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Starz: Watercooler Chat Factor Pushes Original Shows to Sunday

Are you ready to watch Outlander’s (hopeful) Season 3 on Sunday nights instead of Saturday? Are you ready to battle the rest of your family or to have to decide between Outlander, The Walking Dead and Game of Thrones, or in this house, Madam Secretary? Starz just announced that they will be switching their original programming from airing on Saturdays to the “prestige” programming night of Sunday television. Take our poll below and tell us what you think.

Starz president Chris Albrecht told The Hollywood Reporter recently that he’s moving the network’s entire original programming lineup, which includes not only Outlander, but Ash vs The Evil Dead, Power, and Black Sails, to Sunday nights beginning July 17 because, in part, he feels that the shows are “left out of the Monday morning watercooler conversation,” according to THR. That word of mouth is important to the growth of shows, and the idea is that by Monday morning, Saturday evening shows have already become eclipsed by more recent programming. Of course, networks have long made Saturday nights the “graveyard” night – other than Outlander, what do you really watch on Saturday? I can’t name any other recent popular show that regularly aired on Saturdays, although I have a vague recollection of Love American Style and Love Boat on Saturdays.

“Sundays are a prestige night and we feel our shows are definitely going to be very competitive, not just in viewership but in the attention-getting business on Sundays,” Albrecht added. Sundays are also crowded nights, with many big shows, not to mention football, airing then. Of course, this also means that Outlander  and other Starz shows will no longer have to compete with date night and, ummm, nothing. The article added that “Starz’s shift also is motivated by a desire to be included in the awards conversation (53 percent of the 2015 Emmy nominations were for series that premiered on Sunday nights).”

What do you think? It will give me an extra day to write my reviews, but definitely causes conflicts in our house! Take our quick poll and we’ll let Starz know whether you agree with this strategy.

Read the full article here.

Follow me on Twitter: @ErinConrad2 and @threeifbyspace

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