The ratings dilemma

In television, we all know the only thing that matters is the ratings. No matter whether a program is critically acclaimed, if it doesn’t meet the right demographic numbers for its network, it’s a goner. But now, it seems all of the major networks are seeing their heavy-hitting shows take major dips in the ratings, and the networks are scrambling to figure out what in the world is going on.\nBut maybe they know plenty – they just don’t want to admit it. The four-month Writer’s Guild of America strike really disenfranchised people; we’ve realized that we can survive without our favorite TV shows. \nThis isn’t just a random blip or a problem with a few semimajor shows; these ratings issues are hampering the major programs on TV. Just last week, ABC’s Thursday night post-strike lineup of “Ugly Betty,” “Grey’s Anatomy” and “LOST” all aired to their lowest ratings ever. Even worse, ABC still won the ratings war for the evening, meaning all the other shows did that much worse.\nI’m guessing these events have left the networks a bit terrified, especially with the “up-fronts” – where networks debut new shows for fall so the advertisers can buy time on them – only a week away. But this has also highlighted the major problems with how the network system operates. \nNo one in the industry is willing to accept that these low ratings are due to the WGA strike and not the fault of producers. Instead of producers realizing it’s a blessing to even see new episodes air this time of year, the talk about ratings is going to continue. However, chances are that when all the shows return full-steam in the fall, the ratings will stabilize a bit more. \nMoreover, maybe this ratings slump will finally force the TV power players to realize their system is utterly flawed. We all know the Nielsen ratings are determined by a small number of homes that are supposed to represent a sampling of the audience that “probably” watched similar programming.\nAnd let’s not forget that in today’s day and age, more and more people are watching shows online (whether legally or illegally), watching them days later on TiVO or simply waiting for the DVD to be released. For some shows, like “LOST,” that audience of so-called alternative viewers adds more than 3 million additional points. \nIt’s flabbergasting that a medium as important as television can rely on such a worthless system to decide everything, especially when they’re so confused about what that system measures. Sure, live ratings might be down, and that’s probably because the strike really angered people. But people love their television shows – they’ll be back. It’s the medium itself that needs to figure out how to assure the fans that their favorites will also be there.