For many years I was in network television. As a kid I worshiped network television. I knew all the shows, all the actors in all the shows, and once I got into writing – all the writers and producers of every show. And not because I felt it was an obligation. I did this because I wanted to. I cared.
How many thousands of hours of commercials did I sit through before VCR’s and DVR’s until fast forwarding? And half the time so I could watch the end of PETTICOAT JUNCTION or junk like that.
But I didn’t care. It’s was TELEVISION. CBS, NBC, ABC – my portals to the wonders of entertainment.
Recently, I came across an article from TVLine.com listing the network shows that are on the bubble for cancellation. Trade websites and papers list them every year. But what was startling about this year was that as I was scrolling down the list I was shocked at how many of these shows I had never even heard of. And again, what not talking some obscure cable channel – we’re talking the major broadcast networks.
What the heck is A MILLION LITTLE THINGS? Or COUNCIL OF DADS? EMERGENCE? GOOD GIRLS? INDEBTED? Something called LINCOLN RHYME: HUNT FOR THE BONE COLLECTOR? You’d think that just the long title alone would catch my attention. But no.
And the list continues. MANIFEST? OUTMATCHED? SINGLE PARENTS? ZOEY’S EXTRAORDINARY PLAYLIST? That’s another long title that should have registered based on its length alone. It didn’t.
Here’s the sad part: I bet some of these shows are very good; certainly worth sampling. But how would I know? No one has recommended them to me. And I don’t watch network primetime so if there are promos I never see them.
I don’t know the solution. When I have sampled new network shows, especially sitcoms I’ve been disappointed. Is it network interference (which continues to be oppressive), or writing staffs that are hired based on agendas not necessarily talent, or an overall fear of anything that’s not safe (which included recycling the same tired TV actors over and over again)? Poor promotion also has to be a culprit. What good are promos on NBC if you don’t watch NBC?
Networks are going to be faced with an even bigger challenge this year. Nobody knows what the world is going to look like come this Fall. They will be forced to work outside their comfort zone. Will that result in more innovation, a new look and approach that possibly results in a resurgence of network television, or more of the same and a shorter path for the lemmings to get to the cliff? As someone who grew up loving the networks, I hope it’s the former.
47 comments :
My guess is that the pandemic will lead to more game shows as I guess they take less time to produce.
Oddly enough, I recognize the names of most of those shows you list, have seen (or read the script of) about half. Because of that, I can tell you that COUNCIL OF DADS was an interesting pilot; A MILLION LITTLE THINGS is a THIS IS US wannabe; and INDEBTED is Fran Drescher and husband Steven Weber moving in with their kids after squandering everything they owned. It is god-awful and you are fortunate not to have heard of it before.
I know these things because I'm a member of a 1980s-style conferencing system and the tv conference there has a guy who reviews every new show in detail and a now-defunct Yahoo group used to post pilot scripts.
It seems healthy to me that you've moved on to other things.
wg
wg
I knew [b]The Conners[/b] was in trouble when they promoted Live airings. At least for sitcoms, Live airings seems to be a stunt of last resort.
I know this much about network shows - they are built around commercial breaks. Mini-cliffhangers, if you will, before each one to motivate viewers to return "after a brief commercial message." Cable shows aren't ruled by breaks. Cable shows have a different feel thanks the freedom from network-prescribed breaks. It is a rare network show (THE GOOD PLACE and AP BIO are two rare examples) so genuinely unique or funny which make it worth the effort. My two cents.
Here's everything I know about the networks: they're the guys that like to throw a random logo before my Hulu watches. Which logo goes with which show? I haven't bothered to memorise.
Unlike you, I did sample something new this year — Zoey's Extraordinary Playlist. I managed a couple of episodes before giving up on its limited conceit and its comically unresearched version of working at a tech company. As in, if Mary Tyler Moore adapted the same storylines there'd be 20 minutes in which everybody believes that the whole station is going to have to close because a report they filmed goes on for too long and includes extraneous shots. Mary's eleventh-hour hero moment, while everyone else is packing up their desks, is: maybe they could use this new-fangled technique called editing?
I think you'd like "Single Parents". It's a very competently-made multi-camera sitcom with surprisingly good writing.
Sad to see that it's on the bubble.
