The Television Evolution: Worldwide Pandemic Edition

BY: MIA OGLE

Joe Exotic from ‘Tiger King.’ Photo courtesy of The New York Times

Within the past six months the demand for online entertainment has increased exponentially. Stuck at home and bored out of their minds, people have turned to television, the primary source of external amusement. Streaming services, of course, are the obvious answer; with access to hoards of preloaded television shows, consumers can acquire seemingly unlimited content, whenever they want. According to a new survey by Leichtman Research Group, 55% of U.S. households now have more than one streaming service, up from 43% in 2018 and 20% in 2015. Perfect, right? It certainly appears that way. But, streaming service content isn’t limitless. Popular shows, such as Tiger King and Outerbanks, that practically sustained us throughout the beginnings of the pandemic, were created well before coronavirus even existed. Now, according to Ampere Analysis, the pandemic has delayed at least 60% of scripted television programming worldwide, including at least half of the programming originally scheduled to air in the second half of 2020.

We’re on the verge of a television rut. Having exhausted the majority of novel content created before pandemic restrictions kicked in, there is no sure way to know when new shows will be available. According to Variety, “Television development has slowed considerably across broadcast, cable and streaming in recent months. The reason: With production still largely

Photo courtesy of Seventeen Magazine.

shut down, why would networks and studios buy more projects to develop when they’re unable to produce the shows they are already working on?” In 2007, 12,000 film and television writers went on strike, effectively shutting down the writers' room. This writer’s strike, a historic crisis for the entertainment industry, exacted systematic change; more unscripted shows were ordered by networks, with most coming from the reality genre. The coronavirus will likely force a similar shift within the coming months. Pandemic confusion, as well as reorganization within certain major media companies such as NBCUniversal and WarnerMedia, have accelerated plans to move out of scripted programming altogether, as in 2007. However, with the indefinite postponing of popular reality television shows such as Survivor, and the complete termination of others (Keeping Up With the Kardashians, for example, is set to air its final season during early 2021), it is doubtful that reality television will be the answer. Many networks have toyed with the idea of abolishing the typical pilot model, and ordering more straight-to-series packages. But the most intelligent networks have set their sights on a genre of television largely unaffected by the coronavirus pandemic: animation. Fox, for example, is currently developing several animated shows. “It’s no secret that we’re growing our animation business,” Michael Thorn, the president of entertainment for Fox Entertainment, says. “Our goal is to own our own animation. Obviously, we bought [animation studio] Bento Box, and we made a deal with Dan Harmon, and there are a few more direct deals to come there.”

We are yet to find out whether Fox’s investment in animation will pay off. The pandemic has provided many networks with a valuable resource they so often lack: time. As a result, studios are commissioning writers to get ahead on projects, so that when production resumes they will be ahead of schedule. If restrictions are lifted shortly, this strategy is likely to work. However, if the pandemic continues to seep its way into our reality, animation just may be the best course of action if we want to keep the near future of television up and running.