NBC's 'Depraved Indifference' to Development

Star-Ledger TV critic Alan Sepinwall takes NBC to task for shifting Jay Leno to 10 p.m. in a New York Times Op-Ed today. Sepinwall notes that NBC’s 10 p slot has been the home of quality dramas such as Hill Street Blues and St. Elsewhere, and laments the fact that a Leno talker will occupy that slot come fall–a show that Sepinwall presumably won’t be writing about very often. 

He writes:
Now, because the expanding television universe is shrinking individual audiences, and because NBC has shown depraved indifference to the idea of program development for the last decade, the network has no better option for the hour than moving Jay Leno from late night to prime time.

Sepinwall says NBC–and broadcast TV in general–is sprinting towards irrelevance, despite creative flashes like 30 Rock, The Office and "the deliriously funny" Chuck. 

I don’t recall ever seening Chuck described in that way before.

Michael Malone

Michael Malone, senior content producer at B+C/Multichannel News, covers network programming, including entertainment, news and sports on broadcast, cable and streaming; and local broadcast television. He hosts the podcasts Busted Pilot, about what’s new in television, and Series Business, a chat with the creator of a new program, and writes the column “The Watchman.” He joined B+C in 2005. His journalism has also appeared in The New York Times, The Philadelphia Inquirer, Playboy and New York magazine.