美国国家公共电台 NPR TV Networks Unveil Fall Seasons At 2017 Upfronts

 

AUDIE CORNISH, HOST:

We talk a lot these days about how Internet streaming has rattled¹ the world of network television, snatching up Emmy nominations² and capturing attention in the press and on social media. But traditional broadcast TV remains³ the biggest game around, attracting billions of advertising⁴ dollars. And this week in New York City, the networks are rolling out their plans for the next TV season in a series of glitzy presentations for advertisers called the Upfronts.

Here to talk about what we can expect from the biggest players - ABC, NBC, CBS and Fox - is our TV critic Eric Deggans. Hey there, Eric.

ERIC DEGGANS, BYLINE⁵: Hey.

CORNISH: So you're in New York. You're hearing the big pitch. How can advertisers actually know which show to back this far in advance?

DEGGANS: Well, you know, advertisers are looking for sure bets, and that's one reason why nostalgia⁶ is one of the big trends that we're seeing this season. They want big names, recognizable stars. So ABC is bringing back "American Idol⁷" and "Roseanne." CBS is doing "S.W.A.T.," if you remember that show from the '70s. NBC is bringing back "Will & Grace," and they're even bringing back the whole must-see TV marketing⁸ from the mid-1990s when "Will & Grace" was first on the air.

I've always believed that stars don't make TV; TV makes stars. So it's kind of weird⁹ to see network TV in this situation where they're going behind recognizable names when really it's the shows that come out of nowhere like "This Is Us" that makes stars. And then people get to know those performers, and they become more famous.

CORNISH: But even something like "This Is Us" - it's not putting up the numbers of those old shows that you mentioned, right? I mean the definition of a hit in this day and age seems a little bit different.

DEGGANS: Yeah, well, you know, these days, a hit show is basically a show that makes money for the network. But that is getting to be more complicated. You're right. Fewer people are watching television, so the benchmark for what makes a hit is going down. But you know, Les Moonves, the CEO of CBS, told us journalists today that less than 50 percent of their revenue comes from advertising, which means that a lot of that money comes from what we call the back end - so the money that you make when they sell the show to Netflix or they sell it into reruns or even when they sell it to companies that air it on airplanes. (Laughter) So more and more, networks have to look at all of that when they decide whether a show's a hit or not.

CORNISH: So how does that affect their decision making about what we see?

DEGGANS: Well, one controversial cancellation¹⁰, the Tim Allen show "Last Man Standing¹¹" - now, conservatives were really worried because Tim Allen is a conservative, and that character on that show is politically conservative, and they thought it was some kind of liberal plot. Basically that show was getting solid ratings, but ABC didn't own it. So when they scheduled for the fall, they put in two dramas that they do own, "Once Upon A Time" and a new show called Marvel's "Inhumans" so they could get more of that back end we've been talking about.

CORNISH: How else are the networks spending their money?

DEGGANS: Well, the big unscripted show of course is "American Idol," and ABC spent a little time telling us why they bought it, and all the other networks told us why they didn't. Outside of the nostalgia stuff, what I liked was ABC has a show called "The Mayor" about this rapper who decides as a goof¹² to run for mayor in a town, and then he winds up winning.

Fox has a show called "The Gifted." That's an extension of the "X-Men" franchise¹³ where these parents find out that their kids all have superpowers; they're all mutants. And CBS has a show called "Young Sheldon" that's a spinoff of "The Big Bang Theory" where that central character Sheldon is 9 years old, but he's going to high school. And I think these are those kind of shows that may come out of nowhere and make stars out of people that we don't know yet.

CORNISH: So those are all the new shows, the new bets, right? What about cancellations? What's going away?

DEGGANS: Well, ABC announced, for example, that the Shonda Rhimes show "Scandal" is going away, and CBS canceled a long-running comedy called "Two Broke Girls." And I thought that was troubling because for the second year in a row, all of CBS' new shows in the fall will feature males, which is a troubling trend I think. I asked CEO Les Moonves about this, and he replied to my question by saying that more women watch CBS percentage wise. But I wonder if they wouldn't struggle so much to get younger viewers if they had shows that had more diversity in gender¹⁴ among their lead characters.

