On Wed, Feb 24, 2010 at 9:18 PM, PGage <[email protected]> wrote: > Nice piece, Kevin. I am interested in your skepticism, expressed in > the following: "As stated above, I don’t think this experiment will > lead to anything drastic. CBS would never consent to dropping the > studio audience entirely" > > Do you mean you think the ratings would not be as high without the > audience, or do you think CBS has some intrinsic investment in having > an audience? Ferg said that they would evaluate the experiment, which > I took as at least a possibility that they would do more of these > kinds of shows.
My skepticism is rooted in two things. First, CBS fired Tom Snyder for doing the sort of show Craig did last night, and they replaced his show with a show featuring a rowdy host and studio audience (who was later replaced with an even more rowdy host with a studio audience). In other words, if CBS were interested in the fine art of gentle conversation, Tom Snyder's version of Late Late Show would still be on the air (and, if I may, Tom Snyder might even still be alive and hosting it, since he literally lived for that sort of thing). Second, as the cliche goes, if it ain't broke, don't fix it. Last I checked, Ferguson's numbers were strong. He has a loyal college following. What reason would CBS have for tampering with the formula at this point? They may allow him to play around (as he did with the all-puppet show) or experiment (as he did last night), but, in the end, little one-offs like those spliced thinly between the standard shows are all we can reasonably expect. -- Kevin M. (RPCV) -- TV or Not TV .... The Smartest (TV) People! You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "TV or Not TV" group. To post to this group, send email to [email protected] To unsubscribe from this group, send email to [email protected] For more options, visit this group at http://groups.google.com/group/tvornottv?hl=en