While I've never had a career in television, I've been a credit-reader since childhood. I'd always want to watch the closing credits so I could at least know who the actors in the show were, despite family objections, though watching the credits of one show wouldn't cause anyone to miss any part of a show on another channel, at least back then. I remember my grandmother complaining once, "You don't know any of those people", as if I had to know them personally to care who they were. I loved how I could follow the career of an actor that way. I remember seeing Charles Siebert on TRAPPER JOHN, MD, and remembering that I saw him on GOOD TIMES a year or so before because I read the credits. Now, especially w/ MeTV, I read the writer/director credits too so I can follow their careers too.
I turned off INDEBTED before the first commercial break. The pilot was that bad.
GOOD GIRLS was trying to be a grittier version of Jenji Kohan's WEEDS. Started out decent but ran out of ideas.
MANIFEST had an interesting premise but quickly became a piece of crap. If they had hired actual science fiction writers instead of going for the cliché government conspiracy plot, it could have worked.
OUTMATCHED is the same old family show but with genius kids. I watched.
SINGLE PARENTS - couldn't get through the pilot
ZOE'S EXTRAORDINARY PLAYLIST isn't bad at all and should get another season. The season ending with everyone singing American Pie at the wake was great.
I am pretty sure The Good Wife was the last network show I watched regularly. Now....I'm thinking...
My question is: How soon before the networks, who are all putting out their own pay-for-streaming channels, transition slowly to streaming only and broadcast vanishes completely? (Or, if not completely, becomes the least desirable platform.)
Did you catch the season finale of BLACKLIST? Covid19 stopped filming halfway through so they filled in the missing scenes with animated sequences. It looked like a mixture of live action with a comic book. For that show it worked but, then, BLACKLIST is largely a comic book to begin with.
Ken, do you plan to do any further Zoom readings of Cheers or Frasier? I've watched the one you posted at the weekend twice. So much fun.
I'm shocked you are not one of the three people who read my blog and therefore would know all these shows. For me, TV premiere season is like other people's opening day fun. Before the season starts, I go through 3-4 sites that list all the upcoming new shows whether they will be renewed or not. My own personal fantasy TV league. I would love some business to run it with stats each week. You could have 2 sitcoms, 3 dramas, 1 sports show maybe, put your starters in. :) Or draft at the start of the year and see who makes it through?
I then try to watch and review each premiere. I generally try all the new shows for at least one Ep. But I suck on knowing the production side, I'm lucky if I remember who the stars are. When I do my first predictions, I ignore star power most of the time, often not even knowing who is in the show. After I watch the Ep, I review my prediction and adjust. At the end of the year, I see how I did. Some years I'm as high as 2/3 right based on the logline. Other years it's a coin flip. I don't adjust for the prediction metrics that TV Grim Reaper uses -- like whether the show is in-house or not, whether it's on the CW that renews almost everything, whether it's on a network that needs a new drama desperately or a comedy, whether they have a development deal with producer X for 2-3 seasons of "something". When I make my predictions, I never look at the initial ratings.
Yet there were some on your list even *I* have never heard of...
PolyWogg
I have to speak up in support of A Million Little Things. Especially in response to the poster who called it a This Is Us wannabe. I never could get into This Is Us - too many plot twists, it gave me a headache. I was hooked on OMLT from the beginning. It’s very soapy, but the characters are compelling, the acting is uniformly good, the plots are believable, and I can rely on at least one good cry per episode. It is almost the only scripted show I watch regularly, and I will be sad if it goes.
BTW -- For info, A Million Little Things was created in response to This Is Us success, and is a Big Chill version where four 30somethings met when they got stuck in an elevator, bond, everybody influenced by the one Type A guy who later committed suicide.
Council of Dads is the rip-off version of that show with a "council of dads" to help a guy's family after he dies of cancer.
Emergence is the movie D.A.R.Y.L. in TV form (robot youth lifeform) but it's an AI in a synthetic girl who is found by a police chief mother.
Lincoln Rhyme is based on a series of books (The Bone Collector movie with Denzel).
Manifest is a modern-day LOST idea. Plane took off from Jamaica, presumed lost, and lands five years later at JFK, for them no time passed. Conspiracy theories abound, eveyrone wants to get back to normal but they start hearing "callings" each week to help people.
