Just for fun, pretend you have become the Programming director of a major network. You can make any network decision that would be feasable ( i.e. you can't bring back Sports Night since the actors are doing other shows now). What would you recommend?

For me:
NBC: Cancel Fear Factor and issue an apology. Make 100% sure that Fraiser doesn't last another season; give it a nice classy send off, but make sure it's gone. Renew Boomtown now for 2 seasons and give it ER's timeslot.

CBS : Cancel Still Standing and Yes, Dear. If I can't find quality sitcoms to replace them, get Don Hewitt to produce 60 Minutes 3. Put King of Queens back on Monday like it belongs.

Fox : Renew Futurama and put it on at 8:30 Sunday after The Simpsons. Retool Malcome in the Middle to be 'Hal's Family', focusing on Bryan Cranston's character at home and work, and not on a bunch of rapidly aging boys. Bring back Andy Richter!

HBO : Pat myself on the back repeatedly. Make sure Larry David is VERY happy with his contract. Politely ask David Crane to make sure that in The Sopranos' next season it doesn't take 13 episodes for something to happen.

ABC : Cry a lot. Watch the ratings of The Practice very closely and don't be shy to pull the plug. Protect Alias at all costs, because, really, what else do you have?

For now...

Dont' watch that much tv to make generalizations but...

NBC:

-hire better writers for "Will and Grace" the guest star revolving door schtick is getting old.
-"Friends" is also pettering, just call it a day, same with ER, IMO.

ABC:
- the one network I don't even bother watching. "Alias" sounds cool, but I am never home on Sunday night to watch it, move it to another night, Tuesday?


CBS
- CSI overkill - ugh

FOX
- as rouge588 stated bring back "Family Guy" and as Decker pointed out "Retool Malcome in the Middle to be 'Hal's Family', focusing on Bryan Cranston's character at home and work, and not on a bunch of rapidly aging boys." - amen to that. FOX are retards for canceling FUTURAMA.

PBS
- port over more of the edgier British docu's and shows that Discovery/TLC/BBC America doesn't or wont show

AMC
- have commercials in between the movies, and present them in their correct OAR.

NBC: Give Scrubs a chance to compete during sweeps instead of repeats of Friends.

Do something to try and save ER.

Don't do a Joey spinoff just because it's a Joey spinoff. Make sure it's actually good.

ABC: Try and get a job at another network.

Move Alias. It will never be able to compete against Criminal Intent and don't do something stupid like putting it up against CSI. Give it a decent lead-in.

Cancel Threat Matrix. Everyone knows it's going to bomb, it's up against Friends and Survivor. Why waste the money on any more episodes.

Pray SVU doesn't kill NYPD Blue in the ratings which I think it will.

Don't promise new episodes and then run something else. (No more things like Miracles being replaced with a Michael Jackson interview)

Fox: Sever all ties with David E Kelly. Cancel Boston Public(which they've done by putting it in the friday timeslot of death).

Renew Futurama.

cbs: Don't do another spinoff of CSI for a few more years when William Peterson leaves. You need him as long as you can keep him.

Renew The Amazing Race

That's about it for now.

The last Network Programming Chief at NBC - Soussa? got canned because he failed to jump on the reality programming, survivor type show. Fear Factor is a HUGE money maker and wins its time slot in targeted demos, etc. For Love or Money was the highest rated new summer show so reality ain't going anywhere if it is done right.
With NBC, I would ride out Thursday night and see what happens with any of the new dramas i.e. Lyon's Den or Las Vegas. Moving SVU to Tuesday is risky but a good move. I forsee Whoopi being canned after some initial sampling and the rest of the comedies doing only barely ok.

CBS: I don't watch except for Amazing Race and sometimes CSI but I probably would give Jerry Bruckheimer a big check to develop more CSI type clones i.e. Cold Case, Without a Trace.

Fox - focus on doing well in the targeted demos. IMO, I think certain nights are a lost cause for now, so I would bunch my complimentary shows into solid blocks i.e. Bernie Mac and Wanda. Moving a freshman show generally will kill it. The OC is getting great buzz, but Thursday is a kiss of death - look to see how well it does closing Tuesday night this summer. Goodbye BostonPublic. I never knew you. More Joe Millionaire and less American Junior.

ABC- Bachelor all day and all night. You can ride that pony all the way down to 4/5th place. The rest of lineup is aging badly or below potential i.e. 8 simple rules. start polishing up the resume.

HBO - don't pat myself on the back with all those emmys. Showtime and Fx are working hard to develop some interesting shows.

