Here's a look at the Top 5 TV news stories of the week! In lieu of a regular Top 5, I am going to be brief with five observations from Upfronts week. If you missed my recaps of each fall schedule, I have linked it below!
If there's one trend observed in the broadcast upfronts, it's that Dick Wolf is King and creativity is dead. I like some procedurals. In fact, I like all three Chicago shows quite a bit. But Broadcast TV is really leaning into the "broad" part of their name because the lineups show a considerable lack of innovation and big swings. Instead, we have franchises galore so much that three nights across two networks are devoted to Dick Wolf shows. On Tuesdays, CBS has FBI: International joining FBI and FBI: Most Wanted. Then you head to NBC and can keep on going with #OneChicago Wednesday, the franchise night that started it all. Finally, Thursdays - the former home of Must See TV - has been devoted to three Law & Order shows with Law & Order: For the Defense joining the fray. As I said, I like some of the Dick Wolf shows, but this is just too much. Still, kudos to him I guess.
It was in the very recent past that we had 20+ scripted shows premiering across the five networks. I remember when we only had 16 in 2019, it felt very weird. This fall, there are 11 before we include the CW, which hasn't announced its plans yet (oh and by the way, of the 11 there are five that are either franchise shows or reboots). Some of it is due to COVID delays but this is also a trend for Broadcast TV. They are sticking with shows longer whether they're deserving or not and with many of them moving resources to streaming services, they are not interested in developing and premiering tons of new shows over a week or two in September. I understand all the reasons why but I miss the days of huge premiere weeks with tons and tons of new shows arriving. We'll probably never get that back.
Another trend that is likely to continue - Broadcast TV is starting to be a funnel for corporate streaming siblings. This week, we saw CBS officially move Evil and SEAL Team to Paramount Plus while Clarice may join that list and Zoey's Extraordinary Playlist may move to Peacock. Every network except FOX has a streaming service they are closed tied to (or multiple streaming services in the case of ABC). I imagine this will be a continuing trend. The money is streaming. The future and present are streaming. Probably many of the broadcast shows have more people streaming them than watching them on linear TV. It only makes sense.
#4 - HOW MUCH DO TIMESLOTS MATTER ANYMORE?
You would think in a world where streaming is everything that timeslots mean nothing anymore. It's true that they don't mean all that much but they do still matter to some extent. That's why we see franchise nights and that's why it's still notable that NCIS is leaving Tuesdays at 8pm after 18 years. The type of people who watch NCIS are the type who probably watch it live and probably care about its timeslot. So moving it to Monday at 9pm is no small thing for that sector of the audience. And even though lead-ins and flow of night mean less, it still can mean something on a smaller scale. I think unless we get to a full streaming model in the future, timeslots will still matter to some degree.
#5 - MOST INTERESTING NEW SHOWS
Of the new fall shows, I am most interested in The Wonder Years which looks really promising. I loved the original and thought the teaser looked right up my alley. I am also interested in Ghosts, I read the script to that one and liked a lot about it. I am also interested in Ordinary Joe (though skeptical of its chances) and La Brea. Among midseason shows, I am interested in Abbott Elementary, Monarch and American Auto.
Check back next week for a new week of blog posts!
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