TV Viewers Bill of Rights
May 17th, 2007 at 1:57 pm by zack
This morning I opened the entertainment section of the paper and read that Jericho had fallen prey to the “curse of the winter break.” Another good show, flushed down the drain due to scheduling stupidity. Even worse, for the folks that invested the time to watch the twenty some-odd episodes, now there is no conclusion to the series. Simply put, that’s super lame.
The article here brings up the concept of the TV viewers bill of rights. His main point is that studios shouldn’t leave viewers hanging.
Expanding on the idea, I have a few more items to add to the list:
- No stupid breaks. If the storyline is ongoing, keep showing new episodes each week. Lost and Heroes suffered huge ratings losses and Jericho died because of this.
- Advance the storyline. Viewers are watching serialized dramas each week to see what’s happening. If you aren’t advancing the storyline consistently, why would people tune in? (Prison break suffered from this.)
- Don’t cancel the show without an ending (aka, have an endgame at all time): Respect the investment that a viewer makes to watch a serialized drama. After a viewer is burnt by this once, they are less likely to invest in more shows.
- Commit to an end time for the first storyline: Here’s a suggestion…. a season is a great timespan in which to answer all the asked questions that were in the pilot.
- Don’t have cliffhangers season to season: Take the hint from 24. If you have a new good storyline at the start of each season, viewers will tune in again. If you make them wait 4 months, they’ll forget what was happening and stop watching in frustration.
- Don’t name the show something that doesn’t continue to make sense: Prison Break. Need I say more?
- Don’t screw with the timeslot: Viewers without dvrs who miss one or two episodes due to a timeslot change are going to be lost. If the plot advanced as it should, by the time they find the show again, they will be a lost as a viewer who never saw the show at all.
- Find a new storyline: The government or giant corporate conspiracy has been done. Seriously.
Who has done it right:
- 24 (Uses packaged “day” seasons that people can digest. Airs without breaks once the season starts.)
- Most soap operas (No ridiculous cliffhangers that last for months. Advances the storyline quickly.)
- Wrestling (From 10 years ago) (Basically the same as soap operas, but for dudes)
Who hasn’t done it right:
- Jericho (Took a huge winter break and lost viewers)
- Lost (Took a huge winter break and lost viewers. Plot line doesn’t advance quickly enough.)
- Heroes (Took a huge winter break and lost viewers)
- Desperate housewives (Did a good job for one season and didn’t properly start a new serial for the second season and beyond)
- Prison Break (Named the show something stupid and had to put the people back in jail)
- Vanished (didn’t advance the storyline)
- Drive (Gave up too quickly. Maybe the July 4th airings will rectify this?)
- Invasion (Left the series at a huge cliffhanger)
(Digg this story)
May 17th, 2007 at 2:59 pm
I agree with this. I heard that ABC is going to have 11 new shows this fall. That is crazy. If there is a show that I may be interested in I use BTV to record about 10 episodes before I start watching it. By that time I assume that the show will continue and it may be worth my time. I also look at reviews to see the likelyhood of it being cancelled. I did this with Surface but got burnt because after watching the full season that was recorded I has the cliffhanger ending of the first season without a renewal for season 2.
Another idea is for networks to commit to one season for all shows. If the show is cancelled to show the remaining episodes of that series on their website. That way the users who did get hooked and liked the show can get their questions answered by watching it online. ABC has done a good job of showing unaired episodes on their website.
May 17th, 2007 at 3:28 pm
The huge winter breaks turn me off of many shows. It’s really sad that when the show returns, they have to start with a recap show (aka Jericho). We used to watch Jericho every week before the winter break, but by the time it returned, we forgot about it. It’s on our PVR, but we never took the time to sit down and watch it. Now that it’s canceled, we’ll probably just delete the whole dang thing.
Too bad. In our case, the very long break did break the show for us.
May 19th, 2007 at 12:46 pm
I’m pissed. Jericho was one of the only notable new shows this last season and I really enjoyed it. They did lose viewers, but they have a great product on their hands – why kill it prematurely?
Anyhow, this just reinforces why I like movies. They’re a self contained story with beginning, middle, and end. Oh yeah, no commercials or spending months/years to enjoy the story.
May 19th, 2007 at 2:41 pm
I think this is why I watch TV shows like a movie. I want each episode to feel self-contained. I don’t like shows that require me to make a commitment. I want to tune in every once in a while and catch an episode of CSI or House or a sitcom and be able to enjoy it as an individual piece. Sure, they can have running storylines for the regular viewers, but they shouldn’t get in the way of enjoying the show as an individual unit.
