Writers Strike Has Changed US TV Forever

Posted at 9:42 PM, 2/4/2002 in Unspecified

Ben Silverman, co-chairman of NBC Entertainment, recently told the New York Times, "In every other country in the world, the majority of prime-time programming is unscripted." Are Hollywood writers listening?

The roll-call of unscripted prime-time programming to hit the airwaves since the Writers Guild of America strike began November 5/07 continues to grow, and orders for new episodes of established unscripted shows are multiplying. More ominously for the writers, overall audience numbers for prime-time viewing have not dropped.

Short-run series Clash of the Choirs (4 episodes, NBC) and Duel (6, ABC) both did well in the midst of the pre-Christmas viewing doldrums, with a 6-episode run of CBS's Regis Philbin-hosted Million Dollar Password still to come. American Gladiators is an outright hit for NBC and has already been renewed for a summer return, where it may be joined by either or both Duel and Million Dollar Password. CW brought out 8-episodes of so-bad-it's-good Crowned: The Mother of All Beauty Pageants in December and immediately began casting for season 2. Dance Wars, another 6-episode short-run series, opened well and we may well see a second cycle of that. Meanwhile, ABC has completed open calls for its newest entry in the dance milieu, All The Right Moves.

The movement on established series has been nothing short of breath-taking. The downtime between cycles for reality series has shortened, with the Biggest Loser being the undisputed champ. Season 5 of the NBC weight-loss competition premiered January 1/08, 2 weeks to the day after the finale of season 4, and casting for Biggest Loser 6 is currently underway. The Bachelor has moved from a 6-month lag between cycles to something closer to 18 weeks. The mid-season premiers of new seasons of Wife Swap and Supernanny were moved up to December.

Even The Apprentice is doing well. If that doesn't scare the writers, nothing will. And to make matters worse, mega-star American Idol is back, with the hounds of writer hell on its tail:

Survivor (CBS, February)

Big Brother (CBS, February)

Pussycat Dolls 2: Girlicious (CW, February)

Dancing With The Stars (ABC, March)

America's Next Top Model (CW, March)

Beauty and the Geek (CW, March).

The week Of January 13th, Fox broadcasted 15 hours of prime-time programming. Eight hours were unscripted - 4 hours of American Idol and one each of Are You Smarter Than A 5th Grader, Don't Forget The Lyrics, COPS and America's Most Wanted.

"In every other country in the world, the majority of prime-time programming is unscripted," said Ben Silverman. Soon - within the next few months - that will change, likely forever.