Math Whiz Special Edition: Fall 2008 by the Numbers

Mediaweek's ratings guru Marc Berman has done some post-upfronts math and come up with some shocking statistics (OK, more like just kind of interesting statistics, but again, no one wants to cop to reading something that's just kind of interesting, so shocking it is):

Number of New Shows Overall:
16 (versus 29 in fall 2007)
Dramas: 10 (versus 16 in fall 2007)

Sitcoms: 4 (versus 6 in fall 2007)

Non-Scripted: 2 (versus 7 in fall 2007)

By Network:

ABC: 2
(as opposed to 8 last fall)
CBS: 5
(5 last fall, as well)
NBC: 4 (5 last fall)
Fox: 2
(5 last fall)
CW: 3 (6 last year, but then, they actually were programming Sundays back then)

A cursory look at these numbers and you might think the writers strike had a huge impact on the fall season, but the numbers are inflated a bit by the big drop in the number of new reality shows. (And the two new reality series that did get picked up come from the networks that took the laziest approaches to their fall schedules - ABC and The CW.) The networks constantly tout and embrace reality as inexpensive programming that's every bit as good as scripted material, but it looks as though when they look deep into their hearts, they really understand that, with rare exceptions, it's at best stopgap programming.