ZOEY’S EXTRAORDINARY PLAYLIST is basically the same premise as Eli Stone that Johnny Lee Miller did a few years ago (lawyer with brain tumour had visions of George Michael and others singing songs, with hints in the songs on what he should do to be a better person and solve his client's case of the week for more social outcomes rather than being a money-grubbing lawyer). In ZEP, she's a millennial who has an accident in an MRI machine during an earthquake, and now she hears other people's thoughts in the form of song-and-dance numbers. I would say it is Mamma Mia mixed with Glee, part "let me help my friends with their social problems". The dance and song keeps it light, but there's some dating drama (done pretty well) and her father is dying of IPS (degenerative neural disease). Not every dance number is a hit, not sure I would have cast Gilmore Girls' mom as her quirky boss at work, but an eclectic cast to keep the ideas flowing.
It's hard to "peg" the show, and it is one of the ones still on the bubble -- ratings were okay, but not stellar. In a normal world, likely not enough to keep it.
Umm...Ken? INdebted is Steven Weber's show, the guy from Wings. You might want to list a different one. ;)
P.
I know how you feel. I remember reading the TV season preview, from our newspaper, with such excitement, when I was a kid. It was the ONLY thing about the fall I looked forward to (I hated school), and, like you, I memorized all the shows and highlighted the ones that I wanted to watch. Now, I don’t even WATCH network television. I haven’t in years.
Well, as you know, the networks hate me. Anything I like, gets canceled. Why is that?
But it is easy to lose track of things, networks no longer have big roll outs to announce their shows. I am not part of any insider trades, just have a remote, so I don't know the inside scoop on shows. But I recognize actors, oh, wasn't she the Nanny?
I've seen most of the shows you listed, only thing I enjoyed the most is Single Parents. Good cast, funny, some sad.
Steven Weber's show INdebted, skip. Bad acting, jokes you can see a mile away, and not funny.
Emergence was an interesting show, it was broken down above, but story was interesting, good acting.
To summarize, go out side, enjoy the outdoors. I'm not a robot
ZOEY’S EXTRAORDINARY PLAYLIST appears to be counterprogramming for GOD FRIENDED ME (including the same time slot) which was (rather surprisingly) cancelled, so it makes sense it's on the bubble.
Maybe I'm missing something ere, but this paragraph was very telling...
"Here’s the sad part: I bet some of these shows are very good; certainly worth sampling. But how would I know? No one has recommended them to me.
And I don’t watch network primetime so if there are promos I never see them.
If you arent watching Primetime TV, how WOULD you know about these shows? Or TV in general? I have heard of, even watched a couple of them. Nothing earth shattering. No new grounds being broken. Have to be honest, in this day and age, I'm surprised networks can cancel ANYTHING....what are they replacing these shows with next season? Disney family table read 13?
My bet is the smart play for NBC and CBS would be consolidation with either Netflix or Amazon Prime.
Assuming you still have a hold on a substantial back catalog and are willing to streamline your infrastructure, it's a win for Amazon Prime and Netflix to take you on board. In return you get a port amid the transition to streaming "storm", a more global presence, a large existing streaming base and, in the case of Amazon Prime, a diversified foundation of revenue.
CBS, especially, is in trouble given the huge amount of debt it holds and the loser of a merger forced on it by the Redstone family. Not to mention the huge flop of CBS All Access. They do, however, have a huge back catalog which should be especially appealing to Amazon Prime who is well behind Netflix and The Mouse Empire in terms of both amount and quality of programming.
And it's really that last player--"The Mouse Hegemon" (man, I can't believe I wrote that)--that all parties should be working against in this game. The size of subscriptions on the first day of Disney+ was HUGE. They also hovered up vast amounts of intellectual property this century to go along with their already sizable catalog of past material.
If you're interested in info on the coming "streaming wars" please watch Film Theory on Youtube.
And I think that's the longest comment I've ever made on here.
Sean
A shorter article would have been which shows are NOT on the bubble.
Even HBO has done very stupid cancellations. They barely kept The Wire on and only gave it a short final season to wrap it up. They also bailed on ROME, which was spectacular, and only gave it a short final season.
I just can’t get worked up about networks dying when other media sources have filled the void. Nowadays I mainly watch cable and streaming.
Coincidentally, CBS just released a promo for the new Chuck Lorre sitcom this fall, B Positive. It was exactly as I expected. The same old non-descript, soulless, interchangeable product from the Lorre assembly line. At this point, the scripts might as well be written by a computer algorithm.
