Us Program Deal Buoys Seven, Again
Sydney Morning Herald
Monday November 13, 2006
There is a curious parallel between the fortunes and misfortunes of the Australian television business and its American counterpart. In the US the ABC network, fuelled by the success of Lost, Desperate Housewives, Grey's Anatomy and Dancing with the Stars, has risen to untold heights. Its rival, NBC, for many years the alpha dog of television thanks to hits such as Friends and ER, is in spectacular free fall. To retell the story from the Australian perspective, simply recast ABC as Seven and NBC as Nine.
To its discredit NBC stumbled badly on the way down, including barefaced program plagiarism - Surface for Lost and Heist for Prison Break - but the principal source of its woes has been the failure of Warner Bros to sell it a much-needed hit after the network's decade of unprecedented success. As a result NBC has slipped to a humiliating fourth place from first. The only thing that has saved Nine from the same ignominious fate has been the fact that it owns the CSI franchise, which in the US belongs to CBS.In the US market failures are culled within weeks of delivery. If a show lives to see the so-called November "sweeps" - a month of intensive, competitive programming from which advertising rates are set - then it is considered a hit. This year there are only three hits and next year Seven is armed with all three.The first two are the quirky, sharp comedy drama Ugly Betty and the rich, textured family soap Brothers & Sisters. Both will serve Seven well and will be promoted easily off the back of Desperate Housewives and Grey's Anatomy. From its output deal with Warner, Nine has only two potential starters - Men in Trees with Anne Heche, which has a been ordered for a full first season, and Studio 60 on the Sunset Strip, Aaron Sorkin's brilliant new series - neither of which is assured of success in the Australian market.Factor in the AFL and motor sport, which were on Nine and Ten respectively but are now both on Seven, and there is a growing consensus that next year will be the year Seven topples Nine. In the US the only jewel in NBC's new schedule is the third of the present US season's three hits, the geeky drama Heroes. By a quirk of fate, however, Nine has been denied that lifeline. Heroes is produced by NBC Universal, whose output in Australia belongs to Seven.midato@smh.com.au
© 2006 Sydney Morning Herald