TV Week's Joe Adalian says the informed speculation is that Medium moving to CBS is a possibility as the haggling between NBC and CBS reaches an impasse:
It's also understood that NBC is looking for a discount off of the full license fee CBS is seeking. Such breaks have become common place this year as networks seek to trim costs wherever possible.
But despite the tough economy, CBS Television Studios doesn't appear to be in the mood to play ball with NBC. It is holding firm on its desire to get a 22 episode order at full license fee.
I don't see Medium moving to CBS though. It seems like the only way CBS would take the show would be to put it on Fridays, and I'm not sure the CBS network would pay more than whatever NBC's willing to pay for the right to air it on Fridays. Anywhere else on the schedule doesn't seem to make much sense, though cost issues aside, it seems a good fit with Ghost Whisperer.
Update: THR.com says that CBS would take Medium if it passed on The New Adventures of Old Christine and let it go to ABC.
I heard earlier that it was the actress that wants the 22 episodes not CBS productions. We’ll just have to wait and see what happens.
Didn’t I call this like a month ago?
BTW, Patricia Arquette has a deal for 22 eppies, but she’s willing to cut it down. It’s CBS Paramount TV that wants the full order, especially with their lucrative Lifetime deal.
I would be just happy if Medium replaces GW, which rips off Medium anyway.
Seriously, while Medium has only gotten better with time, GW has become more and more ridiculous.
That said, I don’t believe NBC would let Medium go so easily.
that would be great
I think it would be better for Medium to move to CBS. After what NBC did to the show this season, it deserves a better lead in.
If I was NBC I’d just say “Thanks, hope it works out on your Network,” and be done with it. I bet an hour later they get a call with their demands met. Then they can say “Nope, we thought it over, and we think Leno can beat MEDIUM.”
If this holds true both Fox and NBC will continue to be killed on Fridays. (No matter how hard I try to pimp Dollhouse and the Chuck move to Fridays) CBS would be smart to budge just a little on the licensing fees. It would be a great block for them.
The Ratings (overall not demo) would go up for Medium if it was placed after Ghost Whispere!
As much as I would like to see Medium return, a pairing with Ghost Whisperer, which is basically a watered-down, less interesting rip-off of Medium, doesn’t seem like a good choice for me.
As for Leno drawing bigger numbers than Medium, well, maybe at first but Leno draws 1.7 million in the prized 18-49 demo. If he draws twice that in prime time (once the newness wears off) I’d be surprised.
I didn’t see this coming. Everyone a while back had definitively reported that Medium was picked up. Now it’s up in the air again?
If Medium went to CBS is a good thing! LOL! Just imagine 10million viewers episode than 6 million viewers in NBC
Medium and GW seem like a natural fit.
I have watch only an episode or two of each, and there are plenty of similarities.
And CBS likes to theme it up like that.
Would it be too much? I don’t think so. I think Medium’s viewing numbers would go down, but its Share numbers would go up (Less total people watching, but a larger percentage of people watching TV would be watching)
CBS should pair it with Ghost Whisperer on Fridays. That would be awesome!!
I’m a hopeless fan of Medium, and Patricia Arquette deserves as many episodes as she wants. But my question is this: how unusual is it for one network to broadcast a show produced by a studio associated with a different network? This seems like a serious misalignment of business incentives, particularly as the total revenue generated by a show comes less and less from its first-time viewing on a network and more from other platforms, especially re-runs on cable. Am I missing something here?
Patrick, it happens frequently. House is an NBC Universal show airing on FOX, My Name is Earl (is/was) a 20th Century Fox show airing on NBC, Chuck was WB on NBC, TSCC was WB on FOX. Scrubs was ABC on NBC, then back to ABC. Ghost Whisperer is ABC Studios on CBS, Two and a Half Men is WB on CBS, and I could go on a while just off the top of my head…
Just added a link to a THR.com story that claims CBS would make the move for Medium *if* it let The New Adventures of Old Christine go to ABC.
Leno likely can’t beat Medium though. Therein lies the problem.
Stephen, NBC doesn’t expect Leno to beat new episodes of scripted shows, but they (at least publicly) expect him to beat repeats.
I should say I don’t think Leno could beat Medium on CBS. On it’s own network NBC perhaps. I just think more people are watching CBS and Medium would easily pick up new viewers.
Good point Bill, I remember that article. Yeah, I think Leno can probably beat repeats in some cases but I still think NBC is going to have a rough time. 11:30 ratings are not comparable to 10:00 ratings no matter how you slice it.