U.S. network dramas are struggling along with the economy and TV sales.
But Max Valiquette says there’s still lots to laugh about
I love television.
It’s not just that it gives me something to point my sofa towards, or that the warm glow helps to heat my house. I’m an avid consumer of television. I believe in the medium as a time-waster and as a channel for some of the greatest art of our time; as an enabler of shared experiences and moments of private, personal emotion.
I watch television for eight hours a day. That’s not a typo; I watch as I work. (Do not tell Jack Bensimon about this.)
I’m also proudly Canadian. In fact, I sit on the board of the Canada Media Fund, and have the great honour of helping to shape how Canadian TV and digital media are funded. And while I’m writing this as a strategist, and not a CMF member, I still want to say this: Whoot! Canadian programs accounted for a 3% larger share of full-day viewing last year (up to 39%) over the year before. And that trend seems to be growing. Even with some great Canadian programming ending (spoiler alert: Erica stopped Being), we’re successfully launching new shows and grooming others to build on their audiences.
To me, it’s not just the quality of the shows—although that definitely helps—but also that Canadian broadcasters are getting smarter about how they develop and cultivate their audiences. We’ve learnt that a fallow period for U.S. shows, like the summer, is a prime launching period for Canadian TV (I’m thinking about you Flashpoint and Rookie Blue, and everyone that’s followed your great examples).
So the biggest trend in television is that Canadian TV producers and broadcasters are producing better television and marketing it better. Hitch your wagons to those TV stars, media planners.
In fact, in terms of successful, new hour-long dramas, I think we’re outpacing the U.S. Consider Charlie’s Angels, The Playboy Club, Pan Am and Prime Suspect are all cancelled; A Gifted Man, The Firm and The Finder are likely gone, too; and Terra Nova and Unforgettable don’t look like they’re hanging around. (I’m leaving recent launches like Touch and The River, which are both pretty dismal, out of the discussion.)
The state of the network drama is pretty depressing, really. There’s essentially one new hour-long drama—the so-delicious-it-must-be-fattening Revenge—with any real combination of ratings and water-cooler chatter. And there are just a couple of others, like Grimm and Once Upon a Time, that are doing anything impressive for their networks in the ratings. So if you’re keeping score, that’s three successful new dramas (two of which are about modern fairy tales, so I can’t see them both lasting) and nine or 10 that are essentially done. So big trend number two is the complete inability of major U.S. networks to launch and sustain new hour-long dramas.
But in television as in everything, the larger societal forces shape our behaviour. The economy is pretty terrible—lots of political unrest and people are nervous. This is great news for comedies. In Canada, a new episode of The Big Bang Theory is usually the top-rated broadcast program of the week. And both here and in the U.S., the Sheen-free Two and a Half Men continues to bring in millions of eyeballs; Modern Family is huge; and The New Girl and Two Broke Girls (which, I’m told, were never going to be combined into an hour-long show called Two Broke New Girls) are probably the biggest launches of the fall season in any genre. Happy Endings is picking up momentum as well, and then there’s NBC’s criminally under-performing Thursday comedy block (30 Rock, Parks and Recreation, The Office), which is still the most fun you can have in front of your television over two hours. The number of critically acclaimed sitcoms on network television is huge right now, and so is the number of comedy hits: in the U.S., the six biggest scripted shows with the key demo are all comedies.
Overall, 13 of the top 25 are comedies, too—more than drama, sports and reality combined. We need to laugh—and not just at the misfortune of others.
Max Valiquette works at Bensimon Byrne, his very favourite ad agency.
For the full story, including the full Mid-Season TV Guide, check out the March 12 issue of Marketing.
