I was watching the Simpsons and Family Guy last night, like I usually do on Sunday evenings. For the half an hour between the two shows I usually do homework, check my email, or watch Telemundo (no, I don’t understand Spanish, I’d just rather do anything besides watching the horrible shows that they slump in between the classics).
For this fall season, it looks as though Fox is going to put American Dad in middle spot and hope people are too tired to leave the couch after Family Guy to watch the War At Home, a show that I was sure wasn’t going to make it after the horrible pilot episode. Fox has become the king of tent poling and hammocking their low-rating shows around the good ones.
After Family Guy’s first demise, Fox saw the huge audience it gained while in syndication on Adult Swim and received huge profits from DVD sales. Now it seems they are scared of repeating and keep any show that they think might “pull-up” next season. It has become really irritating. Does anybody watch or like these shows? Please respond if you do because I don’t know anybody that actually does.
Unfortunately, the strategy does work. Every week my friends refer to the latest episode of Simpsons and Family Guy and I have noticed lately my friends are cautiously commenting on how one part of American Dad was “kind of funny.” I really hope it doesn’t catch anymore than it already has.
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3 comments:
Unfortunately, almost no one watched Arrested Development. Almost no one in Nascar America and almost no one in the rest of America. But most shows, good and bad, fail commercially for whatever reason. There's a long history of good programs that didn't make it. We should be glad to have had 2+ seasons of Arrested. That's more than we can say of many others.
Fos isn't the only one who's used tentpoling extensively. NBC, CBS, ABC....all of them use it to an extent. And, it's managed to bring us shows such as Will and Grace, Gray's Anatomy, etc...some of which haven't been so bad.
It's a great tool for PDs to use to grow viewership. It's smart business. Thus, why it is continued to be used.
I actually enjoy American Dad more than Family guy. I can't help it, its so far over the top and as crass as possible. Like tongue in cheek but biting down really hard and still talking.
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