The 2004-05 TV Season . . . Up To Now

Okay, so how about the 2004-05 season so far? Well, here's my take on it and, mind you, this isn't an in-depth analysis of television trends or different programs; for that, you should go to Entertainment Weekly. But this should be a pretty good snapshot in time of what's working for the major broadcast networks and what's not. (Don't look for commentary on UPN or the WB here; I pay so little attention to them, I don't want to bother with them.)

NBC seems to be returning to the bad old days of the Fred Silverman era in the late seventies, when its initials stood for "Not Broadcasting Competently" and its executives threw up any old thing on the screen (which makes me want to throw up!). Last season it had "Friends," "Frasier," and "Ed"; that season ended with "Friends" over, "Frasier" being ended even as Kelsey Grammer was open to doing a twelfth season (bet the Peacock regrets closing the door on that now!) and "Ed" canceled in such a cavalier fashion, it looked like NBC wanted to get rid of it. This season gave us the animated "Father of the Pride" (aired because it was Jeffrey Katzenberg's idea, and you don't say no to Katzenberg, Steven Spielberg's and David Geffen's bestest and mostest friend in the whole wide world!), which neither viewers nor critics took pride in, lazily executed dramas that evaporated on screen ("Hawaii," anyone?), tacky reality shows, and the friends spinoff "Joey," which started with a bang, only to whimper before it's even ended. (It hasn't been canceled yet, but it just might be on borrowed time now.) The network's decision to eschew new sitcoms other than the two I just mentioned here - because they decided their reality shows were genuinely funnier! - only served to hide their inability to come up with a new smash hit sitcom for years. The experts Entertainment Weekly talked to back in September, which I discussed earlier on this blog, predicted that NBC would have the greatest trouble ahead, and they were right; as of December 12, it's in third place. On the other hand, the "Law and Order" franchise will probably help keep them afloat somewhat.

The good news for second-place ABC is that it finally produced hits to drag it out of the ratings basement it's been in for a few years. The bad news is that the hits - "Desparate Housewives" and "Lost" - are both dramas, so sitcom fans who look for a revival of the genre will have to look elsewhere. But that should have been already clear, since ABC tried a sitcom-based strategy to get out of fourth place - behind Fox - last year, and the two executives responsible for that gambit were last seen at ABC cleaning out their desks under the watchful eyes of security officers. The freshman sitcoms that debuted this year have gained little attention from, well, anyone, and sitcom fans may have to compromise their standards and give "According To Jim" another look. (They may already have done so; Jim Belushi's sitcom is up in the ratings.) Kind of like Upper Manhattan Democrats finding nice things to say about George Pataki.

Or, sitcom fans could go to top network CBS. Sure, "Everybody Loves Raymond" is in its final season, but "Listen Up," as noted before, is beginning to do well and "Two And A Half Men" is doing even better. Granted, "Two And a Half Men" is dumb, but it does have Charlie Sheen, and he does dumb very well. As far as their dramas are concerned, I can't understand why the baseball show "Clubhouse" got voted out of the club, baseball being the national pastime and all, but then the Yankees and the Red Sox provided plenty of real baseball drama by themselves this past year. And CBS already has the "CSI" franchise, too.

As for number-four Fox - sheer faith in the show and loyalty to its tiny audience must be the only things keeping "Arrested Development" on the air, because even "Complete Savages" gets more respectable ratings than this show. It doesn't help that "Arrested Development" is on late on Sunday nights; even I keep forgetting it's on! It does give Fox more prestige than its reality shows, where we're still being subjected to Paris Hilton, so the less said about them, the better.

Still plenty of time left in the season. :-)