1 of 1- RadioActive
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How The American Networks Survived Two Strikes & No Season
There's no question streaming has already changed the landscape for the over-the-air TV networks. Then came the double whammy of two strikes in Hollywood that paralyzed all production of scripted shows. Most expected the Big Four - NBC, CBS, ABC and Fox - to be in dire straits.
But as shows ramp up for February debuts in 2024, it appears most of them survived what has arguably been the worst crisis in their long history. And while reality programs were a large part of it, it was mostly sports that saved their bacon.
The linked article has a network-by-network breakdown of how each did, and the fears of what still lies ahead. And nothing is assured.
“We’re not going to know how bad things are until next year,” the industry insider says. The overall averages for the first two months of the season don’t look [i]too bad right now because they’ve been inflated by higher football ratings, but there’s a real fear in the industry that a decent chunk of the viewers who were still in the broadcast ecosystem last spring, and still in the habit of watching episodes weekly and in prime time, may simply not come back. [/i]"
How the Networks (Barely) Survived the Fall
- mace
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Re: How The American Networks Survived Two Strikes & No Season
At one time. to have a long running series on network television, you had to have either "A" Monster ratings. "B" Be competitive in your timeslot or "C" Be relatively inexpensive to produce. FOX's 24 year run of COPS and 35+ year run of The Simpsons are good examples of "C" Both shows have rarely reached the Top 30 and never won their timeslots. However, a disturbing trend is starting to emerge. CBS recently announced the cancellation of two of their still strong performing shows. Bluebloods after 14 seasons and Bob Hearts Abashola after 5 seasons.Even though the cast of Bluebloods agreed to a 25% paycut, not enough for a season 15. For BHA, all cast members, except the two stars, were reduced to recurring status. Still not enough to avoid cancellation. For many decades, CBS has been the frontrunner for developing successful series. Failure rate is high. When the Eye Network turns its back on two of its successful series because of production costs, I fear CBS will join the other networks in filling the majority of its schedule with mindless game shows and abysmal "Talent" series.
- mace
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Re: How The American Networks Survived Two Strikes & No Season
How did I post this twice? I only hit send once.
- RadioActive
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Re: How The American Networks Survived Two Strikes & No Season
I definitely believe as costs soar the era of so-called "Peak TV" that we've been living in the last half-decade or so is over. Not even the streaming services are spending as much as they once did.
It's a shame, but probably a good thing in a way. There was far too much to watch and not enough time to see everything. Maybe this will restore the balance.
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Thread Starter- paterson1
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Re: How The American Networks Survived Two Strikes & No Season
It would be interesting to see how CTV, Global, CBC and City did during this same period. The Canadian networks often had a bigger difference in programming in prime time with much less simsub. Also they had more original scripted shows ready and generally gave their prime time cancon better time slots than normal.
Naturally they all would have had ratings slide as well, but it would be interesting to compare to the US OTA networks.