Innovations, er, "Innovations" from broadcast networks -- FOX

Curious to what this all means? Read my introduction to this multi-post series.

My goodness, epic apologies are in order. I remember (barely) when I started this project and hoped to run through the past five years of development for the four major broadcast networks in less than a week. Well, here we are nearly a month later and I'm still only halfway through. This is what happens when you're a graduating senior working two jobs and trying to organize plans for fall. Stupid life.

Anyway, let's get back to it with FOX.

Like CBS, we tend to think FOX has had a good run since 2005. Did I find that to be the case?

In which I worry about 'Glee'

I think Glee is in trouble.

Not to offend all you Gleeks out there, because I consider myself a major fan of the series, but something is just...off about the first two episodes back. I cannot put my finger on it. Is it the long lay-off between the first 13 episodes and the back nine? Is it the overwhelming sense that the series has been overhyped during that period? Not really, because I expected that.

TBS is with Coco

“In three months I’ve gone from network television to Twitter to performing live in theaters, and now I’m headed to basic cable. My plan is working perfectly.” -- Conan O'Brien after announcing that he had signed with TBS and plans to air a late-night series for them in the fall.

Yeah, I'm just as surprised as you are.

Innovations, er, "Innovations" from broadcast networks -- An introduction

Though I have been using it for more, this blog was primarily constituted for a course about the changes in what we refer to as "television." Along with this blog, I am also working on a presentation/paper about the content and format innovations from "traditional" (read: broadcast) networks in this dynamic time.

Over the past few weeks, I've been doing some fairly in-depth research into not only what series the four majors -- ABC, CBS, FOX, NBC -- have aired, but also what "kind" of series. Thanks to The Futon Critic's fantastic DevWatch and ShowWatch archives, I was able to go back five years to the 2005-2006 television season and determine every single series the broadcast networks have aired. From there, I researched each series to determine both the format and the "type" of characters the series (if scripted) showcased. After hours upon hours of scrolling, reading and entering into a five-tabbed, color-coded Excel sheet, I am both surprised and not surprised at what I found. Thus, I thought it would be nice to share some of my findings in this space with anyone who wants to read them.

But first, let me clarify a few of the statements or choices I mentioned above as a way to introduce the posts I'll be writing in the next week or so about each network, because I know you're asking the following questions. I'll ask them for you.

Should NBC pause the ticking clock on '24?'

Last week, rumblings were that 24 would finish out its eight-year run this May on FOX. Now, Ausiello is reporting that 20th Century Fox (the studio) is pitching the series to NBC, who obviously need space-fillers on its schedule.

One question for NBC: why?