The past few years have really been landmark years for television. They were the waves that brought in the 'next generation' of television shows. As shows like Seinfeld, Frasier, Friends, The Sopranos, Everybody Loves Raymond all come to an end, shows to replace the popular void they leave came into debut, especially in 2004 and 2005, for example, The O.C., Boston Legal, Lost, Desperate Housewives, The Apprentice, House, Arrested Development among more.

2006 however wasn't a year of debuts that concreted a show into the framework of popular culture. Sure My Name is Earl, Jericho, Commander in Chief and Prison Break made their mark, really, only these four created any major impact on television this year, and further, on Prison Break was the break out success and lock of them all. This is a stark contrast to the debuts of shows between '03 ad '05, mostly mentioned above, where there were many locks and resounding, debuting shows.

In fact, 2006, as was mentioned by Tim in a comment to the post below, was a year where many a show was mismanaged:

• Arrested Development, after being marketed in the most horrendous and haphazard way, was finally canceled, but not after having to stay awake to past midnight to catch the final episodes. Here is more on my views of Arrested Development;
• Commander in Chief's time slot was moved more times than President Allen had to face a national threat (and that happened in all eighteen episodes!), then it disappeared, then returned at 11:30p.m. six months after fans thought it dead and buried. I wrote about this problem here earlier on in November;
• In Australia, The Office (U.S.), a ratings hit in its home country and a 'spin-off' from a phenomenon in Britain, was hidden in the wee hours of the night on Channel Ten without a single advertisement (and when I say wee hours, I mean 11:30 if everything was running to schedule. Of course, it never ran to schedule);
• The latest season of The Apprentice docked at Sundays, 11 p.m. (and wouldn't you know it, in researching for this article I find that The Apprentice has moved to midnight Tuesday and Wednesday! It's likely to be because it's the two-hour season final, but seriously, I wouldn't have known otherwise because, again, mismanagement);
• Survivor, after being billed as 'live' from America, hot off the satelite, went from 8:30 to 9:30 to 10:30 over a series of fortnights;
• If you didn't watch the relatively good show in Criminal Minds to the 9:30p.m.-10:00p.m. portion of the show, you would have missed the regular ad of "Boston Legal can now be seen at 10:30, Monday nights". This ad would feature in every Monday episode of Criminal Minds, and not one promotional ad for Boston Legal during prime time! Even after it was shown at Prime Time during the first season!;
• Scrubs, the undeniably great and hilarious medical comedy went from 9:30p.m. billing originally to 10:30p.m. Tuesdays and Thursdays to midnight some Tuesdays and most Thursdays;
• The Sopranos, the final season which finally Channel Nine got around to bloody showing, is purportedly on at 11:00p.m. Monday nights. Of course, this is a free-to-air station we are talking about, so airing generally began closer to midnight;
• I mentioned Criminal Minds earlier. This was a ratings hit here in Australia and Channel Seven decided to, well, instead of prolonging its run, shorten it by showing two episodes a week. While I wasn't displeased to watch it so often, it was another example of horrible programming by Seven once more;
• Jericho, a debuting show, and an interesting one at that (though it wained towards the end) disappeared quite a few times for reasons I am still to comprehend;

If that doesn't prove a year of disgrace for advertising, schedule management and care for viewers (not even just the loyal viewers) than I don't know what could. Except maybe cancelling every show that would go up against, say, a sporting event. Wait! That's happened twice! Any shows that were up against The Soccer World Cup and The Ashes all got put on the hold shelf so that they didn't lose their precious ratings. And for us who, well, didn't want to watch The World Cup all that much and would much rather watch the shows that we had been for the year leading up, we were forced to watch it all because there was nothing else on.

Now, for all that crap that went on, there were some (though not all that many) smart decisions made by stations:

• 24 is a tiring series that only die-hard fans watch from start to end because it can get tedious, long and early episodes easily forgotten. Seven actually made the decision to start showing two episodes per night. While this was a stupid move with Criminal Minds, which each episode is effectively independent of the previous and the next, for a show like 24, it was a very smart, brave, and ultimately successful move as you need the episodes as close together because they rely so heavily on the back-story;
• Seven (proving to be the smartest of the stupid) didn't, and haven't, mess around with their guarantees' time slot all that much (Lost, Desperate Housewives, Prison Break, The Amazing Race, My Name is Earl);
• There wasn't an abundance of repeats of what we had just watched. In previous years stations tended to repeat the entire season that you had just watched, which would kill the uniqueness and anticipation of the upcoming season. This year, however:
• Lost was repeated for insomniacs (midnight on Seven every day of the week);
• Desperate Housewives repeated for the, well, desperate housewife (midday everyday before the end of school term, showing two per day);
• Prison Break not at all;
• The O.C. not at all;
• House later down the track (only within the past month and a half, and at a slot (7:30p.m. Wednesday instead of the usual 8:30p.m.) where really it's only on because there's nothing else to put in and it filled the gap between the final of one show and the debut of another, so it wasn't on for all that long).
• Debuting shows were hyped quite well:
• Jericho for months before it actually showed, creating strong ratings for the starting episodes;
  
• My Name is Earl was hyped just as long with entries from his list, and a pretty good synopsis of what the list is for, all before the first show aired;
• Prison Break, without question, was the most eagerly anticipated series debut of the year, and was mainly helped by the campaign-like promotion of the series;
• Commander in Chief was, for a while, after the ad campaign, the talk of the town in my circle, and across the political pond, as questions about the show sprung up from the ad campaign. Really the popularity of the show, before its debut, was caused by word-of-mouth and the fact that two Hollywood heavyweights (Geena Davis and Donald Sutherland) were part-and-parcel of the show.
  
