Networks looking to cut production costs are embracing game shows and are shifting away from disappointing and high-cost serialized dramas. In a recent instance, game show "1 vs 100" cost NBC $3.5 million in commitments and became the most-watched Friday-night show on network TV, while "Studio 60 on the Sunset Strip" cost NBC $39 million in an upfront investment and was seen by nearly 5 million fewer viewers than the quiz program. The Sun (Baltimore) (free registration) from NATPE

 

http://www.baltimoresun.com/news/bal-te.to.moneytv01nov01,0,365623.story?coll=bal-home-headlines

From the Baltimore Sun

Doing the math

TV networks turn to game shows as they lose faith in high-cost serialized dramas

By David Zurawik
Sun television critic
November 1, 2006

The shift in the bedrock of primetime television is evident in the fortunes of NBC's no-frills game show 1 vs 100 and its lavish drama Studio 60 on the Sunset Strip.

Last month, NBC added 1 vs 100, a quiz program featuring stunningly easy questions, a roster of talent that begins and ends with B-list comic Bob Saget, and contestants who compete in a stadium-like setting with 100 opponents at a time.

Instantly, it became the most-watched Friday-night show on network TV with 12.3 million viewers. The show costs Hollywood production company Endemol USA about $700,000 an episode to produce -- and NBC only had to commit to ordering five episodes -- for a total risk of $3.5 million.

Compare that with Aaron Sorkin's Studio 60 on the Sunset Strip, a new drama with a large ensemble cast that includes stars Matthew Perry, Bradley Whitford and Amanda Peet. Last week, Studio 60, which costs about $3 million an episode to make, was seen by 7.7 million viewers. And NBC is on the hook for at least 13 episodes -- an upfront investment of $39 million, more than 10 times that of 1 vs 100.

With network programmers losing faith in high-cost serialized storytelling, and boardroom bosses looking to cut prime-time production costs, game shows are the networks' new favorite flavor of the season. Three new ones are scheduled to debut this month -- with The Rich List, an English import featuring unlimited prize money, arriving tonight on Fox.

"Game shows are a great business model because the math just makes so much sense," says David Goldberg, president of Endemol USA, which has two game shows on NBC and two more on the way on ABC this month.

"We've heard of one-hour dramas typically costing between $3 [million] and $5 million, while these game shows can be produced at the network level in the $700,000-and-up range," Goldberg said. "Plus, a typical drama is shot over multiple days, while we can sometimes shoot two and three episodes of a game show in one day. You can do the math."

One of prime-time television's most dependable laws is that every few years a new series will become such a huge and unexpected hit that TV executives will do anything to emulate it.

In 2000, CBS struck gold with Survivor, spurring a rush to reality programming. This year, the NBC game show Deal or No Deal, featuring host Howie Mandel and suitcases full of money, is looking as if it is the hit to copycat.

Part of the explanation involves the way in which viewers seem to respond to shows about winning huge sums in an era of large personal debt. But the driving force in the rush to game-show programming is how cheap the shows are to produce -- a quality that has become increasingly important in a fall season filled with expensive dramas that have failed to strike a chord with viewers.

Using the most conservative estimates offered by producers and network executives, game shows cost one-quarter of the price and take one-tenth the time to produce as a weekly drama series. And so far this fall, they have been getting higher ratings than all but a few of the 14 new, highly publicized serialized dramas. The handful of serial successes include ABC's Brothers & Sisters, NBC's Heroes and CBS' Jericho, all of which have already been picked up for a full season by their networks.

While one new successful drama a year is not a bad batting average in the big league of prime-time network programming, the failures this fall are especially galling to network executives. Enticed by the young demographics that big-budget dramas such as ABC's Lost attracted last year, officials broke the bank in going for more of the same.

And much of the money is already spent. Pilot episodes for network dramas are particularly costly because they involve the building of production infrastructure from scratch. Seven pilots for new network dramas this fall cost more than $6 million each to produce, according to a report published in the Los Angeles Times last month. Among that group was the pilot for Studio 60.

