Is Les Moonves Running CBS Into the Ground?
 

Although I never heard about Leslie Moonves properly before, I already dislike the man; although he probably made smart decisions in the running of his network, CBS, he seems to be doing alot of damage to CBS and it's sister network, UPN.

For example he was one of the main men who cancelled Enterprise, a series that had improved itself in it's last two seasons, although it was floundering in the ratings and perhaps Moonves was being a ruthless pragmatists in this case.

And I heard that he made CBS a very popular network, even though he is going about it in a very heavy handed manner. Plus he seems to be good at cutting off and alienating whole demographs that he deems to be too "old" (read smart) and is apparently pointing CBS in the wrong direction, despite CBS still having high viewing figures.

But to make matters worse he cancelled popular shows like Judging Amy and Joan of Arcadia, plus he is very bad at picking new pilot series in the last couple of years (he chose Threshold then suddenly cancelled before it got off the ground).

Even though CBS is in no real trouble (yet), is Les Moonves storing up future problems for his network and dumbing it down?

Isnt CBS #1 EVERY week this season, with the #1 show for MOST of the nights of the week?

Yeah, it seems like someone has a problem with a few lowly rated CBS shows getting cancelled. CBS is top dog in ratings these days.

I never said CBS was doing poorly in ratings and is not a successful network. I know there is still the consistently brilliant CSI and it's decent enough spin-offs.

However, I still have a few problems with Les Moonves's policies in keeping or getting rid of certain TV shows. Could he be in danger of ruining CBS in the long term? I know CBS is doing well at the minute, but could Les Moonves bite off more than he can chew and steer CBS in the wrong direction?

But I know Moonves has to keep a profit margin and get rid of dead weight; I liked Enterprise but it did not generate high enough viewing figures to bring back the money UPN poured into it. Like I said, Moonves was being a ruthless pragmatist in cancelling it.

I just wonder if he is stomping on potentially TV shows and not giving them a chance on CBS.

There is no long term in this industry. It's about now now now. If you think Moonves is ruining CBS, what have you to say about the execs at Fox or NBC or ABC?

CBS has three things that sell: the Crime Drama, Survivor, and the comical antics of Joe Schlub and his hot wife. When those start to falter, Moonves will give different kinds of shows a bigger chance.

I'm not going to criticize him as long as he keeps The Amazing Race on the air.

I would never, ever, fault someone for cancelling Enterprise.

I don't care about Enterprise. But I do watch King of Queens, Amazing Race, Big Brother and a long time ago, Survivor. Les has turned that network around. At one time, CBS was considered the geriatric network and it had the lowest ratings of the the big three networks. Look at them now.

Well, Judging Amy and Joan of Arcadia (two CBS shows you mention) were given a chance. Judging Amy had what? Five seasons. Joan of Arcadia had two. And while Threshold was a loser, for some reason, people apparently watch that Ghost Whisperer show, to name but one new CBS show that seems to have caught on.

I'm not really getting the examples of him ruining the long term prospects of the network with the cancellations you mentioned. Joan of Arcadia was replaced by Ghost Whisperer which has been getting much better ratings in that time slot. Judging Amy doesn't have a solid replacement yet, but that ran for six seasons. I'm not sure how much longer it would have went. And Threshold was losing viewers week to week, which is not good for a show that probably isn't cheap to produce.

A better argument would be that CBS's long term prospects are in jeopardy for relying too much on one type of show (procedurals) that may be out of vogue in a few years. Of the 19 hours of primetime between Sunday and Friday, I count about 9 hours of those types of shows on CBS. But still, it's working NOW and that's what matters. Because there's no way to predict and plan what's going to be popular three years from now so why not strike why the iron's hot?

What the hell is with these guys and their hot wives would they could never get in real life? Keep it real, CBS!

He really had little choice but to cancel Enterprise.

TV success is all about NOW. They will hit a wall in a few seasons, but this stuff is cyclical, so :shrug:.

I'd give the man a hug if I saw him.

Don't you just love it when people with "would you like fries with that" careers make sweeping judgements about the performance of high level executives?

Yeah, running a multi-billion dollar TV network is slightly beyond me. :lol:

I have no serious problems with Moonves, but he still seems to be a highly controversial figure in TV land who has just as many detractors criticising him as there are fans praising him.

He seems to be pretty ruthless in cancelling shows, even high quality shows. However he is a businessman at the end of the day, a businessman that has to keep the profit margins up by shifting relative dead weight.

And CBS is the highest ranking network at the moment and is raking in the cash for Viacom.