Monday, May 02, 2005

Jerry Graham: Remote Control


Producers: The power behind networks


Television is a producer’s medium. The title is often misunderstood, confused with the money person behind movies and theater. In TV news programs, it’s the producer who decides what stories to run, in what order and at what length. The anchors may get the public recognition, but the producers set the tone for the program and are usually responsible for success or failure.
Think what "60 Minutes" would have been without Don Hewitt. Better yet, look what has happened to the program since Hewitt was forced into retirement.

A current example of the importance of the producer is the trouble plaguing the "Today" show. The morning program’s ratings have been dropping drastically in the past few years and another producer has been replaced, the fourth in two years.

ABC’s "Good Morning America" has been steadily gaining on "Today" closing the gap in viewers from 2 million to 270 thousand. This is no small matter since "Today" is NBC’s biggest money maker, bringing in an estimated $250 million per year.

When "Today" was riding at its highest, the producer was the so-called boy genius Jeff Zucker, who took over the show when he was just 29 years old. He had a sense of what the public wanted to see and was able to balance hard news content with feature stories in a way that showcased the talents of Katie Couric and Matt Lauer. Zucker was so successful that NBC made him head of the entire network.

What followed was another classic illustration of promoting someone out of a right job into a wrong one. Zucker may have been ideal for balancing the everyday, every minute demands of running a daily news program, but he has bombed as a network boss. NBC has gone from first to fourth in the ratings and is desperately seeking a hit show.

One theory of television watching holds that the channel that was on when a viewer goes to sleep will be the one on in the morning. That would indicate that the success of ABC’s "Desperate Housewives," "Lost" and "Grey’s Anatomy" have been a boon to Dianne Sawyer, Charles Gibson and "Good Morning America."

The "Today" show has become the subject of a series of stories about its decline. The New York Times recently reported dissension between Couric and her colleagues, and there are published rumors that Lauer is looking forward to the end of his contract. Gossip blogs have started chipping away at Couric, criticizing her hair and clothes, and comparing her behavior to the domestic diva, Martha Stewart.

But the show is not dropping viewers because of its cast. "Today" has lost its way because of its story selection and the dumbing down of its subject matter.

At one time, the first half hour of "Today" was serious journalism, a must-stop for newsmakers. Now, more time is spent on the Michael Jackson trial than on the war in Iraq. Stories about 5-year-olds being handcuffed by police, buffalos on the loose on a tennis court, little league violence, Amber Frey and Scott Peterson and the like dominate. The program emulates tabloid newspapers, rather than serious journals.

Recently, a featured guest was Nicole Devenish, communications director for the White House. She deftly answered a series of questions about Social Security, the economy and John Bolton without a hint of challenge from Lauer or a follow-up interview from the other side.

The program also failed to mention the top story in major newspapers that morning, GOP House Speaker Dennis Hastert’s decision to rescind the rules that have emasculated the Ethics Committee and its investigation of Tom DeLay.

Old habits are hard to break so I still turn on "Today" at 7 a.m., but my patience is running out. The program is in danger of becoming more about its cast members than about the audience and what we’re interested in knowing.

I’ve already switched to "Morning Edition".... (read Full article)

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