Lack of Consistency in Entertainment

A

Ahmad Wakiyuddina

New member
I'm feeling a real need to rant here about Lack of Consistency in most areas of entertainment --- particularly multimedia (TV Stations, Games, etc less so Broadway and other theatrics).

It really, really, really strikes me as odd that any entertainment entity in their given industry thinks that they can blow out a brand new .... anything and then drop the ball on consistency.

Let me give an example so everyone can follow:

Fox is one of my prime examples all around. Fox constantly feels the need to shift a series around, force a series to be more compelling, tackle a market it's not doing well (while it might be doing well in another market) and overall it has always hurt their consistency and thus I feel it has an impact on their ratings.

Lets zone in on this a little more with Fox: American Dad is a great example of this. This series was nice and cozy at the end of the Sunday night animation lineup. It got good ratings. it didn't necessarily grab the Family Guy crowd consistently, but I tend to feel like its a better series (please hold your debates on that topic!). So with it doing well there, they decided on a whim to shift it to the 7:30P slot, which, for Fox animation series has always been the place series go to die.

Fox made similar mistakes with shows like Futuruma and Family Guy in the past and history has proven these series are really strong hitters, they just weren't polling well for whatever measure Fox was using to poll them.

Why is it so hard for companies to say "Ok, THIS is our lineup for this season and THIS is how it's staying". Then if a series isn't doing as well as they thought it might, instead of making a radical change, actually give it some support, give it some spotlights in a related series that IS doing good and really give the it a chance.

There's three problems in reality here I tend to lean on:
  1. America has gotten far too much into the 3 month profit plan. There are far too many times companies will slide numbers around to make it look like they had a great quarter when in fact they messed up (Marathons have demonstrated to be a great pad for this).
  2. There doesn't seem to be enough follow threw from the part of big multimedia companies. When they say they are going to do something on X date, get it done. I don't know about everyone else, but in my part of the world (which ironically is entertainment ultimately) if I am not getting things done when I said they would be, theres going to be some form of hell to pay.
  3. There doesn't seem to be the willingness to go the extra mile to really deliver. If things don't fall right into place, too many companies seem too inclined to turncoat and run the other direction.

Mind you, Fox is just an example here because its been one of the worst offenders. That being said, I think almost every major station in the recent past has been guilty of these practices on varying degrees.

/frustrated
 
A recent example that comes to mind is Sym-Bionic Titan on Cartoon Network. I'm not exactly sure why it's discontinuing, I've read it's somewhere along the lines of not getting the ratings it needed and lack of other things to make a profit like a toyline (which just baffles me. I mean, it's a freakin giant robot! How can you not want to make a toy out of that?) I was out of cable for a while, so I was surprised that it switched to Wednesdays at first. It just seemed like an odd change, and although I understand the need to squish premiers because of the lost hour, but SBT just fit so well to me with the likes of Young Justice, Batman, and Generator Rex. Then it moved to Saturday mornings, and now it's over. It just felt so thrown around to me. I can't complain too much, for CN did pay it a little more attention than some other forgotten shows, it just bugs me a series with that much quality wasn't given the best. Not every series can be a mega hit right out the starting gate, some need a little time. But I guess time's not a luxury CN can/is willing to afford right now.
 
Well, television is a business and in a business you have to make some sacrifices to remain competitive. Could they keep a steady line up and just rotate shows in and out depending on the seasons? Yeah, but then they'll just have a bloated catalog of programs. That's too many shows and too much money being spent on production.

American Dad just happens to be the lameduck show of the current Fox Sunday line up, so its no real surprise it gets sent to the death slot. I'd rather they dump Cleveland Show there, but I guess audiences respond better to that show, and there's no way they'd ever move The Simpsons or Family Guy from their current positions. At least AD does have some support judging by how they renewed it once again despite sagging ratings.

Sym-Bionic Titan was unfortunately the odd one out of a Friday night line up filled with action shows that had merchandise deals. It's a victim of circumstance rather than CN dropping the ball with it. The Wednesday move wasn't even that bad since they hyped that move before it ever happened.
 
I do remember around 2008, Cartoonnetwork would just constantly throw out new shows which would subsequently get cancelled what felt like every monthly and replaced with the new set.

Instead of just rapid-firing throw-away shows like that, companies should really take their time and put everything they have into a few meaningful shows that guarantee longevity.
 
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