In the past year, all of the nights on which the networks show original movies, Sunday, Monday, and Wednesday, have declined significantly more in the ratings than the movie night that relies on theatrical movies, Saturday. CBS has averaged an 8.6 household rating this season with its Sunday night movies, down 20 percent from its average last year. The network s Wednesday night movie has declined 22 percent in household rating, dropping the program 34 places, to 67 th for this season. In contrast, ABC s Saturday night movie, which relies on theatrical presentations, has slipped only 7 percent in the ratings and 11 places, to 90 th in the rankings. As a result, NBC is also cutting its production of original movies by about half, although ABC says its production will be about the same as last year.
Scandals are a subject mainstay of the genre, along with victim tales.
Two things will bring them back. One is to go away for a while so that people will want to see them. There re only so many theatricals that are available to the networks. The other thing will be the subject matter. News events will drive the genre.