May 20th, 2007 at 6:51 am
Ok, here is a question…Is there any chance of writting in and requesting that the network change their minds about Jericho? I’ll take any replys at my e-mail address…edwardj@edzenterprizes.net
Thanks
Ed
May 20th, 2007 at 11:08 pm
I would just like to add the NBC show “The Black Donnelly’s”. I love organized crime shows but I don’t have HBO, so no Sopranos for me, but TBD filled that void perfectly. Absolutely amazing show, I was instantly hooked. Anyway, they cut the show from TV and made it available online only for the remaining episodes. I’ve migrated to the computer monitor to watch TBD, but what about the people who don’t have broadband? It is just such a bunch of crap to just out of the blue stop the show in the middle of the season. I sat down to watch my Heroes and TBD combo every Monday night, and then one night TBD was just gone.
May 21st, 2007 at 12:05 pm
“The E-Ring” is another that had its wings clipped in the middle of season 1. I had to use torrents to get the remaining unaired shows. I loved the complexities of political .vs military situations/decisions on an international scale. Dennis Hopper was annoying, but I was willing to ignore him.
May 21st, 2007 at 12:41 pm
I think the Lost guys are being smart — they’ve set a time limit for the series. They announced that they’ll have 4 more seasons, with 16 shows back to back per season. Smartest thing they ever did.
Plus, the two producers have always said that they have a “final” episode that they’ll shoot and air if they get canceled early, that will tie up all the loose ends for everyone. They, too, hate being left in the wind (RIP “Firefly”).
May 23rd, 2007 at 5:48 am
This all sounds good in theory — but the big problem is the game they have to play with the Nielsens. By still relying on the antiquated sweeps system that only values ratings in November, February and May, the networks are forced to “save” their best stuff for those months – and put a show on hiatus or a break.
And would you tell any other business that they had to keep a money-losing product for sale longer than they had to? Studio 60, for example, was a horribly expensive series for the ratings it got. It was better to cut the losses and try to find something else that might do better. They tried The Black Donnellys and it did worse.
Would you tell McDonald’s they had to keep selling a sandwich that no one ever wanted to buy? What about telling Nike that they had to keep selling a shoe that no one wanted? It’s the same for the business of programming TV.
Oh, and by the way, no matter how many petitions you sign, Jericho isn’t coming back – at least not as a series. CBS is notorious for letting a dead show stay dead.
May 23rd, 2007 at 9:37 am
I posted your Bill of Rights on my site this morning… I have a few I’d like to add….
• I know the Internet is the Big Hot Thing of the Moment now, but I don’t ever, and I mean EVER want to have to go online to get clues, plot advancements, character biographies etc. that makes viewing the next week’s episode understandable. Everything the viewer needs should be presented on television… you can have all the “Heroes” Online Graphic Novels you want, but if it gets to the point that I have to do “Homework” to follow a show, I’m outta there….
• Promos for the next week’s episode give away far too much (yes, I’m talking to you FOX..).
Major secretive plot twists should be just that… a secret…
• If a serialized drama is cancelled after three episodes (“Drive”, “DayBreak” etc…) the remaining episodes must be made available to viewers online somewhere, including a written statement from the show’s creators about future elements they had intended to reveal in future episodes…. maybe even how they thought the series would end ultimately…. there is nothing worse than starting watching a program and having it yanked out from under you after a few hours…
(Okay, sure, Oral Surgery is worse… I was just making a point… can we continue here?)
• I appreciate that there are needs for advertisers to have different revenue streams available to them (with my DVR I think I’ve seen 8 network commercials in the past three years) but can we please not have another “Scratch n’ Sniff” episode of “My Name is Earl” or any other program please? That was just horrible… and I don’t need the writers of “Grey’s Anatomy” or “House” thinking that a Hospital Version of this is okay… I never, ever want to scratch a card to release the scent of “Frontal Lobotomy”…
Greg
http://www.denvertvguy.com
May 23rd, 2007 at 9:59 am
While I was writing this article, we argued in the office about the balance of a promise to the viewers vs. the realities of business when it comes to low performing shows. To me, it looks like a chicken and the egg problem. If the networks are unwilling to make a commitment to me, I’m unwilling to make a commitment to view their show. As it stands, I personally have no serialized dramas on my dvr even though people here at the office talk positively about both hereos and lost. This puts us (and I suspect more people like me) in a standoff with the networks which will cause otherwise good shows to not get the ratings they really deserve.
And as a side note to that, I have to believe that a non-dvr user would be even more concerned about this problem as they have to make a specific time commitment each week to keep up with the show.
