Fall TV 2023: Networks Scrap Preview Specials As They Face Challenging Season Launch Amid Strikes And Changing Business Models

deadline.com:

EXCLUSIVE: For as long as anyone can remember, the broadcast networks have culled together fall preview specials in hopes of drumming up interest in their new sitcoms and dramas.

Ratings for these inexpensive one-offs have certainly waned over the past decade, but there was always a decent amount of viewers who tuned into the full-of-promise clip shows that were hosted by network talent. “We always would put them on and go, ‘Oh, I don’t know if anyone’s going to watch this,’” remembers one longtime scheduling executive. “But then they were watched by like 3 million people.

They were never the lowest rated shows of the week, that’s for sure.” There will be no such previews this year — another side effect of the WGA and SAG-AFTRA strikes that have already snuffed out any semblance of the fall launch on September 25.

And that’s on top of Fox’s strike-related decision to postpone the Primetime Emmy Awards, TV’s most traditional promotional platform, until January.