TV viewers are a little too comfortable

I suppose you could call television a democracy, of sorts.  Every 30 minutes on every night of the week, America votes with its remote controls, and we witness the outcome.  As with all democracies, sometimes people don’t like the outcome; hence the annual pleas from various segments of society to “Save Our Show.”  Because these people have nothing better to do than lobby networks to keep employing people who make way more money than they do.

These are odd times in television programming.  I’m not just saying that because suddenly a company that mails people DVDs is producing higher quality shows than the vast majority of those produced by companies in the television production business.  On the one hand, as the audience is spread thinner and thinner, networks are quicker to pull the plug on shows that are seen as underperforming.  It used to be that most shows were given at least 13 weeks to “find” an audience, as if such a thing could be done by moving the show from time slot to time slot.  Now, if there isn’t ratings growth after two episodes, a show is pulled and replaced by something the network didn’t think was quite as good in the first place.

On the other hand, when viewers get comfortable with a certain group of characters, a mediocre show can run longer than many of the all-time great series.  This week it was announced that two long-running shows were calling it quits: American idol, which I thought would run forever, literally, and CSI: Crime Scene investigations (the most redundantly named TV series ever).  Idol’s influence has been waning for some time; its winners used to be household names for about a year before returning to obscurity (whither Ruben Studdard?), but more recent winners came and went without so much as a blip on the cultural radar.  But I always assumed that if ratings flagged they’d find some different hosts and still make money off the recording contracts contestants were forced to sign.  I guess Randy Jackson found something better to do.

CSI formed the cornerstone of CBS’ seemingly non-stop production of crime procedurals that are created in some abandoned cookie factory.  At some point it was discovered that actors could leave the show but the brand would live on, so William Pederson gave way to Laurence Fishburn who ceded the chair to Ted Danson, and I’m not entirely sure why it is stopping now after 15 years.  Of course, it hasn’t completely stopped, as the CSI clones are still out there.

It used to be that a show only got to 100 episodes if it was great, and getting beyond five seasons was a sign of the highest quality.  But now Criminal Minds has been on the air for 15 years, begetting its own spin-offs.  The show has a rating at Rotten Tomato of 25% and a Metacritic score of 42, yet it lives on.  In 15 years it has gotten exactly 3 Emmy nominations, all for stunt work, so clearly viewers aren’t looking for great acting, writing, or directing.  Yet it still pulls in more than 10 million viewers every episode.

Other shows cracking the ten season mark include Survivor (which is technically on season 30 because they do two seasons per year), Bones, Supernatural, Family Guy, Law & Order SVU, and perennials like The Simpsons and 60 minutes.  The Big Bang Theory has been renewed through its tenth season, and shows like Castle, Modern Family and The Middle are still going strong after seven years or more. 

Stability is usually a good thing, but at some point it becomes stodginess.  As I blogged several years ago, when there was a concerted fan movement to save the show Angel (a show I followed avidly and own all five seasons of on DVD), if there is one thing we should learn from the story of a vampire seeking redemption it is that living forever is not necessarily a good thing.  Angel getting axed led David Boreanaz to Bones, which as I noted above is past the ten year mark (not that Bones is anywhere near as good as Angel).  Firefly being cancelled indirectly led Nathan Fillion to Castle.  More than 14 episodes of Firefly would have been nice, but if the show had lasted longer, would there be the movie Serenity?

I have decided to do something about this and I am reconsidering whether to keep watching some of my old favorites.  Castle has gotten a little creaky, and the plot twist that some mysterious “they” want Beckett to run for State Senate smacks of desperation.  I’ve enjoyed Elementary but the longer it is on, the further it diverges from being about a modern day Sherlock Holmes.  I stuck through Sleepy Hollow’s ill-conceived second season, but with the third season moving to Thursdays, I just don’t know if it is worth the hour it takes to watch.

So look at your viewing habits, and mix it up a bit.  Don’t just watch the same old thing.  Heck, maybe you should skip television and read a book.  Okay, let’s not get nuts.