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On Television |
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IS THE LONELIEST TV NIGHT OF THE WEEK
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What's with all the reruns
& stale flicks on Saturdays?
By DONNA J. PLESH
of TheColumnists.com
Someone asked me
recently, “What’s going on with Saturday night TV?
All the programs seem to be repeats of programs on earlier in
the week, or on in the week before.”
Maybe a lot of other people are wondering the same thing. If
you don’t know what I’m talking about, then you aren’t
watching TV on Saturday nights.
People just are not watching commercial TV on Saturday nights
like they did in the old days (say way back in 2002). After years
of trying various types of programs--dramas, comedies, movies--on
Saturday nights, the big three commercial networks (ABC, CBS,
NBC) have pretty much thrown in the towel on new Saturday night
programming. At least for the most part.
Take a look at your local TV listings for Saturday nights. What’s
on in primetime? Surprise! Lots of reruns of the previous week’s
series…or reruns of series from the week before that. With
ABC and NBC throwing in an occasional theatrical movie that most
people on the planet have seen at least once.
Here’s what I mean. A look at a recent Saturday night 8-11
p.m. programming block went like this: CBS was airing reruns
of “ NCIS” and “Without a Trace,” and a new
“48 Hours Mystery.” NBC was airing the theatrical film
“Chicago,” available for years on home video, while
ABC had the umpteenth airing of the movie “Air Force One,”
followed by a “Desperate Housewives” rerun.
Previous Saturday nights have seen reruns of “My Name is
Earl” on NBC and “Lost” on ABC, to name just a
few.
But Saturdays have not always been rerun night. In the fall of
2002 CBS’ Saturday night schedule was back-to-back-to-back
dramas: “Touched By An Angel,” “The District”
and “The Agency.” That fall ABC and NBC both scheduled
theatrical movies in primetime.
Go back 10 years to the fall of 1995, and there was still a lot
of original programming. ABC had “The Jeff Foxworthy Show,”
“Maybe This Time” and a theatrical movie. CBS was going
with “Dr Quinn, Medicine Woman” “Touched By An
Angel," and “Walker, Texas Ranger.” NBC had “JAG,”
(Yep, they had it first, dumped it, CBS picked it up and it became
a long-running hit), “The John Larroquette Show,” “Home
Court,” and “Sisters.”
So what’s the reason for the nets giving up, for the most
part, on new programming for Saturday nights? Let’s analyze.
Some people probably just aren’t home. OK. Others might
be popping popcorn and watching movies on HBO, Showtime, Cinemax,
or Starz. Still others went to the neighborhood video store and
rented a couple movies, or maybe they are renting a movie via
their cable or satellite provider service. Then
there’s a group likely playing video games or surfing the
Internet.
It’s not likely many are off to their local multiplex. Movie
offerings have been so-so this year (other than the summer bang,
bang blockbusters), box office receipts are way down, and, it
costs a family of four an arm and a leg for movie tickets and
a small popcorn.
Will the nets ever go back to a full night of original programming?
Who knows? Everything is, as they say, cyclical so nothing is
impossible. Improbable, but not impossible.
TV TIDBITS
Rome is hot again! Ancient Rome, that is. What with HBO’s
wonderfully entertaining series “Rome” about life,
love, and treachery back in the B.C. years, and National Geographic
Channel’s recent “Hannibal V. Rome.”
If you missed the first airing on Nat Geo on Oct. 30, catch it
in reruns. The special recreates the Second Punic War (218-220
B.C.) when Hannibal and his army marched battle elephants across
the Alps to take on the Roman army. Fascinating stuff–with
on-location shooting in the Alps, authentic costumes and live
elephants!“
___________________________________________________________________________
Attention “Queer Eye for the Straight Guy” fans! The
Fab Five are back for a new season on Dec. 6 with a block of
wedding episodes that will feature everything from the perfect
proposal to the fabulous ceremony.
___________________________________________________________________________
Mystery fans rejoice! BBC America has a new mystery–and
some new episodes of past favorites coming up in January. What’s
new is “Conviction,” a dark series about what happens
when cops investigating a young girl’s murder take some
dangerous steps to solve the case that lead to the blurring of
the distinction between right and wrong. It
debuts Jan. 30.
Ken Stott (“Messiah”) takes over the role of detective
John Rebus in two new crime dramas set in Scotland--“Rebus:
Fleshmarket Close,” (Jan. 16) and “Rebus: The Falls”
(Jan. 23). Both are based on the popular novels by Ian Rankin
The second season of “Night Detective” kicks off on
Jan. 30. Det. Sgt. Nicky Cole (Don Gilet) has a whole new set
of crimes and misdemeanors to handle in Newcastle. Back to complicate
Nicky’s love life is lawyer Claire Maxwell (Dervla Kirwin),
now a single mother.
On Dec. 1, Amanda Burton returns as forensic pathologist Sam
Ryan in “Silent Witness.” This is Burton’s swan
song as the Ryan character in the series that first aired on
A&E. The final series finds Ryan clearing her caseload and
preparing to return to Northern Ireland to reunite with the son
she gave up for adoption years ago.
And for all you fans of BBC America’s “Footballers
Wives” (and there are a lot of us!), word has it the third
season of all-new episodes may hit these shores in the first
quarter of 2006!
©2005 by Donna J.
Plesh. The cartoon is from IMSI's Master Clips Collection, 1895
Francisco Blvd. E., San Rafael, CA, 94901-5506, USA. This column
first posted Oct. 31, 2005.
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