Random Reflections on the Summer 2017 TCA Tour

The Summer 2017 Television Critics Association tour ended late last week after 17 days of non-stop press conferences (approximately 200), informational sessions, set visits and breakfast and lunch meet and greets … plus a handful of memorable evening parties.  I have been a TCA member for over 25 years, and I have never thought of these twice-yearly tours as a competition.  The dozens of networks, studios and, of late, streaming and satellite services that present their programming and business initiatives to us are doing what they have to do, some more effectively than others, all with the goal of increasing awareness for their products. But after listening to FX Networks CEO John Landgraf on the closing day of TCA and thinking back on his press conferences at previous TCAs, which in recent years have emphasized and put into context the sheer, largely unmanageable volume of television content today and the networks’ efforts to attract press coverage for much of it, I realized that TCA tours should be looked upon as very competitive.  They are already widely regarded by the press as endurance contests, so why not see them for what they need to be on the network side in the age of Peak TV?