Too Much TV: Your TV Talking Points For Friday, August 20th, 2021
Broadcast TV shows worth watching this fall...
Here's everything you need to know about the world of television for Friday, August 20th, 2021. I'm writing this from the Twin Cities suburbs, where AllYourScreens HQ is powered by pasta and caffeine.
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BROADCAST TV SHOWS WORTH WATCHING THIS FALL
After writing a bit about broadcast television PR efforts in yesterday's newsletter, I received a few questions from people asking about the upcoming fall season. In particular, which new shows I would recommend.
That's a tougher question than you might think, because there are some shows that I haven't seen yet, or have only seen a sizzle reel. And if I've seen the pilot already, I can't talk about it yet due to embargoes. What I can say is that here are the shows I'm most looking forward to seeing, based on publicly available info:
The Big Leap (Fox)
This is one show I can talk about, since Fox screened it at the Austin TV Festival. It's a show-within-a-show about a group of wannabe dancers auditioning to be part of a reality TV series called "The Big Leap." The contestants who make it through the season will star in a production at the end that will hopefully make them stars. Scott Foley plays the appropriately slimy producer and any show with Piper Perabo is worth watching. But to be honest, what sold me on the show was the mostly unknown cast, who are delightful. Like an unsettling number of shows this fall, its based on a UK reality series. But the show it most reminds me of is Fox's late-lamented baseball series Pitch. While the two shows don't have much in common when it comes to the premise, the feel is very similar as the characters struggle to find the place they were meant to be.
Smallwood (CBS)
I am a big fan of multi-camera working class sitcoms, and based on the description, this new comedy sounds like it would be right in my sweet spot. Pete Holmes plays a Midwestern husband and dad who is laid off from his auto factory job. His solution is to try and make a living as a pro bowler, which honestly sounds like something I would do. Chi McBride - who plays the standard Chi McBride role better than anyone - is Archie, the owner of the local bowling alley. Working class comedies live or die on their authenticity and I'm optimistic about this show based on the fact that one of the EP's is Mark Gross, who worked on Mike & Molly as well as the under-appreciated The Man With A Plan.
La Brea (NBC)
I know very little about this show than what NBC has shared in the logline:
"An epic adventure begins when a massive sinkhole opens in the middle of Los Angeles, pulling hundreds of people and buildings into its depths. Those who fell in find themselves in a mysterious and dangerous primeval land, where they have no choice but to band together to survive. Meanwhile, the rest of the world desperately seeks to understand what happened. In the search for answers, one family torn apart by this disaster will have to unlock the secrets of this inexplicable event to find a way back to each other."
But I'm a sucker for high-concept adventure dramas, although if the past decade or so has taught audiences anything, it's too not get attached to complicated, non-procedural dramas on broadcast TV. (RIP everything from Flash Forward to Debris) And to honest, in my experience NBC has really struggled to effectively market and promote this type of show.
The Wonder Years (ABC)
I've seen the pilot and while I can't share any of my thoughts about it, I can state the same thing I thought before I had seen any footage. While I am generally not a fan of reboots, it's refreshing to see the studio going beyond just changing the cast from an all-white group to all black. They've reset the show to late 1960s-era Montgomery, Alabama, which opens up an entirely new world for the show to explore. Plus, if you're judging a show's potential by its cast, having Don Cheadle and Dule Hill is a very positive sign.
LOOKING BACK AT THE 1991-1992 PRIMETIME SEASON
Because I am somewhat insane, I thought it would be fun to look back 30 years and remember the 1991-1992 fall primetime season. Throughout September, AllYourScreens will be posting daily pieces about the season, from interviews with network executives to deep dives on all of the new shows (66 of them!) that premiered between September 1st, 1991 and August 31st, 1992. I've already spoken with a couple of dozen people about the season, if you were working in television back then (or if you know someone who was), please reach out to me at rick@allyourscreens.com.
