After COVID concerns forced it to be virtual for the last three years, the in-person press tour finally returned in January only to be canceled five months later.
The Television Critics Association Summer Tour is shifting quickly to a virtual installment. Next week the tour commences, but according to a message just sent to TCA members, several networks have chosen to shift to virtual days over growing concerns for COVID numbers in Los Angeles. The TCA Board announced the news to members in an email today saying that Disney, which includes ABC, FX, Hulu, NatGeo and Onyx, CBS/Paramount+ and PBS are all going to be virtual.
The Television Critics Association’s summer press tour, an annual marketing ritual held at L.A.’s Beverly Hilton, has become the latest industry event to be canceled by the coronavirus. In a memo sent Friday to its members, the TCA said it is “working with the networks to explore virtual alternatives both within the original press tour time frame and later in 2020. But, given the current state of television production, as of now, this is a cancellation not a postponement.”
At CBS, A Season Of Spinoffs And Handoffs
CBS touted its new season at the Television Critics Association Thursday, tempered by a sobering reality: Ratings at the most-watched network fell 9% last season, the steepest drop by a major network.
Exclusives
Breaking Bad defends its title as program of the year against Game of Thrones, Orange is the New Black,True Detective and The Good Wife. The 30th annual TCA Awards will be presented on Saturday, July 19, at the Beverly Hilton Hotel.
Big Ratings Gap Among Big 4 At Midseason
As the major nets prepare to spin their stories at the winter Television Critics Association tour in Pasadena during the next two weeks, an ascending NBC is the 2012-13 campaign’s biggest story, riding top shows Sunday Night Football and The Voice to a surprising worst-to-first transformation among adults 18-49. Overall, the broadcasters are having a tough time without much in the way of buzzworthy new shows while cable continues to chip away.
CBS’s Tassler Defends Risqué Comedies
CBS’s very successful block of Monday night comedies includes constant hook-ups (How I Met Your Mother), blurred male nudity (Two and a Half Men) and vagina jokes and ethnic caricatures (2 Broke Girls) — but none of them go too far, says CBS Entertainment President Nina Tassler.
‘Cougar Town’ Likely To Return In March
Cougar Town is likely to return in the March, said ABC Entertainment president Paul Lee. The news comes as Cougar Town showrunner Bill Lawrence — having been excluded from the network’s TCA day — hosted his own party for television reporters at the Langham Huntington Hotel in Pasadena on Monday night.
Sherwood: Couric To Be ‘All Over The Place’
ABC News isn’t giving Katie Couric much time to relax before her syndicated talk show starts later this year. Ben Sherwood, the president of the network’s news division, told reporters Monday that viewers will see a lot of Couric before the September launch of her daytime chat fest.
ABC News Chief: We’re Going For Relevance
ABC News President Ben Sherwood said his goal is to make ABC News one of the world’s premier providers of nonfiction content. While that doesn’t mean producing cheesy reality shows, Sherwood said his journalists need to have a more entrepreneurial eye about how they present information.
Can Fox Afford To Build On 2011’s Success?
When Fox Entertainment President Kevin Reilly met the press Sunday, his general answer to questions about the “high-class problem” of having plenty of successful shows is that he hasn’t made a decision on the futures of Terra Nova, House, Fringe or retaining Steve Jones as host of The X Factor. But the subtext seemed to be: Don’t hold your breath awaiting a positive outcome.
A breakdown of the shows and the networks on display during the semi-annual, two-week dog and pony show.
With networks already running promos for their new fall shows nonstop, the TV Tour is where the hype briefly stops, as 150 or so members of the Television Critics Association gather from across the continent to interview the execs, stars and, most importantly, the writer-producers who’ve created and will execute each new series beyond the premise-establishing pilot episodes.
Pending Comcast Deal Muzzles NBC Execs
Due to NBC Universal’s still-pending purchase by Comcast, the network chose not to make an executive available to talk about the network’s programming Thursday during the twice-annual meeting with the Television Critics Association.
