Like sands through the hourglass, these are the days of our lives spent waiting for upfronts. Yes, another television season has effectively come and gone, leaving the five broadcast networks with a few weeks to assess their performance while cobbling together a schedule for fall 2016. While a lot of focus during the pre-upfront festivities goes toward bubble shows, whose renewal or cancellation can greatly impact the entire next season, what shapes this process is what each network deems it needs for the forthcoming season. Whether it be a certain type of show or a tweak in scheduling strategy, NBC, FOX, ABC, CBS, and The CW will all have needs going into the 2016-2017 season and these few weeks before upfronts are where said needs get determined and addressed.
As part of KSiteTV’s annual pre-upfronts coverage, Craig Byrne and Shilo Adams have also determined what every broadcast network needs going forward. Though neither claims to be an expert, both spend their fair share of time watching TV, keeping up with the trades, and analyzing scheduling decisions, making this article a series of informed takes on the state of each network. In advance of their yearly schedule predictions, which will begin being posted Sunday, May 1st, here is how both Craig and Shilo see NBC, FOX, ABC, CBS, and The CW as they stand today and what they need to do to improve their position next season.
NBC
CRAIG: It’s really hard to suggest anything for NBC when it feels like half of their schedule will be occupied by either football, Chicago shows, or The Voice in the Fall.
High on their list would be rebuilding their comedy area, because NBC and good half-hours used to be synonymous, but again, it’s also a problem that there aren’t many timeslots in which to do so, with the above-mentioned shows taking over the schedule.
Superstore is cute and I think it’s a good start toward the kind of half-hour world that NBC should continue to cultivate. The Carmichael Show might not have the hugest ratings, but that’s another one that I think is an important building block to NBC’s half-hour future. Half-hours could really raise NBC’s fortunes, especially when it comes to later distribution. Remember, CBS didn’t always have The Big Bang Theory. NBC just has to find the right project and watch it pop.
But, really, there’s not a lot to say about “what they need” because they’ve let themselves be so dominated by event programming that it’s hard for something else to break through.
SHILO: NBC is a network that has a comedy brand and seemingly refuses to accept it. For years, they were home to smart, critically acclaimed workplace comedies that garnered them an upscale audience and award nominations/wins. Unsatisfied with the slight audiences that came with said comedies, NBC vowed to go broader with their comedy brand and has been fumbling around in the dark since then, unsure of what an NBC comedy even looks like. Ironically, it was a smart, critically acclaimed workplace comedy (Superstore) that provided the first comedy pulse NBC has seen in a while and what should be the template going forward. For some reason, this type of show clicks with NBC audiences and gels well with the network’s fleet of inoffensive procedurals, so NBC should quit trying to be a network that they’re not, stop making things more difficult for themselves, and double down on single camera workplace comedies.
What also seems to work on NBC is spin-offs, as the network has recently ordered a new Law & Order and a new Chicago, in addition to putting a new Blacklist in development. However, they have to be careful here because while the Chicago shows are sturdy workhorses and there’s still a lot of cache in the Law & Order name, they don’t want to become too reliant on spin-offs, particularly ones that are interconnected like Chicago. These days, it’s a lot to get people watching one show live, but having them watch four shows a week that take place in the same universe (and sometimes five, counting Law & Order: SVU) feels like a lot for a network like NBC that thrives on casual viewers. Eventually, a spin-off is going to underwhelm, be it from creative strain or too much commitment asked of viewers, and the franchises that NBC has assembled are too valuable to risk, as they’re solid performers that take up quite a bit of real estate. NBC might be able to get away with the new Law & Order, given that it’s more American Crime Story than an extension of the mothership, but Chicago Justice and the (as yet) unnamed Blacklist spin-off feel like they’re pushing up against the ceiling for how many of these shows can air at once.
FOX
SHILO: American Idol. Empire. Married with Children. The Simpsons. The X-Files. All of these are seminal hits in FOX’s history, shows that helped define an era for the network or changed the network’s direction in a positive way, and all of them were creatively groundbreaking at the time of inception. FOX is a network that thrives when it thinks outside the box and goes places no one expects, so why is their development so heavy on reboots/revivals, spin-offs/quasi-spin-offs, and intellectual property? I mean, I understand that the new network presidents inherited a tire fire of a schedule and want to go more conservative in order to stop the bleeding; rebuilding a network doesn’t take 20 minutes and solid pieces are just as valuable as heavy hitters. But while FOX continues stocking up on the “he’s a/she’s a” procedural brand (e.g. Sleepy Hollow, Lucifer, Minority Report), they still need to think big and try to find material that either connects with an underserved audience or allows itself to be lifted by a tremendous performance (e.g. House).
Whereas they just need to give up on the Tuesday comedy lineup. They don’t have a halfway decent anchor among their handful of live-action, non-Sunday comedies and while there’s money to be made from producing, airing, and licensing shows that you own, is it worth essentially waving the white flag for an entire night? FOX’s comedy brand is, by nature, fairly niche and throwing a handful of niche comedies together without any kind of support system just feels like a recipe for failure. Not that the network is overflowing with proper drama lead-ins anyway, but either reducing the comedy lineup to an hour or shifting an hour to another night could allow for some actual progress to be made toward rebuilding. If they stand pat and can’t find any traction in the coming years, though, there’s a chance that their brand just isn’t sustainable in this new television environment and for the sake of the network, they might have to broaden out their comedy identity.
CRAIG: With American Idol being gone from next year’s schedule, FOX has its work cut out for them. It might ultimately be a good thing, as their schedule won’t change a half-dozen times throughout the season like it has in past years.
A few of their “needs,” I think, are already taken care of. I’d assume Prison Break will sub in for Gotham like The X-Files did last year. Lucifer seems to be an okay enough pairing with Gotham and Rosewood seems to have delivered enough to be a viable addition to the lineup. There are still a lot of holes to fill, but I am hopeful FOX can rebuild until their next American Idol comes along.
On that note: Next American Idol in January 2018? Can we place our bets?
I’m hopeful for them that 24: Legacy is the high-octane hit that they want. I do think the comedy area of FOX is a little weak and it’s not for lack of a decent shows; it just seems that the FOX audience is only really interested in watching half-hours on Sundays. Can and will that change? Probably not on Tuesdays, so let’s put “another successful comedy night” on their “needs” list.