CORNISH: That's NPR's TV critic Eric Deggans in New York for the network Upfronts. Thanks so much, Eric.

DEGGANS: Always a pleasure.

1 rattled   

慌乱的，恼火的

参考例句：

• The truck jolted and rattled over the rough ground. 卡车嘎吱嘎吱地在凹凸不平的地面上颠簸而行。
• Every time a bus went past, the windows rattled. 每逢公共汽车经过这里，窗户都格格作响。

2 nominations   

n.提名，任命( nomination的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• Nominations are invited for the post of party chairman. 为党主席职位征集候选人。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• Much coverage surrounded his abortive bids for the 1960,1964, and 1968 Republican Presidential nominations. 许多消息报道都围绕着1960年、1964年和1968年他为争取提名为共和党总统候选人所做努力的失败。 来自辞典例句

3 remains   

n.剩余物，残留物；遗体，遗迹

参考例句：

• He ate the remains of food hungrily.他狼吞虎咽地吃剩余的食物。
• The remains of the meal were fed to the dog.残羹剩饭喂狗了。

4 advertising   

n.广告业；广告活动 a.广告的；广告业务的

参考例句：

• Can you give me any advice on getting into advertising? 你能指点我如何涉足广告业吗?
• The advertising campaign is aimed primarily at young people. 这个广告宣传运动主要是针对年轻人的。

5 byline   

n.署名；v.署名

参考例句：

• His byline was absent as well.他的署名也不见了。
• We wish to thank the author of this article which carries no byline.我们要感谢这篇文章的那位没有署名的作者。

6 nostalgia   

n.怀乡病，留恋过去，怀旧

参考例句：

• He might be influenced by nostalgia for his happy youth.也许是对年轻时幸福时光的怀恋影响了他。
• I was filled with nostalgia by hearing my favourite old song.我听到这首喜爱的旧歌，心中充满了怀旧之情。

7 idol   

n.偶像，红人，宠儿

参考例句：

• As an only child he was the idol of his parents.作为独子，他是父母的宠儿。
• Blind worship of this idol must be ended.对这个偶像的盲目崇拜应该结束了。

8 marketing   

n.行销，在市场的买卖，买东西

参考例句：

• They are developing marketing network.他们正在发展销售网络。
• He often goes marketing.他经常去市场做生意。

9 weird   

adj.古怪的，离奇的；怪诞的，神秘而可怕的

参考例句：

• From his weird behaviour,he seems a bit of an oddity.从他不寻常的行为看来，他好像有点怪。
• His weird clothes really gas me.他的怪衣裳简直笑死人。

10 cancellation   

n.删除，取消

参考例句：

• Heavy seas can cause cancellation of ferry services.海上风浪太大，可能须要取消渡轮服务。
• Her cancellation of her trip to Paris upset our plan.她取消了巴黎之行打乱了我们的计划。

11 standing   

n.持续，地位；adj.永久的，不动的，直立的，不流动的

参考例句：

• After the earthquake only a few houses were left standing.地震过后只有几幢房屋还立着。
• They're standing out against any change in the law.他们坚决反对对法律做任何修改。

12 goof   

v.弄糟；闲混；n.呆瓜

参考例句：

• We goofed last week at the end of our interview with singer Annie Ross.上周我们采访歌手安妮·罗斯，结果到快结束时犯了个愚蠢的错误。
• You will never be good students so long as you goof around.如果你们成天游手好闲，就永远也成不了好学生。

13 franchise   

n.特许，特权，专营权，特许权

参考例句：

• Catering in the schools is run on a franchise basis.学校餐饮服务以特许权经营。
• The United States granted the franchise to women in 1920.美国于1920年给妇女以参政权。

14 gender   

n.（生理上的）性，（名词、代词等的）性

参考例句：

• French differs from English in having gender for all nouns.法语不同于英语，所有的名词都有性。
• Women are sometimes denied opportunities solely because of their gender.妇女有时仅仅因为性别而无法获得种种机会。