If you think the biggest entertainment industry news this week will be Blu-Ray's triumph over HD-DVD, think again. The New York Times is reporting that NBC will abandon the age-old tradition of unveiling new shows predominately in September -- meaning that the September-to-May TV season is officially on deathwatch.
Get ready for “the endless season, ” said Gene DeWitt, chairman and chief executive at DeWitt Media in New York, when the broadcasters “launch programs when they’re ready and promote them when they’re ready. ”
“There are many more opportunities to introduce programs to viewers over the course of a year than over the course of a few weeks in September,” Mr. DeWitt said approvingly of the NBC plans.
OK, so "endless season" sounds pretty terrifying to our ears, but in fact we think this is good news. As Charlie Rutman, chief executive for North American operations at MPG in New York, a media agency owned by Havas, says: “the idea of a constant stream of new programming is good. Programming should be like a good wine. Put it on the air when it’s ready.” Amen, brother Rutman. All we've got to do is wait for the other networks to fall in line, which we'd give three years at the most. And keep your eyes peeled to see if Lost's shorter seasons play well in the next year -- if they do, we may be looking at more shows adopting an 12- or 14- episode arc, meaning fewer idiotic subplots to deal with over the season. (You know, like all those cougar fights Kim Bauer found herself in?)