FOOTBALL NIGHT DONE RIGHT? So, CBS has decided to spend a lot of money and bring
Thursday Night Football onto its schedule for next season. I'm fascinated by the scheduling challenge this creates for them--CBS has a fairly dominant Thursday lineup, which is all going to have to be shuffled about. Do they just wait and launch after the football games end (it's only 8 weeks)?
Just what we've all been asking for: more Jim Nantz and Phil Simms!
ReplyDeleteI suppose that this bodes well for both Community and Parks to make it back to NBC next fall (though perhaps not for longer than 13 episodes.) If anything they put up is going to get lost in the noise behind Thursday-night NFL on a different network, I can't imagine that attempting anything new will fare as well as Community/P&R. They're going to do what they do. NBC doesn't have to spend a ton of money to launch them against football. Six seasons, at least, seems fairly plausible now. Does a TV movie count?
ReplyDeleteThere's nothing in the press release which suggests that the NFL will be providing any better games on Thursday night to CBS than it had to its own network, which was a weird and unfocused slate.
ReplyDeleteAssuming the contract starts with week one, does the NFL give them SF @ SEA, or DEN @ SEA? (Dallas, NYG, GB also possibles.)
It's better than more Joe Buck and Troy Aikman!
ReplyDeleteYeah, I do think NBC is likely to opt for cannon fodder on Thursdays (At least in the fall). ABC has to be relatively OK with it, because from 9-11 Eastern, they have two hours of successful, female-skewing programs that shouldn't take too much of a hit. It may also help the case for X Factor renewal, since that's fairly cheap cannon fodder, and can be paired with Glee, which is also female skewing.
ReplyDeletePFT reports NBC keeps week 1 opener; CBS gets weeks 2-9, and week 16 will have a double-header on Saturday, 12/20.
ReplyDeleteso, ABC is the only major network to not directly broadcast NFL football? ESPN is of course in the Disney family but have they decided the margin is best aligning their coverage with the Mother Ship? Suppose that makes since given the nature of the juggernaut, but still a big absence
ReplyDeleteI bet all four networks bid for the package, both because it makes sense to do so and to avoid offending the NFL.
ReplyDeleteTNF's competition isn't inherently cannon fodder. CBS's comedies have always done well on Monday nights (going all the way back to M*A*S*H, so MNF's move to ESPN isn't a factor), and many shows have done well on Sunday even after NBC started showing a weekly game.
ReplyDeletePeople who want to watch TNF have already found ways to do so - NFLN, online, or at a bar. CBS will benefit from consolidating that crowd, but it won't cut into the other networks much.