Squeezed by competitors from streaming companies (together with those owned by their mum or dad firms), the main broadcasters unveiled revised fall lineups this week largely constructed around the notion that sticking with the schedule you realize is safer than attempting an entire bunch of unproven sequence.
The clear embodiment of the comfort-food technique unveiled throughout this week’s upfront displays, designed to save billions of {dollars} in promoting commitments for the coming season, may be seen on CBS and NBC: The former will proceed to air three “FBI” exhibits on Tuesday, whereas NBC counters with a trio of “Chicago”-branded exhibits Wednesdays and “Law & Order” sequence Thursdays.
All 9 of this sequence, by the way, come from producer Dick Wolf, accounting for practically 200 hours of primetime programming.
The pattern prolonged past these networks to ABC, which touted a fall lineup of “unprecedented stability” with simply three newcomers — “new,” in this case, the label is utilized to “Celebrity Jeopardy!” and a derivative of its cop drama “The Rookie.”
The networks’ collective play-it-safe strategy prompted their comedy stars to mock them throughout their displays, with an “SNL” spoof at NBCUniversal’s upfront joking about the community’s subsequent spinoff being “Chicago H.R.,” “a two-hour Zoom about respect in the office.”
Similarly, ABC’s Jimmy Kimmel stated of NBC’s addition of “Quantum Leap” and “Night Court” revivals, “That is not a fall schedule. Those are the tapes you discover in your useless uncle’s VCR.”
As the Hollywood Reporter is famous for crunching the numbers, the networks are following a sample that has entailed including fewer exhibits lately, recognizing the challenges of a TV panorama full of streaming choices.
Admittedly, “more of the same” is not the most fun gross sales pitch, and the networks’ lineups aren’t doing a lot to shake their dinosaur pictures, whereas streaming and premium channels gobble up a lot of the media oxygen.
For now, although, the networks seem content material to play the tortoise to these hares, plodding alongside as they hope that sluggish and regular will maintain them in the scores race.
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