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What lessons do we learn from CBS' 'Jericho' reprieve?
Let me begin by saying that I'm happy for all of you Jericho fans out there. Just because a fourth of you abandoned the show in the spring doesn't mean that the rest of you shouldn't enjoy it.
But do you know who won't be so happy with CBS' choice to reconsider the drama's previous cancelation? The heads of the other four networks. [Yeah, I'm including The CW, even if it's just CBS' baby sister and they're under the same ownership.] No, none of the bigwigs would say that they're unhappy. They'd talk about how this is a sign that networks listen to their viewers. But at NBC and ABC and FOX and The CW, they know that a somewhat dangerous precedent will be set.
Is this democratization of the medium or tyranny by a loud minority? I guess it depends on how you look at it.
Did CBS truly come to recognize that a mistake had been made or was the network shocked having actually canceled a show that people cared about? What, nobody sent buckets of brains to protest the amputation of 3 Lbs? No massive influx of, I dunno, yearbooks over the dismissal of The Class? What about fans of shows like The Guardian or Judging Amy or Close to Home, a trio of shows that CBS canceled without regret despite appreciably higher ratings than Jericho? What mailings could they have sent to force the network to show them more love?
If CBS execs had arrived at their upfront presentation last month and said, "Here's our schedule and it includes Jericho. We know its ratings aren't there, but we love its passionate fanbase and we want to do right by them," then that would have been making an impressive statement on the network's part. It would have said, "We're standing by our guns and saying that one of the advantages of being a first place network is that we can nurture shows like this." That would have been admirable. Instead, CBS played by business-as-usual, which isn't necessarily a bad strategy, particularly when you've been No. 1 in total viewers for as long as they have. They canceled Jericho because it didn't make the cut. Talking to reporters on the day of the upfront, CBS Entertainment President Nina Tassler gave no indication that there was any hope for the show, saying simply that it was a hard decision, but the decision was made.
And then, in the face of overwhelming peanuts, CBS blinked and that decision went out the window, replaced by a new one. This decision comes across as one part peer pressure and one part poor research. Did CBS executives not realize how invested Jericho fans were in the show? Did nobody recall the outcry after the cancelation of ABC's Invasion, another so-so genre show that earned a faithful audience, quality-be-darned? Did they not anticipate that despite the network's blundering of the show's spring run, fans might be unhappy to see the show nuked, particularly after a cliffhanger finale that somebody somewhere must have seen? If they didn't anticipate the outcry, that's poor research. If they anticipated the outcry and planned not to do anything about it, that's a bit cold. Or is Tassler just a big fan of peanuts?
And how many fans, exactly, were sending nuts anyway? After all, during the course of the season, Jericho fans were engaged, but they were hardly TV's most devoted viewers. Were there more of those people than there are upset Veronica Mars fans? Are there more of those people than there are people who still believe, deep in their heart-of-hearts, that Studio 60 on the Sunset Strip was the best new show on TV and deserves another season? What's the message that CBS executives have sent to other networks and to fans of other canceled shows? Is there a threshold of goodies that a network has to receive before they reconsider an otherwise sound business decision? Did somebody at CBS buy stock in Nuts.com back in early May, look at his latest dividend check and decide that the lost money for a second season had been amortized? Fans of Veronica Mars or Drive need to stop wasting their time writing letters and blog posts and filling out petitions. That stuff doesn't matter. Start spending money and filling network coffers with trash that they don't need.
Another question is what impact this will have on the creative process for struggling shows, particularly as they reach the end of their series orders in limbo. The writers of Jericho made a conscious decision approaching the finale that not only would they opt not to give any form of closure, but they would actively work to leave fans in a state of agitation. Far from the myriad of answers that the producers had repeatedly promised viewers, the Jericho finale concluded with our undermanned apocalypse survivors facing possible annihilation at the hands of the better armed and better prepared troops of New Bern. As the creators of The Agency know, this kind of blatant attempt to force the network's hand doesn't necessarily work, but you know that Rob Thomas is sitting somewhere wondering why he didn't end his third season finale with Veronica being shot and fighting for her life. Frustrated fans might have sent letter-bombs to The CW, but they would have gotten the point.
