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?

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

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

We tend to think that CBS has had the best run of success in the last handful of years, but after my research did my mind get blown?

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

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

Of all the networks I researched for this project, I think ABC's results surprised me the most.

And that's not a good thing.

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.