What’s Old is on Again There’s Not Much New This Fall As the Effects of the Writers Strike Begin to Show
By David Kronke
Please stand by: The fall TV season is experiencing technical difficulties.
This winter’s writers strike didn’t just hurt the broadcast networks back in the spring, as their ratings plunged while airing repeats and stopgap reality programming. The strike also affected what you’ll see as the new TV season begins next month.
So much so that ABC Entertainment’s Stephen McPherson, normally a fiercely competitive executive, declares, “I really can’t emphasize enough that I’m rooting for all of broadcast television (this) fall.
“We all have to take a step back and root for the industry. — It’s important for all the networks to get the viewers back, get them excited about the programs, get them back into the characters and storylines and dynamics that they love.”
His counterpart at Fox, Kevin Reilly, is even trying to tamp down expectations as the new season commences.
“I wouldn’t (put) too much (emphasis on) this fall’s ratings,” Reilly says. “I’d hope that this fall’s a reset. I believe in my heart it can be, particularly if there’s a couple of new, exciting shows joining the lineup or maybe some of the returning shows continue to find an audience. But I wouldn’t read too much into it if — you see significant declines. That’s not going to be healthy, but I don’t think this is an all-or-nothing line of demarcation, a point of no return.”
The strike chased many viewers to cable, where they’ve been slowly migrating over the years anyway. A number of cable channels enjoyed record viewership levels in the spring.
This has emboldened them to take on their bigger competitors.
Generally, basic-cable channels launch their big shows in the summer, when they see vulnerabilities on the broadcasters’ schedules. This year, some are competing directly with the broadcast network’s fall launch. TNT and FX, for example, are debuting new series in September: Steven Bochco’s legal drama “Raising the Bar” and the biker saga “Sons of Anarchy,” respectively.
The strike also underscored the notion that the networks can no longer afford to spend as much as they did in the past.
NBC has been most aggressive in cutting costs. It has entered into co-productions: “Friday Night Lights” with DirecTV, which will air the high-school drama’s third season before NBC, and “Crusoe,” an updating of the Daniel Defoe classic, with British, South African and Canadian partners; two more co-productions, “Merlin” and “The Listener,” will emerge midseason.
NBC’s also touting product placement in its series (auto manufacturers figure prominently in the remake of kitschy ’80s action show “Knight Rider” and the spy drama “My Own Worst Enemy”). But the network’s biggest gambit — some would say gamble — has been greenlighting series based on scripts rather than waiting to see what a show may look like based on a pilot.
This has resulted in creative shuffles on “My Own Worst Enemy” and “Kath & Kim,” a sitcom based on a hit Australian series. The CW also picked up an update of the teen soap “90210″ without producing a pilot.
“The industry can’t go back to the way it was before and survive,” insists Mark Graboff, co-chairman of NBC Entertainment. “The broadcast television industry cannot do that. And the strike accelerated some change that had already been started. So what NBC is going to continue to do is be a little bit more strategic about how we develop programming. — Time will tell what works and what doesn’t work.”
NBC’s new series consist of remakes or updated versions of classic stories. “My Own Worst Enemy” is a high-tech take on “Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde,” while midseason shows “Merlin” and “Kings” offer variations on Arthurian legend and the biblical tale of David and Goliath, respectively.
“There’s no question the strike hurt the ability to fish for totally fresh ideas because we were limited in our development season,” Ben Silverman, NBC Entertainment co-chairman, concedes.
That also translated into far fewer new shows making it onto the fall schedule. At a time when networks can’t afford risks to win back viewers, they’re producing 14 new scripted series launching this fall, as opposed to 22 last year.
Instead, series with ratings that could have led to cancellation in an ordinary year were renewed, such as ABC’s “Dirty Sexy Money” and “Eli Stone”; NBC’s “Chuck,”"Life” and “Lipstick Jungle”; and The CW’s “Reaper.”
“It’s still a little odd,” says Fox’s Reilly. “Everybody tried to reposition after the strike and put the smiley face on, but it was obviously damaging. I don’t think you’ve seen as much product as you normally would.”
ABC will have but one new scripted program, “Life on Mars,” which is already beset by turmoil. Wholesale changes have been made among the cast and executive producers.
“The strike changed everything in terms of the way development went,” says ABC’s McPherson. “We decided we weren’t going to kind of (schedule) shows that didn’t exist, that hadn’t been developed or shot or piloted and gone through the regular process. So it’s an odd year. The rhythms have changed. But to us, it’s always going to be based on whether we believe in those shows creatively.”
No new series has been bearing such scrutiny or expectations as Fox’s “Fringe,” a conspiracy thriller from cult showrunner J.J. Abrams (“Lost,”"Alias”). Intense buzz erupted after the pilot was bootlegged online over the summer, and many pin hopes for the fall season on the show’s success, which worries Abrams.
“I don’t think any one show can save the fall season,” he says.
“Obviously, the writers strike was something that none of us wanted or liked. It was bad for everyone. Any pressure or expectations for this or any other show could ruin a show. If you expect something that’s going to change your life, you know, no matter what it is, it’s almost invariably going to be disappointing.”
Network executives are hoping Abrams isn’t describing the fall season in general.
David Kronke, (818) 713-3638
david.kronke@dailynews.com
www.insidesocal.com/tv/
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