When American broadcasters announce their fall schedules this week, they will quietly celebrate a historic milestone: the fewest original, scripted series on their schedules in 20 years.
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While that excludes last year, when there was barely a fall broadcast season to speak of thanks to the Writers Guild and SAG-AFTRA strikes, it does include COVID-ravaged 2020 and 2007, the year of the previous WGA strike. And by the standards of “business as usual” Hollywood, 2024 is practically a wasteland for the comedies and dramas that have long defined network television in the United States.
Sure, we’ve all grown accustomed to doomsday pronouncements about the state of network TV, and it’s been a long time since the fall season felt as relevant as it did in the pre-streaming era. But this year’s offerings feel different: The long-awaited shrinking of the broadcast TV landscape is, it seems, starting to materialize in earnest.
Just 41 scripted series will air on the fall schedules this year across the five major networks — ABC, CBS, NBC, Fox and The CW — down nearly 50 percent from a peak of 76 just seven years ago.
