The Office question - is this a cult hit?
08-09-07, 02:19 PM
#26
DVD Talk Gold Edition
About the iTunes/internet/affluent angle to the show ... right when the iPhone was introduced (for sale) NBC showed a number of "The Office" episodes in a row ... I counted at least 10 ads for the iPhone during that time. Apple knows better than anyone the show's demo and paid for the targeted audience.
I think that NBC's comedies have skewed this way for a few years and people speculate if it's their good performance in 18-49 and affluent demographics are enough to compensate for their lack of pure ratings numbers. One also has to consider revenue from syndication, iTunes downloads, and DVD sales -- all areas in which I can't imagine "Smarter Than a Fifth Grader" does much of anything, but at which "The Office" excels (note the recent TBS syndication deal for "The Office" after just 50 or so episodes - a $25 million deal). It helps too that NBC owns the show and gets all of that auxillary money (unlike MNiE for example, a Fox-produced show).
I think that NBC's comedies have skewed this way for a few years and people speculate if it's their good performance in 18-49 and affluent demographics are enough to compensate for their lack of pure ratings numbers. One also has to consider revenue from syndication, iTunes downloads, and DVD sales -- all areas in which I can't imagine "Smarter Than a Fifth Grader" does much of anything, but at which "The Office" excels (note the recent TBS syndication deal for "The Office" after just 50 or so episodes - a $25 million deal). It helps too that NBC owns the show and gets all of that auxillary money (unlike MNiE for example, a Fox-produced show).
08-09-07, 03:08 PM
#27
DVD Talk Legend
I don't think so. BBC is the biggest network in Britain, NBC is one of the biggest in the USA. Plus, there is a German version of the Office, Japanese, Etc.
08-09-07, 04:36 PM
#28
DVD Talk Legend
I think it all depends on your definition of a cult show. If you consider cult to mean 'obscure show that many people haven't heard of', then no, it wouldn't be a cult show. But if you consider cult to be a show with obsessive, detail-oriented fans, then I definitely think it would qualify. I mean, things like 'Dwigt' have taken on a life of their own. Is anybody out there that obsessive about a one-time line from CSI or Grey's Anatomy?
08-09-07, 08:17 PM
#29
DVD Talk Limited Edition
Originally Posted by esc24
While that may be the case for you at your college, at mine nobody else I know watches it and nobody I know at other colleges watches it. The only time anybody I know watches it is when I have it on.
Same goes for you and your friends. You guys don't like The Office. Your associates, if you will, are into other things. And I'm guessing those you know at other colleges are into something other than this genre of tv.
