TV Choices

UPDATE:

Truth and transparency here on Trokspot, and the truth is that I actually did flip back and forth for a bit between the WS and HGTV.  I probably caught 3-4 innings worth of action, which turned out to be a blowout. (Unfortunately for the WS, it still had disappointing ratings – lowest ever for a Game 1 – despite the bump my partial viewership provided.)  What I also found very interesting was on my drive into work this morning (the morning after Game 1), ESPN’s Mike and Mike had Mark Texiera on to talk about the WS and baseball more broadly.  Texiera was interesting to listen to, as he had a very thorough understanding of baseball and it’s place in American sports, and articulated his points very well. He ended up saying that baseball needed to make some changes so that it didn’t get “left behind” or lost in the American sporting landscape.  He also pointed out that his sons were “fan aged” (I believe around 8 years old) but that they really weren’t interested in baseball and didn’t see it as action packed or entertaining, yet when he takes them to Knicks games, he said that they were extremely interested in the game on the court.  I don’t know that he said anything Earth-shattering or completely brand new, but it was very interesting to me that he had this perspective and insight even while he himself is situated in the game. Certainly worth a listen.   (Start around 20minutes for the piece I’m talking about.)

http://espn.go.com/espnradio/play?id=11745138&s=espn

 

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For those who don’t know, the World Series begins tonight. (Baseball)  Those who have been around the blog for a while know that I’ve been a bit critical of baseball in the past, for its seeming inability to generate interest and ratings, especially for the casual sports fan (see here and here for example.) This post may not be so different from my previous criticisms; and in fact, it seems that many others have been more vocally critical of MLB ratings and interest as well.

I’ve heard that some of the games this post-season have been great games, but many have also pointed out that it’s been difficult to find many of these great games as they have been broadcast on 7 different networks just this postseason.  Game to game, people don’t always know where to go and how to find them.  Of course, those die hard, traditional fans will know and make the effort to find them and sit down to watch. But random Joe sports-fan will probably not.  And that seems to be just a part of the problem baseball has had, not just this postseason but for several – how to attract casual sports fans.

My post here is not to reiterate what I have already done on a few different occasions. But as I have was driving home from work listening to a local ESPN affiliate station, I heard quite a bit of discussion that echoes my thoughts…dwindling to little interest in baseball, what would it take to get people talking about/watching the games (some sort of controversy?!).  They then went on to discuss where the World Series games would fall on their hierarchy of TV viewing (with many of them stating that they would probably not notice if/when the World Series ended).  The first four games are Tuesday (tonight), Wednesday, Friday, and Saturday.  So what else on TV might be more intriguing to watch than the crowning of the best team in baseball?  I will just look at the first two weeknight games here as Friday and Saturday are the weekend, and football days.

Here are mine:

Tuesday:

Selfie: Okay, this show is not great.  It gets some cheap and cheesy jokes that you can see coming from a mile away…the humor doesn’t have a lot of depth and isn’t that creative or clever, but we’ve watched the first couple of episodes and still haven’t given up on it quite yet.

New Girl: This one is one of our favorites.  If you haven’t watched New Girl, then you should start.  But start from the beginning because you will come to know the characters and the character development is really great and you grow to know them like they are actually people you know.  And so funny!  PS. This show was actually foiled as the WS is being shown on Fox…boo!

Manhatten Love Story: This is another new one that we have begun watching.  Em is more into this one than I am at this point…I still see it as a bit cheesy, and I don’t know how I feel about the inner dialogue, but I’m still giving it a chance.  Like Selfie, it’s got plenty of cheap, surface-level jokes, but it also has some decent humor mixed in as well.

 

Wednesday:

These shows need even less explanation as they speak for themselves. Wednesday is for the classics.

The Middle: This holds a special place in our hearts as it takes place in Indiana. The comedy in this one is pretty great, and really does hit home with the blue-collar Indiana theme that they are going after (albeit, sometimes putting Indiana in a somewhat negative light).  It shows a “normal” family (yet dysfunctional) trying to make it and get through their day to day lives.

The Goldbergs: I think this was my favorite new show last year, and in its 2nd season this year, it has not failed to disappoint.  It is set in 19-eighty-something and chronicles the lives of the Goldbergs.  But what it really does is chronicle the childhoods of pretty much every kid that grew up in the 80’s and early 90’s, which is why I find it so funny – I remember so much of the stuff that they reference!

Black-ish: This is a new one, and there are some interesting critiques and observations to make about this show as a whole (perhaps for a different post). However, the comedy in this is actually pretty good and does a pretty decent job of dealing with both race and gender ideas through comedy.  Thus far, we have enjoyed this new series.

