Smackdown Going Live?

[Mercury Bullet]

From the front page:


WWE is discussing running LIVE edition's of Smackdown on weekends where there is a PPV, once they make the move to MYNETWORK TV. Basically on the weekends where there is a PPV scheduled, Smackdown would run live on Friday, then the PPV on Sunday and then Monday Night Raw as usual.

These monthly live Smackdown events are not 100% confirmed, but the company has apparently signed off on the idea. There will be a live edition of Smackdown on April 3rd in Houston Texas, as part of the WrestleMania weekend.

The general idea behind broadcasting live is to increase the "aura" of Smackdown with the move to MYNETWORK TV. This is also the reason for the draft moves of both HHH and Jim Ross.




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I think live programming may help the show, it would add a little more intrigue at least. I think part of the reason I find myself NOT watching Smackdown is I already know what happened - and knowing nothing interesting is going to happen assures that I will not watch it. At least by doing a live show they might be able to pick up a few more viewers.

[Corkscrewed]

I'd agree to that. Looks like the WWE is really shaking things up. Which is good.

[Londoner]

Yeah, i was expecting smackdown to go live with HHH being there, and Jim Ross. I get sick of them pretending its friday when in actual fact its tuesday...

[JH]

yea it's time to go live permanently with all 3 shows

[Londoner]

Nah not ecw. Unless they're changing that show to then its a waste of time.

[Mooияakeя™]

Yeah, i was expecting smackdown to go live with HHH being there, and Jim Ross. I get sick of them pretending its friday when in actual fact its tuesday...

...and knowing the results from the show 3 days before u actually see it.

[addy2hotty]

No surprise. HHH doesn't want to work Tuesdays.

[Xero]

It makes sense from a touring standpoint, but I don't think the live vs taped debate really holds up. If the booking is good, ratings will flow in. If it's shit, no one will watch regardless (RAW for the past few years, anyone?).

It's like spoilers for TV shows. Usually you'll have at least 1/4 of a TV season spoiled by the first episode's airing somewhere on the internet. But just because it's spoiled doesn't mean they're going to get any less viewership.

I think, at best, the spoilers actually bring people in to see a good show. At worst, it drives such a small amount away that it doesn't matter. Either way it doesn't matter. The difference either way can't be more than .01, and I think that's being generous.

[Londoner]

Xero, i was just talking from a personal point of view, illd like to see it live rather than taped cause it annoys me for the reason i said earlier.

[Xero]

So you get your panties in a bunch because they lie about the day?

What about pre-taped promos on RAW? Do you get mad because those aren't live?

How about segments filmed on different day?

[Londoner]

Way to overreact. I just said it seems stupid.

[Xero]

It seems even more stupid to use that as an excuse for airing it live.

[Londoner]

I don't see your reasoning here, when someone says 'what a difference a few days makes' infront of a crowd when its only been 1 day since raw in their eyes, it just makes me cringe a bit.. If anything i think making it a live show will add to the new feel to the show that vince seems to be trying to generate.

[Xero]

So what, 20 people in the crowd are confused for a minute, does that really warrent complaining about such an insignificant aspect? It's a television show, they need to have it make sense from a televised perspective.

And what about when they air from the UK and claim it's "Live" and all that bullshit? You want them to stop the overseas tapings? Or tape them at, what, 1 in the morning?

Your logic makes anything taped seem bad for the live crowd when in reality it has no bearing on this whatsoever since, again, it's produced for television.

I'm not saying going live is BAD, but there is nothing that makes doing a live show worthwhile for WWE. In fact, it's much less expensive to tape it and much better to have that post-production time for WWE than a live taping is, so it benefits them.

[Mercury Bullet]

If the show is going to be bad, and everybody reads about it being bad before hand, then nobody will watch it. But if the show is going to be bad but nobody knows what to expect, then at least a handful of people will watch simply to find out whats going on. And I think a difference between taping a whole show and pretaping segments, is that the segments aren't spoiled all over the place before hand. Even on WWE.com they spoil smackdown half the time. But you never see a big news article like, "OMG Orton cuts a promo on Cena tonight...transcript here!"

I think that spoilers + bad programming = decreased viewership. So it takes improvement in both areas. Now if Smackdown was taped AND awesome every week they probably wouldn't have that problem. But Smackdown will probably never be awesome, but it might be decent and would probably more watchable by being less predictable.

[Team Sheep]

God Wrestlemania weekend is going to be amazing next year.

Friday April 3 - Live Friday Night Smackdown
Saturday April 4 - Hall Of Fame Ceremony
Sunday April 5 - Wrestlemania XXV
Monday April 6 - Live Monday Night Raw

Can't fucking wait!! :D

[Mercury Bullet]

I understand and agree with the point though that Taped vs. Live doesn't make a massive difference in viewership. But a taped bad show isn't going to draw near the people a live half-decent show would.

[Xero]

Honestly, I think you're kidding yourself if you think more than .1 (which, for the sake of argument, is 100,000 people) rating point actually reads spoilers in the first place AND it actually affects their decision to watch.

We're the minority here. Casual fans aren't going to go out of their way to search for spoilers.

[Team Sheep]

I avoid spoilers every week, but I still know that nothing big will happen because when something big does happen there's threads about titled something like 'HUGE SMACKDOWN SPOILERS' instead of just the usual 'Smackdown Spoilers.' So in that respect it would be better for me.

But to be honest I never tune into Smackdown expecting any huge things to happen, I just like it for the wrestling as it has a lot more of it than Raw, and has more time for midcarders.

[Londoner]

So what, 20 people in the crowd are confused for a minute, does that really warrent complaining about such an insignificant aspect? It's a television show, they need to have it make sense from a televised perspective.

And what about when they air from the UK and claim it's "Live" and all that bullshit? You want them to stop the overseas tapings? Or tape them at, what, 1 in the morning?

Your logic makes anything taped seem bad for the live crowd when in reality it has no bearing on this whatsoever since, again, it's produced for television.

I'm not saying going live is BAD, but there is nothing that makes doing a live show worthwhile for WWE. In fact, it's much less expensive to tape it and much better to have that post-production time for WWE than a live taping is, so it benefits them.

Its just my opinion. You disagree? Fine. No need to be a total bitch about it. Its just one small thing that bothers me, thats all.Calm down.

[Xero]

Your opinion has holes, specifically when it comes overseas shows.

I just don't see how watching something on Friday and them saying that it's Friday could possibly be considered bad and how anyone could be annoyed by that.

[Londoner]

I'm not even concerned whether you think i'm right or wrong you see? Just talking from a personal point of view.

[Xero]

It's an illogical point of view.

[Londoner]

Whatever xero.

[Dorkchop]

I'd love for Smackdown to go live. I know it would cost WWE a lot of money to make the show live, but it would force them to make the show a little less shitty.

[Londoner]

Don't see how it would force them, its not really done that with raw until now has it?

[Mercury Bullet]

I'd love for Smackdown to go live. I know it would cost WWE a lot of money to make the show live, but it would force them to make the show a little less shitty.

:y:

[FourFifty]

I gotta be honest- If SmackDown went live, I'd watch it more often. The main reason I record SmackDown and scope it if I have the time is on paper it looks like shit. Well on paper most of Raw looks like shit but I can't deny the fact that once I get off work every Monday I get hyped up for Raw because I don't know what I'm going to see.

[DaVe]

Yay. This can only be good.

[DarKCentaur]

At a live event, Mike Adamle is on fire, it's a shame ECdub is taped.

I thought ECW WAS live, up until a few months ago