(May
21st,
2010. -
Editor)
The 2009
- 10 television season will not be remembered fondly by anyone.
The viewer was forced to lower their expectations and the
networks had to figure out how to make more TV programs for much
less money. The downturn in ad dollars has impacted on every
segment of the television industry, and has hurt the networks
the most. The shrinking pool of advertisers combined with
shrinking audiences created a year that everyone
would like to forget.
The
fall-out from the 2008 television writers strike also impacted
last season, as did the need to stock pile episodes until
negotiations for a new contract with the Screen Actors Guild had
been completed. This season will be the first in two years that
will afford the networks the full development cycle that is
usually needed to bring a TV show to the air.
Experiments
with on-line content during the season failed to attract any
long-term support for the internet as an alternate means of
delivering TV to the viewer. Advertisers are not eager to create
the same kind of system for the internet hat has existed for
decades on television. A desire for a better return on their
investment has left many advertisers unwilling to finance the
lengthy experiments that are needed to truly understand internet
traffic and the future of that media option.
Reality
series and primetime game shows seem to have run their course
and the season ahead will see the return of more scripted
series. Penny-pinching by all of the networks may mean we ill be
watching dramas and comedies that are less expensive to make,
but at least it is a return to the style of entertainment that
made the TV networks what they are today.
It
is a hopeful sign that the executives at all the US networks are
optimistic about the future of television. The 2010-11
television season will be be as return to has been success
and more importantly, what has been profitable.
-
Editor
