CW chief: "Smackdown" was just too manly for our "brand"

Dawn Ostroff, the onetime chief programmer at Lifetime, must wish sometimes that she'd stayed in cable. By now she'd probably be in charge of the whole Lifetime empire and come into work every day to overnight ratings that look a helluva lot better than those of the CW, the so-called broadcast network she runs.

I'm guessing, of course. Ostroff doesn't reveal her true thoughts about working for the CW — or anything else about the CW, for that matter. No broadcast executive is more evasive, more unwilling to say anything that would seem committal or decisive or even remotely candid about the challenges facing the fifth-rated network (sixth if you count Univision). Sitting in a CW executive session is the closest we TV critics will come to knowing what David Gregory felt like as he shadow-boxed a hapless Scott McClellan.

Today's session was no exception, as critics emerged complaining about Ostroff's refusal to provide timely or useful information about her network's plans. It was, in short, just like my interview with Elvis Costello, minus the consolation that at least you could go home and enjoy your subject's three-decade body of work.

Typical was this exchange about why CW was obviously trying to kill off its black-themed sitcoms:

QUESTION: Dawn, once upon a time The CW had more urban comedies than any other network on television, and now you're down to two and they're on the kiss-of-death Friday-night slot. Is that audience no longer important to the network, the urban audience?

DAWN OSTROFF: You know, we buy programs and develop shows based on the merit of the show. If we think that there's a great pitch out there, we'll buy it. And we've done it before; we'll do it again.

What's stunning about this answer is that Ostroff doesn't even try paying lip service to the idea that minority audiences have anything to do with CW's future.  Obviously, if she wanted more urban comedies, she would have mentioned them being in the pipeline instead of alluding to some mythical "great pitch" waiting to be made. She wouldn't have cancelled Mara Brock Akil's other sitcom, "Girlfriends." And she would have left the shows on Sunday nights or paired them with a Tyra Banks repeat or anything short of sticking them on Fridays, where one show and one show only has ever done well for the network: "WWE Smackdown."

Ah yes, "Smackdown." I don't agree at all with Ostroff cancelling this, but give her credit — this was one time in the press conference when she spoke with unequivocal force and clarity:

"WWE" on Friday night ... was really all men. There was no duplication in our audience at all for any of our other shows. When you looked at the viewers who came to us from "WWE," they did not watch any other show on The CW and vice versa. ... We know that taking something like "WWE" off, which was a very strong performer, will have an impact on the schedule. The question is will we be able to compensate in other places. But I think what's really important is that we have talked about building a brand, about having flow.

QUESTION: So cohesive branding for the network is more important than a sort of bottom-line ratings --

DAWN OSTROFF: Yes. The strategy of being able to brand this network was what we were thinking about.

In theory, branding on Fridays is a fine idea — though networks much larger than Ostroff's struggle to pull in any kind of audience on that night. The irony, of course, is that on Fridays CW actually gets some numbers. "Smackdown" won the adults 18-49 demographic last night, and reliably pulls in 4 million viewers on the least-watched night of the week. CW had Fridays solved, or so I thought. Unless Ostroff was losing money on "Smackdown," getting rid of it in the hopes of bumping awareness of "Stylista" a smidgen just seems insane.

What's weird about the above reply is that it came in answer to my question, which was not about wrestling at all but the CW's Sunday-night arrangement with Media Rights Capital. MRC, which is partly owned by the Endeavor talent agency, is creating programs that according to Ostroff are "right in our wheelhouse," with many showrunners who used to work for the network and its predecessors. So why is the work being outsourced?

QUESTION: Dawn, if I could follow on the MRC thing a little more. ... Isn't MRC simply buying the time from you and then can sell the advertising and do what it wants to?

DAWN OSTROFF: It's a much more complicated deal than that, to be honest. But the idea is that, look, we all are looking at different ways of doing our business as are many of you. ...

QUESTION: Then they're not buying the time like Discovery does from NBC where they just pay the flat sum? Is it a profit sharing thing where they're taking the time?

DAWN OSTROFF: Let's leave it at it's a very complicated deal and we'll leave it at that. It is. Next question.

Critics were not pleased to be told that something was too complicated for them to grasp — for god's sakes, we've all seen "The Prisoner." Nor were we delighted to receive confirmation of the MRC shows (see below) mere moments before the press conference. But hey, at least it gave us some actual news, as opposed to whatever was emanating from the stage.

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MEDIA RIGHTS CAPITAL AND THE CW NETWORK ANNOUNCE PREMIERE DATES AND CASTING FOR ORIGINAL SUNDAY NIGHT PRIMETIME PROGRAMS “IN HARM’S WAY,” “SURVIVING SUBURBIA,” “VALENTINE” AND “EASY MONEY”

Laurie Metcalf, Bob Saget, Jaime Murray, Autumn Reeser, Judge Reinhold and Jeff Hephner to Star in Sunday Night Block

July 19, 2008 (Burbank, CA) ─ Casting and premiere dates were announced today for the new Sunday night line-up on The CW Network, including “In Harm’s Way,” “Surviving Suburbia,” “Valentine” and “Easy Money,” by Dawn Ostroff, President, Entertainment, The CW and Keith Samples, President, Television, Media Rights Capital.  “In Harm’s Way,” “Valentine” and “Easy Money” will premiere on Sunday, September 21, with “Surviving Suburbia” scheduled to debut on November 2, timed with the beginning of November sweeps.  The four original programs are part of The CW Sunday night primetime programming block produced by Media Rights Capital.  Programming for the 5:00-6:30 p.m. timeslots will be announced soon.

