UPN moves Smackdown to Friday Night

[justcoz 0]

This is the first time that I've ever said they should just end the brand split right now. It's the most logical thing to do. USA/Universal will be putting out a lot of $$$ towards hyping the return of Raw to USA this fall. It would make sense to have the bulk of the talent and big names present on Raw. They only have one weekend time slot in the new USA deal so it's being assumed that there will no longer be any more Velocity which would leave Smackdown without a B-show. Smackdown on Friday nights may not necessarily be ratings death but they would be hitting a far different demographic compared to Raw. More than likely an older audience. I'd pretty much screw UPN by taping the show in a smaller venue, like the Hammerstein Ballroom or something, and featuring a more mat based program, a lot of cruisers, smaller guys. Not so much storyline as we've come to know it from WWE with backstage skits, etc.

 

Or just bring back ECW and go total raunch to the point that they piss off UPN.

[res37618 0]

I don't know how to react to this news . . .

 

Traditionally, in the TV world, Friday night is the "deathnail" in the proverbial coffin. From that standpoint, it would appear odd, because I'm quite sure WWE is their #1 show at this point, and nothing they've had, short of "America's Next Top Model" or possibly "Star Trek", has even come close to getting the ratings that WWE has for them. It would be like CBS deciding that a ratings mainstay like "Two and a Half Men" would do much better on Friday night at 9:30 or some shit like that. I'm kinda baffled by this - except for the fact that UPN has been touted as becoming a more female-oriented station, it makes no programming sense. It's probably the only way that UPN hasn't gotten their asses kicked even worse on Thursday night, and NONE of what they're proposing for replacing it probably has any chance in hell of doing better ratings.

 

On the flip side, I daresay that 90% of the Smackdown TV audience are die-hards who will either a) tape the show, or b) be home on Friday night to watch it anyway. They may lose a couple tenths of a point overall, but I don't see it being a huge ratings disaster. I think it's just UPN's way of telling WWE "Thanks guys, but don't let the door hit you in the ass on the way out." The die-hards will follow, as I'm sure the total TV wrestling audience at this point has very few "casual fans."

 

It won't surprise me a bit to see Smackdown end up on USA in '06. I'd say that's where they're headed, but I'm not sure if WWE will want to keep the shows on different networks in order to draw fans who may not get one or the other.

[Karc 0]

UPN is long overdue for an overhaul. But for a first move, moving your two highest rated shows to Friday nights isn't very smart. Enterprise was there, and is now cancelled. Few would be surprised if Smackdown was next in 2006. What's going to carry them during the transition? A reality show and a bunch of critically-acclaimed dramas that no one watches? Nice knowing you UPN.

 

"WWE Smackdown!" will now dominate Friday, where its testosterone-driven antics will draw familiar ratings without tainting the rest of UPN's schedule.

 

Ah, Vince, the media really does hate you.

[Promoter 0]

Someone in WWE Legal must have missed the fine print on that contract.  UPN should have moved it to Mondays to really screw around w/ Vince.

dude that would absolutely rock.

 

of course it would wreak havok with WWE's business, but you have to think the raw/smackdown thing would gain tons of intensity (which WWE would probably kill with bad booking as per usual but whatever).

That would be damn interesting to say the least, but this company can't pull it off. Who knows maybe Vince agreed to this. He already sees the show as the "minor league" of the wwe. UPN probably got wind of what they have in store for the draft lottery and just shifted the show to friday.

 

However, friday night was the night that got a 15.1 rating on NBC in 1988, so fans will watch I think. Of course, there is no way in hell this will happen in the near future. It's not like this is coming on at 11:00 or even 10:00 when people are just stepping out or am I wrong on this?

[Guest nokia]

credit; pwinsider.com

 

"In a move that may be a sign that UPN will not renew Smackdown after its contract expires in the fall of 2006, the network announced at their upfront presentation today that Smackdown will be moving to Friday night, in the 8 to 10 timeslot, starting in the fall season. Friday night is one of the two traditionally worst drawing nights of the week for TV shows (Saturday is the worst).

 

When you consider that WWE reaches younger viewers and that many of them go out on Friday nights, that probably means that Smackdown will do a lower rating on its new night. I just spoke with a highly placed source in the company who told me that WWE management did not want the show to move from Thursday nights but given that they only have a year left on their contract, and recently moved their cable programming from Spike TV, UPN's sister company, to USA, it's not like WWE could do anything about it. At this time, it's not known if USA would take on Smackdown when its contract with UPN expires next year. "

 

* A HUGE blow to the wwe and the beginning of the end for the smackdown brand and the brand extintion....

