Four broadcast networks, at least 50 new shows and not a single standout.
I can’t ever remember that happening.
No THIS IS US, no EMPIRE, no MASKED SINGER. Do you hear any buzz on any new series? Can you even name five?
And spin-offs of existing hits aren’t performing like they used to. YOUNG SHELDON was a hit when it premiered. But how about the BLACKISH spin-off or the GOLDBERGS’ spin-off? I can’t even name them.
At what point do networks realize they’ve got to make changes? I know writers who have had things in development this past season. Same old same old. They’re noted to death, they’re forced to take actors they don’t want, they’re at the mercy of testing, the network, the studio, and standards & practices.
Not only are Emmy-winning shows not on the Big Four, they never would have gotten on the air in the first place if it was up to them.
This is madness.
I was watching the CNN documentary on television in the ‘90s recently (okay, yes, I was on it), and former NBC president Warren Littlefield said in the ‘90s Thursday nights on NBC would draw 75,000,000 viewers. Now it’s closer to 3,000,000. What business can survive losing 90% of its customers?
It seems to me the networks’ only hope is to throw out their current model, take bold chances, give writers creative freedom, and hope that at least one new show becomes FRIENDS or SEINFELD or ER. The truth is, especially now, you can build an entire network around one hit. Look at HBO and THE SOPRANOS, or AMC and MAD MEN.
And now there’s Apple+ and Disney and Warner Brothers are unveiling their new streaming services within months. More new shows, splashy, well-produced. Not all will be great. But it just takes one. What are the networks doing about it? Again, name me five new network shows.
The clock is ticking. And it’s 11:55.
Looking forward to the networks implementing your suggestions.
ReplyDeleteIn terms of new network shows, I can't say enough good things about "The Unicorn". I don't know if they're recycling as many HBO writers as HBO actors ("Oh, so those 'Baller' guys are doing this now"), but that's been my personal surprise of the season. The few episodes of "Perfect Harmony" I've seen have also been more solid than expected (I thought I would hate the show) as well. Shows I've already dropped include "Sunnyside" and "Carol's Second Act". I like the actors, but the writing wasn't doing it for me in either of those cases.
At least I still have "Frasier" and "Cheers" to stream (until the Streaming Wars of 2020 begin in earnest and I have to find out where to catch those).
Also really like The Unicorn!
DeleteCBS is banking on it's streaming service. I am actually going to subscribe to it for Picard. So, I guess in some small way, it's working.
ReplyDeleteKodak is a great analog of the broadcast situation. Eastman owned photography. They invented digital photography. But even when they saw the rise of Digital coming, they could not stop their dependence on selling film.
ReplyDeleteThere are too many suits with too much invested in the current system. NBC/ABC/CBS/Fox are going to be the new AOL.
Save for a few shows (like The Good Place, for example), we barely watch network TV anymore. I will say that Evil on CBS (a network we have not watched in eons) is a pleasant surprise. Other than that, you're correct about how abysmal the offerings are.
ReplyDeleteIt would seem to me that it's at the point of no return for the networks as we know them.
ReplyDeleteFriday Question: as a long time baseball observer, do you have any insights on the "Visiting Field Advantage" of the 2019 World Series? Is it just a statistical outlier, or do you think there is more to it?
ReplyDeleteI actually have found one network series I love. Perfect Harmony on NBC is laugh out loud funny for me. First and only network show I've watched every episode of since the first few seasons of BBT.
ReplyDelete"What business can survive losing 90% of its customers?" I thought *advertisers* were the customers, and we viewers (or our eyeballs) are the product being sold. I'd like to evaluate programming purely on artistic/entertainment merit, but that ain't how the business works. What do the advertisers have to say about the networks' inability to provide the numbers they're paying for? Are *they* bailing out?
ReplyDeleteAnother problem is having large conglomerates like TEGNA, Nexstar, and Sinclair buy up the local stations. They borrow heavily to finance the purchase- and then promptly make major staffing cuts to pay for the acquisition. As a result the local newscasts (which are the only reason to watch the station) are now unrecognizable. Makes me wonder why they bought the station to begin with, but I think I know the answer and it has nothing to do with serving the community.
ReplyDeleteWithout the NFL and college football, the networks would have no reason to exist.
Like Chris Karr I'm surprised how much I enjoy 'Perfect Harmony' (though I'm a sucker for any show that is even partly a 'musical'). Bradley Whitford is always solid, but it's the irresistibly adorable Anna Camp that makes the show, so enjoyable to watch her. To me the main problem that the show has is that it's an 'ensemble cast' show with too many weakly written characters. The 'B' story always seems to drag the whole show down. They've got a great center with Camp, they need to take advantage of that. And more singing!
