TCA Today: The Membership Remains Strong, but Economic Concerns Continue

If ComicCon is getting too big one can also argue that TCA is getting too smallOnce upon a time the summer Television Critics Association tour ran for at least three weeks with three days devoted to each of the Big Four broadcast networks four to cable two or three to PBS one to syndication one to TCA business meetings and the annual TCA Awards ceremony and a day or two dedicated to offsite set visits or simply taking a breather This was back before the late UPN and The WB came along adding two more days to the tour and long before so many basic cable networks began producing so much spectacular scripted fare that demanded extra attentionToday with more television and video entertainment available than any one person could hope to watch and with more people writing about television than ever before in print online in blogs and via tweets the summer TCA tour has been condensed to a mere 12 days not all of them filled with formal press conferences This summer tour is actually shorter than the January tours of oldSo what39s behind this dramatic downsizing Blame the economy TCA began to shake a few years ago when so many newspapers suddenly found themselves in dire financial straits largely the result of many years of bad decision making regarding digital technology Entertainment writers including TV critics were the first to go at the more troubled publications Elsewhere many critics and reporters who were fortunate enough to avoid being laid off lost all or most of their TCA budgets Some chose to continue attending on their own dime As a result most TCA members have been in favor of briefer tours Fortunately the size of the TCA membership overall hasn39t suffered due to a steady influx of young online writersWhile critics and reporters dealt with their financial difficulties the networks began reeling from the economy slashing their TCA budgets too The broadcasters which long ago cut their summer tours down to two days now present one day each making for a very harried and hectic experience and allowing little or no time for panels with the casts of established shows always a strong draw at TCAs past Panels for unremarkable new shows aren39t nearly as newsworthy as say sessions with the casts of Grey39s Anatomy or CSITechnically CBS and Fox each have two days at the tour but CBS turns its second day over to corporate cousins Showtime and The CW and Fox gives almost half its TCA time to FX ABC and NBC meantime cram sessions for series from their cable cousins into their one day at TCA For example this Friday NBC will present panels for its new fall shows plus shows from USA Network Bravo and SyfyThe cable portion of the tour once robust and exciting is now looking anemic filling only two days at the end of next week That39s because so many cable networks such as those mentioned above have been moved into the broadcasters39 days while other giant cable entities including Turner Scripps Lifetime and Hallmark have pulled out of the tour indefinitely Those that remain including Discovery Networks MTV Networks Comcast Networks Rainbow Networks AampampE Networks Starz and BBC America along with HBO are more appreciated than everThe TCA is also competing for industry attention and corporate marketing dollars with ComicCon which now takes place before the summer tour and tends to generate a formidable amount of press coverage News that might once have been saved for TCA is now released there such as the announcement that Linda Hamilton will be playing the title character39s mother next season on Chuck or that John Schneider is returning to Smallville Also some shows such as USA Network39s Burn Notice Psych and White Collar Cartoon Network39s excellent live action series Unnatural History and AMC39s eagerly anticipated horror drama The Walking Dead get the big Con treatment but are excluded from TCA Such absences are due to a number of factors including the shifting of network and studio money away from TCA to the Con and the studios not wanting to interrupt production twice within the same two weeks to send their stars to different promotional events What a shame A session here with the cast of Burn Notice would be standing room only So would a panel for The Walking Dead because ever since the arrival of Mad Men anything that AMC does can generate instant interest in the pressFinancial issues aside TCA members must now also contend with what I call ComicCon Attitude That is to say there was a time when critics during the tour would suggest that one or more of the networks39 shiny new pilots were somewhat flawed Smart executives and producers often learned from this feedback and went to work trying to improve their shows But many of those pilots are now screened for thousands of screaming fans at the Con where everything is riotously received as though it were the next Lost or Twilight This is dangerous as it can leave showrunners and executives with the feeling that they have done and will continue to do no wrong They may not be as receptive to comments from critics as they used to be and their shows may suffer for it This happened to more than one new series last year and having just surfed the Con I suspect it will happen again in 2010Remember folks just because something works when presented to a few thousand frenzied fans doesn39t mean that millions of people will find it sample it and stay with it If the program is any good critics and other television journalists can keep the love alive for a lot more people over a much longer period of time TCA and the Con both have big value and one should not be favored at the expense of the other

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TCA Today: The Membership Remains Strong, but Economic Concerns Continue

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