How the CW and MyNetworkTV are faring locally, nearly a year after their hype-filled announcements.
Two thousand six began with the surprise news that the owners of the WB and UPN networks had come to their senses. They had agreed to merge their two money-losing shops into one vibrant, profitable font of creativity. Yes, their combined forces would finally give the big networks a run for their money.
Of course, what we got was the CW.
As we look back on 2006, it's a good time to ask what exactly the CW's owners and affiliates got for all the hype they generated in the months leading up to its launch this fall. While we're at it, let's check in with MyNetworkTV, another new broadcaster whose birth was triggered by the CW announcement.
I talked to the two men in Kansas City who are in the best position to know: C. Wayne Godsey, general manager of the CW affiliate, KCWE-TV, and Kirk Black, general manager of MyNetworkTV affiliate KSMO-TV.
The CW came loaded with a prime-time lineup for six nights of the week. Dawn Ostroff, the network suit who picked the shows, said in July that starting the CW was “a dream come true, selecting the best shows from both UPN and The WB and then adding two new shows for the fall with even more lined up for midseason.”
Well, how's your dream now? “I wish that prime time CW programs were doing better,” admits Godsey. Ratings are down from last season, when the old networks were still fighting each other for viewers. “Gilmore Girls” showed up DOA for its seventh and, one must dearly hope, final season. “Smallville” could describe the size of its audience. Of the two new CW shows, “Runaway” is already gone and “The Game,” from Kansas City's Mara Brock Akil, is hanging onto the coattails of “Girlfriends,” Akil's other series, for dear life.
Two shows that are doing well for KCWE were on the station back when it was a UPN affiliate, “America's Next Top Model” and “Everybody Hates Chris” (which was moved abruptly to Mondays after the season began) are doing fine, said Godsey. In fact, KCWE's ratings are better than ever, with record months in October and November. But that's thanks to reruns of “Dr. Phil” and “Oprah,” not the new CW shows.
Still, KCWE is on easy street compared to KSMO, which is drawing less than one-third KCWE's audience in prime time. KSMO is averaging less than a 1 share in prime time, meaning less than 1 percent of households in Kansas City are watching. At 7 p.m. more people are watching 20-year-old repeats of “Mama's Family” on KMCI-TV than are watching “Desire,” the dreckish “telenovela” airing five nights a week on KSMO.
“Honestly, it's been a little worse than I thought it would be,” admits Black. Drawing an example from the other local station he oversees, KCTV-5, he says, “CBS cancelled 'Smith' after three weeks because of poor ratings. We would kill for 'Smith' ratings on KSMO.”
So why does MyNetworkTV exist, anyway? Because a lot of big-city UPN stations were left high and dry by the CW announcement. They weren't going to get CW affiliations and they needed programs -- quickly. And that's what Fox, which owns MyNetworkTV, gave them: two nightly soaps rushed into production with low budgets and low expectations. MyNetworkTV reminds me of a quip by Ronald Reagan about the movies he made in Hollywood: “The studios didn't want them good, they wanted them Thursday.”
The first two telenovelas wrap up their stories this week and on Wednesday, two new ones take their place. “Watch Over Me” (8 p.m. weeknights, KSMO), about a ruthless businessman who hires a handsome bodyguard for his hot wife, and before you ask yourself, “Could there be a more blatantly contrived setup for a TV show?”, consider “Wicked Wicked Games” (7 p.m.), which stars Tatum O'Neal as a ruthless businesswoman who hires her two sons to wreak havoc on a man who dumped her … wait for it … twenty-five years ago.
At least they're in high definition. “Wicked” and “Watch” will run for 13 weeks and 65 episodes, with weekly recaps on Saturday nights.
Godsey and Black each control two TV stations (Godsey's general manager of ABC affiliate KMBC-9) and bring different philosophies that could affect their stations' futures. KCWE, for instance, airs no news or public affairs, while KSMO uses the KCTV-5 newsroom extensively, with a 9 p.m. newscast, public affairs show (“Your Kansas City,” 12 noon Sundays), added Chiefs coverage and a show co-produced with The Star's TeenStar staff (12:30 p.m. Sundays).
With MyNetworkTV faring so poorly, Black says, “My only option with this station is to make it as local as possible.” Godsey won't do that with KCWE because he fears “cannibalizing” the KMBC-9 audience. He adds, “I don't know whether I'm right about this or not.”
We won't know which approach is more successful for a while. Eventually MyNetworkTV should catch up to CW in the number and quality of shows it develops. The man in charge of MyNetworkTV is Roger Ailes, who also founded the Fox News Channel, so he knows a thing or two about catching up to his competition.
Comments