NBC: A Season of Reruns and "Encore" Presentations

NBC seems to have a new trend: Repeats. While NBC calls them encore presentations they are not doing their viewers or their new programs any favors by airing reruns of any given program. 

As viewers we tune in during the September premiere month to new programming and to find out how the cliffhangers from last season turned out. Sadly, NBC is making a habit of rerunning new programs such as “Kidnapped” before the viewer even has a chance to decide if they wish to add that program to their regular viewing list. 

Granted, the first episode of Kidnapped was intriguing and appears to be worth watching a couple of more episodes in hopes that the series will continue to be as well acted and written as the premiere but the viewer wants to know what happens next not what happened in the last episode they watched earlier this week. To make matters worse the pilot episode is scheduled to run a third time the following week as well. 

“Law And Order: SVU” seems to have fallen under the same curse. While the season premier episode aired earlier in the week, Saturday night brought about an “encore” viewing. 

Does NBC honestly believe that their viewers are going to appreciate the reruns? Between VCR’s DVR’s and TIVO it is impossible for most viewers to miss any program they wish to see on TV. NBC calling reruns “encore” presentations is nothing short of insulting their regular viewers and a good way to lose new ones. 

Often times being the last to air fall episodes and many times throughout the season rerunning more episodes than airing new NBC is bound to see their ratings drop even more than they have in the past.