Should We Boycott the TV Networks?

Television has been at the core of the family unit for years. I remember listening to my grandparents as a child tell me how there was no TV when they were my age and how they remember their first black and white picture. I remember my parents telling stories about there only being 3 channels once their family actually had a TV and how there were no remotes, no cable, and certainly no satellite. Ahh the good old days, all I can say is thank goodness I missed that. When I was a kid we had at least 30 channels and now there are so many channels it takes me 30 minutes to scroll through them all, or it would if it wasn't for the onscreen menu display. Not to mention I barley remember what it was like trying to decide what show to watch, with my TIVO I never miss a thing, a hundred hours of TV programming at the push of a wireless remote button. Technology - ain't it grand.

Now getting to the point of this article, with all of these options and availabilities, with all of this technology, all of this expectation and over performance of the television why, I say why is it we allow the Network cable channels to push us around and make decisions about what we want to watch on our behalf?

Fact, there is a tiny percentage of the TV viewing population actually participating in the Nielson rating process. As of September of 2006 it is believed that there are 115.2 million TV viewing households. Let me repeat that for you, 115.2 million TV viewing house holds of which a slight percentage are actually participating Nielsen box holders and an even slighter percentage of those participating are actually counted. I read some where and I wish I could find the article to quote, that it is believed that there are only 5,000 Nielson boxes in distribution. If this is true then the quantity of boxes to TV viewers would be far less than 1%.

So now think of all the TV shows that have come and gone, all of those shows you used to watch and love, cancelled after a season or less. Think about the last time you noticed the ratings on a popular TV show that you didn't like and wonder how many other millions of Americans out there didn't like it either and wonder. Wonder why the same kinds of TV shows never make it. Scratch your head and think about why shows that aren't reality or police drama related aren't on any more. Perhaps, just perhaps the people holding Nielson boxes you know all less than 1% of them only like police dramas and Reality TV and you know what for whatever reason they do seem to go hand and hand. Now, realize that until this system is updated or better yet unless the executives at the core Network cable channels realize that just because Nielson says the ratings are awful, it does not mean that we're not watching. Until they truly realize this undeniable fact there's no point in getting attached to any cable program unless you don't mind permanent cliff hangers with no resolution after they cancel.

The networks are becoming increasingly impatient with new programming and even some old programming. I mean these "Network Executives" are banking on the TV preferences of an extremely meager less than .023% or so of the TV viewing population to decide whether a show is worth keeping on.
Examples, look at the shows who's viewer ship became so irate that they sent out hundreds of thousands of letters and associated paraphernalia to networks demanding they bring back a show they had so abruptly removed from their line up and you can bet that only represents a small percentage of people who actually commit to the show every week. Look at the successes, proof over the years that the Nielson Rating system is vigorously flawed. Unfortunately most people have resigned to the fact that the networks will cancel anything they enjoy watching so they don't bother getting involved at all, and the network executives wonder why over all viewer ship is down during the prime time slots from year to year, they truly wonder why. They have meetings about it. A bunch of suits who don't even watch TV sitting around and trying to figure out why people aren't watching more TV, go figure.

Now let's talk sweeps and time slot or day switching. Here's a tall tell sign we all have learned to watch for. If your show moves time slots one of two things are taking place, either the show is doing so well they are hoping a more prime slot will only make it better or it's not doing well enough and they are hoping the move will give it a boost. If your TV show moves its day, forget it. It's over, cancelled or just about to be. Here's an even bigger sign, if your show is moving from a Monday through Thursday slot to Friday or Saturday, give up now or follow it and enjoy it while you can. These are the things networks do with failing shows. Many people think moving it around is an attempt to generate viewer ship when it seems to be more of a distraction to drop what viewers the show does have by loosing them in the move. The move is usually followed by a few weeks on hiatus to ensure a drop in ratings and lock the cancellation hopefully without complication, likely they hope you will stay with the new program now gracing your beloved shows slot and not get too upset about it in the process.

The word hiatus in the terms of TV where newer shows or ailing shows are concerned is the kiss of death. Sure all shows eventually go on some kind of hiatus a term being used more loosely in the television industry. I would mostly hear the term being associated to TV shows that were on their way out but now I have see it attached to shows taking an extended break. Either way this process only hurts a show it does nothing to revive it. Last season several shows went on an extended hiatus for no obvious reason other than to try out new shows, (don't even get me started on this, mid season or quarter season replacements, that's a whole nether article coming soon.) when these shows finally retuned the networks were surprised to find the ratings drastically lower than when they had been running before. They were surprised? Well for the sake of giving I am going to give our friendly neighborhood Network big wigs and programmers a little heads up for the future. When you take off a show people like to watch for 2 or 3 months we all fall victim to a serious form of Adult ADD. In other words we move on to something else, something that's not a rerun. So when the show we had liked and were watching comes back on we are involved in something else and have now lost genuine interest in the show we watched 3 months earlier. Hell for all we know the show was never coming back, I mean that is the Network MO, if your show disappears, guess it's gone for good.

Many message board sites are gaining momentum with plans to boycott some of the networks who have wronged them, I won't mention any names. Just look at the drop in over all viewing of Prime Time television annually. Are the boycotts working? Or have the people simply given up and moved on to other things? Either way the networks had better start paying attention or the word sweeps will take on a whole new meaning of sweeping a an overzealous network under the rug and out of business. Of course that's just my opinion.