Fri, May 23, 2008
Scrubs and NBC
It's kind of strange there's yet another Bill Lawrence interview in today's Buzzworthy section, since I haven't been very shy about having lost all interest in his show, Scrubs.
For some reason, I still find it fascinating to learn about this stuff – I guess because if you follow the business side of TV, you hear a lot from writers and show-runners about how difficult it has been since networks have been allowed to own stakes in their shows. (Networks do more to promote shows they co-own, leaving "independent" shows or older shows without network ownership out in the cold.) This arrangement has been going on long enough that each network has its own production studio, regularly churning out shows, and occasionally for whatever reason one of those shows does not end up on its parent network. Fox TV produces Boston Legal which airs on ABC; Scrubs is produced by ABC Studios, but airs on NBC (or at least it did for its first seven seasons). So Lawrence has faced a unique version of this struggle: his show had network ownership, but it was a different network, so he endured treatment as bad or worse than shows with no ownership whatsoever.
I was never part of the core fan base of Scrubs, but I laughed at it and I liked it at times and it's been fascinating to watch it change – sometimes positively, often for the worse, especially over the last two years when it developed a stale and flat feel that really turned me off. Maybe that interests me because I'd consider it a huge success to sell a sitcom (and of course it is), but it's the kind of success you have to keep working at – to protect the creative integrity of the show. I'm intrigued by that because I'm not used to shows suffering such a distinct change in creative direction. Within the last year or so, three shows that at one time graced my top ten – Scrubs, Lost, and The Simpsons – each brought me to a point where I not only stopped watching, but stopped watching with a vengeance. Before that, Frasier is the only such show I can recall giving up, and that was not a bitter experience, just sort of mild disappointment. (If I'd had TiVo two years earlier, I probably never would have quit Frasier. It stopped being "appointment television" for me just moments before "appointment television" became a thing of the past.)
So that curiosity has kept me tuning in to hear Bill Lawrence talk about his experience, and he's had some eye-opening things to say. (And also plenty of things like, "Hey, man..." and "You know, dude..." and "I said fuck it, you know." Compelling evidence that sometimes transcribing an interview verbatim does a disservice to all involved.) He's refreshingly candid now that he no longer works for NBC (and clearly has no future plans to).
When you add Lawrence's (admittedly biased) perspective to everything we've seen from NBC executives over the last two or three years, it's hard to be surprised that the previously dominant network has dropped to dead last in the ratings. I mean, yes we're supposed to like Ben Silverman because he brings us The Office and he says nice things about 30 Rock – but he played the smug network prick pretty convincingly during the strike, didn't he? And Jeff Zucker... Jeebus. Plus all the hostile iTunes stuff: turning its back on Internet viewers who offer tremendous support to its struggling shows; treating the network's own audience like thieves. It seems like NBC is currently being stewarded by some truly horrible, terrible people. Bitter, spiteful meanies. I don't think this is necessarily unique to NBC – you hear in all levels of the entertainment industry about executives who will take something that's creatively or financially rewarding and run it aground just for personal reasons. But, right now at least, NBC seems to be pursuing that approach with unrestrained gusto. Which will always fascinate me, I guess. I mean, I've got my cruel and spiteful side – and lord knows I'm bitter – but every time I hear about behavior like this (especially in television, which brings me such joy), I can barely bring myself to believe it.
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