[Downhome 0]

Well, I hate this. I'm pretty much never home on Friday nights.

 

Ugh.

[Jericholic82 0]

It would appear that UPN is mad at how WWE is leaving their sister network spiketv.

[RavishingRickRudo 0]

I can't believe the WWE would even agree to this. They'd be better off moving Smackdown to WGN than they would be letting UPN put it on Friday night.

 

WWE doesn't really have a say in the matter - like most television shows. They used to have leverage by directly getting TV ad revenue, but gave it up a year-or-so ago and now get their revenue directly from UPN. Which means UPN has almost total control over when Smackdown is shown.

 

I mean that just screams "crap television". I guess UPN's trying to punish the WWE for putting all their focus on Raw, but I still don't understand the move.

 

I mean that just screams "crap television".

 

I wouldn't call it "punishment" since I doubt UPN pays much attention to the content the WWE is putting out. I would call it indifference, which is probably worse. If UPN had any sense of what "good" and "bad" wrestling is, then I doubt Smackdown would be where it is right now.

 

I mean isn't Smackdown still one of UPN's highest rated shows? The idea that they'd take that and move it to the second worst TV night of the week is just ridiculous.

 

Why are ratings important?

 

Because highly rated shows attract companies who will pay big money to the networks and studios for commercial time.

 

However, the issue with wrestling is that -while highly rated (in Cable and on UPN, not relative to major network shows)- it doesn't attract big money for advertisements because of the stigma it carries. This has been a concern for Vince, who has said recently that he wants Car Company sponsorship (like GM), to increase his companies profile. So if the WWE's big UPN ratings doesn't attract big sponsors, why should UPN care?

 

The only value Smackdown has is that it increases UPN's overall ratings (the UFC show on SPIKE TV did something similar, where it's 2.0's in the ratings -along with RAW and CSI- put SPIKE at the top for certain demographics, and in this case SPIKE rewarded UFC for it) which could increase a networks overall value/profile in the industry... HOWEVER, UPN tends to do so poorly that I doubt the variance in the rating from Thursday to Friday will really make a big difference in their overall positioning.

[MarvinisaLunatic 0]

Goodbye Brand Extension!

 

On a plus side, I wont have to choose between CSI and Smackdown from now on.

[RavishingRickRudo 0]

You considered that a choice?

[MarvinisaLunatic 0]

You considered that a choice?

I should rephrase that:

 

I could watch both, but I could only watch CSI in HD live.

[Promoter 0]

Hmmm....no smackdown thread. I can't imagine what it will be like on friday nights if smackdown usually gets 2 page threads or no thread at all. Maybe UPN knows what its doing

[Eclipse 0]

HOLY DEATH!!

 

I am gonna be missing Smackdown probably 90% of the time! I usually attend indy wrestling events on Fridays, and I am never home on Friday nights. Well, spoilers are gonna be my friend now.

[Nighthawk 0]

Who else remembers ABC's TGIF? Weren't those pretty well rated shows? How did that work with Friday being such a bad tv night? I was a kid at the time, so I don't know.

[KingPK 0]

Those were more family-oriented shows, for kids not yet in their teens who usually are home on Friday nights. That isn't SD's demographic.

[Nighthawk 0]

That makes sense. Thanks.

 

For the record, I don't watch current wrestling unless I'm in a channel surf and something looks interesting, but this pretty much assures that I will never see Smackdown at all.

[Guest Ronixis]

UGH...

 

Ok... ENT was on Wed for most of its run...Replaced by Kevin Hill. (I have a point, stay with me)

 

Then they moved it Friday- it did had good ratings for its first 6 episodes, getting better ratings then the shows they have renewed Outside of Veronica Mars. They only ended the series based on 2 nights of ratings numbers (and a whole lot of Politics).

 

Now... They move Smackdown to fridays- where nearly 60% of the baseball based UPN Affillates will preeempt...AND they canned the show that replaced Enterprise (Kevin Hill) on Wed.

 

Damn. Thats messed up.

[iliketurtles 0]

I haven't watched SD much in the past year and now is even more reason not too.

 

They need to move it off of UPN.

[iggymcfly 0]

I think its been made abundantly clear over the last 10 years that UPN is a joke of a network with no idea how to build an audience. They're only even on the air 10 hours a week. Their 2 hours of WWE is 20% of their programming!

Actually, that's only in certain markets that the affiliates split time with another network. It's kind of like how FOX used to be split with ABC in several markets. Most areas have different programming for UPN and Fox.

[Placebo Effect 0]

I think its been made abundantly clear over the last 10 years that UPN is a joke of a network with no idea how to build an audience.  They're only even on the air 10 hours a week. Their 2 hours of WWE is 20% of their programming!

