From left: Johnny Galecki, Jim Parsons and Mayim Bialik in a scene from the series finale of “The Big Bang Theory” which originally aired in 2019. Clearly, audiences are still drawn to long-running shows with 22 episodes a season. Maybe these shows have serialized elements. But even so, each episode is a stand-alone story. You can dip in and dip out at your leisure.
Q: Yes! If you were still at NBC or Fox, wouldn’t you be thinking: Gen-Z is streaming the kinds of showsI’d be thinking: How can I get the biggest audience possible? And that’s more about the programming than a marketing effort. It’s what the broadcast networks are still doing to this day. The biggest audience isn’t just 50-plus, it’s everybody.
Q: Conventional wisdom for the past few years is that network TV is dying. And I want the broadcasters to be able to stick around and still make these kinds of series, even if I’d like more variety beyond cop shows and hospital shows. A: The reality is, people don’t really mind advertising. And streamers are starting to make shows that could easily live on a broadcast network, like “Virgin River” on Netflix. That’s a classic example. There’s nothing about the show that wouldn’t work on a broadcast network. And there are more and more shows like that.
A: Here’s the thing to remember: We’re always talking about a moment in time, as opposed to stepping back and saying, “Where is this all going?” Q: It’s almost like you’re saying this is what TV is meant to be. It’s what it wants to be and what it will be, regardless of the technology.