Just one request:

UPN: Fire Berman and Braga. Hire just about anybody else.

Intersting topic and some great comments thus far.

To add in my own.

CBS: Really, what have you got to offer us besides Amazing Race? Myself and many others can't name one show that you have in your current programing lineup. My thought would be renew Amazing Race and don't cave to any pressure to make major changes to the format. If it isn't broke, don't fix it.

ABC: You've really signed your own death warrent and you still are trying to make a comeback. I'd get rid of any lingering issues caused by the constant barrage of Who Wants to Be a Millionare and make the following changes. Resign and keep the only quality shows you have, My Wife and Kids and George Lopez(though I don't watch the show, I have heard its quite good). Fire whomever was responsible for the timeslot lottery with Once and Again. Rehire all the cast and start the show filming again. Give it a perm timeslot and promote the heck out of it. And finally, sell your soul to protect Alias.

NBC: Renew ER, but develop some better story lines. A whole season with heavy involvement from Abby's mother and brother was a bit much to stomach. If you are going to spin off a Friends character, make it a quality show and not just give us Friends 2.0. Give some of the junior comedy's a chance. Let Scrubs shine instead of bumping it due to "super-sized episodes" or reruns of Friends/Will & Grace. Stop the constant barrage of celebrity guest spots on shows. Never let Madonna on a prime time comedy again.

WB: Continue to develop and promote Angel. Hire writes to do more and create engaging story lines for Charmed.

Fox: Bring back Futurama. Bring Simpsons back to the level it was in previous seasons. Bring back Titus. Retool Malcolm.

UPN: Develop a new Star Trek series that feels more like TNG and not like the crap that has been churned out recently.

HBO: Incase it isn't common knowledge. Sex and the City related.


Just some of my thoughts.

ABC:
1. Move MNFs start time to 8:45. Pregame starts at 8:30.
2. Demand to know if Jacqueline Obradors is coming back to NYPD Blue. If she isn't, start cracking skulls.

FOX:
1. Bring back Titus.
2. Bring back Fastlane.
3. Don't overexpose That 70s Show. Great show but twice a week is enough.
4. Bring back Futurama.

NBC:
1. Get Dick Wolf to can Elisabeth Rohm from Law & Order.
2. Get Dick Wolf to can Elisabeth Rohm from Law & Order.
3. Get Dick Wolf to can Elisabeth Rohm from Law & Order.
4. Get Dick Wolf to can Elisabeth Rohm from Law & Order.
5. Get Dick Wolf to can Elisabeth Rohm from Law & Order.
6. Get Dick Wolf to can Elisabeth Rohm from Law & Order.
7. Get Dick Wolf to can Elisabeth Rohm from Law & Order.
8. Get Dick Wolf to can Elisabeth Rohm from Law & Order.
9. Get Dick Wolf to can Elisabeth Rohm from Law & Order.
10. Get Dick Wolf to can Elisabeth Rohm from Law & Order.
11. Get Dick Wolf to can Elisabeth Rohm from Law & Order.
12. Get Dick Wolf to can Elisabeth Rohm from Law & Order.
13. Get Dick Wolf to can Elisabeth Rohm from Law & Order.
14. Get Dick Wolf to can Elisabeth Rohm from Law & Order.
15. Get Dick Wolf to can Elisabeth Rohm from Law & Order.
16. Get Dick Wolf to can Elisabeth Rohm from Law & Order.
17. Get rid of the annoying graphics teaser like....All New Law & Order next after West Wing.
18. Beg Aaron Sorkin to keep doing West Wing.
19. Cancel Friends.
20. Import the British version of Coupling instead of Americanizing it.

CBS:
1. Bring back The Agency.
2. Don't overkill CSI.

WB:
1. Bring back Do Over and don't schedule it in the Thursday 8 pm timeslot.

UPN:
1. 10 year moratorium on new Star Trek series. Give the franchise a breather.

Other than killing reality shows i would say, give Scrubs the Will & Gra...er Seinfeld time slot. Will & Grace doesn't deserve the gift they have been given. Put it on Fri or Sat night to die a slow painful death. You might actually gain some respect back and maybe some viewers that always switch over to CSI.

NYPD: Blue, give us 22 straight episodes with no re-runs between, like you did a couple of years ago. Brilliant. It gets old trying to remember what weeks to record it.

Friends: I still think it is funny, but this is the last year. I say enjoy yourselves, have some fun and make us laugh one last time. Thanks for making us so f****'n rich.

