Boomtown Blues

Well, I certainly was not planning on posting anything about Boomtown today, but curiosity got the better of me this morning while doing some web surfing at the local library. I was curious as to why one of my favorite shows has not been broadcast the last two Friday's on NBC. Since I don't keep up with the business side of entertainment news (at least a venial sin for a pop culture blog, but I digress), I had no idea that Boomtown was still in trouble with NBC.

Turns out, production was shut down for at least two weeks--I have not found anything saying that production has resumed. NBC wants fewer viewpoints--a hallmark of the show--and more stand-alone episodes. Apparently the upcoming eps were to be part of an arc, so the network intervened to change them. Graham Yost, the show's creator, is being suitably cordial in interviews. But you know he has to be furious about the constant network intervention with his vision for the show. I know I would be.

Unfortunately, the ratings been treating Boomtown as badly as NBC has. CBS's Friday line-up that includes two new shows (Joan of Arcadia and The Handler) has been winning the night. I guess this goes to show that new dramas featuring familiar faces can be successful in the ratings if they have good, canny promotion. Despite opening and closing the night with new fare, CBS is beating the pants off NBC. You have to give it to them with their strategy. JOA was heavily promoted during CBS' daytime line-up all summer. I know this because I tape As the World Turns and saw the commercials. CBS must know that a significant number of their viewers watch ATWT and then flip the channel to watch General Hospital on ABC. Why do I say this? Because CBS' JOA ads played up the fact that the show's star, Amber Tamblyn, was from GH. I mean, they were practically promoting GH while promoting JOA, but it worked for them in the long run. CBS was counting on its viewers who were familiar with Tamblyn's stunning turn on GH to watch her in a prime time drama. Evidently it worked. JOA is one of the most popular new shows, if not the most popular.

I believe a similar thing happened with The Handler. CBS promoted the show heavily throughout the summer, especially during shows that were similar. Handler promos ran during episodes of Without A Trace , which the network wisely kept on the air throughout the summer to draw viewers from ER. Joe Pantoliano, like Tamblyn, was promoted as the main reason to watch the show. Pantoliano's Emmy win may have helped, too, but the Emmys received fairly poor ratings this year, so could not have been too much of a factor in The Handler's success. My guess is that people were familiar with his work on The Sopranos and decided to check out The Handler because of his late (and I mean really late) turn on HBO's mafia drama.

Would that Boomtown were on CBS, the network that dares to promote the heck out of its new shows and takes advantage of any awards their shows or their stars receive. NBC should have kept BT on throughout last season, rather than yanking it on and off. The network also should have promoted Boomtown's awards and critical accolades. Furthermore, they should have run repeats all summer as CBS did with WAT. WAT actually did draw viewers away from ER and pick up ratings in repeats. People, such as myself, who weren't aware of the show at its debut or were committed to watching ER, began watching it over the summer. I became hooked on its production values, acting, subtle continuing storylines, and compelling mysteries, which rarely end up the way they seem to be going. (I did figure out what happened early in the latest episode, but that is one of the few that had a fairly easy-to-guess result). Thursday nights at 9:00--soon to be 10:00, ugh--are reserved for Without a Trace. I was hoping for the same with Fridays and Boomtown. At least I will always have Ballykissangel on Friday nights--until Channel 14 finishes showing series 1-3, that is.

If you want to learn more about Boomtown, here are a couple of websites that are worth a look. A good fan venue is Almost Human's Boomtown Fan Site. A petition to save the show can be found here.
NBC's official website is, like most of its type, heavy on graphics with little else to recommend it.