I’m just going to be blunt. Your favorite TV show was cancelled because, according to some ancient tool called the Nielsen system, no one was watching it. Well, not no one, but not millions. If you don’t know what the Nielsen rating system is, it is used by TV execs or, you know, channels like NBC and CBS to see how many people are watching a particular show.
This system has been used to decide whether a show survives and gets a second season since 1950. Previously, it was used for radio programs, so that’s another way of telling you how outdated it is.
TV is not like it was 70 years ago let alone 15 years ago. Netflix introduced its streaming services in 2007 and we’re one year from its 10-year mark. Time flies. My main point with all of this is the fact that we don’t watch TV the same way we did when the system was first introduced. I, like many other millennials, don’t have time to watch a show when it airs. There are some great shows that air at 8 p.m. on a Wednesday, but you know what I’m a college student so my face will probably be buried in my laptop finishing a last minute essay.
Yet, shows are still rated with this system. Just because a show isn’t getting 5 million viewers per episode doesn’t mean people are not watching the show. They’re just watching it at a different time online—in their underwear. Over the years, there has been some true injustice thrust upon some of the best television I have ever seen. A great example can be literally any of the visually stunning shows that Bryan Fuller has created. Come on NBC, you put Hannibal on at 10 p.m. on a Friday; who is home at that time?
Streaming services have popped up everywhere in the last 10 years and really have revolutionized the way we watch our favorite shows. They have allowed us to rediscover classics from our childhood, but also have offered up some groundbreaking originals. Just in the past few weeks, NBC tried to reveal Netflix’s top secret ratings, because they don’t use the Nielsen system to determine a shows future.
There doesn’t seem to be much chatter in the industry about redesigning the current system to include streaming services. Although actors and show-runners have voiced their frustration over how their shows are treated. This seems to be a much bigger issue for basic cable channels and not as much for premium channels like HBO, Showtime, and Cinemax.
The issue remains, though, that channels take a huge risk putting a show on TV, so for them to do away with it in a few weeks is insanity. Many shows take months to establish, most people aren’t going to jump on them in the first few weeks unless their stars are notable actors. NBC, CBS, and The CW have been notorious for canceling programs only two or three weeks in. Setting or fixing the industry standard is their only option moving forward or they will start to lose even more money. Do it for the fans, do it for art.
