It sounds like CBS is realizing their fall schedule isn’t going to work
CBS will swap scheduled scripted series for—surprise!—a "reality-heavy" fall lineup
Aux News CBS
While other networks decided to batten down the hatches and set autumn schedules that are immune from the ongoing writers strike, CBS operated with reckless optimism and sent forth a schedule stuffed with scripted series. As the Writers Guild of America continues to stand on the picket line, however, the network has to face reality. You need writers for those shows, and until the writers get a deal they find fair, they’re not coming back to work.
“We wanted to build our schedule for when the world goes back to normal,” CBS President and CEO George Cheeks said during the Banff World Media Festival (per Deadline). “Once we had done that, once we locked it in, we spent a lot of time focusing on what it’s going to look like.”
What it’s going to look like is not what they said it would look like, essentially. The way things are going, there’s not going to be any new Ghosts or Young Sheldon or S.W.A.T. or Kathy Bates as Matlock. Instead, it’ll be “reality-heavy,” Cheeks conceded, with traditionally summertime series like Big Brother shifting to the fall; Survivor and The Amazing Race will get “supersized”; The Price Is Right and Let’s Make A Deal will get primetime specials. The network has “four or five reality shows that we’re getting ready” and “we might do more,” Cheeks threatened.
The traditional broadcast networks get the shortest end of the stick in the writers strike, but it’s the streamers that have driven changes to the typical TV writer contract, and those changes are among the WGA’s most prominent complaints. But given the media landscape wherein a handful of companies own all the content outlets, the networks are inextricably bound up with the streaming services’ fortunes.
As such, CBS’ other autumn strategy will be to air Paramount+ originals that have already gone up on streaming, including one that “won’t surprise you because it may have been on CBS before.” (That indicates either Evil or SEAL Team, both of which got bumped from broadcast to streaming.)
“We’re spending a lot of time looking at research and figuring out which are the ones that A, have the best shot keeping our audience engaged but also that could really help drive awareness,” said Cheeks.
As one would make lemonade out of lemons, CBS will turn a historic strike into a streaming service marketing opportunity. Because sure, the network’s “creative partners” may be facing “serious challenges,” Cheeks acknowledged, but “media companies in general are facing significant challenges” too. Won’t anyone think of the poor companies at a time like this?
43 Comments
You tell ‘em, Cheeks!
“It sounds like CBS is realizing their fall schedule isn’t going to work”A schedule chock-full of inexpensive, “super-sized”, ultra-popular reality shows?
Yeah, it really sounds like it’s not going to work.
Supersized Survivor? Holy crap my mom is gonna love that!
I love that!
That’s great to hear, Mrs. Chang!
I only found out somewhat recently that Survivor was still on the air. Amazing. I assumed it had been dead for at least a decade at this point.
Seriously
Oh yeah. Our friends husband is there now as this seasons on-set phsycian. The wife reports that after the first 6 weeks, the only serious injuries were to camera crews. That was the least surprising thing I had ever heard but *shrug*
I am amazed that show is still on. It seems like a lifetime ago when I watched it, and I got sick of every season seeming the same about 10 seasons in.
I remember watching the season 1 finale in a bar when I was in college and I’m consistently amazed when my mom tells me there’s a new season starting. Apparently people like her just do not get tired of watching it.
Why not just cancel the entire channel? Who still watches network television?
“historic strike” like the other “historic strikes” they hold every 7 years?
“It sounds like CBS is realizing their fall schedule isn’t going to work”Like most of America these days amirite?
At no point is it mentioned that the studios and networks can PAY the writers, and accede to union demands. But why would that be surprising on AV Club in 2023
“You need writers for those shows, and until the writers get a deal they find fair, they’re not coming back to work.”End of first paragraph. Admittedly,it’s not putting up a headline about the fall schedule and then turning the entire article into a long rant about how the studios suck amiriteamirite. But if that’s what you’re after, yeah, wrong site.
Yeah, I’m very pro-writer, by inclination and by heritage (family members), but I keep seeing this stupid complaint. “The headline shouldn’t say ‘SHOW SHUTS DOWN PRODUCTION BECAUSE OF STRIKE’, it should say ‘SHOW SHUTS DOWN PRODUCTION BECAUSE STUDIOS DON’T PAY WRITERS ENOUGH’, and this just proves that the press is anti-writer” — no, you huge gob, that’s not how headlines work, and I would expect writers to understand that. Shut up.
And a network/studio could break from AMPTP and come to their own agreement with the union.
Doesn’t that kind of go against the whole idea of collective bargaining? Where the power of the whole union works together to make sure everyone gets a good contract. If specific studios or production companies could come up with their own agreements, what is stopping them from just making deals with their most profitable shows and telling everyone else to suck it?
