NBC Further Opens the Network

I may be making more out of this than I should, but I think when NBC starts putting one of its most hyped, critically acclaimed shows up for online viewing only, that spells a major industry shift in thinking. The Black Donnellys went off air a few weeks ago, with no real promise of return. But the thing is, this Paul Haggis show is fucking good. So, with the dearth of good programming, I was a little miffed.

Apparently, that's not really a problem in this quickly changing television age. Three new episodes are already online, and they're releasing new episodes each Monday at 9pm ET. Obviously, this move was made out of desperation from lost viewership, but it's potentially something that could save a show that would have been, in any other era, considered walking dead.

Luckily, they've woken up to the fact that online viewership doesn't necessarily steal from television viewing, but sustains it, by allowing those who missed the regular showing to not lose the content, when before they may have given up altogether. For the Black Donnellys, it could just save the whole damn show.

Combine that with the 81% recall rate for ads viewed 2 or more times, and NBC may just have something cooking. (In case you haven't tried it out, everyone views the same ad 2 or more times, by the way)

Now, I'm still wishing failure on ClownCo, but it does mean more interesting times ahead. We can just hope that online only versions can actually make money. Then we'll be sittin' pretty.