The longer a series runs, the more production costs are amortized. A quick cancellation like the one CBS gave Smith, a series starring Ray Liotta as the leader of a gang of high-stakes thieves, is especially painful to the network pocketbook. NBC is feeling the same pain with Kidnapped, a serialized drama about the abduction of a teenager from a wealthy Manhattan family, that was moved last month to a Saturday timeslot but will not continue beyond its original order of 13 episodes.

The numbers make it plain to see why NBC Chairman Bob Wright recently announced a shift from scripted dramas to reality programming during the 8 o'clock hour on weeknights.

"The audience just isn't there," he said, referring to expensive series such as Friday Night Lights, a critically acclaimed high school football drama that is drawing an even smaller audience than Studio 60.

The numbers also explain the rush by other networks to get a piece of the action. As Fox joins the fray tonight with The Rich List, which puts no limit on how much money contestants can win, ABC promises perhaps the strangest turn yet Nov. 22 with Show Me the Money. That series will combine the game show genre with the dance show format now running red-hot for the network on Dancing with the Stars.

Show Me the Money features William Shatner -- whose TV persona has shifted from the valiant Captain Kirk of Star Trek fame to the lascivious attorney Denny Crane of Boston Legal -- as host on a stage with contestants, flashing lights and 13 dancers. Like the models that hold suitcases of money on Deal or No Deal, each dancer represents a plus or minus dollar amount, and they will break into dance once they are picked -- sometimes with Shatner as their partner.

"What you're seeing from this most recent crop of game shows is that in order to connect with network audiences, the shows have to be cranked up a couple of notches -- it's not just about being the most cost-effective," said Goldberg, whose company also produces Show Me the Money and Deal or No Deal.

"With the added competition now, you have to make them bigger and sexier," he said. "We already used models in Deal, so we wanted to evolve things. And since Show Me the Money is at ABC, the network that brought us Dancing with the Stars, we thought that using dancers would be a nice tie-in with their brand."

The appeal of game shows extends beyond their cost-effectiveness, network programmers say. Particularly attractive is the fact that it is one of the few genres that families can watch together -- which helps drive younger demographics.

"When you look at the audience for these 8 o'clock game shows, what you see is that instead of everyone in the family going to their separate TV sets in the house, it's that one time when teenagers are watching with their younger brothers and sisters, and watching with their moms and dads," says Craig Plestis, executive vice president for alternative programming, development and specials at NBC.

The network will be targeting those families with holiday-themed editions of Deal and1 vs 100 on Thanksgiving and Christmas. "No one's ever programmed anything original on Christmas Day this way, but these shows lend themselves so well to such event programming for those times when the whole family is watching," Plestis said.

As much as the networks are committed to introducing more game shows in coming weeks, none of the programmers see them as more than a temporary solution to sagging audiences and rocketing production costs this fall.

"As terrific as game shows are in terms of cost-effectiveness and flexibility in scheduling, they also notoriously have a short shelf life," says Mike Darnell, executive vice president for alternative programming and specials at Fox.

"It remains to be seen where this latest cycle that started with Deal or No Deal will go," he said. "But every show that has come down the pike in the previous cycle -- Who Wants to Be a Millionaire, Weakest Link, Greed and 21 -- had a life cycle in prime time of a year and half at most. I love them. They're great. And I hope Rich List is a hit. But history says don't bet the whole bank on them."

---

No-frills shows

Host: Howie Mandel

Concept: Contestants choose among models holding suitcases full of money

Airs: 8 p.m. Mondays and 9 p.m. Thursdays on NBC

Host: Bob Saget

Concept: Individual contestants compete against a panel of 100 persons in answering trivia questions

Airs: 9 p.m. Fridays on NBC

Host: Eamonn Holmes

Concept: Strangers are paired to complete pop culture lists. Winners continue to play with no limit on earnings

Debut: 9 tonight on Fox

Host: William Shatner

Concept: Dancing with the Stars meets the game show as contestants choose dancers who represent a plus or minus dollar amount

Debut: 8 p.m. Nov. 22 on ABC

Host: Jimmy Kimmel

Concept: Like a lottery, contestants can win a prize that will pay them monthly for the rest of their lives

Debut: later this month on ABC