Adored by the Network: Difference between revisions

 

{{examples}}

* Both ''[[Inuyasha]]'' and ''[[Naruto]]'' were the anime darlings of Cartoon Network/Toonami after premiering and becoming popular, only to be followed by Bleach before the network all but stopped showing anime. And before those shows, it was ''[[Dragon Ball]] Z'' and ''[[Mobile Suit Gundam Wing]]''.

** Speaking of ''[[Inuyasha]]'', its still averaging at least one rerun a week on [Adult Swim]. Since its both a network stable and a network favorite, it's not going anywhere.

** Kids WB's adoration for all things ''Pokemon'' even spilled into their promotional attempts for other shows in their lineup. During a ''[[Batman Beyond]]''-themed [[Y 2 K]] event, viewers were encouraged to send in their predictions of the future to be read on the air. One of the more notable entries: "In the future, Pokemon will be on every channel all day long." The daydreams of someone truly obsessed with the series, or an early example of epic trolling?

 

* Starz and Encore's kids channels seem to be quite fond of ''[[Toy Story 3]]''.

** Starz Kids also adores ''[[Astro Boy]]''.

* ABC Family loves to air ''[[The Lion King]]''! On May 5, 2012 they aired the movie 2 times in a row, one airing after another.

* Remember that [[HBO]] once stood for "Hey! ''[[The Beastmaster|Beastmaster]]'''s On!". And it aired so often on [[TBS]] that [[Fan Nickname|it earned itself the nickname]] "[[Fun with Acronyms|The Beastmaster Station]]".

* Back in the early to mid 90's, TBS also used to show Clash of the Titans what seemed like every Saturday and Sunday.

* [[AMC]]'s favorite movie is ''[[Unforgiven]]''.

* Britain's [[ITV]] channels have a few favourites. ITV 2 is having a whirlwind romance with ''Catwoman'', both sequels to ''[[The Mummy Trilogy|The Mummy 1999]]'', and ''[[Wild Wild West (film)|Wild Wild West]]''. ITV 4 is currently{{when}} wearing out its master copies of the ''[[Rocky (film)|Rocky]]'' series.

* Ted Turner adored [[The Shawshank Redemption]]. After its poor showing at the box office, he bought up the rights and aired it weekly, single-handedly making it [[Vindicated by History]].

 

** It's starting to become adored on TBS also. TBS even shot scores of new promos (including a five-minute one for National Cinemedia, one of the movie theatre preshow companies) with the cast to promote the reruns.

*** So much so that three days a week they air three hour blocks of the show.

* Fictional example: in ''[[Network]]'', the network president (Ned Beatty) refuses to cancel ''The Howard Beale Show'' despite tanking ratings, because Beale is basically acting as his mouthpiece.

* On [[Nickelodeon]], ''[[iCarly]]'' is also guaranteed to have a lot of episodes running on a given day (at least three or four a day on average, sometimes more on weekends).

** During summer 2010, ''[[Big Time Rush]]'' and ''[[Victorious]]'' were both big ones for Nickelodeon. They would rerun ''at least two'' episodes of both ''every single day''. Not counting Friday and Saturday night blocks. ''Big Time Rush'' had just enough episodes to cover a full week, but ''Victorious'' only had eight episodes to air.

* [[Nick at Nite]] is every bit as bad with ''[[The George Lopez Show]]'', probably worse. First, they would run marathons of the show for every occasion imaginable using any excuse they could get, no matter how shoddy. Then they did away with the excuses, and began showing marathons of ''George Lopez'' without even giving an excuse to do so. On multiple occasions, they aired '''over 40 hours''' of it in one week, setting up a bizarre situation often where his self-titled [[Talk Show]] on [[TBS]] is competing with his own old sitcom.

** It got so ridiculous that Nick at Nite decided to celebrate ''Saint Patrick's Day'' (which in America at least is viewed as basically being a day to celebrate Irish heritage) with "Luck of the Lopez" week.