“IN HARM’S WAY” - Premiering September 21, 7:00 – 8:00 p.m.

                                   Beginning November 2, 6:30 – 7:30 p.m.

“In Harm’s Way” is a one-hour reality series that looks at lives of people doing dangerous jobs.  Each unscripted episode will follow the brave individuals who risk their lives in a multitude of life-threatening jobs, including war photographers, oil well cappers, Coast Guard divers and minesweepers.  Craig Piligian (“Dirty Jobs,” “Ultimate Fighter,” American Chopper,” “Survivor”) serves as Executive Producer for the series.  “In Harm’s Way” is produced by Pilgrim Films and Television.

“SURVIVING SUBURBIA” - Premiering November 2, 7:30 – 8:00 p.m.

This half-hour comedy about a family and their new neighbors will star Bob Saget (“How I Met Your Mother,” “Full House”).  Full casting will be announced in the next several weeks.  Kevin Abbott (“Roseanne,” “Grace Under Fire,” “Reba,” “My Name is Earl”) serves as Executive Producer for the series along with producers Michael Hanel and Mindy Schultheis.

“Surviving Suburbia” follows Keith (Saget) and Anne Stevers, a seemingly normal couple who has been married for 20 years, have two children and a cookie cutter house in the idyllic suburbs.  When the Stevers get new next-door neighbors, the real consternation of suburban existence begin.  The neighbors’ bombshell 17-year-old daughter is a distraction for Keith; his son Henry becomes smitten with the teenage girl down the street who just got pregnant for the second time--making Keith say aloud that shame needs to be brought back as a national emotion.”  His daughter Courtney is happily going through her life as an Indian Princess and her innocence is the one thing that Keith will want her to hold on to for as long as possible.  Lastly, the new neighbors have filed a lawsuit against the Stevers to force Anne to cut down a bougainvillea vine in her garden. “Surviving Suburbia” proves that it’s never just another sunny day in the suburbs.

“VALENTINE” - Premiering September 21, 8:00-9:00 p.m.

“Valentine” stars Jaime Murray (“Dexter”), Kristopher Polaha (“North Shore”), Nikki Snelson (“Legally Blonde: The Musical”), Autumn Reeser (“The O.C.”), Patrick Fabian (“Veronica Mars”) Greg Ellis (“Pirates of the Caribbean: At World’s End”) and Robert Baker (“Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull,” “Leatherheads”) as a family of Greek Gods, the Valentines, whose purpose is to bring about the rare, strange, and often hilarious thing called love.  Kevin Murphy (“Desperate Housewives,” “Reaper,” “Ed”) serves as Executive Producer/Creator for the series along with Executive Producer Courtney Conte.

In the one-hour romantic comedy, the Valentines do whatever it takes to bring soulmates together, all the while keeping their true identities secret.  Grace Valentine (Murray), the Goddess Aphrodite, is the sexy and seductive matriarch of the family; her son Danny Valentine (Polaha), the arrow-slinging Eros, has traded up for a magical gun that makes people temporarily fall in love; Danny’s best friend Leo (Baker), the muscle man Hercules, is the strong and emotional moral compass of the group; and Phoebe Valentine (Reeser) is the Goddess of the Oracle at Delphi, which helps the family track down and help bring soul-mates together.  “Valentine” looks at love, fate and the work it takes to make romance happen.

“EASY MONEY” - Premiering September 21, 9:00-10:00 p.m.

The cast of “Easy Money,” a new one-hour drama about a family that runs a high interest loan business, includes Emmy Award-winning actress Laurie Metcalf (“Desperate Housewives,” “Roseanne”), Jeff Hephner (“The O.C.”), Judge Reinhold (“Swing Vote,” “The Santa Clause Trilogy”), Nick Searcy (“Rodney”), Jay Ferguson (“Sleeper Cell”), Gary Farmer (“Moose TV”) and Katie Lowes (“The Ghost Whisperer”).  Diane Frolov and Andy Schneider (“Northern Exposure,” “The Chris Isaak Show,” “The Sopranos”) serve as Executive Producers for the series, along with producer Brandon Hill.

