The Biggest Loser

When the 2011-12 television season began, NBC, having been in last place seven years, realistically expected its ratings in the new season to suck.  Unfortunately, they haven't been doing that well.  Ratings for its overall lineup for the first four weeks of the season is down 9.3 percent compared to the first four weeks of the 2010-11 season.  While a couple of the network's new sitcoms, like comedian Whitney Cummings's new show, have generated some buzz, they haven't generated much in the way of ratings.  The lineup includes yet another sitcom starring Christina Applegate ("Up All Night"), who hasn't been able to make people forget her many years as Kelly Bundy.  And "The Playboy Club" generated a lot of buzz and controversy - for all the wrong reasons.  NBC's  bosses have made people aware of the once-proud Peacock Network, all right, but awareness doesn't determine relevance.  If it did, people would still be taking Nancy Pelosi seriously.  

Most of the shows that debuted on NBC this fall were developed just as Robert Greenblatt was brought in by new owner Comcast to take over.  Comcast sees this as a golden opportunity to take a struggling media commodity and turn it around, and Greenblatt will likely make radical changes to the lineup for the 2012-13 season to shake things up.  That could mean cancellations of over ninety percent of everything NBC airs right now. 

For now, "Parenthood" - the only show I watch on NBC anymore - is actually holding its own respectably, steadily gaining viewers.   So there's some good news.  But it's probably not wise for the few viewers NBC has to become too attached to much of the network's fare right now.  Even "The Biggest Loser," a once-reliable reality show, is slipping in the Nielsens.  When a company is as bad off as NBC is now, a major housecleaning is more than necessary, and no one is safe.