I was surprised to hear that ...
Question: I was surprised to hear that after one good showing of
The Singing Bee, NBC would give it a fall spot. This comes from the new president of NBC, who was supposed to be hired to get the network out of last place. The ratings keep going down each week. Why wouldn't NBC wait until the end of the summer tryout to make a decision about the fall? It seems pretty premature and makes NBC look pretty foolish, especially if they go ahead and cancel it after the first few shows in the fall. With this kind of new leadership, NBC will always keep looking up.
Answer: A little perspective here. While there's no question the instant pickup was recklessly (and in retrospect, foolishly) hasty, look at the bigger picture. The impetus behind this move was to get the promising new show
Chuck off of Tuesdays, where it would face stiff competition in
House (not to mention CW's similarly humorous action-comedy
Reaper), and move it to Mondays as a strong lead-in to
Heroes. To fill this hole on Tuesday, NBC expanded
The Biggest Loser to 90 minutes and is filling the extra half hour with the low-cost, low-risk
The Spelling Bee. This silly little show isn't going to make or break the schedule or define Ben Silverman's new stewardship. It does, however, demonstrate the new boss's mandate to make quick, bold decisions in an increasingly volatile competitive environment. Some of these moves will work better than others. At the very least, it won't be boring over at NBC this season.
