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How iTunes saved The Office

by Anna Johns, posted Nov 1st 2006 8:46AM

the officeOur buddies over at TUAW are discussing a great article in Newsday about how iTunes saved The Office from cancellation. According to the article, the show was about to be canceled at this time last year. And then iTunes happened. Almost immediately after ABC announced it was making shows available on iTunes, NBC followed suit. Since then, The Office, which had mediocre ratings according to Nielsen, has been the most popular downloaded show (only recently being outdone by Lost). It has become a miraculous tool for programs that aren't kicking ass in broadcast ratings to find a second life and to prove to the networks that they are, in fact, popular. And it makes for an interesting comparison. While CSI and Grey's Anatomy are tops according to Nielsen, the story is very different on iTunes. Just look at the Top 50 shows: Lost, The Office, Heroes, and Battlestar Galactica are titans. The next show expected to be saved by iTunes is 30 Rock, a wickedly funny show which is struggling in the ratings and will soon be available online.

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ooda

DB, you're saying it now, but the first season wasn't really all that great, as were the ratings. It was a surprise that the show wasn't canceled.

November 01 2006 at 7:00 PM Report abuse rate up rate down Reply
Jordan

I am so glad they didn't cancel The Office. That show is one of the funniest comedies on TV right now. iTunes is great, I use it all the time to catch up on shows. Although I think it should expand to include more TV shows.

November 01 2006 at 12:22 PM Report abuse rate up rate down Reply
bgdc

Good suggestion on VM. I'd download it once a week if it will the show going.

As for The Office, I've got about 10 episodes on my iPod. and I will gladly download 30 Rock from iTunes. After last week's episode I will watch that show without a doubt.

"Go home and put on your daddy's shoes, cause this here's a man's game."

November 01 2006 at 12:03 PM Report abuse rate up rate down Reply
TW

WTF? The Office was about to cancel last year? I think all TV exec should get fired. It's the best comedy show. If it's not as good as this what would? Who cares about ratings? Masses for the asses.

November 01 2006 at 12:00 PM Report abuse rate up rate down Reply
Tara

Finally! The networks are seeing what people are REALLY watching! I have always thought the people down at Nielson Ratings were just pulling numbers out of the air, with networks cancelling all the good shows and keeping the crappy ones around. But I'm glad to hear that the internet has (in this case) positively influenced our TV schedules. Nice.

November 01 2006 at 11:05 AM Report abuse rate up rate down Reply
TVGenius

Plus, in theory, it doesn't matter which demos the shows cater to when they're drawing an audience in iTunes. The viewer's paying cash to the network/producers...

November 01 2006 at 10:57 AM Report abuse rate up rate down Reply
ooda

Luckily, some of the shows that are good, but just aren't getting the viewers that they deserve seem to be doing decently in iTunes. Battlestar for one, and Studio 60 for another. Heroes is really eating up the charts (this really is turning into a tremendous hit for NBC). On the flip side, the CSI's aren't doing all that amazingly, with this being the one place we can gloat about Studio 60 beating Miami in "ratings".

I always thought iTunes was strong, but not to this degree.

November 01 2006 at 9:14 AM Report abuse rate up rate down Reply
Tiffany

What about Veronica Mars? It should definitely be added to itunes.

November 01 2006 at 9:12 AM Report abuse rate up rate down Reply

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