Bill Carroll
Bill Carroll
audience broad characters elitist network reach trying west
If you look at the characters that were predominantly on their schedule, with 'The West Wing,' 'Frasier' and 'Seinfeld,' they were detached, elitist and urban, ... every network is trying to reach as broad an audience as possible.
break familiar hard impression maybe trying
It's so hard to break through (with viewers). Maybe you get to set an impression for a moment. If it's a familiar face, that reinforces what you're trying to say.
connected main omelet reason shares squirrel thoughts top trying works
The main reason it works is she's really connected with the audience. She's very accessible. At the top of the show ,she comes out and shares her thoughts. And those thoughts may be about a squirrel in the backyard, or trying to make an omelet or the heat. She has a real relatability.
cable networks trying
All of this is positioning, ... The networks are trying to say 'we're not going to cede this exclusively to the cable networks.'
awareness deliver elicit olympics raise shows whether
The only thing the Olympics can do pretty consistently is raise awareness of a new project, and you can usually elicit sampling. Once you've done that, it really comes down to whether the shows deliver at that point.
audience certainly last supporting watching
There certainly was a sense, at least in watching the live audience at the end of last season, that they were supporting her.
avoid fishing gone lose losing momentum networks saying sign
The other networks want to avoid losing momentum and the way you can lose momentum is by saying we're going to put a Gone Fishing sign up and come back after the Olympics.
bright executives maybe name nbc shows spot struggling
NBC is struggling and executives have to be disappointed. Maybe two 'Apprentice' shows were at least one too many and 'Joey' is not doing any better. The one bright spot is 'My Name is Earl' but there's not much other than that.
bit hoped martha nbc numbers
NBC has to be a bit disappointed with numbers for Martha Stewart. They probably hoped it would do a bit better.
accept bill cosby ellen jerry mold
She's in the mold of Bill Cosby and Jerry Seinfeld, ... You can accept that Ellen could be like us.
legacy year
The only way you find out is the legacy. And a legacy is not a year or two; a legacy is 10 years.
alarm deal great seem
It doesn't seem there's a great deal of alarm
appears carry following sunday test
That was the test to see if they still had a big enough following to carry over to Sunday night. And it appears that it didn't.
looking
If advertisers are looking for stability, it's at CBS.