** MTV Tr3s has gotten in on the ''George Lopez'' overplaying fun now too.

* [[Nick at Nite]] also loved ''[[The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air]]'' when they had the syndication rights to it. There were several times where they'd show four episodes in one two-hour block. It was also an "introductory" staple for a while, where it would be the first show after the regular Nick schedule ends, possibly to attract a younger crowd.

* ''[[M*A*S*H (television)|Mash]]'' is the darling of the Hallmark Channel—it airs approximately twice every four hours on the channel.

** Well, at least it ''was'' until the Martha Stewart combine overran the channel's daytime schedule at the end of 2010, leading to a ''M*A*S*H''-free Hallmark. What followed was a whiplash inversion of the trope when nearly half of the Stewart-controlled seven hour block was converted into ''[[Little House on the Prairie (TV series)|Little House On the Prairie]]'' space barely a month after launch.

* Jay Leno is an example of this happening with a person instead of a show. In 1992, [[NBC]] picked him to host ''[[The Tonight Show]]'' over [[David Letterman]] when Johnny Carson retired. In 2009/2010, after some [[Screwed by the Network|serious]] [[Executive Meddling]], he returned to ''[[The Tonight Show]]'' after an abortive shot at a [[Prime Time]] [[Variety Show]], screwing over [[Conan O'Brien]] and causing one hell of an [[Internet Backdraft|uproar]] in the process.

** This is an odd case, though, as NBC couldn't make up their mind on how to bestow adoration in the O'Brien/Leno situation (the Letterman situation was arguably decided five years before it happened, with Leno being the permanent Monday night host of the show before Carson's retirement). Initially, Leno was essentially [[Screwed by the Network|fired from the show]] despite top ratings, being told in 2004 that O'Brien would get the show in 2009 regardless of Leno's ratings situation; so Leno was, seemingly, screwed by the network's adoration for O'Brien. Yet when the time came to actually fire him, he was then in a way screwed by the network's adoration for ''him'', as they wouldn't let him leave for another network (though his tenure on the show was terminated, he was still under contract for [[NBC]]). This led to them giving him his own prime-time show with a [[Executive Meddling|mandated format change]], which bombed at the same time as O'Brien's run on ''The Tonight Show'' was doing poorly in the ratings. Cue ''more'' clueless meddling, and the end result is that O'Brien left NBC and Leno returned to ''The Tonight Show'', but the show's ratings are still shaky due to the backlash, and it would appear nobody was the "winner"...well maybe [[TBS]] who gave Conan his new show...and TNT, who got [[Southland]], which was also a victim of the whole debacle.

* In Australia, the [[Nine Network]] used to have a spectacular case of this for ''[[Two and A Half Men]]''. Every weeknight immediately after the news, in the filler timeslot once taken up by many a gameshow, ''Two and a Half Men'' played for years (except in regional areas where it was axed in favour of a half-hour of local news). Following [[Charlie Sheen]]'s swandive off the deep end, Nine seems to have shifted this treatment and its former daily timeslots to ''[[The Big Bang Theory]]''; there is nary a glimpse of ''[[Two and A Half Men]]'' anywhere on the network anymore. They shifted it over to their secondary channel 'GO!' [[Guilty Pleasure|to hide their shame]], and even then it runs comparatively infrequently. Meanwhile, ''[[Top Gear]]'' also seems to have become a similar object of Nine's affection.

** Some have speculated that this is a conspiracy hatched by Fox to get viewers to buy Foxtel

** Swapped for or followed by ''[[Bones]]''.

* [[Disney Channel]] is getting ''ridiculously'' bad about this. For the past decade, the network has been broadcasting and overpromoting its small roster of four-to-six shows. These same shows tend to reuse the same actors and promote the same actors in movies which are just like the shows the actors star in.

