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but aren't D.O.A.
Genre lives, if on oxygen, despite ratings tumble
By Elizabeth White
When the big network suits speak, media people are inclined to listen. They have to. Amid the sales patter, there's likely to pop out an insight or revelation worth noting.
So it wasn't surprising the other day when ears cocked to hear the relatively new NBC entertainment president, Jeff Zucker, opine on the future of TV movies.
Zucker said they were dead.
The cocked ears began scratching their heads.
How could this be? they asked. Movies make up a big share of what's on television. Is a genre dying before our eyes?
Sober opinion is emerging to suggest that Zucker spoke before he thought. At the least, he was exaggerating.
Media people point out two major flaws in Zucker’s comment.
First is that cable networks are currently enjoying unparalleled critical and ratings success with made-for-TV movies. Everything from HBO’s "61*" to TNT’s "Crossfire Trail" is cited as a prime example of the made-for-TV movie’s present vibrant condition.
Second, media people point out, TV movies go through cycles, as do all genres, but the genre itself is not at risk of dying.
"There’s always an audience for movies if they’re well done," says Brad Adgate, senior vice president and corporate research director at Horizon Media.
"It’s a ratings-based game. If next year CBS’s movies go through the roof, there will be a lot more made-for-TV movies next year."
As it turns out, TV movies overall are in a down cycle, and suffering most is the much-maligned made-for-TV movie.
This defies history. Usually, the made-for-TV movie does considerably better than reruns of box-office theatricals.
One reason may be glut.
"It’s been a tough couple of years for the made-for-TV movie," says Rob Frydlewicz, vice president and research director at FCB.
"So many of them continued to focus on the lady in distress. Also, Lifetime and USA have a lot of similar shows. Five, six, seven years ago, there used to be a huge difference in the ratings for a made-for-TV movie."
In the past year, all of the nights on which the networks show original movies, Sunday, Monday, and Wednesday, have declined significantly more in the ratings than the movie night that relies on theatrical movies, Saturday.
The highest-rated regularly scheduled movie, CBS’s Sunday night movie, has dropped 18 places from its position last year, to 34th in this year’s season-to-date program rankings, according to Nielsen.
CBS has averaged an 8.6 household rating this season with its Sunday night movies, down 20 percent from its average last year.
The network’s Wednesday night movie has declined 22 percent in household rating, dropping the program 34 places, to 67th for this season.
In contrast, ABC’s Saturday night movie, which relies on theatrical presentations, has slipped only 7 percent in the ratings and 11 places, to 90th in the rankings.
ABC’s "Wonderful World of Disney," which mixes made-for-TV movies and theatricals, has hardly moved, going from 59th place last year to 62nd this year and losing only 4 percent of its average household rating.
As a result, NBC is also cutting its production of original movies by about half, although ABC says its production will be about the same as last year.
Another reason for the made-for-TV movie's decline is a lack of a national scandal, or rather the lack of a scandal that hasn't already been richly exploited by made-for-TV producers.
Scandals are a subject mainstay of the genre, along with victim tales.
"We go into a slight detox period for made-for-TV movies," says Robert Thompson, director of the Center for the Study of Popular Television at Syracuse University.
"Two things will bring them back. One is to go away for a while so that people will want to see them. There’re only so many theatricals that are available to the networks.
"The other thing will be the subject matter. News events will drive the genre. Some form of these things will be around for a long time."
Next year, CBS will have the advantage of being the only network with a traditional Sunday movie from 9-11 p.m. NBC has eliminated its Sunday night movie program.
"If there’s just one movie night per week targeted towards adults, it’ll do pretty well. CBS’s Sunday night movie could do pretty well," says Adgate.
May 22, 2001 © 2001 Media Life
-Elizabeth White is a staff writer for Media Life.
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