ReplyDeleteI haven't even bothered to find out what the new shows are to check them out this year, other than whatever's on the CW (so far, only watching Batwoman).
ReplyDeleteIT would be interesting to hear/read some anecdotes about executives moving from a Big Four to one of the others. When the newly-hired suit tries the network-usual interference what kind of reaction does it get?
ReplyDeleteSlightly off-topic but related - why not give more attention to good non-network shows? Some of us horses will drink when led.
Of all the new shows, both Evil and The Unicorn are standouts. They're not great, yet, but they are better than most. I wanted to like Second Chance, but it's horrible. But it seems most network watchers have low expectations anyway.
ReplyDeleteI mean, the Neighborhood and Magnum PI got renewed. That tells ya something right there.
May provoke a few .....
ReplyDeleteThe 2 big shows everyone mentions 'Seinfeld' and 'Friends' had an all- White cast and were created and written exclusively by Jews.
So repeat the same magic formula again, then you have a hit.
I've checked out Bob Abishola, Carol's Second Act and Perfect Harmony. I found them all watchable, even funny at times. They remind me of the kind of shows that would be sandwiched between two big hits back in the day and thus be a hit but not a show that would stand on it's own. I will probably keep watching because I'm tired of all the comedy-drama on the streaming side.
ReplyDeleteTry Toast of London on Netflix. Seriously warped fun. Three seasons so far and somehow they just keep topping themselves. Could never be on American network tv.
ReplyDeleteWhile not breakouts, Bob [Heart] Abishola I'm enjoying anbd inclined to agree with Astroboy, above, Bradley Whitford and Anna Camp sing, but am afraid most of the ensemble cast, for me, is falling flat, because for me, they're cliche'd and have quickly shifted from quirky to annoying. Bummer.
ReplyDeleteI'm of the philosophy of "entertain me" and I just use the channel up/down buttons. I don't hunt for shows on hulu/netflix/prime, just sit and click. After 9pm. If nothing is on, I look at what I recorded, then move on to netflix.
ReplyDeleteOnly show I've enjoyed so far, is Stumptown, which I am surprised because of it's star, hasn't been mentioned on this blog.
With the potential of the economy going into a recession, one of the first things to go, is TV subscriptions, so Apple +, Disney, etc won't grow, but shrink.
For lack of a better analogy, broadcast television is like the first wife and these streaming services are the hot, young, new wife. That is, all the attention is being paid to the the new family and the old family is just an afterthought. Similarly it appears that the product suppliers are paying more attention to services that one has to pay for. Maybe they think they'll get a better return on their investment. Although, many of these shows couldn't be syndicated without cutting out most of the "good stuff." Their thinking on broadcast must be, "Hey! You're not paying for this. What are you complaining about?"
ReplyDeleteDaniel made a point about the advertisers. Maybe they are getting ready to bailout. Otherwise, you would think that they would demand better product. Logically, when more people watch a show the more people see the commercials. Then sales should go up. At least that's the way it used to be. But then I'm a dinosaur.
M.B.
P.S. As to your original thesis, the only new show I've watched this season is "Stumptown." I stopped watching because it seemed to be just a bunch of cliches strung together.
"ER" took 20 years to get made, starting from the time Michael Crichton wrote the book it was based on. "Seinfeld" was nearly canceled after its short first season. After "Friends" hit it big, NBC and other networks tried many times to create similar comedies and reproduce its success, but they mostly terrible shows that flopped.
ReplyDeleteAlso, HBO only got "The Sopranos" because Fox turned it down, and AMC only got "Mad Men" because HBO turned it down.
So it seems as if these past examples of network successes occurred in large part due to luck and happenstance, and not necessarily because the executives were any better at finding or creating shows than they are now. I agree that giving writers and producers more creative freedom would bring about a pool of higher-quality programs to choose from -- but there's still no guarantee that the best ones would make it to air or survive today's fragmented viewership.
Friday Question: Ken, do you think sometimes reviewers "grade" a new show more generously when it stars a well-known or likable actor? For instance, I thought the pilot for "Carol's Second Act" was lame and unfunny, and I was surprised that many of the reviewers weren't that harsh. They didn't all love it, but many of them gave tepid reviews or were willing to withhold a harsher final judgment, and even the critical reviews managed to say nice things about Patricia Heaton. I like Patricia Heaton too, but I'm wondering if you had that same pilot with an unknown actor (even if this unknown delivered a similar performance) in Heaton's role, it would get much worse reviews. Do you think this is true, and if so, should it be? Should an actor who's done two great long-running sitcoms deserve more benefit of the doubt that her new show will find its way?
