>Opinions | The Wasted Opportunity

Originally Posted by Jeff Harris

When CBS Paramount and Time Warner announced plans to merge UPN and The WB to form The CW Television Network in the first winter of 2006, there was a glimmer of hope that a new era of syndication was about to be born. In the late 1980s until about 1995 (when The WB and UPN both launched), there was a rise in original, syndicated programming?

Why?

Local channels without any ties to national networks (as well as the young Fox channels with limited programming choices) had to fill their lineups with programming. This was the era that brought sci-fi like Star Trek: The Next Generation, My Secret Identity, and Babylon 5, action shows like Renegade, Superboy, and Robocop, comedies like Charles in Charge, She's The Sheriff, and Out of This World, and animation blocks like The Comic Strip, The Funtastic World of Hanna-Barbera, and The Disney Afternoon. Sure, the shows never won major awards (well, Star Trek and B5 did), but they were all entertaining.

With a new group of networkless channels emerging as a result of the formation of The CW. Production companies had a window of time to come up with new syndication packages. The familiar companies could have developed new original programming for the newly independent channels. It wouldn't even surprise me if CBS Paramount and Time Warner developed first-run sitcoms and dramas exclusively for syndication. Newer companies and syndicators would emerge out of nowhere to create new shows.

Unfortunately, almost immediately after the formation of The CW was announced, News Corp announced plans to launch a second broadcast channel, My Network TV. Seriously, it was less than 24-hours after the CW announcement, as if they had this plan ready weeks in advance, certainly not a spur-of-the-moment announcement from a company that was caught off-guard as they claimed in the media. And what is My Network TV? I don't know. It's just two shows airing six nights a week rotating every three months. No sitcoms, no animation, no real variety. Many of the former UPN and WB affiliates that weren't linked to The CW desperately wanted to be linked to what they feel is a major national network, and this was the first and only thing to come up (some were embarrassed to be associated with the likes of the now growing Retro Television Network or the older America One network), so they hooked up with My Network TV. With two shows (no repeats) and twelve hours of programming, those poor MNT affiliates are stuck with a channel that nobody watches nor really care about.

There's still an opportunity out there for first-run programming for these channels, but lack of viewers makes it difficult to create an audience. I could see the likes of NBC Universal, Sony Pictures Television, Buena Vista Television, Warner Bros. Television, and CBS Paramount developing afternoon and weekend programming programs, but they're not making first-run shows for the syndication market anymore, with the exception of "reality" and game shows. All they're going to do is syndicate reruns of what they already air on broadcast and cable, which is exactly what they're doing.

The void that is Saturday mornings could easily be filled by new-to-syndication and first-run programming blocks for kids. Yes, I know they have the three-hour E/I mandate, but most affiliates air them throughout the week and early Saturday mornings. Familiar companies like DiC, Disney, Warner Bros., Corus, Sony, Program Exchange, or Alliance Atlantis could easily create non-educational blocks for those stations that actually would want a variety of programming on their lineups. It certainly beats infomercials. Seeing the once mighty WTVZ, which in its over 25 years of existance was the home of He-Man, Thundercats, Voltron, Robotech, The Disney Afternoon, The Comic Strip, Fox Kids, Saban Kids, Pokemon, and Kids' WB, air nothing but infomercials on a Saturday morning broke my heart recently.

The opportunity for a return of first-run syndicated programming that isn't set in a courtroom, hosted by a self-help guru, dedicated to blind dating, or doesn't involve videotapes of real or staged events isn't completely lost. Distribution and syndication companies were gobsmacked by the My Network TV announcement that they lost focus at the opportunities that existed and continue to exist. Able-minded producers can still go in that direction, but as of now, the opportunity is wasted.