Terrorism! Tariffs! Trump! TV!

Comeback of the Year to Date Broadcast TelevisionI use the word quotcomebackquot with caution because there are those among us who continue to assert that broadcast never went away Here39s a shoutout to the many broadcast series which have given us outstanding episodes in 2025 including but not limited to CBS39 Matlock Elsbeth and Ghosts NBC39s St Denis Medical and ABC39s Abbott Elementary Will Trent High Potential and 911 More than one person has tried to convince me that traditional broadcast formats have been running out of gas From where I sit their tanks are practically fullShow of the Year to Date Max39s quotThe PittquotIt will take a lot to steer me away from naming Max39s major medical drama The Pitt pictured at top as my top program of 2025 Its first season was a monumental if dramatically overstuffed achievement that invited inevitable comparisons to the classic ER as it chronicled a beyondhellish 15hour shift in the emergency room of an underfunded Pittsburgh hospital Every performance in its cast of dozens was first rate and every character felt fully realized even those who were only on screen for a few minutes per episode The casting executives who worked on this show should get all the industry honors and if the cast isn39t honored as Best Ensemble in a Drama Series at next year39s SAG Awards there might be a problem Star Noah Wyle certainly deserves industry wide recognition during the next award seasonI39m tempted to refer to The Pitt as quotER on steroidsquot though I have to admit that even at its most breathtakingly intense the multiepisode arc in which a shooter at a nearby concert turned the emergency room into a masscasualty crisis center no single episode of The Pitt grabbed me with the same force as quotLove39s Labor Lostquot an episode from ER39s first season about childbirth gone horribly wrong that debuted way back on March 9 1995 It still haunts me The Pitt will undoubtedly stay with me for years to come as wellamp160Special Event of the Year to Date Peacock39s Live Presentation of quotSNL39s 50th Anniversary ConcertquotPeacock really delivered with its live presentation of the starstudded 3 amp189 hour Saturday Night Live 50th Anniversary Concert at Radio City Music Hall on Friday February 21 Cher stole the show by the way performing her 1989 hit quotIf I Could Turn Back Timequot wearing the same outfit she wore in the classic and at the time risquamp233 video for that song That39s great for the streamer but why wasn39t this extraordinary and historic event shown on NBC instead It was the most entertaining live telecast of 2025 to date and that includes SNL39s threehour 50th anniversary celebration that followed two nights later itself a deluxe treat along with the Super Bowl LIX halftime show the Grammys and the Academy AwardsSurprise of the Year to Date Conan O39Brien at the OscarsSpeaking of the Academy Awards here39s the surprise of the year to date Conan O39Brien crushed it as host of the show I think it was because he was somewhat classier and more restrained than usual To put it another way he was dignified in the manner of legendary Oscar hosts Bob Hope Johnny Carson and Billy Crystal The recent announcement that O39Brien has already been locked in for next year39s show was another shot of good news in a year that has been sorely in need of sameamp160Most Talked About Program of the Year to Date quotThe White LotusquotFor most of 2025 the world has been on fire in more ways than one Amid the madness came the third and easily the most talked about season of HBO39s The White Lotus pictured above featuring such startling spectacles as incest between young adult brothers a sexually hyperactive white heterosexual male explaining to a dear friend that he decided he wanted to be a young Asian female and what he did about it a desperate businessman dreaming about killing his family to protect them from financial hardship and then attempting to poison them all drugfueled parties deadly snakes a known killer intimidating potential new prey a mass casualty event and more It was the season that launched many a meme and set record ratings But I keep thinking about a few odd details that bugged me during the finale Why were trees bearing poisonous fruit growing on luxury resort property Why was everyone acting like nothing unusual had happened the morning after a shooting with multiple casualties especially the friendgroup who witnessed much of it up close Also where were the police Why didn39t Tim Ratliff think to rinse that poisonous goop out of son Saxon39s blender And why did his other son Lochlan make himself a drink in that same blender even though it was filthy YuckBig Swing of the Year to Date CBS39 quotBeyond the GatesquotCBS in February successfully launched Beyond the Gates the first new daily broadcast soap opera to come along since NBC39s Passions this one with a predominantly Black cast of characters In defiance of longheld industry assumptions viewers showed up for it As with any soap whether that audience stays builds or declines will depend 100 percent on the writing As with CBS in primetime CBS in daytime continues to build upon and enhance established broadcast traditions in ways its competitors could learn from Meanwhile I wonder if the instant interest in Beyond the Gates is fueling those social media rumors about ABC reviving All My Children or One Life to Live The network could do much worse In fact it has several times overSophomore Sensation of the Year to Date Apple TV39s quotSeverancequotFor too many years now the men and women who control television have prioritized quothighconceptquot storytelling over damn near everything else This hasn39t worked out very well in the long term High concepts often get old fast run out of steam strain to maintain whatever they got going at the start etc Far too many take a narrative nosedive after their overstuffed pilots while those that enjoy successful first seasons often flatline in their sophomore years So it has been interesting to see Severance takeoff in season two especially following a twoyear absence from Apple It quickly became one of the two most talked about returning series of the year to date the other being season three of The White LotusSpeaking of sophomore slumps I39m already worried about Hulu39s dandy scifi thriller Paradise It was riveting during its first few episodes but I thought its own farfetched internal logic began to collapse in the final chapters of its initial eight episodes The performances especially that of series star Sterling K Brown should power it through any narrative problems when it returns for season twoPosted at MediaVillage through the Thought Leadership selfpublishing platformClick the social buttons above or below to share this content with your friends and colleaguesThe opinions and points of view expressed in this content are exclusively the views of the author andor subjects and do not necessarily represent the views of 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