I've written a bunch about how many older television shows aren't available for streaming, which essentially renders them invisible to modern audiences. The irony has not been lost on me that while most shows from the 1991-1992 season aren't available on a streaming platform, I've been able to find examples of just about every series that aired that season, no matter how obscure or short-lived. Which is great for fans and researchers. But terrible for any of the financial stakeholders.
THINGS ARE GETTING CLOSE ON A NEW 'MANIFEST' DEAL
Remarkably, it sounds as if a deal for a new season of Manifest is now likely, although I hear things could always fall apart at the last minute. Representatives for Warner Brothers Television and Netflix has been working on a plan that would bring back the show for at least one more season. That's due in large part to the success of the show on Netflix when it added the first two seasons to the service in June. There have been several problems to work out along the way. Netflix prefers to have global rights for any licensed program, but Warner Brothers Television had licensed off the show to different players in different markets outside the U.S. While that complicates matters, it's a similar situation to the problems faced when Netflix wanted to pick up additional seasons of Lucifer. I'm told that while not all of the language has been hammered out, the licensing part of the deal is apparently considered close to a done deal.
The bigger challenge right now seems to be negotiating new deals for the cast and crew. Even after an extension granted by the actors, everyone's contracts expired in late July and everything has to be renegotiated. The terms of a streaming deal are different than on a broadcast show, which means the new deals have to include a number of adjustments. But I'm told that the biggest hangup is just getting everyone's schedules cleared to sign on for a full season. In one case, a cast member may end up coming back to Manifest, but their role on the show may be in second position to a deal they recently signed for a different series. It doesn't sound as if there is anything going oj that can't be solved, but the complexity of it all has drawn out the process longer than anyone would have preferred.
Bu while everyone waits for the final decision, let's look at an excerpt from an interview I did in July with Manifest creator Jeff Rake about the future of the show and how he's used social media to keep the fans engaged:
Another aspect of the show that makes it very effective on social is the storytelling itself. To your point, we're a broadcast, serialized mystery. A show that defies the norm of what has been succeeding on broadcast in recent years. You would arguably have to go back to Lost for the last time where there was a home run with a broadcast serialized mystery. And look, Manifest isn't that. We're done fine on broadcast. We had three great seasons on broadcast. Obviously, NBC felt the numbers weren't strong enough to keep us going. I think they're thinking twice about that now, given the strong showing we've had on the platforms.
But getting back to your original point. It's important to take social very seriously when you are launching a show in the modern era. You can make the argument that there's a level of expectation among consumers of entertainment that not only will they be able to watch a show, but that they'll also be able to somehow on social with the storytellers - creators, writers, directors, actors or crewmembers. Or at the least, a vibrant social community engaging in the conversation throughout the season. It's almost become the new normal. And I think because a show has an upside in growing popularity in the face of adversity - case in point, Manifest . Canceled by NBC, blows up on a platform, social blows up again talking about it. And it becomes arguably the most talked-about show for the summer of 2021.
SOMEONE WORTH REMEMBERING
In the 1970s, when cable television was still very much an uninspiring local business in rural towns, Gustave M. Hauser undertook a bold experiment that helped usher in the modern era of multichannel digital cable television. He has died at 91:
In the 1970s, when Gustave M. Hauser, an international lawyer, was chairman and chief executive of Warner Cable Communications, cable television was still very much an uninspiring local business in rural towns, providing little more than $5-a-month connections to homes that otherwise had no access to television.
Prodded by his boss, Steven J. Ross, Warner Communications’ iconoclastic chairman, Mr. Hauser undertook a bold experiment in Columbus, Ohio: building a service that helped usher in the modern era of multichannel digital cable television.
In December 1977, Warner unveiled QUBE, an experimental cable system offering a package of 30 themed channels that provided movies, sports, children’s programming and documentaries. The system not only offered customers content unavailable on broadcast television; it also introduced new technology to bring that content to them. QUBE’s innovations included the first set-top boxes and remote control devices for cable.
SEE YOU MONDAY
If you have any feedback, send it along to Rick@AllYourScreens.com and follow me on Twitter @aysrick.