I'm not just saying this because it's Ken's blog, but the reason people still watch Cheers and Frasier reruns is because the shows had real depth and soul and were inhabited by real people, not one dimensional wisecracking machines. Fans remember particular episodes because the storytelling was so good. Can Two and a Half Men fans genuinely distinguish one episode from another? I doubt anyone will be watching reruns of that 20 years from now.
Hey Ken -
I thought of you while watching "the Voice" last night when John Legend changed up the lyrics to the Cheers theme - well done and a song that reminded me that I know YOUR name! :-)
"Indebted" and "Broke" have almost exactly the same premise (a wealthy, eccentric couple loses their money and have to move in with middle-class relatives). What's really strange is that these shows air on different networks during the same time slot.
I think network shows in general are now for people like me. I gave up cable/satellite years ago, and now use an antenna and Tivo to watch whatever channels I can get over the air (in addition to Netflix and Amazon). It was partly a financial decision, and partly so I don't have to deal with the terrible telecom monopolies (other than the one that supplies my internet access). So I sample all the network shows when they're new, but don't see cable shows until they get around to streaming.
As I've mentioned previously, I don't have cable or satellite. I can't stream. All I have is an antenna on the roof for broadcast TV. Yet, despite that I rarely watch the new shows; primarily syndicated reruns.
I did watch "Lincoln Rhyme," but quit after a couple of episodes. My first reaction was, "Give me a break!" There's always a certain amount of suspension of disbelief with every show, but L.R. required more than I could give.
Another thing I hate about network shows especially dramas is the "soap operaization" (I know. Not a word.) of the form. I like shows with stand-alone episodes. Even a short arc is O.K. But I really dislike the serialization of most shows. I'm sure that format is deliberate. An attempt to trick the viewer into watching each week, so that they don't miss out on a key plot point that will cause them to lose track of what's going on. But I find that more frustrating than enticing.
And yes, the sitcoms listed above just aren't funny. 'Nuff said.
As I've also stated before, I won't pay for TV programs. So, I may have to give up television all together.
{Crying, dehorned rhinoceros emoji}
M.B.
I don't know about other people, but after having watched shows on streaming video (Netflix, Britbox, Acorn) for a while, commercial breaks just drive me nuts. So I'm off network tv for good.
Ken, I would disagree with your statement about writing staffs. I don't think the problem is staff hired by agenda; I think it's staff that's never wanted to do anything but write for TV. Look at your life experiences. Look at the life and performance histories of many of the greats. Contrast that with a 26-year-old who watched 6 hrs. of TV per day growing up, then majored in TV writing in college. Is it any wonder scripts lack substance and humor? You draw deeply from a shallow well.
Zoey is great. It is the only show on this list I watched
Re: the continued existence of network TV. I'm 40. My friends are mostly 40 or younger, but a few in their 50s and 60s. None of us, not a one, watch network TV anymore. Nobody I know under 30 watches TV, period. Only streaming services. My 65 year old dad has cable and sticks to Turner Classic Movies and other channels that run "old stuff."
All my friends have old sitcoms they love, some of which (Seinfeld) were on TV before they were born. And they watch those on the streaming services. They aren't watching new TV. Heck they listen to more live radio than they watch live TV.
My circa-2007 TV doesn't even pick up OTA signals so I couldn't watch networks if I wanted to. Which I don't! All streaming all the time!
I don't think the networks can survive with anything close to the kinds of numbers (or money) they once had. Their best bet is to produce stuff for their streaming services and run the shows on "old" TV at the same time. Just use the network as a write off.
It's not the networks' fault if you choose not to pay attention to what they're offering. Indeed, I envy you having a family, and having better things to do.
I don't watch much on the nets, but read enough in the online trades and newspapers to know what's on the air and what's in store. The self-perpetuating system of people watching network shows and thereby learning about other network shows fell apart years ago. If 10 million people are watching a show, that leaves almost 320 million who aren't. Whoever figures out how to get that crowd's attention will be the boss of us all.
There was one network (NBC) show I sampled, watched, and fell in love with: Perfect Harmony. Guessing it's a goner, and except for some tweets from John Records Landecker (radio folks know who he is, to others, he's Brad Whitford's father in law), I haven't heard hide nor hare of it since December or so. It's on Hulu and it's very entertaining.
