Let first start by saying I know television is there to make money end of story. If I am entertained then all the better for them in the end. But I do think they are missing out on a golden opportunity. Typically summer has been a dumping ground for shows that have, for whatever reason, not been aired in the standard season. I also know networks tend to load up on reality programming in the summer as it is cheap to produce. What a golden opportunity to create a minor league of television for the networks. Summer could be the place where shows could grow.
Television’s primary goal is, of course, to make money and there is absolutely nothing wrong with that. However, television is an industry in an odd place. They rely on artists to create for corporate dollars to be generated. Not all shows are created equal. Some shows are solid and just have a smaller audience who get in initially. Some shows are just bad, but still have a core following. Some shows have great concepts but never catch on. When Brandon Tartikoff took over NBC in the early 80’s he allowed shows to grow and the audience to find them. Form this he grew the “must see TV” brand for Thursdays for NBC. This where the Cosby show, Family Ties, Cheers, Hill Street blues and many others got their foot hold. The simple idea? Leave the good shows, regardless of ratings, on and let the audience find them. Hill street blues had been cancelled due to poor ratings but after they swept the Emmys that year the show was brought back from the dead. I believe this is really where fans got the idea to have their campaigns to bring back failed, or rather cancelled, shows.
If you look at summer programming it has always been seriously lacking. In the early days it was filled with reruns. What better way to maximize profits than to re-air episodes that people did not watch the first time around and hopefully steal audiences away for the fall. Now with cable and binge viewing this has almost completely died off. Networks looking to hold an audience have decided to feed us reality shows that amount to nothing more than putting us at the cool kids table while some host, or cast member, bullies all others involved. We all sit and eat it up. Why? Because there is absolutely nothing on and we have seen anything worth watching on Netflix.
Some shows just aren’t going to win in the regular season. The just don’t add up. So the networks need to put them in summer. Take a show that has an interesting concept, Persons Unknown, and place it on in summer to build. Allow for the viewers to be wooed by interesting story, flash forward, while we spend our summers waiting for fall. These shows may not win in the fall against juggernauts such as Simpsons or big bang theory, but in summer they might just build a respectable audience.
To help mitigate cost the networks could also do shorter buys, some shows do not work with a full buy for the season. Try out the 8-12 episode range. It works for first tier cable networks like AMC, FX, and BBC America. Many of their shows, which are hugely popular, would not work in 24 episodes or would they work in fall line ups. Yes The Walking Dead had huge premiere numbers but then they settled out. Of course Breaking Bed’s final season did huge numbers but it had become a cultural phenomenon. Many shows are slowly building for these networks. BBC America’s Orphan Black is reaching out to new audiences with a combination of online streaming and short runs in the off season.
Plant the seed and let it grow. Take these shows that did not test as well as you thought or for whatever reason got pulled from your fall lineup. Give them a solid three years at 8 episodes a year and see what happens. I think we have just about reached our end of reality crap and are ready to go home again. We need these shows, now more than ever, not just because there is nothing else on but because there could be something else on. I’m just saying.