Here's a look at the Top 5 TV news stories this week!
The biggest potential news in the industry for months is now official. The WGA and AMPTP were unable to come to an agreement and the Writer's Strike began at midnight on Tuesday. Immediately impacted were the late night talk shows, which have all shut down for now as well as Saturday Night Live, which has cancelled the final three episodes of its season that were scheduled to be hosted by Pete Davidson, Kieran Culkin and Jennifer Coolidge. Next to be impacted will likely be the Upfronts with networks hesitant to announce fall schedules (not that it's as big a deal as it used to be, but still). Streamers likely have a lot in the pipeline but they'll be impacted too if it goes on too long. Of course the streamers are a big reason this strike is happening as the TV models have changed and so has compensation for writers in a world where 22 episode seasons and big syndication deals are quickly becoming a thing of the past. With the two sides far apart, a prolonged strike seems likely - hopefully it won't be as long as the devastating 2007-08 strike that lasted 100 days.
Prior to the strike beginning, it was announced on Monday that one of FOX's top rated shows, 9-1-1, will be on the move to ABC for its seventh season in 2023-24. This is the reality of today's climate - the ratings don't matter nearly as much as cost and ownership and 9-1-1 is under the same corporate parent as ABC and not FOX. 9-1-1 should fit in well with ABC's current lineup that includes procedurals like The Rookie, The Good Doctor and Station 19. 9-1-1's spinoff, 9-1-1: Lone Star will remain on FOX for its just-announced fifth season. Meanwhile, it was also announced that Dancing with the Stars will return to ABC in the fall after a one season run on Disney+. This was an attempt to get live programming on the streamer but it obviously didn't go over that well for them to be reversing course after just one season. Other renewals this week include The Morning Show for a fourth season ahead of its third season premiere this fall, Bosch: Legacy for a third season ahead of its second season premiere, Netflix's new hit The Diplomat for a second season and Sweet Tooth for a third and final season on Netflix.
The Goldbergs said goodbye on Wednesday night after ten seasons and I wanted to take a little space here to talk about the show since I've watched it from Day One. When it started, the show was dinged by critics for being too loud and obnoxious. It certainly took a little bit of time to find its footing but once it did, it went through several years of being a wonderfully endearing family comedy. The show had the perfect mix of humor and heart and in the early days, the obvious resolutions with predictable 80s songs in the background tipped far more to the endearing side than the annoying side. But in recent years, it's been a tough watch. Like Modern Family, this was a show I decided to see through to the end only for the end to just seem like an eternity away. The show never quite knew how to grow with its characters the way a show like The Middle did. They all just stayed in their exact same personalities for the entire run and what was once funny or cute became irritating. The show had to deal with a split from its creator Adam F. Goldberg (and his home videos), the death of George Segal and the firing of Jeff Garlin. But none of those things were the sole reason things went downhill. It just stayed way past its welcome. I will choose to remember my happy experience watching the first five or so seasons but it was well past time for this show, which certainly feels like its from a different era of ABC and network television, to say goodbye.
#4 - TONY NOMINATIONS ANNOUNCED
The Tony nominations were announced this week. Hopefully the ceremony will not be impacted by the WGA Strike and will go on as planned June 11. They wouldn't technically need to cancel the ceremony, they could do without writers involved but it's possible other unions might not want to go on with it in solidarity. It was a busy year for Broadway and Some Like It Hot topped the nominations count with 13. The favorite for Best Musical though is Kimberly Akimbo, which didn't pick up as many nominations thanks to being a smaller scale show on the technical front. The Revival of a Musical category should be really interesting with acclaimed revivals of Parade, Sweeney Todd and Into the Woods all nominated along with Camelot. I'm a big Broadway fan in addition to TV fan so I'll be excited for the ceremony and hope to see some of the nominated shows this summer (I already saw Into the Woods last summer).
#5 - SCRIPTED PREMIERES THIS WEEK
Here's a look at this week's scripted premieres, a pretty quiet week as we get close to the end of the Emmy eligibility window and the traditional TV season, which is often a lull for new programming.
Today: Apple TV+ has the premiere of Silo, a sci-fi drama from Graham Yost and based on a novel series set in a dystopian future with people living underground in a giant silo. We've had plenty of dystopian shows recently so I'm not sure if this will break through.
Wednesday: FX/Hulu has the premiere of Class of '09, a thriller limited series about a class of FBI agents. There hasn't been much buzz on this show either but I could see it getting a little more attention than Silo. Disney+ premieres The Muppets Mayhem from Adam F. Goldberg. This is the first Muppets series for Disney+ and the streamer is hoping things go better than the last major Muppets project, the failed ABC series The Muppets in 2015.
Friday: Since next Friday will be a Summer Preview, I'm including next Friday's premieres. There is Season Three of The Great on Hulu, a show that has its major supporters and earned Emmy nominations for stars Elle Fanning and Nicholas Hoult in its second season. Apple TV+ has the premiere of City on Fire, a drama from Josh Schwartz set in New York City in the Summer of 2003.
My pick for the week:
All these shows this week are sort of "mid tier" for me. I like, but don't love, The Great. And everything else for me sounds like it could be interesting but there's nothing I'm dying to see. I guess of all of them I find Class of '09 the most intriguing but we'll see.
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