Except that Veronica Mars was ultimately canceled for that most simple of reasons: Nobody was watching it and there was no indication, after three seasons, that the fan base -- however rabid -- was growing, despite myriad attempts to give the show the best timeslots The CW had available. That's why Veronica Mars was canceled, kids, not because "The CW doesn't get it" or some nonsense. Similarly, when CBS opted not to bring Jericho back, it was because the network's business strategy said that shows averaging 8 million viewers per week in its second half don't get to come back. Close to Home, a reliable time period winner and centerpiece of CBS' Friday lineup averaged 10 million viewers and didn't get to come back. Yes, NBC renewed more than a half-dozen shows with smaller audiences than Jericho -- including its entire Thursday comedy block, the critically adored Friday Night Lights and Medium, which won an Emmy at some point -- but that's how fourth place networks operate.
But maybe the nuts were just a smoke-screen. There have been reports that CBS' upfronts slate didn't go over so well with affiliates, particular in more conservative, Middle American markets and particularly the edgier offerings like the self-explanatory midseason drama Swingtown. With its rural setting and Middle American values, Jericho was a straight-forward story about a community coming together, albeit in the aftermath of a nuclear attack. Might reassuring a cultish band of fans really be a cover for reassuring a differently cultish band of affiliates?
I guess a network run by nut-sending fans couldn't be any more out of touch with the mainstream than the current operational models with their addictions to the justifiably maligned Nielsen ratings or to ad dollars.
Oh well. Now that Jericho is back, can't we all band together and see if we can get FOX to bring back another season of Method & Red? I have a few suggestions of what we can send to FOX executives. I'm sure they'd appreciate it more than nuts.
Sound off, fans... Are nuts the coins of the TV realm? Is this a good precedent or a troublesome one?
It was about the method! We werent counted. This campaign was about helping us all (Networks included) figure out how to deal with accounting for the digital viewers. CBS was flat out caught with their pants down with our response. The time was now. If Invasion was canceled this year it would have been "Fish to CBS"!
Michael Moran | Jun 6, 2007 6:30:56 PM | #Networks need to realize that when you put a show on a long hiatus, and then bring it back opposite the rating juggernaut 'American Idol', ratings will suffer.
That, and networks need to find out a way to take into account people with Tivo's, downloading from iTunes, etc.
Josh W | Jun 6, 2007 9:18:59 PM | #I didn't even know that the show was back on!!!! Then once I saw that it was it was cancelled---repeats keep people interested---when are these guys going to learn!!!!!!No wonder their viewership goes down every year.
Davey | Jun 6, 2007 9:33:18 PM | #Excuse me??? I really don't get the tone of this article. AT. ALL. Hostility much?
"Roswell" had lower ratings than "Jericho" and a fan campaign gave the show a 3rd season a few years ago.
Just that instead of nuts, it was bottles of Tabasco. This is NOTHING new.
Nobody but the 1.whatever behind the ratings would've cared about "Veronica Mars" had she been shot, bleeding or drooling. Just let it go.
Anyway... Congratulations, "Jericho" fans! I'm going to be watching with you come Fall.
Halo | Jun 7, 2007 12:45:44 AM | #It might be the affiliates I saw what was going to the upfronts. (That's about as detailed as I am allowed to get.) Suffice to say Swingtown was an intersting choice. As far as Close To Home being gone; CBS can see the the end of the line as being the CSI network. Expect more crime shows casualties from CBS in the future.
em jay | Jun 7, 2007 1:15:11 AM | #The "Lesson Learned" here is that not all viewers watch shows on the television -- or if they do, they don't all watch when the show airs.
A large portion of Jericho viewers did so via podcast, Tivo and DVR. Nielsen doesn't capture any of that. CBS made an Old Media decision using Old Media numbers when they canceled Jericho. They then made a New Media decision using New Media numbers when they brought Jericho back.
CBS finally gets it -- the fans are New Media, they ran a New Media campaign, and they got their show back. I am surprised that Zap2it, of all organizations, are the ones that don't get it.
That's your Lesson of the Day :)
David in Phoenix | Jun 7, 2007 3:02:17 AM | #Are you upset that Jericho was renewed after the people spoke out? It's happened before, you know. When a bad decision is made, it's up to the people to change it. If there's not enough support to try to change it, then it won't happen. In Jericho's case, the network simply underestimated the number of fans that loved a great family tv show.
Perhaps the lesson is to Nielson to find a way to update an old-fashioned ratings system.
I agree with the article and comments. Advertisers are close to accepting “Live + 3” ratings, which should give networks a little more latitude. Once you factor in additional viewers from new media (DVR, TIVO, Podcasts, Online, etc.) plus instant profits from iTunes and DVD’s, networks are quickly modifying their paradigm for a show’s success.
Bob | Jun 7, 2007 3:32:48 AM | #Most bloggers and reporters are missing a big part of this campaign, Yes, there were nuts, lots and lots of nuts, But that was not all there was to this campaign.
