supremicist Veronica Mars site this weekend, with petitions to get Weevil kicked off the show.

For what it's worth I understood what you were trying to say and don't think youre racist at all. Sometimes there's just a truth in things is all. I agree with BK Knight as well, I think that they are trying to kill the show by putting it up against a strong contender like LOST. What some people dont understand is that interoffice politics dont stop just because it's a TV network. Just because a show actually makes it on the air doenst mean that the entire network is pulling for the show. It doesnt stop some exec who may have beef (whether real or imagined) with one of the producers of said show and sees a chance to torpedo the show. It's happened and is still happening.

 

[ShinHakkaider]

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.

Wow, now you know how black folk feel when a show that they like is on one of the majors, gets cancelled because, Hell white folk don't for the most part, don't watch shows with black casts. And don't invoke, Cosby that was over 10 years ago and for the most part a fluke.

UPN is probably one of the only channels out there with Original Programming with black casts. Granted those shows arent that great, but they are better than nothing, which if it were up to the majors that's exactly what there would be.

 

[Mad Hatter]

What I think Takyris is trying to say (and if I'm wrong please correct me, Takyris) is that because a black comedy is not a suspenseful melodrama as is the case with Lost, the two audiences are completely different. And because of the difference, UPN will not lose the demographic that the black comedy is aiming for. However, if Veronica Mars were to compete with Lost then they would more than likely lose a significant number of viewers thus forcing a cancellation. To prove the merit of this, one need only look at enworld. Many of us who extol the virtues of Lost have been watching Veronica Mars (at least this is my impression). So those of us who enjoy both would be forced to make a decision of which to stop watching.

Given that Lost has such a vast auedience that dwarfs Veronica Mars, it's probably safe to say that more people will choose to ditch Veronica Mars. For me the choice comes down to how Lost ends next week.

 

[Darkness]

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.

Please don't drag previous conflicts into new threads. If you don't get along with a user but are unwilling to Ignore-List him, either respond to him politely or simply ignore him - which one is completely up to you. But responding to a simple question, one implying disagreement or not, the way you did here is not okay.

 

[Flyspeck23]

Why not just any sitcom? If the main problem is the genre similarity between the two shows, it'd be enough to demand a different genre.

But responding to a simple question, one implying disagreement or not, the way you did here is not okay.

That's a very polite way of putting it.

 

[JoeBlank]

Just because someone considers race a factor does not mean he is being "rascist".

For some reason, putting similar genre shows up against each other is standard network procedure. I'm not sure why, but it seems to be the mentality of "It is not enough for us to win, the other guys must also lose." So instead of having two successful but similar shows pulling in decent numbers, the networks decide to put them up against each other. The end result is both perform worse than they would without the competition.

It is no wonder that network television is losing viewers to cable. Now with DVD sets coming out so quickly it is easy to pass on watching a show when it airs and just buy or rent it next year. Same thing I do with most theater-released movies.

 

[Henry]

For some reason, putting similar genre shows up against each other is standard network procedure. I'm not sure why, but it seems to be the mentality of "It is not enough for us to win, the other guys must also lose." So instead of having two successful but similar shows pulling in decent numbers, the networks decide to put them up against each other. The end result is both perform worse than they would without the competition.

Similarly, ABC put "The Night Stalker" on opposite CSI. Count that Show "Dead and done" before the fall even gets here! I'm just thankful that they didn't move "Smallville" to 9pm Thursdays.

 

[Pielorinho]

It is no wonder that network television is losing viewers to cable. Now with DVD sets coming out so quickly it is easy to pass on watching a show when it airs and just buy or rent it next year. Same thing I do with most theater-released movies.

To take that even further, my wife and I have cancelled our cable subscription, too: we now get no TV access at all. When we want to watch a show, we rent the DVDs and watch an entire season over the course of a few weeks. This way we get the highest-quality shows (right now we're on an HBO kick and are ploughing through Deadwood) and don't have to rely on anyone else's schedule for watching them.

Daniel