The President's Preemptive Strike
By Lisa de Moraes
Post
Friday, April 29, 2005; C03
One by one the broadcast networks caved yesterday and agreed to preempt the first night of the May ratings race to make way for President Bush's non-news conference, after ".'Sopranos'-style arm-twisting" by the White House, as one network suit described it.
Here's how it went down:
On Tuesday, an ABC News/Washington Post poll found President Bush's approval rating is at an all-time low of 47 percent, owing no doubt to some combination of a) still no weapons of mass destruction in Iraq, b) 60-day tour pitching Social Security "privatization" a bust, c) attempt to use Terri Schiavo for political gain backfired, d) nomination of John "Yosemite Sam" Bolton for U.N. ambassador turning into long nightmare, e) key House ally under attack for alleged ethical improprieties.
What's a president to do?
Hey, here's a great idea! Call a "news" conference for the first night of the May sweeps. That way, tens of millions of hardworking people who had been looking forward to putting up their feet and watching an original episode of their favorite show will instead see the president with his concerned face on, talking about how much he cares about soaring gas prices even if there is very little he can do about it immediately.
And schedule the news conference for 8:30 p.m. so that it doesn't just preempt CBS's "Survivor" but CBS's "C.S.I." as well. And not just NBC's "Will & Grace" and "Joey" (guest-starring Carmen Electra!) but "The Apprentice." Not to mention Fox's "The O.C."
Broadcast networks got word on Wednesday around 7 p.m. that the White House planned to throw a news conference last night.
Fortunately, though Bush runs the country, wiser men run the broadcast networks men who know what it means to preempt "Survivor," "C.S.I." and "The O.C."
So early yesterday, ABC was the only broadcast network that planned to carry the president's show. Viewers could, of course, also catch Bush on CNN, Fox News Channel, MSNBC, CNN Headline News and PBS.
You should know that ABC, as a rule, can't get arrested on Thursday nights. It already had nuked its prime-time lineup for Thursday and planned to air the flick "Sweet Home Alabama" followed by "Primetime Live."
ABC generally does so badly on Thursday nights, that being able to wipe one off its books might be seen as a sort of gift. (A presidential news conference and the post- and pre-show blather usually run without advertising, so the ratings are not included in the network's averages).
CBS and Fox, on the other hand, are locked in a death match for first place among the 18- to 49-year-olds advertisers covet. Fox has never won a TV season among that demographic in its 18-year history. CBS hasn't won a TV season in the demo since the 1980s. Thursday night is huge for CBS, and "The O.C." isn't chicken feed for Fox either.
NBC is hurting on Thursdays now that "Friends" is gone, but it's still a major night for the network.
"Solidarity" was the word of the day at the three networks.
But six networks just weren't enough for the president's program. So the White House started in with the "Sopranos" stuff, as that network suit described it.
First NBC, which, according to TV industry sources, said it would consider carrying the president's chit-chat with reporters if it started at 8 so the network didn't have to preempt both its 8-9 p.m. sitcom block and "The Apprentice."
The White House agreed, and soon the cable news networks were reporting: "Just moments ago we learned that the press conference was moved from 8:30 to 8 due to complications of network programming," as Suzanne Malveaux told Wolf Blitzer on CNN.
Thus can it be said that Donald Trump forced the president of the United States to reschedule an address to the nation. Way to go, Donald!
Fox caved around 4 p.m., leaving CBS, which went down around 6.
We called the White House press office to ask why they changed the show start to 8 p.m.
Press Secretary Scott McClellan said, "We were in touch with some networks and starting on the hour was more accommodating, so we decided to move to 8."
We told McClellan that we thought it was extremely brave of the White House to risk incurring the wrath of "Survivor," "C.S.I." and "The Apprentice" fans, not to mention "The O.C." fans," to hold a news conference that's an attempt to increase the president's approval rating. McClellan laughed and said he didn't know what shows were on, but he also said, "We want to reach the largest audience."
"We have caved," one network suit reported sorrowfully late yesterday, referring to the broadcasters collectively.
And if the White House is hoping this news conference will win Bush back some fans, don't count on fans of the preempted shows.
"Wanna know how you can get those poll numbers up, Mr. President? Don't schedule a press conference during 'Survivor,' 'CSI' and 'The Apprentice,'." wrote one skeptic on the Web site DamianPenny.com. An "O.C." fan observed on that show's Web site: "He started the war in Iraq which was totally wrong, caters to big business ..... , lets big corporations pollute our air & water, but the worst thing he could ever do is pre-empt The OC!"
But here's our favorite part of this story. The president of the United States scheduled his show during TV-Turnoff Week, the one week of the year when the well-meaning folks at the Washington-based TV-Turnoff Network ask people to turn off their sets and spend more time doing something else.
We asked TV-Turnoff Network Executive Director Frank Vespe if the timing of the president's show wasn't unfortunate for his movement.
"It sort of is, particularly because he's spoken many times, and the first lady, too, about the benefits of turning off the TV," he replied.
We asked McClellan if it wasn't unfortunate that the White House had scheduled this event during TV-Turnoff Week, when this nation of obese people was being encouraged to read a book, ride a bike or spend quality time talking to their family members instead of sitting in front of the set.
"All worthwhile endeavors, but I think listening to the president of the United States is as well," he answered.
CBS and NBC cut out about four minutes before the president stopped taking questions, to get their talking-heads commentary done in time for the start of "Survivor" and "The Apprentice" at 9. Fox cut out a couple of minutes later, but ABC stuck with the president till the bitter end.
Finally after CBS and NBC had already cut him off Bush acknowledged what was going on. He said he would take one more question, quipping, "I don't want to cut into some of the TV shows getting ready to air for the sake of the economy." The White House press corps twittered.
Thinking of the lost ad revenues, one network exec retorted to The TV Column: "He took tens of millions out of the economy tonight." |
