How Do You Choose What To Watch?

Serial Dramas Prompt Questions for CBS The proliferation of quickly cancelled serial dramas on TV led to a questioning of CBS Pres Nina Tassler on Saturday. When shows get repeatedly cancelled without tying up loose ends, what are fans of the show to do? You're left forever wondering what would have happened. Well, reporters were asking about that and rightly so. Why should you take an interest in a TV show when there is such a high percentage chance it'll be cancelled before the first year is over? These questions led to the following: Asked if viewers might start to sour on such programs if they're repeatedly disappointed by cancelations, Tassler dismissed it as irrelevant, saying she didn't think audiences made viewing choices that way. Reporters then asked if Tassler was saying the viewers didn't care about being left in the plot lurch. After taking a couple of stabs at the question, the network executive said she recognized that viewers do care. Her assertion that viewers don't weigh the possibility a serialized drama could be yanked in deciding whether to watch prompted a disbelieving question from one reporter: "Are you serious?" Network execs certainly are out of touch with today's market. They've burned they're own viewing audience so many times, that most don't bother tuning in for new shows. Personally, I can't remember the last new show debuting that I was really excited about and followed from the beginning. Certainly my change to working night shifts and different days of the week over the past year and a half has worked against it, but I could always record something if I wanted to. However, in the last couple of years, there's been so little to do that for. Besides, thanks to the DVD market, TV shows are much better that way anyway. It is too bad that they're so quick to cancel. Most shows take a season to find its legs and really get firing on all cylinders. Anyone who's re-watched the first season of Seinfeld knows that show would never make it to season 2 in today's market. It took a season or two to really get going and then look what happened - best sitcom of all time. Imagine all the good shows we've been deprived of by itchy trigger fingers...