Actually, that's only in certain markets that the affiliates split time with another network. It's kind of like how FOX used to be split with ABC in several markets. Most areas have different programming for UPN and Fox.

I think he meant 10 hours of original programming each week.

[areacode212 0]

Rudo already mentioned what I was going to say. While Smackdown is still one of UPN's top shows, it had the second-lowest ad rates for all of TV for fall 2004. It just doesn't bring in a lot of money, and UPN probably doesn't see that changing in the near future (i.e., Smackdown is stale and probably won't pick up a lot of new viewers). Like Futon Critic notes, it's probably a smarter move to go with a Thursday block of comedies as counterprogramming against Survivor/OC/CSI/Apprentice.

[SuperJerk 0]

Except their so-called comedies really suck and will never attract much of an audience.

[The Niggardly King 0]

Except their so-called comedies really suck and will never attract much of an audience.

I remember that one show was so bad, the only thing they could say about it in commercials was that Will Smith is an Executive Producer for it. Nothing about what the next episode is about, just watch cause Will Smith is the Executive Producer for it.

[AndrewTS 0]

Honestly, the times they tried to use Smackdown to plug other shows for Thursday nights, wasn't it usually crap like The Mullets?

 

I'm reminded of "Watch Star Trek Enterprise! It's got Rock on this week's episode!"

[Placebo Effect 0]

Except their so-called comedies really suck and will never attract much of an audience.

Yeah, too bad you're entirely fucking wrong.

 

99. wwe smackdown upn $1,952,000

 

UPN Monday Night Line-Up

114. girlfriends upn $1,000,000

118. half & half upn $816,432

123. one on one upn $729,312

And the other half hour is Cuts, a midseason spinoff, so its stats are unknown.

 

One hour of crappy black comedy night results in about the same amount of income as a two hour Smackdown.

 

And as much as people dislike black comedies, they're still regarded better than professional wrestling.

[Placebo Effect 0]

Except their so-called comedies really suck and will never attract much of an audience.

I remember that one show was so bad, the only thing they could say about it in commercials was that Will Smith is an Executive Producer for it. Nothing about what the next episode is about, just watch cause Will Smith is the Executive Producer for it.

Yeah, that's "All Of Us."

 

If there's one thing UPN does that is very smart for business is that they stick with almost all of their crappy comedies for years. They realize that syndication results in big bucks, even for crap shows, and that the risk of canceling a show for another is not worth the extra .5 they MAY pick up if the show is a success.

[SuperJerk 0]

Except their so-called comedies really suck and will never attract much of an audience.

Yeah, too bad you're entirely fucking wrong.

 

UPN Monday Night Line-Up

114. girlfriends upn $1,000,000

118. half & half upn $816,432

123. one on one upn $729,312

Wow! The 114th, 118th, and 123rd most popular shows on TV huh? Yeah, I was so wrong about them not attracting an audience with if they're the 114th, 118th, and 123rd most popular shows on TV!

 

Great logic there, Socrates. Next time try proving smoking is good for you by showing pictures of cancer-infected lungs.

[Placebo Effect 0]

Except their so-called comedies really suck and will never attract much of an audience.

Yeah, too bad you're entirely fucking wrong.

 

UPN Monday Night Line-Up

114. girlfriends upn $1,000,000

118. half & half upn $816,432

123. one on one upn $729,312

Wow! The 114th, 118th, and 123rd most popular shows on TV huh? Yeah, I was so wrong about them not attracting an audience with if they're the 114th, 118th, and 123rd most popular shows on TV!

 

Great logic there, Socrates. Next time try proving smoking is good for you by showing pictures of cancer-infected lungs.

Audience isn't worth shit if you're advertising rates are low. UPN for years has been (and possibly still is) a money-losing network. If they want to stay in business, even as the number six show, they have to make money.

[Placebo Effect 0]

And ohh yeah, as you approach the bottom of the rankings, the difference between 99 and 123 isn't typically so much as a single rating point.

[Guest Brian]

Except their so-called comedies really suck and will never attract much of an audience.

Yeah, too bad you're entirely fucking wrong.

 

UPN Monday Night Line-Up

114. girlfriends upn $1,000,000

118. half & half upn $816,432

123. one on one upn $729,312

Wow! The 114th, 118th, and 123rd most popular shows on TV huh? Yeah, I was so wrong about them not attracting an audience with if they're the 114th, 118th, and 123rd most popular shows on TV!

 

Great logic there, Socrates. Next time try proving smoking is good for you by showing pictures of cancer-infected lungs.

And yet, those three shows bring in more revenue than Smackdown does over two hours.