The Nets' Double Vision Summer of 2006

Is this going to be the most redundant summer ever,
or will it actually get worse than this next summer?
Just look at all the double-running or encore airings
the nets have scheduled:

shawn...

There is a lot of repeated material, but some it is all new stuff so I
wouldn't put it in this list. Like Big Brother which is all new
material each of the three nights it airs. I'm not sure if the other
reality shows are new material each night or just a repeat of the same
episode for a second time each week.

shawn...

No, that is somewhat incorrect information. (Unless you mean something
different from what I understand you to mean.)
As I pointed out before Big Brother is in your list and each of the
three nights will be totally new material. Now that's only three hours
of all new material out of the 104 that you mention, but it may be
that some of the other reality shows are airing all new material a
couple of times a week instead of a new show and then a repeat.

David Levy...

WQ:

David Levy...

Why can't you just admit that you were wrong?

In addition to several reality shows, you also counted "Dateline NBC"
(a newsmagazine program that airs in this fashion throughout the year)
and "Gameshow Marathon" (the installments of which haven't been
repeated a single time). The latter airs only on Thursday for the
remainder of its scheduled run.

Still it means there will be an awful lot of repeated material.

ABC - 8=BD hrs per week
America's Funniest Home Videos - Sun & Fri
According to Jim - 2 Tuesday airings
The One: Making of a Star - Tue & Wed
Lost - 2 Wednesday airings
Hope & Faith - 2 Friday airings

CBS - 8 hrs per week
Rockstar: Supernova - Tue & Wed
Big Brother - Tue, Thu & Sat
Gameshow Marathon - Wed & Thu
Crimetime Saturday - Encores of various crime shows

NBC - 14 hrs per week
Dateline - Sun, Fri & Sat
Law & Order: CI - Sun & Sat
Treasure Hunters - 2 Monday airings
Law & Order: SVU - Tue, Fri & Sat
America's Got Talent - 2 Wednesday airings & Thu
Thu. 8 pm - Encores of various sitcoms

FOX - 11=BD hrs per week
It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia - Sun encores of
FX series
Hell's Kitchen - 2 Monday airings
House - 2 Tuesday airings
So You Think You Can Dance - 2 Wednesday airings
& Thu
That '70s Show - 2 Thursday airings
24 - 2 Friday airings
Cops - 2 Saturday airings

UPN - None

WB - 6=BD hrs per week
Reba - 2 Sunday airings & Fri
Charmed - 2 Sunday airings
7th Heaven - 2 Monday airings
Blue Collar TV - 2 Wednesday airings

shawn...

I can't really blame the WB for doing this. They have a number of
hours to fill and are going away at the end of the summer. Plus shows
like Charmed and Blue Collar TV will only be airing in syndication and
strip sales since they finished the production of any new episodes.

shawn...

It's a bit odd, but then they have fewer hours to fill than the WB.
Plus many UPN stations were already airing some shows twice a week,
like Veronica Mars. On my local UPN station the new episode would air
as scheduled and then a repeat would air on Sunday night. They are
continuing with that plan this summer.

This amounts to nearly half of the 6-net primetime
total hours that are planned to be comprised of shows
that'll air at least twice each week. Talk about networks
just giving up on summer entirely. I thought they were
going to seriously and aggressively pursue original
summer programming, wasn't that the supposed plan
they announced last year and the year before? What
happened to that strategy? FOX, NBC and WB are the
worst offenders of the lot here with 76%, 72% and 50%,
respectively, of their lineups devoted to double-running.

shawn...

I am confused as to what Fox is thinking. They were the only network
that truly seemed to take the idea of putting on new programming year
round as a serious idea. They should have followed through with that
plan especially since they have always loved the reality programming
since it's cheap to produce. I guess they may have gotten burned too
many times last summer with reality shows that didn't draw in any
viewers to turn to them again this summer.

shawn...

Has no one questioned Fox at any of their press conferences. I'm
surprised that none of the journalists haven't asked them about their
plans and why things seem to have changed. I suppose it is possible
that Fox tried to schedule new programming, but just couldn't find any
that they thought would work.

This is ridiculous. Do networks actually think that this
cheap-ridden tactic will really be profitable to them, or
that they could even break even, or that viewers will
even be bothered with spending two hours on repeats
or a repeat and an original on any given hot summer
night? Essentially, you can get rid of the primetime hours
equivalent of UPN and WB and wipe out all the encore
shows alone altogether and just have 4 nets airing shows
as they normally air, just once a week. Somehow I get
the feeling the networks are really going to tank in the
ratings this summer in a way they haven't before.