In “Easy Money,” 28-year-old Morgan Buffkin (Hephner) finds himself in charge of Prestige Payday Loans, his eccentric family’s enormously successful short-term loan business.  Any doubts Morgan has about running his family’s business are quickly replaced by dealing with family business: Morgan’s brother Cooper (Ferguson) insists on driving a silver-plated Hummer, his sister Brandy (Lowes) has questionable morals, he suspects that his mother (Metcalfe) and father (Searcy) are not being completely honest with him about his relation to the family, and every so often, part-time detective Barry (Reinhold) drops in.  “Easy Money” follows the Buffkin Family in a modern-day Dickensian tale of money and identity.

Following is the Sunday night premiere date schedule:

Sunday, September 21

7:00-8:00 p.m.                        “IN HARM’S WAY”

8:00-9:00 p.m.                        “VALENTINE”

9:00-10:00 p.m.                      “EASY MONEY”

Sunday, November 2

6:30-7:30 p.m.                        “IN HARM’S WAY” (New Timeslot)

7:30-8:00 p.m.                        “SURVIVING SUBURBIA”

Comments

[Barry]

I really have no idea how Dawn Ostroff still has a job. It's mind boggling. The CW was supposed to take the best of the WB and UPN and make one, strong network. Instead, she appears to be giving a lot of WB viewers the bird and is trying to take away everything that made the WB great. Creativty, variety, eclecticity, talent, and seemingly has no taste for males. If it weren't for Thursday nights and Reaper, the network would have no individuality. Just the same thing night after night. She needs to be canned and they need to get better material for the network that will allow more viewers to come in. WB, how we miss you!.

[Sam]

When you looked at the viewers who came to us from "WWE," they did not watch any other show on The CW and vice versa.

Because she knows everything. I for one got into the CW network because of Smackdown, so losing it means losing viewers. I never even knew about the network until I began watching SD and seeing commercials between for some good looking shows. But since Smackdown got the boot, so did I.

[Jeffrey Cohen]

Even though pro wrestling draws a consistent rating, advertisers think its audience is low-brow and southern. Hence, they can't charge as much for ad dollars as "America's Next Top Puppeteer."

A study commissioned by the WWE about 10 years ago showed exactly the opposite - a mostly urban, educated audience. But that was a WWE-bought study, and nobody was going to pay attention to any results.

Wrestling does itself no favors by running a series of unbelievable storylines or angles, such as HHH attempting to have sex in a casket with a dead woman, Mark Henry (a black powerlifter) making out with a transvestite, and most recently, Vince McMahon was "blown up." The last fiction was ignored when Chris Benoit killed his wife and son and McMahon had to quickly show up on television to alert viewers. Of course, police records indicate that the WWE knew full well there was something fishy at the Benoit family crime scene. But tributes traditionally draw strong ratings, you know.

[Hank]

Try reading that "Surviving Suburbia" synopsis more than once and retaining your will to live. If these are the types of "great pitches" that the CW requires, then there's no hope for the network.

[Mark Jeffries]

Blame "Surviving Suburbia" on Media Rights Capital, because they're the ones who bought the show--The CW has washed its hands of Sunday night and sublet it out to this company (supposedly under pressure from Sam Zell and Randy Michaels at Tribune, who owns most of the key CW affils like WPIX New York, KTLA Los Angeles and, of course, WGN Chicago).

[Andrea]

I personally did not watch the CW Network because other than Smackdown, they had nothing I WANTED to see. Now with Smackdown gone, they have nothing left that interests me (The new shows sound absolutely dreadful). From which planet did this woman fall? Goodbye CW!

[Sarah]

Finally, someone writing a review with their nose on their face and not up Les Moonves' behind!

I want to know how Dawn Ostroff is still employed. She's a disgrace to tv executives everywhere. They have alienated almost their entire WB viewer-base that they came in with, which leaves . . . no one watching. If you're not a 13 year old shallow moron, then they don't want your viewership.

I personally cannot wait to see this network crash and burn. They've destroyed so many great shows for the sake of sexed-up, tweeny trash that they deserve it.

[JAY]

WHY DOESN'T SHE ALSO GET RID OF SMALLVILLE SO FOX CAN GET ANOTHER WINNER

[tyrone]

i agree..how does she keep a job..so dawn and nbc's ben silverman tell us this week that they dont program for "ratings"...gee i dont think they had to point that out..its a given..look at their numbers.......silverman brags he pays a small licensing fee for "fear itself" ya know... the new show nobody watches..well... ben... try paying a low licensing fee for a new show that has audiences excited and talking about..then your the genuis u say u are. dawn ostroff sifts thru hundreds of pitches and this is the best she comes up with? she wouldnt know a hit if it fell on her head. dawn and the rest of tv execs have ruined tv and have not produced a true break out hit drama in years and years and years. why? cause they ask writers to write for their taste and dawn is so out of touch with americans its a joke..while she lives in the health spa the avergae viewer looks like roseann barr and john goodman barely eeking out a living.

[n]

I think she is trying to run the CW into the ground so she can put the remains as a Cable network. It should not be that suprising that she is making the CW more female skewing when she worked at Lifetime and she made the ratings go through the roof by changing the types of shows. Even if she would be fired it would make the CW look even worse and mabey even cause cbs and warner bros to return to upn and wb as competors.