I would retool SCI/FI - first of all, I would see if JMS could get the cast for Crusade back together and tell that story. Then I would sign his show Polaris. I would ask Harlan Ellison if he would be interested in developing something new for SCI/FI. Then I would hire Ron Moore to develop the Dragonriders of Pern show. I would then see if Farscape could be brought back. I would immediately cancel Scare Tactics and Tremors. I would pick up Firefly and see if Joss wanted to go anywhere else in the Buffyverse. I would also make sure that Buffy and Angel have homes at Sci-fi and X-Files and Trek too (except Voyager and Enterprise, which I would have bonfires for). I would keep B5 and run it until it was worn through. I would pick up Futurama and made sure it got new shows.

I would get as many sci-fi/horror/fantasy shows that I could to fill in the day hours and late night. I would also look at developing new animated shows and even seeing about new anime shows.

As for the major networks, I watch so litte I can't really judge what to do there. The shows I watch are The Shield, The Dead Zone, 24, Angel, The Simpsons, South Park, Justice League, Spiderman and that's it for stuff that is showing new or has been renewed.

I'm gonna do this as if I was in charge of FOX cause I think they make the worst moves.

1. Bring back Futurama and the Family guy and have them flank the Simpsons. Futurama at 8, Simpsons at 8:30 and Family Guy at 9. Maybe throw Malcolm in the Middle at 9 and move Family Guy to 9:30 on Sunday.

2. Make Monday night the awesome cop show night and have have Keen Eddie 8-9pm and Fastlane 9-10pm.

3. Cancel Boston Public.

4. Bring back Titus and Andy Richter and have them flank The 70s show on wed.

5. Make Tuesday and Thurday your night of Reality TV and show whatever reality show they have going on that season (Joe Millionaire, Paradise Hotel, etc. ) Have 24 be the chaser...thus some people will tune in just to make sure they don't miss 24.

6. Friday night should be awesome Movie night. Pick out an awesome movie and just show it. You know how many people only leave the house to go party on Fridays and Saturdays at 10pm or later? You might actually pick up some viewers from 8-10pm.

Monday at 9 is the worst possible timeslot for Fastlane - vs Monday Night Football? No way. You would get zero ratings. Of course, after football season, it would work there.

There are so many things wrong with this scenerio. This may be your ideal lineup but you would lose 20-30% of Fox's current rating in a minute.
First, Simpsons at 8:30pm? Do you really think Futurama can open the 8pm timeslot or that Family Guy can compete at all at 9pm? You sandwich weaker rated shows around stronger ones for their lead-ins not the other way around.
Why would you move Joe Millionaire from Monday? There is a very strong possibility that Joe Millionaire will tank on the second time out like Temptation Island 2 did. Moving TI2 to Thursday to compete with Survior was a brain-dead idea which killed the series so why take an even greater chance with Joe Millionaire - the show along with American Idol that brought FOX back from the dead. AI will probably stay in its two current positions and I would not be surprised if they just made the results show 1 hour every week.

So many networks, so much is wrong with all of them but I'll pick on sci-fi because I can:

Put a major moratorium on original movies. They suck, everyone knows they suck. Just stop it.

Pick up the rights to older sci-fi shows and do some block programming like star Trek Saturdays and show TOS, TNG and DS9.

It's been previously mentioned but I'll say it again. Beg JMS to assemble the Crusade cast and finish the storylines. Say yes to anything else he wants to do and make sure you give him everything he needs to do it.

Same for Whedon. Snap up rerun rights to Buffy and Angel. Bring back Firefly. Say yes to anything else he wants to do but remind him not to overextend himself.

Bring back Farscape. I didn't even watch the show but I realize letting it go is a big mistake.

Find whatever rock Chris Carter is hiding under and bring back The Lone Gunman. Pair it with reruns of The X-Files. Show the latter program once, maybe twice per week. Not twenty times. See if Carter has anything else up his sleve but make sure it doesn't become a convoluted mess like the last season of The X-Files.

Add anime to the schedule. There's a lot of cross over in the sci-fi/anime demagraphic. Let the importing begin. Animation in general might be a good route to explore - begin with Futurama and work from there.

Bring back G vs. E. Sci-fi already has the rights to previous eps. Find the actors and get moving.

Put Harlan Ellison's number on speed dial and see what ideas are swimming around in his head.

1. Cartoon Network - spin off a channel for Anime fans, so I don't have to watch this junk. Any true capitalist knows that not liking something doesn't mean you write it off, you make money off of it... so the anime geeks get their own channel (with more of the shows they've been clamouring for) and the non anime fans get to watch shows that are more in line with the spirit of the channel.