Modern Family: This one is a classic and needs no explanation as it is loved and acclaimed by so many people. The writing and humor in it is brilliant and seems to get better season by season.  The way that the episodes tie together the families through the layered plots and subplots is hysterical.  We are avid ModFam fans.

I would also sprinkle in just about anything on FoodNetwork and/or HGTV – Chopped, Restaurant Impossible, Love It or List It, Flip or Flop, etc.  In short, I will probably not be watching too much of the World Series, as I find many other “regular shows” on TV more interesting and appealing to my own taste.  So there it is – my making fun of baseball post. But hey, if you’re into it, then enjoy watching it…but as for me, I will spend my viewing time elsewhere!

Will you be watching?  What things might tear you away from the Series?

 

And that wraps up the baseball season… Wait, what!? The world series happened!?

The Major League Baseball season wrapped up just a couple of days ago as the San Francisco Giants were crowned the World Series Champions after sweeping the Detroit Tigers.

Wait a second…they were still playing baseball just a couple of days ago?!  The World Series was going on just a couple of days ago!?  Someone won the World Series just a couple of days ago?!

Why didn’t you hear about it?

Well, probably because you are just like a whole lot of other people who didn’t hear about it, didn’t realize it was going on, or simply chose to ignore it was going on.  In fact, that’s become the larger story than the series itself – the waning interest in the World Series this year and in recent years (with the exception of las year).  This year the television ratings were at an all-time low for a World Series broadcast.  In fact, the World Series has tied or broken its own previously low ratings with even lower ratings seven times since 2000.  Yikes.

Now I’m not a big baseball fan.  Sure, I played baseball from age 3 or 4 all the way through high school, but I have never cultivated an interest or an allegiance to the sport or any particular team.  Perhaps it’s because I’m from Indiana where we don’t have a team (though I’m perfectly happy to spend $10 for a day at Victory Field – Indy’s extremely nice triple a ballpark).  Perhaps I’m not a sports “purist”.  Maybe I just don’t have the attention span to sit through an entire game.  Maybe there’s just something wrong with me…

But it doesn’t appear to just be me that’s not interested.  Low ratings signal large-scale disinterest in the sport, at least to some extent.  Here are some interesting reasons for the low ratings that I came across on this blog:

• Sweep Madness: too many recent World Series sweeps
• Football: rising interest in football as well as scheduling conflicts; I have previously pointed out that the way the NFL season is structured and scheduled helps to make that sport more popular and easier to follow
• Local: only those with local teams are apt to pay much attention (this applies to my specific case that I stated briefly above)
• Starpower: a lack of stars in this particular World Series; I would argue a lack of stars in general in the MLB. As a slower moving game that is becoming less popular in some ways (attendance is high, but these broader ratings are clearly low), it also may not be attracting the best or most exciting athletes.  If you look at World Series MVP winners since 2000, you will only see a few names that the casual sports fan is likely familiar with…the last big-name star was arguably Manny Ramirez in 2004.
• Kids out: he argues that we have lost a generation of kids as potential fans; these kids are more interested in football and are not growing up watching the World Series or thinking that it is important.
• Length of season: at least, this is what I assume he means when he says that it wouldn’t seem right to have baseball in November.  I would say that with so many games that span such a long period of time, it’s hard for the average sports fan to stay engaged and excited about the sport.  We might expect a dip in the middle of the season due to this with an increase in ratings as the playoffs arive and a revival of interest for the World Series; we do to an extent (baseball certainly isn’t dead), but the World Series just doesn’t seem to rebound to a high level of interst compared to other sporting events.

I would also add media attention/coverage to his list.  In some ways (the general lack of) baseball coverage is a reflection of fans’ decreased desire to view the sport.  In other ways, this coverage does (or could), in some ways, drive and generate demand.  It says a lot when sports media outlets would rather cover the NFL and NBA in their offseasons than they would in the middle of the MLB season.  It also says a lot when weekly college football games (not even BCS games) as well as week 7 NFL football games dominate the highlight reels and cover stories over the World Series.  Again, in some ways this is a reflection of fans’ (lack of) demand, and in some ways it helps to shape and drive fans demand.

Although I am somewhat hard on baseball, I certainly don’t wish for its demise or for it to fail.  I do think that it clearly lacks the apeal and following of some of the other sporting events that Americans seem to be tuning in to watch; the low ratings are fairly clear.  It is interesting to look at the sport in general as well as our culture and make some arguments as to why this might be happening.  I found that particular blog to be compelling, and added onto it with some of my own insights.

What do you think?

Why have the World Series ratings consistently declined in recent years? 

Anything to add or quibble with?

Is there anything baseball can do to boost these ratings moving forward?