** They aired [[Hannah Montana]] so often that was actually surprising that it disappeared from programing almost immediately following its final episode. A couple months into 2011, and it was completely gone, replaced by ''[[Shake It Up]]'', ''[[A.N.T. Farm]]'', and ''[[Jessie]]''. Many won't be surprised if ''[[Wizards of Waverly Place]]'' ultimately suffers the same fate. Say what you will about [[Nickelodeon]] or [[Cartoon Network]], but with the exception of ''[[Phineas and Ferb]]'' and ''[[Fish Hooks]]'', all that is ever played on Disney is the aforementioned Tween Coms with obnoxious [[Laugh Track|laugh tracks]].

** The biggest frustration in Disney's case: Some networks like USA or Nick at Nite have ''somewhat'' of an excuse in that they have to pay for the rights to air syndicated programming and budget issues could be the reason they limit the number of shows and feature them in blocks/marathons. Disney has no such excuse because they own 100 percent of everything they run, including a ginormous library of past shows that includes many with fan and critical acclaim, and instead they insist on filling up their time slots with multiple episodes of the same handful of shows they've recently released.

* [[ABC Family]] is also a huge fan of ''[[America's Funniest Home Videos]]''. The station's [[The Secret Life of the American Teenager|original]] [[Make It or Break It|shows]] [[Pretty Little Liars|usually]] air over Monday and Tuesday night. Unless they're showing a movie, Wednesday through Friday nights are going to be a block of AFHV. Its original series ''[[The Secret Life of the American Teenager]]'' has since joined as well, with 1-episode reruns airing at 5 pm ''every weekday''.

* Another Canadian example is Family Channel (''our'' [[Disney Channel]]). Canadian-made [[Kid Com]]s seem to be crammed down your throat as well. ''[[The Latest Buzz]]'', ''[[Life with Derek]]'', and ''Overruled!'', anyone?

** Hell, we can pretty much add ''any'' [[Disney Channel]] Original Series that's live action. Whereas ''[[Phineas and Ferb]]'' gets lots of love from Disney Channels all over the world, the show barely gets shown on Family. Whereas the ''[[The Suite Life of Zack and Cody|Suite]]'' ''[[Suite Life On Deck|Life]]'' series and ''[[Hannah Montana]]'' gets played many, many times over. It's pretty much [[Cool and Unusual Punishment|hell]] to anyone that hates Disney Channel's live action shows. Oh, and ''[[Lizzie McGuire]]'' and ''[[That's So Raven]]'' still airs to this day in prime-time.

* Affiliate syndication is likely to do this with either the darling network show of the moment (watch out for ''[[How I Met Your Mother]]'' in the fall 2010 syndication blocks) or court shows (since there are plenty of them out there). Likely justified, as local affiliates—and especially their sister stations—don't have the same budget as the major networks and need material that they can air on the cheap. The big network like NBC or CBS doesn't directly own the local station but won't have a problem with an affiliate running its own syndicated reruns.

** The same case with stations which air locally-produced "daytime shows" which are barely disguised [[Infomercial]]s for local businesses and fully scripted. Literally only the person in the station's control room may be watching, but the station gets the money from the sponsor even if the show has no ratings to speak of, so the rest of the station's market has to suffer through it because it gives said businesses "exposure".

* Spike seems to feel that there's no such thing as too many all-day ''[[CSI]]'' marathons.

** Not to forget ''[[Star Trek]]''! Two hours of ''[[Star Trek: The Next Generation]]'' and two hours of ''[[Star Trek: Deep Space Nine|Deep Space Nine]]'' 5 days a week for a while there.

** [[Spike TV]] must want viewers to see all ''[[1000 Ways to Die]]'' in one sitting, as the show gets lengthy marathons at least once a week.

** Can these stack? Because it seems that if you turn on Spike at any given time, you'll stumble across a UFC fight.

** Pretty much anything that airs on [[Spike TV]] is seen in a day-long marathon, ''without exception''. This includes ''[[CSI]]'', ''[[CSI New York]]'', ''[[1000 Ways to Die]]'', ''[[Auction Hunters]]'', [[Jail]], the ''[[Star Wars]]'' series, or a UFC Fight.