May 23rd, 2007 at 10:22 am
TV Execs really don’t get it on this. Thats why PBS is on my DVR. I can’t stand when shows get cancelled without notice, when reruns are playing in the middle of the season (Grey’s anatomy), When shows arent on at the scheduled time without notice.
Eventually I say to my Beautiful Samsung 32″ HDTV “I’m sorry, I cant take being manipulated by TV execs who can’t plan” Lets watch PBS and get some brain food instead.
May 23rd, 2007 at 2:00 pm
That’s a terrible analogy renton. If McDonalds truly acted like the networks, they’d sell you a burgrt but you’d only recieve a quarter of it, then if everyone else who bought that burgerliked it enough, they’d give you the rest. If they didn’t you would just have to go hungry.
Netwroks don’t sell a consumable good to their customers, they sell and experience, an escape. If they fail to complete they cycle, they fail to complete the deal and the customer is understandably unhappy.
May 24th, 2007 at 5:13 pm
[...] SnapStream emailed to point up their TV Viewers Bill of Rights, which lays out a number of guidelines that networks would be well suited to follow if they want to hold on to their audience. Television is no longer the only, or even best, option available in more and more living rooms across America, and network programmers need to make an extra effort to keep people tuning in. [...]
May 25th, 2007 at 7:52 am
[...] Online Video Bill of Rights: SnapStream emailed to point up their TV Viewers Bill of Rights, which lays out a number of guidelines that networks would be well suited to follow if they want to hold on to their audience. We came up best practices for people providing video content online, and these guidelines couldn’t apply to everyone from the lowly vlogger to vast media megalopolies. That’s the beautiful thing about bills of rights — they’re supposed to apply to everyone. Though as Sally Hemmings might have pointed out, your mileage may vary. Continue reading… [...]
May 25th, 2007 at 10:01 am
Negative points to this article:
- Winter breaks are good, I’m on the road visiting family, I’m not watching TV, thank god people still use them, *note* Simpsons, Heroes, Family Guy
- 24 has used those similar big government, terrorist over used plots
- Finally, all the shows you mention are free contact via public broadcast, you get what you pay for, if you want good serialised drama, get HBO and tune in to it’s commercial free seasons.
May 25th, 2007 at 10:07 am
*update* Winter breaks also accomodate actors who want to be on the road too, they have families and friends to be spending time with, they don’t always film the whole season a year in advanced. Be respectful to your people or do it all in CG so they can work 24/7 like slaves.
May 25th, 2007 at 11:20 pm
[...] Online Video Bill of Rights: SnapStream emailed to point up their TV Viewers Bill of Rights, which lays out a number of guidelines that networks would be well suited to follow if they want to hold on to their audience. We came up best practices for people providing video content online, and these guidelines couldn’t apply to everyone from the lowly vlogger to vast media megalopolies. That’s the beautiful thing about bills of rights — they’re supposed to apply to everyone. Though as Sally Hemmings might have pointed out, your mileage may vary. Continue reading… [...]
May 27th, 2007 at 7:36 pm
[...] TV Viewers Bill of Rights [SnapStream Blog] No stupid breaks; Advance the storyline; Don’t cancel the show without an ending; Commit to an end time for the first storyline; Don’t have cliffhangers season to season; Don’t name the show; Don’t screw with the timeslot; Find a new storyline … (tags: tv production convergence digitalculture) [...]
May 28th, 2007 at 8:22 am
[...] Online Video Bill of Rights: SnapStream emailed to point up their TV Viewers Bill of Rights, which lays out a number of guidelines that networks would be well suited to follow if they want to hold on to their audience. We came up best practices for people providing video content online, and these guidelines couldn’t apply to everyone from the lowly vlogger to vast media megalopolies. That’s the beautiful thing about bills of rights — they’re supposed to apply to everyone. Though as Sally Hemmings might have pointed out, your mileage may vary. Continue reading… [...]
May 29th, 2007 at 7:17 pm
[...] I can’t take credit for this - Zack at Snapstream deserves all the credit, and I really recommend going to his blog for the all thing. I’m just going to touch upon the basics: [...]
May 30th, 2007 at 8:40 am
This was an interesting list but you make a major error…you show in your “did it right” column Soaps, Wrestling and 24. The latter which defeats one of your points (tired, re-tread plots) and then…well, Soaps and Wrestling. These are what we want to aspire to in television?? I do agree that large breaks are kind of annoying but if you are going to show the ones that do it right, at least do ones that match up with what you are talking about, namely weekly, prime-time drama. Believe me, I appreciate the work that goes into a Soap and Wrestling but they are hardly the same animal.