As such, CBS’ other autumn strategy will be to air Paramount+ originals that have already gone up on streaming, including one that “won’t surprise you because it may have been on CBS before.” (That indicates either Evil or SEAL Team, both of which got bumped from broadcast to streaming.)
Didn’t they air the first episode of Picard on network tv as well?
LOL “EvilSealTeam”.
“We sent in our SEAL team to destabilize this nation while you watch LIVE ON CAMERA – but there’s a twist! There’s ANOTHER team out there – an EVIL SEAL team!”Coming to Fox in 5… 4…
Even worse – one of the evil seals – is a Loose Seal!
These are my awards, mother, from Evil Seal Team.
I know they aired the first Discovery episode.
That is probably the one I was thinking of. Weird that they did it for some of their CBS All Access / Paramount+ shows, but not for others. (Of the two Star Trek shows, I don’t think Discovery was the one with the larger tune-in potential…)
I’m not sure, but they aired the entire first season of Star Trek: Discovery during the pandemic, so that could well be what they’re referring to—they could air more seasons of that.They also aired the first episode of The Good Fight.
I remember thinking during the last strike how the networks must be sitting on thousands of hours worth of pilot episodes for shows that never made it on TV. Some of them must be good, and some probably have big stars before they were famous. It would be cool if they did like pilot night and showed some of those episodes.
You may already know this, but Cartoon Network and Nickelodeon had entire series consisting of backdoor pilots for animated shows back in the 90s/2000s: What A Cartoon! and Oh Yeah! Cartoons, respectively, with both being created by Fred Seibert, of Frederator Studios fame. WAC! was absolutely essential to CN’s success in the 90s/2000s, as it featured the pilots of Dexter’s Lab, Johnny Bravo, Powerpuff Girls, Cow and Chicken, Courage the Cowardly Dog, Grim Adventures of Billy & Mandy, and a bunch more hit shows. OY!C wasn’t quite as successful, but it did launch Fairly Oddparents, ChalkZone, and My Life as a Teenage Robot.
Paula Pell made a show for NBC called Thick and Thin in 2006 that filmed six episodes, none of which ever aired. Chris Parnell starred. There have been other shows that filmed several episodes without ever premiering.Heck, what about SNL specials that are only sketches cut at dress?
I remember reading in Kevin Hart’s autobiography that he did a pilot for a show created by Judd Apatow where he was roommates with Jason Segel. This was in 2001 after Freaks and Geeks but before Undeclared. It also starred Amy Poehler and January Jones. I would absolutely check out that show. And there are probably a ton of other shows with loaded casts like that.
I would absolutley love to watch a mini-marathon of pilots that were immedietly shit-canned but I expect a lot of the folks involved went on to do successfull things and might not want them to see the light of day.
I grew up during the era when every network had a feature film night (or more) on their schedule. That seems like a natural solution. Also, I seem to remember the laws about the networks being able to produce their own shows reverted back to what they were through the sixties. If so, cut a deal with the guilds and cut so deals with showrunners and writers who can work fast. With all the changes in production technology you could conceivably put together some limited run shows by the fall. Comedies most likely but I’ll bet there are more than a few unsold scripts out there that could be dusted off. Hell, call Steven Soderbergh. That guy could make a film by dinnertime.
We wanted to build our schedule for when the world goes back to normalThis isn’t COVID. It isn’t like you have no control. You can end this tomorrow. Just pay the people who make you rich. You don’t even have to really pay them a lot, just enough to let them think you don’t find them to be completely disposable.
Would anyone notice if they just did reruns of NCISCSIFBI shows?
They’d certainly LIKE to have a more robust fall schedule, but prime-time programming is less and less important to the broadcast networks – they really only exist at this point because of sports and (to a lesser extent) news.
Woah woah woah. We were getting Kathy Bates as Matlock?
We were until those greedy writers wanted to be payed a living wage 🙂
The trailer is on YouTube, and annoyingly the Bates character introduces herself as “yes, Matlock, just like on the old TV show” — which undermines any attempt at saying “this is a show with, we hope, similar appeal” and leaves you with only “IP! Amirite?!”
Wow. They ruined it so quickly.
Kathy Bates is too old to play Matlock.
It’s quite simple. Move RuPaul’s Drag Race/Drag Race:Untucked and Drag Race:All Stars from MTV and Paramount Plus to two hour time slots on CBS. Make Mama Ru the face of the network.
If this strike continues through summer (July & August), the scripted shows – comedies and dramas will not be able to premiere in fall as they normally do. Normally, they go back into production for the new season in mid-July, but with the strike, they may not be able to this year.
This just makes me more excited about the rumblings that the DGA voters may vote down their union boss’ easy deal in a show of solidarity, as all the reality shows do still need directors. Sports shows too.