There was a well organized letter writing campaign, We innundated CBS with telephone calls, to their execs as well as audience services.
We Raised money to take out ads in Trade Mags,
We got ourselves noticed in the media, not just blogs, but mainstream press (NY Times, LA Times, NY Post)
And for the most part, we were Polite, After knowing that Nina Tassler's secretary was having to take call after call after call, the group sent her Flowers. Nina Tassler as well recieved a large Bouqet of flowers, not After she gave in and gave us the show back, but Before, as a gesture of goodwill and to say "Hey we know you are just doing your job"
That's why we won this fight, It wasn't just the Nuts.
And its time you, and every other blogger realised that.
Matthew | Jun 7, 2007 3:48:48 AM | #Halo - Those tabasco bottles helped Roswell get a second season, not a third season. And for all of that outpouring of fan support and all of those tabasco bottles, the show's ratings didn't improve in its second season and Roswell would have been cancelled again except that 20th Century Fox TV demanded that in order for UPN to get "Buffy" that a Roswell renewal was part of the deal. And I stand by the feeling that a fifth (or 6th, wherever The WB was at that moment) network responding to fan outcry isn't a precedent worth citing in the case of a 1st place network responding to fan outcry. In addition, as other people are accurately pointing out, part of Jericho's saving grace is that fans were watching the show in a variety of non-traditional media, while Roswell's ratings were probably accurately low.
My problem is really with the overall decision-making process on this one courtesy of CBS -- either the very real possibility that the network somehow had no awareness of the size and/or passion of Jericho's non-traditional fanbase, or that they knew such a fanbase existed and just became shocked when they started sending nuts.
For all of the talk of Old thinking versus New thinking, CBS is still going to get advertising dollars for the new season of Jericho based on that most old of matrixes -- Nielsen ratings. So in order for the show to get a third season, people are going to have to start watching on their TVs in regular programming times. So much for the New thinking there.
As I said above, though, Nuts are no more nuts than Nielsen ratings.
I'll be away for a couple days, so keep the celebration alive...
-Daniel
Daniel Fienberg | Jun 7, 2007 3:59:00 AM | #It wasn't about the cliffhanger. The outcry was about 2 things: use of outmoded data to measure the audience and outrage at the loss of an original, thought provoking and family friendly program.
Affiliates may have been a factor but I believe it is because they are closer and more in touch with viewers.
I,m surprised and dissapointed at your negative reaction to JERICOs renewal.
The fans spoke out and CBS chose to listen.
The time has got to come for a radical revison of the ratings system, one based on how many viewers a show gets by any form be it TIVO, DVR, VCR, or whatever. I for one have multiple DVR's and may watch only 1 show in an evening and record as many as 2 or 3 others for later viewing. Does this mean I don't watch a given show? According to the current system I don't. That doesn't make sense.
Congratulations to the JERICO fans who knew what we liked and made it known to CBS.
I only wish the VERONICA MARS fans could have been as vociferous.
Dear Mr. Feinstein......
Why such a nasty article ?
Why not celebrate a victory of quality over trash. Celebrate the idea that a network admitted they didn't give a show a fair shake. The long hiatus,lack of promotion and then putting it up against Idol. All this show needs is a later time slot and to avoid Idol.
Jericho Lives !!
And I can't wait.
Rob M | Jun 7, 2007 4:26:11 AM | #Jericho deserved to be cancelled and stay cancelled. Crappy writing, plot lines you could drive a car through and the most horrible cast of actors since Facts of Life. If people want better shows on the tube, stop watching the crap that the networks put on, or better yet turn the tv off, take a walk, volunteer, give blood, spend time with your loved ones, read a book, write a book.
C | Jun 7, 2007 4:29:01 AM | #I'm glad Jerico is back. It was asinine to put it on long hiatus and then bring it back opposite American Idol. It doesn't take a rocket scientist to know that it would have low ratings on its return. Whoever planned THAT should be fired.
gloria | Jun 7, 2007 4:48:26 AM | #I also don't get why the writer of this article is so nasty about the late renewal of Jericho. It is almost as if it is PERSONAL with him somehow. Like it was his decision to cancel Jericho that is being reversed.
Get a grip, Feinberg. It is not as though President Bush halted funding for important medical research or pardoned dangerous criminals based on the uneducated rantings of a few "nuts."
A network changed its mind about a TELEVISION SHOW, that's all.
pam | Jun 7, 2007 4:59:06 AM | #Happy for Jericho fans....but STILL upset about Invasion, over a year later. Can we get a TV movie or SOMETHING!?!?
