I'm Kim Masters, and I'm excited to present a new monthly podcast from KCRW's The Business.

It's about TV and how we watch it. Here's Michael Schneider of TV Guide magazine.

Thanks, Kim. Joining me is Joe Adalion of Vulture.com. Hey, Joe.

Hello, Michael. And also A.J. Marischel, a variety. Hey, AJ.

Hi, Mike.

So here's what we're going to be talking about this time on this edition of the podcast.

First off, the state of comedy, and especially on broadcast TV, it is troubled. It remains

troubled. We'll discuss that. Also, The Walking Dead, that phenomenon. Those ratings are in. It's a huge hit. What can we learn from

the success of that zombie show? And finally, we'll talk about social TV from Twitter to Facebook

to second screen. There's a lot going on and a lot that the broadcasters are doing with second

screens these days. So let's jump right in, guys. First off, comedy. Thursday night, NBC. What a disaster.

Nothing to laugh about. Not at all. And you remember that was once upon a time the home of shows like

Seinfeld and Friends. And by the way, two of the most profitable syndicated shows of all times.

And comedy is very important to this business

when it comes to syndication and traditionally where this business has made most of their money.

There aren't a lot of comedies on deck going forward for syndication, and I don't see a lot of

new comedies coming down the pike that are going to be much success going forward. So,

so guys, let's start off by talking about

just the state of comedy. I think that we vastly overestimate the comedy problem on television.

I think that NBC absolutely has a comedy problem. They have a brand or did have a brand

of smarts for the smart sophisticated comedies.

That brand wasn't big enough for them, and so they decided to change it up and try to be more like CBS, and it's failing spectacularly.

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