If you've had your fill of summer reruns and unfulfilling reality shows, you're probably looking forward to the new fall season. Prime time brings such familiar faces as John Larroquette, Loni Anderson, and Whoopi Goldberg back into your set with new shows, but there always seems to be plenty of room for most of your returning favorites.
No show will ever be as good as the behind-the-scenes intrigue. That's the real situational drama. Sure, Viacom's (NYSE:VIA) CBS and General Electric's (NYSE:GE) NBC are going to battle hard for pole position again this year. However, with NBC's Friends coming to a close this year and CBS's Survivor challenged to pick up its ratings, the 2003 season may be merely an appetizer for the battle that awaits next year.
For now, Disney's (NYSE:DIS) ABC is the focus. With the unfortunate death of John Ritter last week, the cornerstone of the struggling network's return to relevancy is in limbo. ABC had a dramatic fall from grace over the past three years, as Who Wants to Be a Millionaire's overexposure became its own final answer, and ABC has sought to fill the void. By some measuring sticks, ABC actually finished fourth last season, behind Fox (NYSE:FOX), in key demographics.
Ritter's passing is tragic on many levels, but it is disastrous for ABC, which had a rare hit with 8 Simple Rules for Dating My Teenage Daughter. So while America begins to rally around the fresh content on their tubes this month, there are plenty of programmers chewing their fingers to the bone.
Surprise sleeper hits and unexpected turkeys are to be expected. It's why the networks are stockpiled with mid-season replacements. But as to which shows will pan out and what kind of impact that will have on the network, well, that's... to be continued.
