The Ratings Race is On

All four major television networks (NBC, CBS, ABC, and Fox) released their plans for the upcoming Fall season this week, and if campaigning for the 2008 Presidential election, spinners were quick to patt their network on the back. As diverse as the networks advertise themselves, the end product hopes to achieve one common goal - more viewers. And they've all taken a similar approach.

NBC hopes to capitalize on "Heroes" success with next season's spinoff "Hero's: Origins", much like ABC anticipates a faithful following from "Grey's Anatomy" with spinoff "Private Practice." Why think up new ideas when you can milk existing ideas that already have a large audience? It worked for "Joey", didn't it?

Further throwing originality out the window, newtorks continued the fad of looking to Britain for television inspiration. CBS is hoping to strike "Office"-like magic with their takeoff on the musical/drama/comedy series "Viva Blackpool".

Perhaps most shocking is ABC's latest method to avoid thinking up new program ideas. We've all seen networks steal from each other, but ABC took it one step further - steal from commercials! Premiering next Fall is "Caveman", a comedy that places the character from Geico Insurance commericials ('so easy a caveman could do it') into Los Angeles to deal with real life as a caveman. It's actually quite remarkable that they continue to come with ideas on how to not have to come up with ideas.

Should ABC expect "Caveman" to become a cornerstone comedy for the network? If you've seen the commercial you have probably chuckled, the first time. But for anyone who watches TV more than once a week the 30-second ad that plays multiple times a day has likely become unbearable to sit through. What's going to happen when those 30 seconds become 30 minutes? This is just a guess, but after the concept's buzz wears off after the first episode, expect to hear 'cancelled' within the month.

As for the network's original programming? The outlook appears similarly disheartening. In a 2005 conference that gathered some of television's brightest scripters to analyze the small screen's current creativity drought, HBO's chairman and CEO Chris Albrecht attempted to provide an answer: "Broadcast networks make a mistake in that they strive for popular and hope for good. I think to strive for good and hope for popular is a better formula." Maybe that insight explains why when considering the "Big Four" networks, HBO is arguably the biggest.