My primary means for surviving the writers strike has been to load up my home theater PC DVR with recorded shows to watch through Spring and Summer 2008. Additionally, I’ll continue renting movies from Netflix and catch up on movies and TV shows that I missed out on before. While I’m at it, I’ll also spend some time outside.
Still, if I were a TV Network exec and trying to find several months of worthwhile programming, here’s what I’d do while waiting out writers strike. It’s actually a pretty easy solution and could revive some decent shows that deserved to be saved.
- Firefly – Re-run the Firefly television episodes in their originally intended order and conclude with the Firefly Serenity movie. Promote the heck out of it and bring in tons of viewers who never saw it the first time. If Firefly gets decent rating, FOX could bring it back with new shows once the strike has ended for an easy hit TV show.
- Jericho – With the new, second season of Jericho coming soon, CBS should air the first season once more in prime-time and promote it in a big way. They did this during the summer, but it was right around July 4th when many potential viewers were not watching television. Run it again now to get the attention it deserves and bring in new viewers ready to make the second season of Jericho a success.
- Heroes – Show Heroes from the beginning, promote it, and bring in new viewers while audiences are desperate for quality content (read: not reality TV).
Bottom line is that networks can air quality re-runs and sufficiently promote them as must-watch “classics” – which could be supplemented with behind the scenes special clips and interviews.
What other shows should the networks resurrect for reruns? I’m thinking shows that have either been canceled and/or haven’t received the attention they deserved their first go-around. Also, how are you planning to deal with the writers strike fallout?
Check out more of Brent’s reflections on tech, gadgets, software and media at Brent Evans Geek Tonic.