Like every other facet of life, the broadcast pilot season has not been the same it was before the pandemic. Back in January, we did a story about the expected historic low volume of pilots, which has since became a reality with 30-something orders, and how some Covid-imposed changes were here to stay.
A more refined picture of pilot season has now emerged, and it shows a shift toward cost-effective pilot alternatives such as presentations and writers rooms/backup script orders, more willingness to do pilots outside of the traditional January-May window, with many of the 2022 pilots out of upfront consideration, and a major pullback in comedy.The latter probably should not come as a surprise given the fact that two of the Big 4 networks, NBC and Fox, had no comedies on the fall schedule this season and a third, ABC, only featured one comedy block with its signature Wednesday lineup.There is another explanation.
As one top TV executive at a big traditional media company put it, every show is now produced with an eye toward its ultimate destination: the company’s streaming platform.
A broadcast run is just an initial window. Given that dramas on average tend to do better on streaming than comedy — save for rare outsize performers such as The Office and Friends — it makes sense why there would be fewer comedy series in a broadcast pipeline that eventually leads to a streamer.In total there are 10 comedy pilots this broadcast season, with dramas outnumbering them 2-to-1.
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