Are Quality Shows Doomed on Network TV?
Opinion
In an age where streaming and cable seem to be in a competition to one-up each other with fresh-out-of-the-box shows, network television somehow seems to be moving in the opposite direction. We only need to take a look at the most recent fate of a number of broadcast series, as the last TV season comes to a close. NBC axed the musical drama Zoey’s Extraordinary Playlist (despite our passionate plea for them to renew), as well as the network’s newest sci-fi offering Debris, leaving the more established Lost-inspired Manifest on the bubble. Fox’s serial-killer procedural Prodigal Son has also bit the dust, while the Silence of the Lambs sequel, CBS’ Clarice, remains on the bubble (and may be moving to streaming), and the demonic Evil’s long-awaited second season moves to Paramount+. These are all shows that put a significant twist on the more traditional drama or procedural, and they can’t seem to gain traction. What is going on here?
It’s not like there are a plethora of fascinating and risky shows that have been renewed lately, and this group just didn’t make that cut. Indeed, the fall 2021 schedule is bloated with procedural franchise fare (the exception to this seems to be the CW, which has made its trademark in putting out weird shows). NBC may possibly be the worst culprit with two full nights of Dick Wolf shows — the Chicago shows (Med, Fire, and P.D.) will take over Wednesday nights, while the various Law & Orders dominate Thursdays. NBC even moved all of its comedies to midseason to make room for this. ABC’s fall schedule at least still has a bunch of returning dramas that are beloved by fans.
Clarice on CBS
Of course, there’s no one reason why each of these shows suffered their fate. Clarice may offer us the most clarity, as the big marketing push was occasionally misguided, and the choppy scheduling didn’t help. One misstep here was a Super Bowl commercial that didn’t even include any footage from the actual show, and instead just had a lot of imagery of lambs (I’m not kidding), failing to give viewers a good sense of what the show is. With the series off the air several weeks in between episodes, it never built up enough steam to have a strong fanbase. Viewers just don’t seem to know that this show exists.
Prodigal Son may have had a similar problem, where despite a stellar cast (Catherine Zeta-Jones!!!) and a big hook as its premise, Fox never seemed to know how to market it. TV has seen a number of quirky police consultants pass through over the years (Psych, Monk, etc.), but one with a serial killer for a father is definitely new. And yet, despite consistently good buzz, the series ratings dropped in Season 2.
Zoey’s also took a small ratings dip in its sophomore season, and yet with its big splashy musical numbers, one could easily see it thriving on a cable channel. The folks who make this show, as well as its stars, have made it clear they’re not done yet, and are actively shopping around for a new home. One thing the series has going for it is a dedicated fan base that already had the hashtag #SaveZoeysPlaylist trending at #1 on Wednesday night, the night the news of the cancellation broke.
Zoey’s situation raises an interesting question: do networks just not know anymore what to do with shows that aren’t straight procedurals, sitcoms, or reality TV? Would Zoey’s have been a huge hit had it been put out by a streaming service or a cable network from the start? We’ve seen it before, after all. Lifetime’s You (admittedly not a network show) flew under the radar until it landed on Netflix and support for the disturbing stalker drama exploded. In that case, it seemed people genuinely weren’t aware of the show until Netflix had it, despite a big marketing push from Lifetime prior to its premiere.
You on Netflix
So, if that’s the case, are people just not paying attention to what’s airing week to week, and only to what they can binge? Many streamers’ recent pivot back to weekly episode drops proves otherwise – just look at the recent sensation that was WandaVision. Cable seems to be doing alright as well — *cough* Mare of Easttown. So maybe people just forget at this point that the networks do carry more than just your standard cop procedural and essential reality TV like the Bachelor franchise.
