TNT is my home. I know I have a house with a roof and all of my stuff in it, but Turner Network Television is my real home. But sometimes homes get messy or cluttered or they have uninvited guests in them.In talking with friend and SWTS reader, Lindsay, yesterday, I stopped to appreciate the fact that two hours of ER have returned to TNT’s morning schedule. TNT had cut back to only one episode of ER at 10am in order to air two episodes of Las Vegas for the better part of the last year—unacceptable. But thinking about how this tiny change has had such a positive impact on my day-to-day operations, I decided to reflect on my overall satisfaction with how things are at home. So, in case TNT is listening, here are some housekeeping items that need to be taken care of:
Some people might complain about showing “too much Law & Order.” I do not understand the concept of there ever being “too much” Law & Order nor do I think that such a concept exists. But you have been incredibly biased for the last two years or so in terms of the seasons that you air during primetime-in-the-daytime hours, as well as the for real primetime hours. The only time that I ever catch Ben Stone/Paul Robinette/Mike Logan episodes is at 3:30 in the morning. I would like for this to change. Immediately if possible.
Similarly, I need to know the reason why Angel only airs at 6 and 7 in the morning and not at a time when people who aren’t me might be able to watch and enjoy it. Also, what happened to airing NYPD Blue during the day or EVER for that matter? This ties into my next point:
Las Vegas is a fucking stupid show. It is not primetime-in-the-daytime material. It is crap that should rerun on A&E after CSI: Miami, not in between ER and Without a Trace! I’ve put up with this long enough. Las Vegas as got to adios. Please replace all Las Vegas reruns with episodes of NYPD Blue.People who don’t watch Bones are going to think that show is incredibly annoying because you’ve been using the same promo for about 18 months now. Everyone who has ever watched TNT for longer than two seconds knows that Bones is not going to declare it a murder just so Booth can shake things up. Please make a new promo.
For some unknown reason that I simply cannot fathom, there are people on this earth who love Saving Grace. I get that. The show garners you Emmy nominations and the entire Christian Coalition would probably camp out on your doorstep if you canceled that series in the near future. So, I will not ask this of you. What I will ask is that you stop airing promos that include Holly Hunter talking about the drama of Saving Grace. That line she has about how people get to see Grace do things they wouldn’t normally do in their own lives is trite and actually true of about 99% of television characters out there. She needs to shut up, basically.
I am really proud of how far you have come as a network in terms of original programming. The Closer, Raising the Bar and Leverage are truly phenomenal shows that have changed the face of television and become cornerstones of my summer schedule. I would like to caution you against building up your originals to compete with the Big Four networks. The smaller your group, the more likely it is for you to have hit series that you can nurture and maintain for longer periods of time. The shows’ characters become the faces of your network rather than the shows themselves being recognizable and no one remembers what channels they air on. You and FX and USA need to keep your heads on straight with this. HawthoRNe is great. I have been incredibly impressed so far, and we’re only three weeks in! And Dark Blue looks promising, indeed. But branching out into reality (wedding reality at that!)? Giving Ray Romano the time of day? A line must be drawn somewhere. A line must be drawn.And—this is tough love here, okay?—but two hours of Charmed a day is enough. The Power of Three at 8 and 9am. It’s enough.
*Images: TNT.tv, Dawg Sports, Movie Goods*
2 comments: