Smashed Again

NBC thought it was finally getting out of the ratings basement after winning the November sweeps. But when the February sweeps numbers came in, the once-proud Peacock Network found itself in the sub-basement - in fifth place. Is "Downton Abbey" that popular? No, Univision, the Spanish-language network not owned by NBC Universal, beat it out for fourth place. Gee, you think the early end of the latest season of "Parenthood" in January had something to do with that?

Actually, the real reason is far simpler; NBC is airing too many shows that no one wants to watch. Informed consumers should have known NBC was going to slide into record low ratings for the winter sweeps period when it decided to air "1600 Penn," a sitcom about a fictional President and his family starring Jenna Elfman as the First Lady - sort of a comedic version of "The West Wing" (although that show had its own brand of humor). What was NBC Entertainment chairman Robert Greenblatt thinking? The Greenblatt greenlighting of this show failed to take two things into account. First of all, there aren't enough Tea Partiers to watch a show about a fictional white First Family and escape from the reality of a black First Family. Second of all, there are even fewer people who want to watch a sitcom starring Jenna Elfman, as "Courting Alex" and "Accidentally On Purpose" proved.

Then there was the series that was supposed to save NBC. "Smash" isn't. The drama about putting on a musical about Marilyn Monroe has proven to be as popular as a miniseries about James Monroe would be, suggesting that viewers would prefer to watch the real Marilyn in Gentlemen Prefer Blondes on Turner Classic Movies. NBC has rescheduled "Smash" to Saturday nights, not because it thinks it will find an audience there but because it's almost definitely looking to cancel it. People haven't watched TV on Saturday nights since "The Love Boat" went off the air; most of them go out on Saturday nights, and those who don't do so play on the Internet. (Hello?) Geez, NBC cancels its shows faster than I can feature the actresses from said shows on my beautiful women picture blog. (No, Katherine McPhee and Megan Hilty aren't on there yet.)

NBC is bringing back two of its most popular shows - "Revolution" and "The Voice" - from their hiatuses for the spring, and add more reality programming, in the hope of recovering just enough to finish the season respectfully . . . or just finish the season. (Yes, I still think it; NBC should be taken over by the government as if it were a bailout and turned into a BBC-style channel. Heck, the initials already stand for "National Broadcasting Company," so why don't we actually make it one?) And in case you're wondering where the network's base of sophisticated, urbane viewers - the same viewers who made NBC "must-see TV" back in the eighties and nineties to begin with - went, the answer is quite simple. They've moved to basic cable.

Speaking of which . . . "Mad Men" is back! :-D