"Indebted" essentially was the NBC equivalent of "Broke," which CBS isn't bringing back. No great loss to the viewer.
As for "B Positive," I'll give it the benefit of the doubt and hope it's closer in quality to recent Chuck Lorre stablemates "Mom" (whose best episodes are genuinely moving) or "Bob [Hearts] Abishola" than the often-vulgar "Two And A Half Men."
I'm still mad they cancelled The Kids are All Right. I thought it was a unique show and it was very funny.
I'm just here to post an In Memoriam for the TV Guide Fall Preview Issue, which I pored over every year. All the new shows were in there, each in its own little one-page feature. The copy was pretty snappy, too. If they thought an upcoming show sounded stupid, they'd tell you. They'd also mourn the anticipated sad fate of something they liked. One that comes to mind was The Waltons, which the writer really liked, even though he knew it didn't stand a chance against Flip Wilson's hit variety show. (Go ahead, kids. Google.)
A little off the subject, but as a comparison to all these little known and irrelevant shows...
My YouTube account recommended a video which I'd never seen before. It's the last appearance of Carroll O'Connor and Jean Stapleton together. It was on Donny and Marie, of all places. This is just pure pleasure, to see them reunited one last time.
https://youtu.be/31D3BU1LbjE
Years ago, the Networks pulled out all the stops in promoting the new season. Now it's like "Hey, we're putting this piece of shit on the air in the hopes that you'll watch it. We'll move it around 6 times to different days and time slots. If enough people follow it around and watch it, we may keep it another season.....as long as it attracts the right demo. Otherwise, it'll be gone before you can fart "God Bless America" without soiling yourself."
Sean: Where is the information that shows that CBS All Access is a "huge flop"? I'm not rooting for it to succeed or fail, and have never seen it (although I know its content), but I'm interested nonetheless.
I loved Zoey's Extraordinary Playlist and would recommend it. But I fear that'll be an easy cancellation. Heck, I think a lot of shows are just not going to happen when nobody can reasonably come back in person for the next six months to a year at least at the trainwreck rate things are going.
The broadcast networks are history. The infrastructure for promoting the programs (newspaper ads, local TV columnists, TV Guide, the weekly TV supplement that came with the Sunday paper) has vanished. That's why we've never heard of these new shows. And the idea of watching a program at a certain hour on a certain day of the week...
All these kids growing up watching cartoons or Disney shows on cell phones/tablets or telling Alexa to play Baby Shark-the future will be about trying to satisfy them.
I hear "Love on a Rooftop" is pretty good, but I think it was canceled.
I'll just say it, since this was brought up earlier in the comments- My wife and I enjoy the Sheen version of Two and a Half Men, even re-runs that are now 15 years old or more. I don't feel the need to apologize for it. We of course know all about Sheen the person, but Sheen the actor was likeable and funny and the writing very often was inspired, especially for the supporting cast. If they ever saw their way clear to a reboot sans Kutcher but with Sheen, we'd watch. Time is running short for that, but c'est la vie.
@gottacook. Regarding the CBS All Access flop:
First keep in mind that we're talking about these numbers in an industry where, as of last year, Netflix had over 151 million subscribers worldwide and Amazon Prime has over 100 million. Also Disney+ had around 10 Million subscribers on its FIRST day.
With that said CBS All Access measured its subscribers in the hundred THOUSANDS in its first year growing megerly to 4 million subscribers in early 2019, less than half of what Disney+ pulled in on its first day (and Disney+ is only one of three streaming services owned by Disney).
Also, Midnight's Edge on YouTube made an extensive case arguing that CBS All Access has been a huge flop. I've seen one or two of his videos which touch on this, but only vaguely remember his arguments.
Sean
Lately I have been totally addicted to Alfred Hitchcock Presents,early Gunsmoke and Perry Mason.All slightly before my initial TV watching time.
I still like the Dick Wolf shows.
I watched the first season of Manifest but lost interest.
Have enjoyed Better Call Saul,Killing Eve,Bosch,Homeland and Outlander.Looking forward to the next season of The Handmaid's Tale.
And will watch Normal People.
Oh,I liked Star Trek Picard.
But ... I gotta watch more Alfred Hitchcock Presents!
If they stopped making new shows, I don't think I would miss anything. I could watch reruns, and see something new every day.
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