In that case, the solution may be to double down – lean further into the more risky, creative shows that they’ve become afraid of. They may not have a choice. As people start to automatically look to streaming and cable for their twisty dramas, sci-fi/fantasy epics, and horror slowburns, network TV may just do what everyone already thinks it will – die. (The time-traveling DC’s Legends of Tomorrow made a crack on a recent episode about how in the future network TV is hanging on by a single show. “Network TV is still alive?” says an incredulous Nate.) Ambitious shows can’t be a rarity on network television; they need to be so common that people can’t help but pay attention to whatever’s happening on there. It doesn’t help when the one off-beat show that seems to be doing well, Evil, gets moved to streaming as well (even if in this case it may have been moved to try to convince viewers to subscribe to Paramount+).
It’s true, procedural franchises like NCIS, FBI, Chicago, and Law & Order (with three shows each) are nice and reliable. But if the networks continue on this trajectory of playing it safe, they won’t be able to complain when they look around and realize that all of their viewers are gone, because it will be their own faults.
Conversation8 Comments
Please read the TV Insider Community Guidelines.
Comments are closed on this story.
-
R
The #1 reason streaming wins is because there are NO commercials. Traditional cable has too many commercials, the commercials are too long, and they ruin the flow of, and immersion into a show. I never hear of most TV shows until they come to streaming or are advertised as coming to streaming. I watch exactly zero network TV because I'm happy to pay for ZERO commercials. If I do stream something with commercials, it's usually on Tubi. They don't have a lot of commercials, and the ones they do have are played at a lower volume than the show. Unlike network TV which plays them, annoyingly, much louder.
5
-
T
The reason for programs that appear on broadcast TV (and for basic cable) is for them to be vehicles for commercials, a business model formed at the dawn of television. I, too, am gradually being weaned off broadcast TV, not because the shows carry commercials, but because the shows I like and watch are being shuffled off to pay-extra-for-streaming services.
Shows formerly good enough to draw an audience, but an audience not large enough to draw enough eyeballs to justify fees large enough to support the ads are being cancelled or being shuffled off to the streaming services that the various networks have created for themselves (depending on the breakpoints), or sold to third-party streamers like Netflix.
-
-
R
I'm heartbroken about Zoey's, and I hope they get a new home somewhere that appreciates them! You also failed to mention MacGyver, which regularly won its time slot despite a complete lack of promotion by CBS before it inexplicably cancelled the show. I really hope a streaming platform picks up both Zoey's and MacGyver!
3
-
G
Absolutely devastated by the loss of some of my favorite shows on Network TV. Points to the creative teams that put these shows out to begin with but I agree that the Networks have given up on creating anything worth watching just to give us more Duck Wood. Seriously isn't the guy making enough money. I'm hoping that the mistakes being made by the Fab 5 will all be corrected by midseason launches and that they will see that giving us another imitation of a good show will only alienate viewers but honestly the only show I may be interested in may be the Big Leap and it iwilp more than likely get cancelled before it gets a chance to shine. Why are we lacking in the comedy department when so many of us could really use a laugh after last year. I'm switching to Hulu and Netflix.
2
-
R
I enjoyed Clarice when she was solving crimes but most of the show was dark and depressing with her PTSD and the office discrimination and so on. If it had been just about solving crimes, that would have been better. Won't miss it.
1
-
R
If you want people solving crimes, Ion has their entire daily schedule devoted to past procedural dramas. Why would you get into a show with established dark source material expecting it to be Columbo?!
2 1
-
-
C
God fricking bless you Linda ❤️❤️❤️
#saveprodigalson
-
C
Jesus .. talk about a perfect example of NOT seeing the forest from the trees .. sure, some people prefer streaming over regular network TV, but that's not the main reason network TV is tanking and losing viewers .. the REASON is woke, racial and puritan influences on writing, production and casting. This is also affecting comedians and Hollywood overall .. the new woke world order is to be "safe" and "inclusive" (whatever that means for any given day). With these ideologies as the driving factors for all Hollywood entertainment expect more and more crap programs, and more and more viewers fleeing into older TV shows, DVDs, gaming and online media (youtube, tiktok) for their diversionary pleasures. Hollywood needs to awaken from being woke .. or they'll go even more broke and irrelevant.
2 4