Grab the remote and watch how TV is changing this fall
Nothing is the same these days, including what Americans will be seeing on television for the next few months.听
Viewers should expect a lot of game shows and reality offerings 鈥� and for some programs to remain on pause. PBS鈥檚 beloved 鈥淎ntiques Roadshow,鈥� for example, is on extended hiatus until it is safe for attendees to once again mingle publicly with their favorite听objets d鈥檃rt.
As people channel-surf this fall, they will see the approaches showrunners are experimenting with to continue to bring programs to TVs and tablets. Already, audiences have often been replaced with laugh tracks, interview shows are conducted remotely, and there is more talk of computer-generated settings and characters. It鈥檚 a time of rethinking not just of formats, but of content, too.
Why We Wrote This
With theaters largely closed, Americans are turning to small screens for escape. But TV production is still catching up from pandemic lockdowns in the spring. What does that mean for programming now 鈥� and in the coming year?
鈥淵ou may not be able to have a sitcom set in the present, where everyone is sitting around not wearing masks.听So they may go back to the 鈥�50s or the 鈥�60s or the 鈥�70s,鈥� suggests Bob White, who has been teaching听television, video production,听and animation at Simmons University in Boston for more than 50 years.
Besides reaching into the past, studios may also offer more comforting, easy-to-digest fare, he says. Nostalgia is already driving game show reboots like 鈥淲eakest Link鈥� on NBC and ABC鈥檚 鈥淲ho Wants to Be a Millionaire?鈥� which returns for a second season on Oct. 18听 to finish production in March on the eve of lockdowns in the United States. 听
Due to the spring and summer shutdown, more shows will be rolling out new seasons later than usual throughout the fall. Fan favorites like on Disney+ and NBC鈥檚 鈥淭his Is Us,鈥� which incorporate both the pandemic and Black Lives Matter protests, will return later this month. Programs , arriving between now and December, also plan to tackle the current health crisis. Among them are ABC鈥檚 鈥淏lack-ish鈥� and NBC鈥檚 鈥淐hicago Fire.鈥澨齋ome shows will now be seen in 2021, including 鈥淩utherford Falls,鈥� a comedy featuring the largest Indigenous writing staff ever hired for a U.S. TV show. It鈥檚 set to stream on the Peacock platform from NBCUniversal.
A push to problem solve
Unions and guilds听听new safety guidelines with studios in recent weeks. But even with the industry finding a path forward, there is still about the pipeline for new programming, with a pull toward unscripted shows until the pandemic subsides. As they navigate the new landscape, producers and directors across formats are being presented with opportunities to rethink how they create.听听
Like a lot of people, actor and singer Selena Gomez wanted to use her time at home during lockdown听to become a better cook.听She collaborated with executive producer Aaron Saidman of Industrial Media鈥檚 The Intellectual Property Corporation, whom she鈥檇 worked with previously, to create 鈥淪elena + Chef,鈥� streaming on HBO Max and picked up for a second season.
Mr. Saidman, who won an Emmy for the A&E series 鈥淟eah Remini: Scientology and the Aftermath,鈥�听had never undertaken this kind of show before, but he wanted a program that could be responsibly and safely produced during the pandemic, he says. He sent a cleaning crew into Ms. Gomez鈥檚 home and sanitized everything, set up cameras, and then sanitized again. The same was done with the chefs helping her each week. Everyone behind the scenes wore masks听and kept their distance. Cameras in the house were operated from outside.听With safety accounted for, he encouraged the star and crew to focus on the production, so that 鈥渁uthenticity could come forward.鈥� 听
鈥淵ou could just do your job and make a great television,鈥� he says. 鈥淚n an unscripted TV show people really need to be themselves.鈥�
Given that creating television is not a socially distanced process, adaptation has been key to moving forward.听Michael Hunold, a veteran gaffer, or electrician, living in upstate New York, has been working听on a show with pandemic protocols in place. He can鈥檛 mention the name contractually, but says it is a big-budget, successful program in its third season. The return to work is precipitated by strict observance of COVID-19 protocols, he says, and the budget to allow protective听measures to be put into place.
In the past, green and blue screens were used to create expensive looking backgrounds when a production budget didn鈥檛 allow for more,听Mr. Hunold says, but now such technology might become the standard 鈥� including more actors created by CGI 鈥撎齡iven pandemic restrictions. 鈥淓very environment that isn鈥檛 being done digitally will be an extremely controlled environment,鈥澨齢e says.
In the spring, due to the shutdowns, NBC tried听 part of the season finale of crime drama 鈥淭he Blacklist鈥� to fill in gaps, with mixed reactions from fans.听
Professor White agrees that the trend could be toward a combination of real and computer-generated content. 鈥淭he lines will be blurred,鈥� between what鈥檚 real and what鈥檚 manipulated, he says.听He adds that he doesn鈥檛 plan to teach his courses any differently than before, given that the need for strong stories will not change.听
Changing perspective听
The increased use of technology could also turn out to have an upside, observers say.听Mr. Saidman, one of several executive producers on 鈥淪elena + Chef鈥� including Ms. Gomez, had an 鈥渁ha鈥� moment when he realized on the first day of shooting听that he was working at home in his pajamas and that perhaps it wasn鈥檛 as 鈥渆ssential鈥� for him to be on set as he once thought.
鈥淭here are important creative reasons that a producer goes to the set,鈥� he says, but adds that there 鈥渨as certainly a moment where we realized through technology that there鈥檚 perhaps an efficiency that we might not have stumbled upon [pre-COVID-19].鈥�
