Network TV Pilot Season Is Mostly Dead — but Stubbornly Hasn’t Gone Away Completely
Broadcast pilot season was already mostly dead when the Hollywood strikes came along. But to paraphrase Billy Crystal in “The Princess Bride,” “There’s a big difference between ‘mostly dead’ and ‘all dead.’ Mostly dead is slightly alive!”
And that’s where pilot season now stands: Mostly dead — and yet still stubbornly, slightly alive. A relic of a bygone TV era, broadcast pilot season has been on the chopping block for years as networks aimed to get out of that springtime crunch by focusing on year-round development.
More from Variety
Seventh Annual Variety500 Unveiled: The 500 Most Important People in Global Media
Global Box Office Predicted to Fall in 2024 Following Hollywood Strikes
17% of L.A. Entertainment Workers Lost Jobs During Strikes, New Study Finds
The fact is, pilot season was already so disrupted there was not much left to disrupt, strikes or no strikes. After all, last pilot season saw the broadcast networks pick up just six shows out of their combined 14 pilots. Compare that to pre-pandemic times, when it was a shock that the broadcast networks ordered just 60 pilots in early 2020.
But sales are still happening, and pilots will indeed be produced during the January-April period that has traditionally been deemed “pilot season,” according to multiple network programming executives and agency sources who spoke with Variety. But not many. After years of flirting with the idea, CBS, ABC and NBC have truly transitioned to a more year-round development cycle in the way of streaming services
and cable networks.
Among the broadcasters, ABC is believed to be buying the most for development, while CBS and NBC have been making some script orders — though not as many as before. Fox, meanwhile, has largely shifted to a script-toseries model (meaning no pilots at all), while The CW is focused on low-cost unscripted fare, sports and foreign co-productions under its new Nexstar ownership.
Budget-consciousness is a major talking point when it comes to new series. With Peak TV having peaked and most media companies struggling with sagging stock prices and lackluster streaming revenue, the
strategy is to do more with less.
Networks were moving in this direction ahead of the strikes, demoting series regulars on returning shows to recurring status, for example, to cut costs. Now, most industry insiders expect the situation to get even worse financially. Networks are looking again to develop procedurals and multicam
comedies, which can sustain long runs for relatively little money.
ABC is said to be in the market to replenish its once vibrant bounty of family comedies, while CBS is looking for a two-hander procedural akin to “Elementary” or “Bones.” Fox is on the hunt for an elevated procedural, in particular something with a sci-fi twist. NBC needs less on the procedural front given its lineup of “Law & Order” shows, but the network is said to be interested in true crime as well as high-concept projects in the vein of “The Blacklist” and “Blindspot.”
Post-strikes, there just isn’t the need this year for many new series. Networks and studios are largely focused on restarting production on shows that were shut down by the work stoppage, in order to salvage their midseason schedules. Most returning shows are set to air new episodes in the first quarter of 2024, which means new shows or pilots have to take a backseat due to limited availability of crews and soundstages.
Sources say that comedy pilots would be the most likely to shoot in early 2024, as they require less time to film than one-hour dramas. “I am very confident we’ll be shooting pilots — they just might shoot a little later,” one network exec says. “It also will depend on renewals, what we need and the schedule. So there’s a lot of things in flux.”
The fall 2024 schedule is pretty packed even before any new series are added. In addition to potential renewals, several freshman series that were supposed to debut this year have been pushed to next fall due to the strikes. That includes ABC’s “High Potential” and both the Kathy Bates-led “Matlock” and Wayans family comedy “Poppa’s House” at CBS [photo, above].
Sources contend that any pilots ordered to series in the coming months would likely not air until midseason 2025 anyway. But there are still holes to fill, as the networks have become aggressive in trimming their lineups poststrike.
A number of legacy shows are set to wrap up their runs this season, particularly at CBS. Among series that are ending: “Young Sheldon,” “Blue Bloods,” “Magnum P.I.,” “La Brea” and “Station 19.”
“Everyone at CBS feels grateful to have been a part of these legacy series that are wrapping their storylines in natural and organic ways,” CBS Entertainment president Amy Reisenbach says. “For us, it’s really important the writers and cast can give the series graceful and respectful resolutions that our viewers deserve.”
What about showing off fancy new series at the May upfronts? That’s traditionally when the broadcasters would attempt to impress advertisers enough to open their wallets for those big freshman bets. But just as pilots are mostly dead, so go the upfronts.
Most major media companies have taken a portfolio approach to upfronts in the past few years, showing off the full scope of their television offerings rather than focusing on just the broadcast networks.
“We tend to make a lot of our announcements well before the upfront at this point,” notes one broadcast exec. “It’s not just broadcast television’s show anymore.”
Best of Variety
Sign up for Variety’s Newsletter. For the latest news, follow us on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram.