* The UK's Channel One regularly aired five or six episodes of ''[[Star Trek]]'' (''The Next Generation'', ''Deep Space Nine'', ''Voyager'' and ''Enterprise'') on a typical day, with one or two being repeats. The catch-ups they did on Saturdays meant each episode of ''Voyager'' was broadcast on ''three'' occasions. Since then, the channel slot is Sky Atlantic, and it's ''still'' filling the daytime schedule with ''[[Star Trek]]''.

* A&E's line up these days consist of running one specific show constantly from 2pm to 2am every day. The show in question varies between ''[[CSI: Miami]]'', ''[[Criminal Minds]]'' (who gets TWO marathons a week), ''Dog The Bounty Hunter'' or ''[[Billy the Exterminator]]''. Other A&E shows are so rarely ever seen, you would be forgiven for knowing the channel airs anything else.

* ''[[Whose Line Is It Anyway?]]'', in a sense, at the time it was first on ABC. Its ratings, especially since it aired against ''[[Friends]]'' at the height of its popularity, were never all that great (''any'' other show with its ratings would have been cancelled), but it was so cheap to produce they kept it around to keep the slot filled.

 

* [[WCW]] itself was adored not so much by the network, but by Ted Turner himself. It was his baby/vanity project, as he credited WCW's predecessor, Georgia Championship Wrestling, with helping get [[Super Station]] WTBS noticed in its early days (along with Atlanta Braves baseball). The fact that it lost money for most of its existence was of no concern to him since, for someone like Ted, the amount of money that WCW lost was never more than pocket change. If it hadn't been for the AOL/Time Warner merger, WCW would almost certainly be in business. However, WCW was most definitely not adored by an AOL exec named Jamie Kellner, who within a few weeks on the job cancelled all professional wrestling related programming.

 

== Sports ==

** And even then there are network favourites. Before [[Hockey Night in Canada]] switched to a early and late game broadcast in 1995, if you wanted to see any Canadian team aside from the Maple Leafs or the Canadiens, you either had to hope it they were playing in Toronto or Montreal, or that they made the playoffs and Toronto or Montreal weren't playing that night. The absurdity of this is indicated that in the mid-1980s, when [[Wayne Gretzky]] and the Edmonton Oilers were the best team in the league, it was almost impossible for someone in Eastern Canada to ever seen them on TV.

 

* Valve's obsession with continually updating ''[[Team Fortress 2]]'' and expanding the ''[[Left 4 Dead]]'' franchise has been viewed as taking precedence over making new games, ''[[Half-Life]] 2: Episode 3'' in particular, even though separate groups work on each series of games.

** This is mainly due to the fact that TF2 and L4D are their most popular products.

* ''[[Tales of Phantasia]]'' for the Super Famicom has gotten four remakes: first for the [[PlayStation]], second for the Gameboy Advance, third for the [[PlayStation]] Portable, and fourth again for the [[PlayStation]] Portable with updated battle graphics as part of ''Tales of Phantasia: Narikiri Dungeon X''. Unfortunately, only the Gameboy Advance version, widely considered the weakest version, [[No Export for You|has seen an official English version]].

 

* Hello, ''[[South Park]]''! Not only is it one of (if not still) the most dominating show on Comedy Central, but for a time, it was also right beside ''South Park'' on TBS for marathon/back to back showings (four episodes in a row!) weekday and weeknight.

* [[Cartoon Network]]:

** It's a different story in the UK, as (along with Chowder and Johnny Test) ''Ben 10'' and ''[[Ben 10: Alien Force|Ben 10 Alien Force]]'' dominate the channel. It's got to the point where the late evening 'Cartoon Cartoon' show now consists of nothing but ''[[Chowder]]'' and ''[[Ben 10: Alien Force|Ben 10 Alien Force]]'' reruns.

** ''[[Adventure Time]]''. In addition to weekly marathons, it's used to round out most 15-minute blocks left over after movies.

*** There are also massive amounts of daytime being used up for the Scooby-Doo animated movies. Sometimes three of them. In a row.

