Tuesday Oct 10 in Detroit, there were three different scifi shows on at
the same time: Babylon 5 (PTEN channel 20), Alien Nation (Fox), and Deadly
Games (UPN).

If I had been home, I'm not sure which I'd have watched.  I thought about
taping Alien Nation on the good VCR and hoping that Deadly Games would
come out if I set up the old one.  I know I can tape B5 on the Toledo
station the weekend after it's been on in Detroit.  Are there any severe
scifi fans out there who taped all three shows? 

I'm reminded of the recent Lois and Clark v. Seaquest, and the current
X-files v. Picket Fences.

Do TV stations put shows aimed at the same audience on at the same time
because they care more about "share" than audience size?  Why is it good
for stations (or networks or advertisers) to trade off number of viewers
for share?

This item is to discuss TV schedules.  Please discuss the content of the
above shows in other items.

18 responses total.

Yeah, I hear you, I was reall pissed when they moved _Fences_. OTOH, 
Seaquest sank. It was no contest for me on Sunday. However, the Tuesday
thing was a real pain. I kinda wanted to see what they did with _Alien
Nation_, B5 was a *new* episode this week, not a rerun(You *must* see this
episode, good stuff), and _Games_ is just weird&stupid enough to be fun.

The goal of the networks is to get as many viewrs watching their shows
as possible, and therfore thier advertisers commercials. It makes sense
that if a network has a popular  show of some genre on at a certain time
then another network that comes up with a show of the same genre
might want to try and 'take' some of the 1st networks audience, since 
they're watching  a show at that time anyways.

I don't know about that.  If my competor is running a show that audience A
will like at 8:00 and one for audience B at 9:00, I'd think the best
strategy would be to reverse them in my schedule.  B at 8 and A at 9.
That way both A's and B's watch for two hours, instead of each watching
for only one hour.  A bigger pie to divide up.

Generally, network execs do that.  Mutual destruction isn't
high on their list...  Note that American Gothic runs right
after the X-Files, instead of opposite, and those shows
definitely go after the same viewers.

It was bad luck that Alien Nation and B5 ran up against
each other, but B5 is syndicated, so there's no way
Fox could plan around that.  In fact, Detroit is one of
the few markets (maybe the only one) to show B5 on Tuesday.
Most markets still show it on Wednesday.

Maybe I'm just too cynical about the activities of the TV industry.
If a competitor is running show type A at 8, that's when you know
there's an audience for it. IF you put your type A show an hour
later some of that audience may not still be available. I think 
this is one of the reasons that TV network scheduling is such a
weird 'dance'. The networks are all trying to get the most people
to watch their shows all the time, so they juggle them around
trying to get more people to watch.

But, if you put your type A show at 8, alongside the other
show, you're guaranteeing that some of your type-A-show
viewers won't be watching your show, they'll be watching the
other one.  You guarantee a small audience (unless your show
is crap, of course >8)  but why settle for that when you can
have *all* of those type A viewers at 9?

Obviously, some execs would prefer the "guaranteed small
audience" idea.

Everyone looking forward to watching Babylon5 on 20 and Dr. Who on Fox at the
same time?

Oh, you're kidding me.  Well, I guess that's what VCRs are for.  When does
Dr. Who start?

"Gee, I have to choose between watching B5 and Dr. Who..."

Yeah, right.

Can you say "no contest"?

I've been a Doctor Who fan for thirteen years now, and given
a choice between DW and B5 - I can get the DW tape from a
friend later.  B5 is too important to miss, especially
this next one.  No contest.

I'll be getting a friend to tape it for me.  I just have a bad feeling that
it won't be very good...

It wasn't real good.
but then, neither was the original series...  "-)

Actually, I lliked the new Dr.  I diodn't think it followed all that well from
the old Dr. Who
series, necessarily, but then some of the new Dr.s in the old series were
pretty jarring, too.  (Watch the original movie lately?)

well, it wasn't a bad episode at all, just a really weenie bad guy.

If they are going to do a series, I'd hope that a better version of the Master
could make it into some episodes.  Although I do like the episodes where the
Doc just happens to wander into some situation that has nothing to do with
anything else in the series history.

Plus, the neat costume reference... When the newly regenerated Doctor is
poking thru lockers, looking for clothes amid all the costumes (for that
night's hospital costume part), he looks at a long, multicolored scarf and
then tosses it away.  Later on he has a bag of jelly-babies, which probably
came from the same locker... somebody was going to the party dressed as the
4th Doctor!

Oh,. THAT explains it -- I couldn't come up with a reason for why /ho he 
got those jelly-babies, but that puts it all int perspective.
Agree that the episode was good, aside from the Master, with a few problems:
        Don't like the "back from the dead" schtick -- one thing the old series
        had
going for it was a lack of big techno things that the Doctor could use 
to solve problems if the writer couldn't think of anything else; rolling back
time in an inconsistent way is definately there.  At the very least, there
should be SOME reason why the Doctor doesn't use this every time someone he
likes dies.
        The fact that the plot would have worked just as well or better if 
it hadn't had the hokey "save-the-world" part added onto it.
        The Doctor is half human (huh?) and because of this, the Tardis likes 
humans better than time lords (including him) (bigger huh).  Of course, this, 
while incredibly silly, IS is nthe spirit of the original show.
        ...And everyone lives happily ever after, leaving hte 
Doctor all alone.  Yeah, I know it's because they don't want to commit
to any companion.
        Too much cash, and all that that leads to.

        I appauld Channel 20, WXON, Detroit, for putting the new
Outer Limits on after Babylon 5.  I think it can only build there
audience for Outer Limits, which was stranded off on Saturday until
it came to prime-time.
        DS9 vs Louis & Clark.  Tape DS9 (they go onto archive tapes
anyway) watch Louis & Clark.  Use the other VCr to tape Simpsons.

I miss Dr. Who.  YOu know, the only season I got to see a large portion of
was one of the last Tom Baker ones.  Sigh.

I tape a lot of shows <fewer now, that I have almost complete runs of
Highlander and other shows> but I have most of the Tom Bakers and all the
Doctors after that up to the Sylvester McCoy episodes.

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