(Subscriber Report) Ed Martin Live from TCA: The Recession Hits Journalists and Networks Alike

Signs of the deepening recession are everywhere at the summer 2009 Television Critics Association tour, which began yesterday.

Many long-time members aren't here because they have lost their newspaper jobs during the last few months. Others are missing because, although they are still employed, the TCA trip has been cut from their budgets. Among the former, several are here only because they have generated enough freelance income to cover the expense of the tour. Among the latter, some have chosen to foot the bill out of their own pockets so as not to miss this all-important event.

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Tight budgets have impacted the networks, as well. Once upon a time, cable networks lobbied to be included in the four days devoted to cable at the July tour. Some had to angrily wait in line, sometimes for a year or two, for TCA space to open up. Indeed, it wasn't so long ago that the cable networks expressed interest in adding a fifth day to their portion of the tour to make room for everybody.

But this tour is a different story. Cable has shrunk from four days to three and one-half. The morning of opening day was so light – a one-hour open breakfast from 9-10, a session with the archive director from the Academy of Television Arts & Sciences Foundation from 10-11 – that it felt like a half day, which would bring the total cable time to three days.

To be fair to CTAM, which organizes the cable portion of the tour, the first half of opening day has become an undesirable time for networks to offer TCA presentations. That's because more TCA members than ever fly to Los Angeles on the opening day of the tour, rather than the day before, simply to cut one night from their hotel bills. So they don't arrive until early afternoon, many of them weary from their long trips.

Some of the cable shrinkage is due to the integration of cable networks into the broadcast days. For example, NBC Universal's cable networks are now slotted into NBC's day and FX includes several panels during the Fox portion of the tour. In other cases it is apparently due to budget restraints. Showtime isn't presenting anything at all, though its executives and some of its stars will attend CBS' evening party next Monday. ABC Family and SOAPnet, both introducing new series this summer, will have no presence during TCA, although executives and talent from both may attend an ABC cocktail party here later next week. Lifetime will have a one-hour breakfast with talent from two upcoming series but no press conferences. HBO will have its usual three-hour block of presentations one afternoon but will forgo its traditional evening party in favor of a screening and light supper here at the hotel.

Given the great summer that most cable networks are having one might think they would have much to promote to the nation's print and online press. But that is simply not the case for many of them.

Meanwhile, the networks that are participating are offering a fine mix of talent. Turner networks yesterday brought out Joy Behar to talk about her upcoming primetime talk show on HLN and George Lopez to take questions about his new late-night talk show, which he likens to Arsenio Hall's pop-culture hit back in the Eighties. AMC had a cocktail party last night featuring the stars of its hit dramas Mad Men and Breaking Bad. In the days ahead TV Land will offer Joan Rivers on behalf of her new series How'd You Get So Rich?. Matt Damon and Marisa Tomei will be here to discuss the upcoming History Channel special The People Speak. National Geographic Channel will offer a diverse array of talent, including actor Paul Walker (Fast and the Furious), when it previews several shows and its second annual Expedition Week. Starz will make a big push for the second season of Crash (with Dennis Hopper and Eric Roberts) and its upcoming series Spartacus: Blood and Sand, starring Lucy Lawless. BBC America is bringing in many of its stars, most notably David Tennant of Doctor Who. Science Channel will present Whoopi Goldberg to talk about her new series Head Games, which she created. Food Network will host a party at a nearby mansion with some of its talent. (The other Scripps Networks have no presence at the tour.)

All problems aside, TCA is still very viable and valuable to press and networks alike. For example, Fox Reality Channel yesterday did a very good job getting critics and journalists interested in Househusbands of Hollywood, a series they otherwise would have likely ignored. Isn't that the point of it all?