ReplyDeleteI don't know if you will answer this.
ReplyDeleteThis is about another TV writer.
Once you have referred to his post on the WGA vs ATA dispute - David Simon.
He says he is "proud" of James Franco - accused by multiple women of sexual misconduct. He does a whole lot of wordplay to defend the sleazebag Franco.
As a writer and creator, would you defend your actor just to save your show? Or would you just replace him than defend the scum?
After reading his article that you referenced, I thought here is a champion of the downtrodden. Now he comes across as just a scum like Franco, Weinstein etc...
What exactly is David Simon's standing in Hollywood, right now?
Ref : https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-7633693/The-Deuce-creator-says-proud-work-James-Franco-despite-sexual-misconduct-suit.html
If you are a fan of The Rockford Files, you may be pleasantly surprised by Stumptown.
ReplyDeleteThe new "Nancy Drew" is showing promise. However, I've been so caught up in the incredible Rugby World Cup, MLS playoffs and the unpredictable (finally) start of the German Bundesliga, my scripted TV shows have been accumulating on my DVR.
ReplyDeleteKen,one of my problems is that the big 4 shovel out the same programming every fall.
ReplyDeleteLaw enforcement shows,check. Legal shows,check. Medical shows,check.
How many times have we been down those tired old been-there seen-that roads?
I miss westerns and have been told that they simply ran their course.Even Roy Rogers said "Just how many ways can you do a western?'
I say,just how many times can we sit through yet another police procedure,medical,legal series?
Nobody knows anything.
ReplyDelete-- William Goldman
"Bob (Hearts) Abishola" is terrific, but it's from Chuck Lorre, about the only successful producer of multi-cams today. If that format was good enough for "Cheers," "Seinfeld," "Frasier" and "Friends," why isn't it today?
ReplyDeleteBob (Hearts) is cute and funny, and pretty darned "break out" from my point of view.
ReplyDeleteI want to like Unicorn, but I find his friends and family really irritating. There ought to be a comedic gold mine in the whole struggling single dad thing and they should let that develop more.
Carol … I like Heaton, generally, but this show comes across too much like Frankie Hess (The Middle) goes to medical school.
Sue: I'd want to see a second source for those quotes. I don't trust the Daily Mail...
ReplyDeletewg
I'll offer a slightly different angle. To me the problem is that what's happening with the networks is the same thing that's happening with a very large number of other industries in this country: the owners think that the actual work their employees do is not as important as tight budgets. So they don't hire managers who really know the nuts and bolts of the work, they hire managers who are willing to cut costs. And because the owners know little about the actual work, they make bad decisions. Here's an article about the recent turmoil at Deadspin. TV networks aren't yet in danger of driving off all their content creators, as happened with Deadspin, but there's an overlap in these situations.
ReplyDeletewww.newyorker.com/culture/cultural-comment/the-ham-handed-money-driven-mangling-of-sports-illustrated-and-deadspin
What's needed is a website where you feed in your preferences, eg genre, period, level of sex/violence/CGI, ratings, similarity to others, degree of separation from Kevin Bacon etc, and you get a list of TV shows to watch, like a dating site for TV viewers.
ReplyDeleteAll I know about David Simon is that 'The Wire' didn't have a single strong female character.
I'm still a fan of network. Four new shows I like very much are ALL RISE, BOB HEARTS ABISHOLA, CAROL'S SECOND ACT and PERFECT HARMONY. STUMPTOWN is pretty good, but it needs a lighter tone, BATWOMAN ain't bad, but too often it just seems to be Season 6 of GOTHAM, and BLUFF CITY LAW is very watchable, though it's already effectively cancelled. There, that's seven. (No, eight, EVIL has had some solid moments, plus Christine Lahti!)
ReplyDeleteNBC will also launch Peacock next year. Don't forget all the game shows, even those that are pre-empted. For example, several soap actors has crossed over to TPIR, including Melissa Ordway, Courtney Hope, and Denise Richards.
ReplyDeleteNBC will launch Peacock next year. Don't forget game shows (even those pre-empted). For example, soap actors have crossed over to TPIR, including Melissa Ordway, Courtney Hope, and Denise Richards.
ReplyDeleteAny idea on how a pre-empted game show gets re-scheduled? Do any soap opera crossovers earn more for TPIR appearances?
ReplyDelete