The TV Season Begins

After half a decade of being steamrolled over by the other networks, NBC is finally ready to rebound. After being the leading broadcast network in the 1990s, they fell to the bottom of the rankings in recent years, to the point where second tier netoworks like The CW and Univision have more viewers than NBC. However, NBC's luck seems to be turning around this season.

As I previously discussed, "The Voice", NBC's singing competition show, has been beating FOX's "The X Factor", a feat which was not expected among industry analysts. Even curiouser, last week NBC debuted "Revolution", a new drama from J.J. Abrams,  the man behind "Lost" and "Fringe". "Revoultion" became the most watched drama debut since "V" back in 2009, with over 11 million viewers. Additionally, NBC has found unexpected success with "Go On", a new sitcom with Matthew Perry, which has started stronger than "New Girl" did on FOX last year.

So what is responsible for NBC's startling early season success? The Summer Olympics, which were the most watched games since 1996, provided incredible exposure to NBC's new programing, as they had exclusive coverage of the Olympics this year. The extra exposure, as well as moving "The Voice" to the Fall, has allowed for the new programming to be a success.

If the new shows are faring well though, why are NBC's old programs flopping? For the past couple years, NBC's most successful night has been Thursday, where it's stable lineup of comedies including "The Office" and "Parks and Recreation" have dominated. However, all their shows have fallen in their premiers. "Up All Night" lost 46% of viewers, "The Office" (entering it's final season now) lost 46% of viewers, and "Parks and Recreation" lost 19% of viewers. So while NBC is thriving unexpectedly early in the week, the night it once ruled is having the lowest viewer turnout. It will be interesting to see how NBC's flip floppy schedule turns out in the coming months.

Sources:
http://blog.zap2it.com/frominsidethebox/2012/08/olympics-final-ratings-most-watched-summer-games-since-1996.html
http://tvbythenumbers.zap2it.com/2012/09/21/tv-ratings-thursday-the-office-parks-recreation-up-all-night-all-down-double-digits-the-x-factor-rises-glee-falls/149558/
http://tvbythenumbers.zap2it.com/2012/09/18/monday-final-ratings-the-voice-adjusted-up-cma-music-festival-adjusted-down/149000/