Nick | Jun 7, 2007 4:59:09 AM | #In the end, TV networks will do whatever they want to do, despite everything. That's TV for you. Thank God for therapy.
Signed,
The One Fan of "Veronica Mars"
I can see Mr. Feinstein's point. What makes Jericho so special? Otheer shows have been cancelled amid fans' objections. ABC's Commander in Chief comes to mind but there are several examples. Do we expect the networks to bow to pressure to fans all the time? It just does not seem like a good business practice. Where does it end? Can we expect producers to change entire plots because there is a huge letter writing campaign.
Yes, viewers are important but they should not dictate creative or network decisions and that is what happened here.
I liked Jericho but for me CBS reversing it's decision jusst made the network appear weak. Plus, I'm not convinced the ratings will improve anyway so the network will have compromised itself for nothing.
Mary | Jun 7, 2007 5:21:37 AM | #I congratulate the fans of Jericho. As a fan of the series Dr. Quinn Medicine Woman, we worked so hard for the same reprieve, from rallies on the streets of LA to newspaper editorials and a letter writing campaign that until then had not been seen since Cagney and Lacy- all to no avail - why? Perhaps because CBS wanted the show dead, I suspect CBS didn't have the same feeling about Jericho, they just wanted proof people were watching. We gave them proof but Quinn fans were the 'wrong demographic'. Maybe we should have sent a few million nickels to Les Moonves instead of letters after his comment that the viewers of Quinn were only worth about that much apiece in advertising? Will this change how networks respond to fan campaigns? Not really, if a network deep down is willing to keep a show if there is enough protest, it usually means they just wanted to be persuaded, but try to save a show they DONT want - nothing you do will have any effect.
Mary Ann Marino | Jun 7, 2007 5:27:37 AM | #I have to agree with some of the posted comments here, I'm not sure why the tone of the article seems so hostile. I was not a Jericho watcher, but as a fan of shows like Veronica Mars, Firefly, and Dark Angel, I am delighted that they have gotten another chance. However, in contrast to some posters, I believe Neilsens do take Tivo and DVRs into account, or at least make an effort to with the live plus same day and live plus 7 day ratings now. In my opinion, not based on fact whatsoever, I think CBS probably just made an arbitrary decision based on the fanbase campaign. Lucky Jericho fans - enjoy while you have it! And I completely agree that with a previous poster that the networks really do need to realize that when you put a show up against ratings phenomenons like American Idol or CSI or Lost, that the show really isn't going to do as well in comparison, but it doesn't mean it needs the ax. Congrats Jericho fans (can we hire you for the Veronica Mars campaign???)
Andrea | Jun 7, 2007 5:33:33 AM | #Yay for Jericho! (And I was one of those Roswell fans... and more recently Surface.) I honestly don't really 'get' the above article. This was all started by STAR TREK, the only difference is that the numbers lie nowadays. While I did watch Jericho live, something else would be recording. Occasionally if I was out doing something fun, two things would be recording to watch later in the evening. Oh ... and my husband and I were also fond of Veronica Mars, but didn't put any effort into bringing it back. I stopped watching Close to Home this season when Annabeth became just another struggling female stereotype.
Syke | Jun 7, 2007 5:39:38 AM | #Jericho is a great show that didn't deserve to be taken off the air.It started off weak,but got so much better. I'm so glad it got renewed because it's one of my favorite shows.Plus,fans really,really care about it.
Laci | Jun 7, 2007 5:44:01 AM | #Honestly, I am thrilled that JERICHO is coming back! I hear ya, and I agree it would have been more admirable if CBS had actually renewed it before instead of cancelling the show and then changing their minds. I am saddened now that ABC did not do this for INVASION last year...IMHO INVASION was actually more deserving!
PGP | Jun 7, 2007 5:45:16 AM | #CBS looked and saw that putting a show on a HUGE hiatus - as ABC and NBC found out with "Lost" and "Heroes," respectively - is extremely detrimental to the show's success. That was a NETWORK mistake. Bringing Jericho back is a good idea. Aside from the whole "this sets a precedent," story, story, I think this will endear CBS to a number of viewers. I know I think more favorably of the channel now.
And isn't the whole point of a season finale to provide a teaser to tune in for the following season? Very successful shows like "Friends" and "Grey's Anatomy" have been doing it every year. I don't fault "Jericho" for following suit. I thought their season finale was exceptional.
Great work to everyone who fought so hard to bring a quality show back to the airwaves.
Kelly | Jun 7, 2007 5:57:46 AM | #
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