TV For The Rest of Us

Why TV Networks Are In A Mess: Part One - History of TV Production

Written by Alice Jester

Sure, it’s getting to be old news. Network TV ratings are down. The reasons are plenty. Advertising is down. Numbers aren’t being counted accurately because more people are watching shows online, with DVRs, and DVD sets. The antiquated ratings system needs an overhaul. The current business model doesn’t work. 

Yeah, that’s all probably true, but the state of the system today all happened because of the corporate media mergers and their never ending chase for that new source of revenue. Their actions increased income in one area but ended up cannibalizing others. What’s happening is the result of the age of corporate media.    This is part one of several articles that will examine why Network television is in the mess it’s in today. There’s a long history that explains what’s happening and the various reasons why what used to work no longer does. Before going forward though, a brief look at the history of networks is required. We need to see in their business dealings how they got here. Part one is a history lesson.   

For fun, let’s go back 30 years to 1979 when TV wasn’t doing so well either. Back then NBC was a last place network and 60 minutes, a non-scripted show, was the number one program, drawing about 21.6 million seasonal average. The top twenty had some wonderful critical darlings like Taxi and WKRP in Cincinnati, some aging favorites like M*A*S*H, and super lite fare in Three's Company, That's Incredible!, Dallas, The Dukes of Hazzard, Real People and CHiPs. We won't even mention the other awesome stuff that didn't make the top twenty, like BJ and The Bear, Charlie's Angels, The Love Boat and Fantasy Island. We had just said goodbye to stunning cancellations of Starsky and Hutch, Good Times, What's Happening!, Welcome Back Kotter, and my favorite, Wonder Woman.  In other words, back then they had a lot of crap too.  

In 1979, ratings were kind of low. Lower than previous years anyway. Cable wasn't an issue. It existed, but was an outlet for off-net syndication. Most homes didn't have VCRs yet, especially since they were expensive and the big war was brewing between VHS and Betamax. If someone missed their show, they had no choice but to wait until it came on again months later in reruns, or years later in syndication. At the time, the networks weren’t owned by any large conglomerates nor were they producing their own shows. They weren’t allowed to. The number of households watching TV was increasing, but overall ratings wasn’t. Bottom line, what was being aired was pretty bland.      

Lucky for network television, a game changing creative resurgence was just around the corner. That and Dallas getting delightfully trashy.  But I’m not ready to get into that yet. We need to go back farther.   

Read more: Why TV Networks Are In A Mess: Part One - History of TV Production