Nashville, FOX's new docu-soap from the people who brought you
Laguna Beach and
The Hills, debuted last Friday with horrendous ratings. The show flopped worse than anyone could have imagined, finishing last among network shows, three of which were re-runs. That's not a good way to start your series. FOX was looking to make
Nashville a staple of its Friday night line-up and solidify the night as a viable ratings success in anticipation of
The Next Great American Band's debut in late October. Now that
Nashville has thus far been a failure, how will that impact the future of
American Band?
American Band is
American Idol with bands, brought to you by the
American Idol team. The pedigree for American Band is such that FOX has to be expecting a success. However, there are a few very ponderous issues revolving around FOX's handling of
American Band. First, if FOX really was expecting success from the show, why relegate it to Fridays, historically the worst television night of the week? Sure, TV shows can do fine on Fridays, but the upside is always much lower than any other day of the week.
Second, FOX has utilized its network's successes wonderfully as lead-ins for their new shows.
American Idol, for instance, was integral to the introduction of shows like
So You Think You Can Dance and
Are You Smarter Than a Fifth Grader to American audiences. If FOX knew all along that they wanted to pair
Nashville and
American Band together on Friday nights, why would they debut the one with lesser pedigree and seemingly lesser possibility of success one month prior to unleashing
American Band? Wouldn't it make a lot more sense to debut
American Band with a ton of hype and then lead that presumed success into
Nashville.
When
American Band debuts next month, it will act as the lead-in for
Nashville...if it hasn't been canceled yet. FOX has a notoriously itchy trigger finger when it comes to series cancellations and if Nashville's ratings remain in the cellar, there's absolutely no way it lasts a month. Maybe FOX knows something we don't and this will all eventually make sense, because right now, I'm just plain baffled.
-Oscar Dahl, BuddyTV Senior Writer
(Image Courtesy of FOX)