Get the insane minds behind Harvey Birdman, Aqua Teen Hunger Force, The Brak Show, and Sealab 2021, and give them the funding they need to hire similar demented minds, and churn out more quality programming to replace all the anime.

Get rid of this stupid belief that cartoons enforce ethnic stereotypes (which is why you hardly ever see Speedy Gonzalez or many classic Tom & Jerry cartoons).

Screw putting Family Guy and Futurama on Fox. Keep them on Cartoon Network, and move the Simpsons there also. Fox doesn't like controversy, screw 'em. The Simpsons creators lost their balls the day they apologized to whatever country that complained over being shown as the filthy crime filled tourist trap that it is. I remember the uproar caused by Blinky, the 3-eyed fish, and Groenig told the whiners to "deal with it." We need that attiutde back again.

Less re-runs also. I'm tired of seeing the same 10 eps of some cartoons being shown over and over again. There's so many classic cartoons out there that aren't being picked up, there's no need to be boring us to death like this.

2. Comedy Central: Priority #1 - Make Jon Stewart a VERY HAPPY MAN. Keep him happy. He's their bread and butter.

The recent airing of South Park: Bigger, Longer & Uncut was a great start. Now to continue by showing more R rated films uncut at night. Come on, Dogma? This film can't be shown cut up.

Prime Time Glick dies a painful death.

Get Stone & Parker to develop something else funny to make up for that horrid "That's My Bush" series. Screw Dan Quayle, this administration is the Rosetta Stone of comedy, and Stone & Parker somehow dropped the ball anyway.

More stand-up performances, less censoring of them.

Get Eddie Izzard on board for something... ANYTHING. He's one of the great unknowns out there.

Put together a fitting tribute to Bill Hicks, whose comedy was years ahead of its time. The tribute will end with the execution of Dennis Leary.

Take "Tough Crowd With Colin Quinn," turn it into an hour long show, and send it out LIVE and UNCENSORED. Give the panel more time to say things about the topics.

3. MTV & VH1 - this is the easiest one of all. Put a gun to Carson Daly's head and pull the trigger. Find Pauly Shore wherever he's hiding, and do the same... just because he deserves it. Then go back to doing what these channels were made for - PLAYING VIDEOS. No more Road Rules, Real World ("real" my arse), Tom Green show, Movies that Rock, Top 100 VH1 Lists of all time, etc. Behind the music stays. Ultimate Albums stays. Bring back Unplugged. Most importantly, put the focus back on MUSIC.

*waits patiently for das monkey's manifesto*

CBS: Cancel Yes, Dear and whatever that other show is on Monday nights. Yech. Already make plans for the year after Everybody Loves Raymond leaves... perhaps putting King of Queens in it's place? Doing well with CSI, it's spinoffs, but make sure you don't overkill those shows with the other clones you put out. You've been doing great over the last few years... but Survivor is getting to be overkill. Watch it.

NBC: Mentioned many times, Friends is getting tired. Even the cast is tired, they only stay cause of the $$. Go on ahead with the Matt LeBlanc spin-off, but make sure it gets a different time slot than Friends. Give Scrubs the 8:00 Thursday night gold spot and please promote the show! Renew Boomtown and keep all the Law and Order shows if they are still fresh - even throw in the real-life show you had over the summers as a weekly show. It's low cost and better than most reality programming.

ABC: Shake the dust off your back from the last few seasons and push on. Get rid of Drew Carey, or bury him as well as you can. Keep Alias as fresh and different as possible, and promote the fact that Jennifer Gardner is the show. People will watch with her increased exposure in the movies. Hire new creative people and don't clone the other networks. (And put Clerks: TAS back on!)

Fox: Get rid of all the shrill programming. Keep Sat. night (Cops/America's Most Wanted). Renew Futurama and Family Guy and make Sun night starting at 7:30 KotH, Simpsons, Futurama, then Family Guy with Malcolm last. Malcolm is starting to lose steam, so be careful. You are the guys who came up with Married...With Children, so come up with a couple of winning sitcoms again. Keep 24 on for another season or two... anymore might hurt you than help.

UPN: Uhh... I'm not sure. Just keep working and coming up with different ideas. If Smackdown isn't working, dump it and get something new.

WB: Just increase your exposure and work hard at more original programming.

lisadoris - ready for this one? Sci-Fi channel *turned down* and orignal show from JMS. What do we get? Scare Tactics and Tremors the series. This totally honks me off! Love your idea about the Lone Gunmen. Good catch. Also love the idea of G vs. E. That had some potential and it was interesting. Another thing, I would love to see the whole story of American Gothic. That show was vastly underrated. I would also love it, if they would give Kindred: The Embraced a try again. I know the lead actor is dead, but retool the story for a different city and tell a good story.

