Pursuits
The End of Fall TV
Networks are staggering première dates to capture viewers and ad dollars
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From May 13 to 15, the five major television networks—ABC, NBC, CBS, Fox, and Univision—gathered in New York City to reveal their official fall schedules. And their unofficial midfall schedules. And to hint that maybe they’d switch things up in winter. Or summer.
Television networks used to release new shows twice a year, with a big debut in the fall and a midseason face-lift in the spring. But with the proliferation of cable networks and surprise successes such as Downton Abbey on PBS and the History Channel’s The Bible, they’ve been forced to move to the more nebulous schedule model of “throwing s--- up against a wall and seeing what sticks,” as Jimmy Kimmel put it during ABC’s upfront presentation on May 14.