Grid Effect

What’s peculiar about the four major networks (ABC, NBC, FOX and CBS) is how reluctant they are too stray from the genre of programming they are comfortable with, they all remind me of a four year-old kid with a blanket that they are physically and emotionally attached to, unwilling too let anyone else have it or for their parents too wash it. All four of them have reality shows, comedies, dramas etc. But they each have a cornerstone that they depend heavily on for awards and Nielsens. This adds too the problem of network television, the inability too tackle new subjects and break from the norm, if you were going too characterize each network in how it is unique too their three competitors, it would look something like this:

: Starting too find its own path and deviated slightly with series’ like Heroes (wildly popular), Friday Night Lights (critically praised, possibly more so than any other series on the four networks) and Studio 60. They also have veteran series such as the Law and Order franchise and ER, both of which have been around for the past ten years now. But this netowkr prides itself on the sitcom, and it has for the past ten plus years dating back to the third season of Seinfeld. Since then they consistently deliver the best sitcoms any of the four networks have too offer. Which probably explains why they are rated fourth, because no one watches sitcoms anymore. But their Thursday night lineup with The Office, My Name is Earl, Scrubs and 30 Rock offers more in the sitcom department than any of its competitors.

: After 24 and the unfortunate cancellation of the cult hit Arrested Development, FOX’s lauded genre is Reality television, and it begins and ends with American Idol. Since reality shows have such lower production costs, they will produce a few outlandish ones every season (who else could develop a show entitled Man Vs. Beast?), but Idol is such a ratings juggernaut that it keeps them respectable, and gives them a license too go for the absurd, then hope people watch for shock value.

: The number one rated network actually manages too have the top rated sitcom with Two and A Half Men and two of the top rated reality series in Survivor and The Amazing Race, but CBS is unquestionably the network of the crime drama. Between the CSI franchise, NCIS, Cold Case, Criminal Minds and Without A Trace; that is seven hours of primetime programming focusing on crime dramas. I am not sure how these seven series are in anyway distinguishable from each other, but there it is.

: Probably the most diverse, and amazingly my most despised of the four networks. It is difficult to pinpoint ABC’s schtick, but I would say the bulk majority of the \ir programming, whether it be dramas, comedies or reality, they mainly target the female demographic. Between Dancing With The Stars, Desperate Housewives and Grey’s Anatomy, three of the four top rated programs on the network, I do not know a single adult or adolescent male who watches or at least will not admit too watching any of these. Even their supplementary series such as What About Brian, Big Day and Brothers and Sisters are geared towards women. The lone exception is Lost, which seems like a fluke when compared too the rest of its primetime lineup.

Maybe if these networks branched out a little more frequently, there would be more engaging series’ on television. Instead, they stick too their base and every so often try too emulate their competitors. I feel like NBC is the most likely, too produce original and thought provoking humor and drama, but for it too be oin a regular basis is probably wishful thinking on my part.