*** Boomerang, at least in the UK, held what it called a ''Scooby Summer''. For the entirety of the summer holidays, every waking hour in the schedule would be filled by ''Scooby-Doo''. No ''[[Looney Tunes]]''. No ''[[Danger Mouse]]''. Just ''Scooby-Doo''. All day. EVERY. SINGLE. SUMMER. The worst part? The adverts made it seem like it was the viewers' fault. "You begged," they enthused, "you pleaded!" Yeah. We did. But it didn't stop. Went over the top eventually. Half term break coming up? Easter around the corner? Boomerang will be having a "Scooby Week" or two. To make matters worse, we now have Scooby airing on not only Boomerang, but also Cartoon Network AND Cartoon Network Too. Plus, CN now produces ''live-action'' Scooby-Doo TV movies with a CG Scooby that's similar to the one from the features but on a smaller budget! ''And they're making it a series of movies!''

* The [[Nicktoons]] network, as of summer 2010, has ''[[Dragonball Z Kai]]'' and ''[[Avatar: The Last Airbender]]'' as their frequently airing shows. In July, they started airing on weekdays along with [[Invader Zim|a third show requested by popular demand]]. [[And the Fandom Rejoiced]].

** Though they seem to be annoyed by marathons of the "original animated infomercials" ''NFL Rush Zone: Guardians of the Core" and ''Zevo-3''.

** Let's not even ''start'' with ''[[Fanboy and Chum Chum]]''. Massive blocks on both Nickelodeon and Nicktoons, It seemed for a while that you couldn't go a single day of the week without seeing at least three episodes of it.

*** Often the same three episodes. Again and again and again. Seriously, for a while you could only see three to five episodes, total, of ''[[Penguins Of Madagascar]]'' and ''[[Fanboy and Chum Chum]]'', even with the knowledge that other episodes probably existed. They would play them in hour blocks, yet you never seemed to catch a new episode.

** Adult Swim has also been playing ''[[The Oblongs]]'' pretty regularly, off and on, since 2002, sometimes even 4 or 5 days a week, despite the show only having 13 episodes.

* Not even Italian networks are safe. ''Rai Gulp'', born after the three main division of the national networks ''Rai'' [[Screwed by the Network|dropped animation almost entirely]],<ref>[[Insane Troll Logic|(airing animated shows only during weekday mornings, that is, when most of the target audience can't watch television for obvious reasons)]]</ref> and therefore dedicating its own entire schedule [[Network to the Rescue|to fill in the blank]], is partially guilty of this. Said schedule is made of shows that air at multiple times within the same day, but get removed from rotation after a while.<ref>only to be picked up and aired again after another while</ref> Some of these shows got properly [[Screwed by the Network]],<ref>Somewhat infamously, ''[[Code Lyoko]]'' and ''[[Avatar: The Last Airbender]]'' had their whole runs aired only once in a row without getting re-airings.</ref> while others (some of which actually ''produced'' by ''Rai'', as a pre-airing [[Vanity Plate]] for them reads "RAI FICTION CARTOONS") are lucky enough to not only get re-airings before their temporary drop from the schedule, but get picked up again more often. However, the shining example is the ''Matt & Manson'' cartoon series, which has been removed from rotation only after a long while.

* The now defunct ''Discovery Kids'' network, for its last few years essentially was ''[[Kenny the Shark]]'' and ''[[Tutenstein]]'' with the occasional ''[[Time Warp Trio]]'' and ''Prehistoric Planet''.

** On the subject of shows without a huge fanbase, most of the network's time ''not'' spent on ponies or Transformers is instead spent on [[Game Show]]s.

* Before it got changed to Disney XD, Toon Disney would air a marathon called Pumbaa Bowl every year. They aired episodes of ''[[Timon and Pumbaa]]'' for the whole day.

* Toon Disney once aired a whole day-long marathon of ''[[Yin Yang Yo!]]'' that consisted of '''the same few episodes being played over and over, the entire day.'''

 

{{reflist}}

[[Category:Trivia Trope]]

[[Category:Show Business]]

[[Category:Television]]

[[Category:Creativity Leash]]