NBC's Losses

Over the past few years, NBC has been making several lineup cuts that end up on other networks. Fallen shows such as Scrubs, Southland and Medium were all successfully revived by other networks. Most recently NBC has cancelled The Tonight Show with Conan O’Brien. Rumors are already circulating about which network will pick up his show.

After seven seasons NBC cancelled Scrubs. ABC picked up the show for an eighth and ninth season. The eighth season proved successful and it was renewed for a ninth season this year. Although ratings aren’t soaring, the show underwent a complete renovation of setting and much of its cast in the ninth season.

TNT recently re-aired the first season of NBC’s Southland. NBC viewed the show as “too dark” but it has become a perfect fit on TNT. Re-premiering to rave reviews Southland is quickly becoming a cop-drama success. On March 2^nd, TNT will be airing six new episodes. The new episodes are much anticipated by fans and critics alike.

NBC also cancelled Medium after it’s fifth season. CBS picked up the show with their executives commenting "NBC's cancellation of Medium is inexplicable to us," and went on to point out that "the ratings don't lie. Medium outperforms many of NBC's renewed shows.”

Last night was The Tonight Show with Conan O’Brien’s final episode. The final days of the show were marked with Conan making a multitude of jokes, digging at his soon to be former network. Conan is no longer the host of The Tonight Show but many other networks have been negotiating deals for him to host another late night show.

NBC is making harsh decisions and cutting several shows in an effort to shake up their ratings. As a result other networks are benefiting from salvaging previously scrapped shows. The executives and producers of NBC need to examine why they are cutting shows that other networks are creating successful ratings out of.