• Returning shows were also hyped quite well:
• Lost and Desperate Housewives both ended on cliffhangers of sorts (especially Lost and the hatch), and only teaser ads were needed to get the same strong ratings as the first season;
• The O.C. returned shortly after the Season Three final with the hook that we were seeing Season Four the same time as it was airing in the U.S.. It was the first time this idea had been used for this show, and long overdue - we were generally months behind for The O.C.;
• Survivor was the same. We always get it the same time as America because the surprise is killed, and ultimately the ratings, if it gets out from America that so-and-so wins. However, the fact that it was at the same time was also made a selling point;
  

Finally, the quality of the shows I watched was a varied basket. While The O.C.'s Season Three was the worst yet, and likely lost viewers, Season Four, so far, compares (though doesn't surpass) the with Season One (perhaps a post on this is required, however, if you're a fan and have watched both, you'll understand without needing explanation). This is also the first year that a two new seasons have coincided. So when I say it was probably a more positive year for the quality of The O.C., that's only because Season Four is kick-ass and Season Three had its high-points. My problems with Season Three were written about early on in the life of this blog here.

Lost's Season One was the stand-out from its debut, and while it wavered at times during Season Two, it finished up stronger than it opened, did what it does best (that being raising more questions by the end than providing answers) and is eagerly anticipated to return with Season Three. In the end, the quality of Season Two was up there with Season One, but the changing and modification of characters, against the grain of what they were initially established as, created a few low-points. But, then again, anyone who stood out the changes realised that these changes actually all worked out for the best by the end. Again, this is probably something that deserves a post of its own, or many, to cover each character's changes in depth.

Survivor took a gamble on racially-dividing the tribes. It paid off as it got free publicity (of course, not all good), saw huge ratings in the opening, then died off. As an avid Survivor fan, I've lasted this long, and it's only really just got good in the past few episodes. Prior to this, it was neither here nor there. So the quality, as a whole, puts it back in the pack and not a stand out, but with enough episodes to go, it could improve and turn out to be one of the better series.

The Amazing Race is the 'family' season. Well behind when compared to the series last shown in the United States, I suspect we are going to be shown every series (and have to endure them all, good or bad) to catch up. This one has its moments, but overall, it's not the best.

Commander in Chief, Boston Legal, Jericho, 24, Criminal Minds all had a roller-coaster ride in terms of quality. I've talked the quality of Boston Legal here (the fall in its quality) and here (the return to greatness) and Commander in Chief here, and as a whole, while all these programs get the overall rating of good (and great in the cases of Commander in Chief and Boston Legal) you could easily have asked me if I'd be happy to miss an episode (and really, by the end of Criminal Minds, I was so over-dosed with it that I couldn't be bothered picking up the remote to even put it on) and I'd have replied in the affirmative.

The Apprentice, and the beginning of this season, is documented here. Overall it's been a good seris, and certainly better than the last couple. Obviously, it's never going to be as good as the Season One or Two, but that's because its uniqueness has diminished. Though, with reported changes to the format (such as winners for the tasks living in a mansion for the next three days and the losers living in a tent-city) I suspect it will pick-up again.

I wrote a quick little reflection of The Office (U.S.) earlier on in July here. Nothing has changed: it's still, in Australia at least, the unsung American comedy that is still showing.

And what else can I possibly say about Arrested Development? I've given it glowing praise here, I can't say it's the greatest comedy any other way really.

So all in all was 2006 a successful year for television? Well, for pre-established fans: yes. The shows that people could have been fans of delivered, and while at times questionably, by the end of the year's Seasons, for the most part, it was easy to forget the bad and remember the good. In terms of programming, it was a God-awful year - stations need to get their act together for 2007 and settle shows into slots. Because no new blockbuster shows really came out, other than Prison Break, fans had to settle with what they have had for the past year or two (not that that was really a problem, it gave the audience less to think about (and that's why we watch most of the T.V. shows we watch)), so mass-migration of fans from one show to another wasn't on the cards. Think of this year like the Western Front in World War One - the trenches the shows, the fans the soldiers. No one was moving, everyone was sticking to their guns, and in the end, each side thought they were a winner for the most part because neither had given into the enemy. Will 2007 be the year to see the deadlock crack and new, massively popular, 'cultural icon' shows shake things up? Who knows. What we do, though, is that the bankable shows are headed into their second, third, fourth and fifth seasons, and the deeper they go, the harder they are to break fans away with new shows. It comes back to quality: if the quality of the show disappears, so do the fans.

Here's to a new year of television!

Thomas.