JestersTear - I'm going to go out on a limb here and guess you don't care for anime? Sci-Fi channel might be a good home for it. I like your ideas about Simpsons and Futurama; cartoon network is a good home for them. About the only things we disagree on is anime (I have found some I like) and "That's My Bush." I loved it and wish it had stayed on. I have a friend who is in stand up and I gotta say Eddie Izzard is vastly underrated. I think he's brialliant. My friend said another one of the greats is Bill Hicks. He's got some audio stuff of his for me to check out.


In general the only other thing I would suggest is for the love of sanity, please - put Star Trek out of our misery! There, I said it. That show needs a hiatus and some fresh thinking.

Yeah, I'm not big on anime... but I think that even anime fans would agree that giving it a channel of its own would be the best. That way they can have even more shows, including maybe some more mature themed ones. It's really a win-win situation :-)

Sci-Fi Network... there's a lot that needs to be done there also. I'm still trying to figure out how Braveheart quallifies as a Sci-Fi show. I still want to get my hands on the people that are ruining Battlestar Galactica.

Oh yeah, let me add for Comedy Central - bring back Mystery Science Theater 3000, bring back Joel Robinson, Frank, and Dr. Forester. Then pay the money necessary for them to lampoon the more recent bombs like Mariah Carey's "Glitter." I'd lay money that if they had movies that more people recognized, the ratings would go through the roof. More people would watch the MiST'ing of Glitter than there were people that saw the movie in the theater.

As for Star Trek... I'd go with your suggestion if we can't find better writers. Read the line of New Frontier: Excalibur novels written by Peter David, one of the best Trek novelists out there. A few minor Next Gen chars, a whole bunch of new ones, and some great stories. Turn the books into a TV show, and hire Peter David to write more shows.

Quote:

Originally posted by JestersTear
Sci-Fi Network... there's a lot that needs to be done there also. I'm still trying to figure out how Braveheart quallifies as a Sci-Fi show.

'Cuz it's in the same universe as the Flintstones.

oh....wait....

It is funny all the fans of Star Trek always bitching about this show and that. I think it would serve them best if they called it quits and sat on it for about 10 years. It would be fresh by then and that gives them plenty of time to think up something really interesting.

Oooh, I l agree on Clerks: TAS. Cartoon network could run this late at night and make it mature like the movie.

All Networks

1. GET RID OF THOSE FRICKING POPUP/SCROLL/INTRUSIVE ADS that either tell me a) what I'm watching b) what's coming next or c) what I just missed.

2. quit the squeezing/squishing of the credits and gag the obxnoious announcer that runs their mouth over them

3. quit chopping the older shows up and learn that you don't have to stop a show on the 1/2 hour mark. If an old classic runs 35-40 minutes with the amount of commercials you need, program it in 40 minute slot. TBS learned this trick many years ago to start their shows at 5 minutes after the hour/halfhour mark and it helps hold viewers

JestersTear - Well, good point, I would not mind an anime channel and yes, more adult oriented stories like Vampire Hunter D, Ninja Scroll et al would be great. Oh my gosh! Yes, I would love to see MST3K brought back. That show was hysterical and very ingenius. Peter David is a great guy with a wonderful sense of humor. There's a convention that's held ever second weekend in July down in Hunt Valley, MD called Shore Leave. Peter, along with Bob Greenberger and Michael Jan Friedman do Mystery Trekkie Theater 3000. Peter writes the script and then they MiST a Trek episode. I've laughed my arse off. The two I saw were "The Apple" and "Angel One". I even have a T-Shirt. Oh and how could I forget that Cartoon Network needs to bring back Invader Zim! I loved that show!

Michael - yea, but the thing is, if you talk to the fans and not the obssesive geeks, we all wanted a break after DS9, but they came out with Voyager, which so many thought had potential, until they dumbed it down. It's the first time I've ever stopped watching a Trek show. Already quit watching Enterprise. Most of us are for a break and a definite change behind the scenes.

Londo - 1. can't agree with you more. The only show I tape off of Sci-Fi is B5. When all the DVD's are out, I will stop. At that ponit, I will no longer watch the Sci-Fi channel. I hate all that crud on the screen. I haven't watched network TV since the seasons finished and won't until they start up again.

Well, when I started this thread, there was one person I was really hoping to chime in. Apparently I wasn't the only one...

Decker - nope, I'm waiting too. I think we should take over the Sci-Fi channel and make das the president!