Videoage International October 2021

14 V I D E O A G E October 2021 T he 2021-2022 U.S. TV season saw a couple of interesting developments. For one, it showed that the U.S. television industry has reached its most back-to-normal state to date despite the many safety precautions necessary for production during a pandemic. The five major networks (ABC, CBS, FOX, NBC, and The CW) picked up a total of 28 shows, a significant improvement over last year when only 17 were ordered for the season. All new shows were screened virtually by the Hollywood studios May 17-June 2, 2021. And second, the long-running franchises and prolific producers continue to influence the fall broadcast season. NBC has two nights of Dick Wolf shows, the Chicago franchise onWednesdays and the Law & Order franchise on Thursdays. Distributed by NBCUniversal Global Distribution, the latest, Law & Order: For The Defense , leads the new Thursday line-up. Over at CBS, the new NCIS: Hawai’i headlines Monday nights, followed by Wolf’s FBI: International on Tuesdays, then CSI: Vegas on Wednesdays, all three represented by ViacomCBS Global Distribution Group. Diversity and inclusion continue to be strong drivers of programming. ABC’s reboot of The Wonder Years is one of this fall’s new shows led by characters of color. With Lee Daniels as part of its production team, the show highlights the life of a Black middle-class family in Montgomery, Alabama, and is set in the late 1960s. ABC is also showcasing Queens . Featuring musical artists Eve, Naturi Naughton, and Brandy, among others, the drama revolves around four estranged and out-of-touch women in their 40s who reunite for a chance to recapture their fame and regain the swagger they had as a hit 1990s hip-hop group. Both shows are being distributed by Disney. FOX’s new drama The Big Leap , airing on Mon- days, focuses on a diverse group of underdogs looking for second chances and chasing their dreams to be part of a dance competition reality series. The next day, the network’s headliner is Our Kind of People , a drama that explores the world of the rich and powerful Black elite in the Oak Bluffs area of Martha’s Vineyard. Yaya DaCosta stars as Angela Vaughn, who sets out to reclaim her family’s name and make an impact with her revolutionary haircare line for Black women. According to Kelly Kahl, CBS Entertainment president, who spoke at the network’s Television Critics Association’s Summer Press Tour session on September 9, “The network is a huge promotional driver for [our] streaming assets,” she said, explaining how the CBS FTA network and its streaming siblings, Paramount Plus and Pluto TV, work together to garner the most viewership for their collective series. CBS’s mission remains “to entertain mass audiences,” said Kahl, and it now has help on the digital platforms. “Broadcast is still the biggest storefront,” Dan Harrison, FOX’s EVP of Programming, has been quoted as saying, adding: “In addition, the build-up and promotion for new seasons of TV is specifically aimed at providing a 10 p.m. (or 9 p.m.) lead-in to local affiliate stations’ late newscasts, as well as networks’ late-night shows.” Plus, the fact that broadcasters are launching their new shows all at once could be a strategy to make viewers flock to network TV in large cumulative numbers, even if it will ensure splintering of the audience. Despite ratings erosion, the 2021 Upfronts could end up replicating last year’s, when the five major English-language broadcast TV networks pre-sold about $9 billion of their commercial inventories. This is because broadcast primetime TV still remains the place where advertisers get the most clusters of viewers at one time for the commercials they run. However, the dwindling supply of linear audiences forced advertisers to discover ethnic TV, with Spanish-language broadcasters ex- periencing increases in their upfront ad com- mitments. From September 5 and continuing through November 7, the U.S. TV broadcast networks will introduce 13 new series. CBS’s fall season started September 20, with returning comedies The Neighborhood and Bob Hearts Abishola , followed by NCIS and the network’s new addition to the franchise NCIS: Hawai’i . Returning drama FBI aired on September 21, followed by the series premiere of FBI: International . FBI: Most Wanted also aired that day. Surprisingly, NBC doesn’t have any comedies on deck for the fall. Some will, however, premiere in midseason. The networks’ new dramas include Ordinary Joe and La Brea . The CW’s new series 4400 , coming later this fall, is a sci-fi drama about 4,400 undervalued or otherwise marginalized people who vanished without a trace over the last hundred years. All of a sudden, they instantaneously return, having not aged a day. In terms of returning series, the five major broadcast networks (ABC, CBS, NBC, FOX, and The CW) will come back with a total of 51 returning series, with The Simpsons hitting its 32nd season on FOX, Law & Order: SVU entering its 23rd season on NBC, NCIS reaching its 19th season on CBS, and G rey’s Anatomy embarking on its 18th season on ABC. Midseason series include Abbott Elementary, Maggie, and Women of the Movement for ABC; Smallwood and Good Sam for CBS; Monarch, Welcome To Flatch, The Cleaning Lady , and Pivoting for FOX; American Auto, Grand Crew, and The Thing About Pam for NBC; and All American: Homecoming and Naomi for The CW. Breaking down the new series by distribu- tors, Disney Media & Entertainment Distribution represents eight of the 2021-2022 shows, Fox Entertainment offers two, Lionsgate has one, NBCUniversal International Distribution has six shows, Sony Pictures Television has one, ViacomCBS Global Distribution Group has eight, andWarnerMedia International Television Distri- bution has four. The following list includes the new titles from the U.S.’s fall broadcast season and their premiere dates, as well as some eight new series introduced by cable/premium channels: September 5: Guilt (PBS) September 10: The Smurfs (Nickelodeon) September 12: American Rust (Showtime) September 20: NCIS: Hawai’i (CBS), Ordinary Joe (NBC), The Big Leap (FOX) September 21: FBI: International (CBS), Our Kind of People (FOX) September 22: The Wonder Years (ABC) September 26: BMF (Starz) September 28: La Brea (NBC) September 29: Rhodes to the Top (TNT) October 1: The Ghost and Molly McGee (Disney Channel) October 7: Ghosts (CBS) October 10: Buried (Showtime) October 12: Chucky (Syfy/USA) October 19: Queens (ABC) October 25: 4400 (The CW) November 7: Dexter: New Blood (Showtime) (By Luis Polanco) Broadcast TV Networks Hold Their Ground, Promote Streaming New U.S. TV Season