What's to become of television as we have known it? That's the question on everyone's mind as the already months-long twin strikes by the WGA and SAG-AFTRA continue with no end in sight. Regardless of advances in AI, the swagger of the streaming services and everything else that's worth fretting about, I wonder if enough people will even care whether or not TV returns to what it was a few months ago.
Consider late night. What was once a vital daypart filled with some of the most entertaining programs on television has in recent months become a graveyard of talk show reruns. Collectively, The Late Show with Stephen Colbert, The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon, Late Night with Seth Meyers, Jimmy Kimmel Live! and The Daily Show made for dynamic habitual viewing. But I'm pretty sure the habitual part is over. If it isn't, it will be, and soon.
The only reliable nighttime entertainment talk shows right now are Bravo's sporadically scheduled Watch What Happens Live with Andy Cohen (which years ago began life at 11 p.m. ET but was moved into primetime) and Fox News' Gutfeld! -- a huge success in late night that was recently relocated to primetime as well. Come 11 p.m., even the news networks are running repeats of news programs. Fox is the sole exception with its Fox News @ Night, but at the stroke of midnight it goes into rerun mode, too. The only fresh programming at that hour comes courtesy of the live home shopping channels. (I wonder if their ratings and sales are currently on the rise?)
Where does all this leave late night? Not in a good place, that's for sure. Think about daytime television. What had once been an exciting daypart filled with addictive daily dramas and terrific talk shows toplined by such giant personalities as Oprah Winfrey, Barbara Walters, Regis Philbin and Rosie O'Donnell is now a shadow of its former self. Network executives for years blamed the prolonged preemptions brought on by coverage in the mid-'90s of the O.J. Simpson double-murder trial for the widespread damage from which the daypart never recovered. No matter what came along, much of the audience fell out of whatever habits it was in. There are a few bright lights today, but overall daytime remains dimmed.
Certainly, there are more immediate and important issues having to do with the collateral damage the strikes are bringing about. We know that a majority of "working" writers and actors live paycheck to paycheck, or gig to gig, and that their money is running out. Some are already talking about selling their homes. I'm sympathetic to their circumstances, and their overall plight -- who doesn't want the little guys to win when going up against ruthless corporate overlords? But what about the workers in other professions that are so thoroughly dependent on movie and television production -- not only in Los Angeles, but in New York City, Atlanta and elsewhere? (As I write this at home in Connecticut, I'm watching a report on a local news program about the millions being lost right here in my home state.)
I'm not just talking about the service industry. Journalists and others who keep infotainment programs, web sites, magazines and newspapers alive are beginning to suffer, too. Coming on the heels of the COVID pandemic with its wide-ranging damage, this is becoming an overwhelming mess. And, as always, only the folks at the top are moving through it relatively unscathed … though I doubt they all see it that way.
My concerns about impending economic doom are not unrelated to my concerns about the future of television. Historically, the industry has always bounced back from strikes by writers and actors. What's different this time is that, even as programming dries up -- or is replaced by largely unremarkable unscripted and/or imported fare -- audiences have options. Beyond social media and content-rich streamers, we have in recent years become a nation of news junkies, often choosing Fox News, MSNBC, CNN or NewsNation at night rather than CBS, NBC, ABC or Fox. For some, YouTube is all they need. That is especially true of young people.
A neighbor of mine stopped me yesterday to ask about the strikes, and to tell me that she has become so used to watching "old" movies and television series that she has come to prefer them, as they make her feel good and don't stress her out the way more modern fare often does. She intends to stick with her newfound pleasures.
Will primetime suffer the same fearsome fate as daytime and, quite possibly, late night? Obviously, the strikes aren't the only factors threatening to undermine the business of television as we know it. But they are certainly contributing to its current and future challenges, and the end result may be less work for everyone.
Posted at MediaVillage through the Thought Leadership self-publishing platform.
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