By Paul Thomasch
NEW YORK (Reuters) - ABC on Tuesday rolled out a fall
television schedule featuring just two new programs, one a
traveling game show and the other a detective drama based on a
popular British series, underscoring the lasting impact of a
14-week strike by screenwriters.
In contrast to a year ago, when ABC announced plans for a
broad slate of 12 new television shows, the network has decided
to bring back nearly all of its comedies, dramas and reality
series this fall.
Along with the modest prime-time schedule changes, Walt
Disney Co's ABC announced a new audience measurement tool for
advertisers that allows them to select shows based on a host of
criteria, including viewer education or income.
ABC's head of advertising sales, Mike Shaw, described the
current system of audience measurement based on broad
viewership numbers as "oversimplified" and said the new data
would allow advertisers to "take a deeper dive into the
audience."
"Not one marketing dollar can be wasted this year," he
said, referring to how closely marketers are watching their
budgets amid the economic slowdown.
Meanwhile, ABC's fall schedule is far less ambitious than
usual, reflecting a development season cut short by the
screenwriters' strike against major TV and movie studios. A
deal between the sides ended the strike in February, too late
for the normal number of pilots to be written and shot.
ABC Entertainment President Stephen McPherson said he was
pleased with how the network's prime-time shows were performing
prior to last fall's strike and wanted more time to develop new
shows before making changes to the schedule. ABC's most popular
shows include "Grey's Anatomy" and "Ugly Betty."
"The big fact that you have to take away from where we are
is this is an incredibly stable schedule," he told a news
conference. "If you needed a ton of development for the fall
schedule the strike would have been a really bad fact."
