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    Tuesday, January 24, 2006

    WB and UPN give birth to CW

    So, Time Warner and CBS have joined forces to eradicate the two fetal networks spawned in the 90s to compete with the burgeoning FOX, WB and UPN respectively. Their great idea, split 50/50, will be a new network called CW. No one seems to know what CW stands for yet, but I have a few concepts I’m working on; Can’t Watch, Could Work, Can’t Wait, and Crappy Waste. The thing is, that their going to move the best of the shows from the two networks and combine them onto one. These shows luckily include some the best TV on today such as Gilmore Girls and Veronica Mars. But it will also include the ever popular, for many reasons that escape me, SMACKDOWN. There was a reason these Channels were formed in the first place and that was to compete with the big three and eventually the big fourth networks, to drive all of them to produce more creative content in an effort to not go the way of the Dodo, and it worked for a while. By combining two into one, they’ve just lessened the amount of content non-cable subscribers have access to. Each of the stations that subscribed to WB and UPN still have to choose if they want to join the CW network. In larger markets such as NY and LA, some poor channel is going to go out of business or redefine its model as a all day Paid Programming channel.
    Now granted, neither of these networks has really been turning a profit over the years, but minus a few really good shows, a lot of that had to do with the decisions of the programming directors who didn’t know a good show from a piece of flotsam after their morning constitutional. Now, what we’re going to get is another network, that starts off strong and then grows a set of, what it thinks are mighty, testicles and then it will start choosing shows again and canceling the ones that made it work in the first place, and the whole thing will start all over again. Obviously I’m going to give it a chance, as soon as I have access to this kind of broadcast TV again, because it will come fully formed with two of my favorite shows already in it. However, I will be the first to grin madly and shake my head at it in an arrogant, “I told you so,” manner as soon as I see it Jump the shark. Well, as soon as I see it jump-the-shark the next time. Hey, I wonder if they’re already looking for new content. I think I have a few things lying around I could show them.

    1 comment:

    Alan Gratz said...

    Yes, the same fledgling network that gave the Friday-night double-bill of "Brisco County Jr." and "X-Files" more than a fair chance (FOX) is now the three-hundred pound gorilla that saw fit to screw with "Firefly's" televised order, and then cancel the then best show on television without even showing all the episodes.

    Let us then mourn the loss of one crap-ass alternative station. As you say, it means one less outlet for programs like X-Files and (more recently) Buffy and Veronica to take hold.

    Although we can hope and pray that it also means the end of South Beach.