Maybe for your “did it right” you should include shows like Battlestar Galactica (though they have a break, they show 10 episodes week to week at a time) or Sopranos (other than their weird seasonal breaks…1-2 years) the also show a weekly episode until the season is done. In fact, just use all HBO shows in general.
I agree about cancelled shows but what can you do? I think a better idea would be to follow the BBC model for shows. Instead of trying to sell the next 22-26 episode monster season for a show, create a concept that you can do in 6-10 episodes, do it and air it and see what happens. Most shows that get past the pilot get investments for that many episodes anyway (even Drive, I think, has that many in the can…and Firefly had double).
Look at great shows like Dr. Who (doing 12 eps, I think), the original Office (6 per season), Coupling (6, as well), etc. I would rather have 5 shows with 6 episodes each that are tightly plotted and enjoyable than one 22 episode season of a show with filler episodes (I am looking at you, Season 7 of Buffy). Drive, a fun concept, doesn’t have 22 episode seasons to me. If anything screams short concept, that is it.
The same could be said for Firefly. I would watch that show for 10 seasons if they had it on but a nice 10 episode season with a beginning, middle and end would be just as satisfying to me. I think we need to get out of the box of “Have to fill 22 episodes to be a series” idea and get into just doing stories that are can be shot and aired and done. If it works, do another series. If it doesn’t, oh well, at least we have one full story to enjoy.
The shows I watch on DVD over and over again are rarely full seasons of the classic Amercian genre shows, like Star Trek, Buffy, etc. I pick bits out and enjoy but that is it. But the HBO shows like Deadwood, Band of Brothers, etc. get yearly viewings because I can watch a full season in a few weeks of casual viewing and get a fully developed and wonderful story.
As for Cliffhangers, they can be good and bad and I think it is a matter of taste. I liked how Heroes ended..it finished the main storyline and gave us more of a teaser for season 2. BSG, on the other hand, gave us a full-on cliffhanger. Both work for me as I am equally excited for both. The best finale with cliffhanger would be the Star Trek the Next Gen series that had Riker standing up and saying “fire!” as he went against the Borg. How fun was that? We all yelled and the screen while giggling, dreading the wait and making us want more. I think that is the key. If you want to come back again, that is awesome. If they do it by wrapping things up for creating a cliffhanger, fine.
Anyway, neat list and fun for discussion.
May 31st, 2007 at 5:46 am
I completely agree with you, Fil. I wasn’t aware of the BBC series structure, and so I had never really considered there was any other way. I think in general, we need to get out of the box of TV (so to speak). The concept of seasons is kind of archaic, since there are so many new shows starting at all times during the year. Furthermore, I think distinguishing shows as limited-run, mini-series, full-run, etc, is limiting what we see too much. It’d be nice to have some venue where creators could air their shows–tell their stories–without having to make them a certain length or appeal to a certain demographic. Indy fillmmakers have been more able to do this in the past few years as technologies have gotten cheaper and studios have gotten wise to a new business model–give people quality and they’ll thank you.
I know that straight-to-DVD movies have become more common lately, and have gained more respect than what they used to, because of this Indy movement. I wonder if there will ever be straight-to-DVD TV shows. It doesn’t seem that far-fetched, really. You make a show, air some episodes during another show’s break, and then get people to go out and rent or buy the rest of the season on DVD. Then, if the response is high enough, you do it again for another season. If it’s hot enough, you might even get a full-run of the series on broadcast. I had heard rumors that Family Guy, before the show was picked back up by Fox, was going to do a season on DVD, and imagine they could do that because of the low cost of animation. A show like Heroes, on the other hand, probably couldn’t do that as easily without running a high risk of losing money. But I’d gladly watch a cheap show with great writing and a great concept over a super-glossy show with predictable plotting and a tired premise (see previous example).
I know it’s wishfull thinking, but, like I said, I just wish there was a new medium that would give show creators a place to display their work without network involvement. Maybe the Internet will be that medium.
By the way, I wholeheartedly DISagree with putting Lost on the “didn’t do it right” list. In my opinion, Lost is the only show that has ever done it PERFECTLY. Long breaks and “filler episodes” notwithstanding, Lost is the only drama I’m aware of that truly has integrity and respect for it’s viewers. (Seinfeld being the only comedy.)
June 7th, 2007 at 3:12 pm
Well, Jericho is back on: http://chron.com/disp/story.mpl/headline/entertainment/4868092.html
I still refuse to watch it, though. Shouldn’t take 50 thousand pounds of peanuts to have a network close a plotline.
December 6th, 2007 at 6:25 pm
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