Following up to Jim's Slate post regarding Quarterlife and its pretentious creator's stance on the internet, I give you the following:
http://www.hollywoodreporter.com/hr/content_display/television/news/e3ie4fce632e9ac5150da54ab3f14a8730f
In a nutshell, the show, which debuted on Tuesday, gave NBC its lowest 10pm ratings in over 17 years. And what did the show's creator have to say?
"[Quarterlife] never should have been a network show. It's too specific. It will probably end up on cable."
That's exactly the type of pretentious hipster b.s. I expected to hear from him. What happened to the throngs of people showing up on his message board? Guess they didn't count for much in the ratings. Or perhaps they were bored to tears by hipster trash like Quarterlife. Or perhaps the specificity of the show, specializing in anti-"male" storytelling that is anything but useful, proved my point -- people don't care about something that isn't useful. As I expected, the show's network run lasted as long as it took me to read and respond to the Slate article.
Good riddance.
4 comments:
Hey man, My So-Called Life ruled.
Couldn't another reason why it didn't do well be because it was popular with online viewers? I'm not sure how many crossovers there are between those who watch specifically made-for Internet shows and those who like to settle down in front of the television, but maybe quarterlife had bad ratings because it was being shown to the wrong audience. I've never watched it so I couldn't give my personal opinion on the show, but it seems as if making the transition from online shows to network television is a lot more difficult (and not nearly so profitable) than network executives initially thought.
That's possible. I also am wary of NBC as the right place for the show at all. I've only seen the trailer, but it has that really soapy distinctly CW flavor to it. If you look at NBC's typical 10:00 fare, it's programs along the lines of Law & Order or Las Vegas. I'm not saying that it ever had the makings of a hit, but I question it's position on the television schedule.
I just watched a few minutes of about four episodes and they were so unbearable it's clear why it did so terribly. Not only are all the characters' lives completely inconsequential and irrelevant, but you can't even call it pretentious because it's so cheesy. Calling it pretentious implies that it at least has some quality to be brazen about, but it doesn't. Just another way people posing as "artists" try to cross over into a commercial realm and fail miserably.
Post a Comment