In State of the Studios, Vanity Fair’s Awards Insider goes inside the campaigns of some of this Emmy season’s biggest players—from front-runners to underdogs, on networks and streamers both well established and brand new to the game. This entry focuses on broadcast channels, experiencing a resurgence in awards buzz, as well as their nascent streaming siblings.
If the Emmys signal major shifts and trends in TV, then this year’s ceremony may mark the end of an era for broadcast. Network shows have slowly faded from the Television Academy’s purview, as voters have squeezed premium cable, basic cable, and streaming services in at the expense of what used to define the medium. Two of the last remaining broadcast series to resonate with the Emmys, Black-ish and This Is Us, ended this season; they’ve earned eight collective nominations for best series (the former in comedy, the latter drama), and across the board recognition for their actors and crews. Brooklyn Nine-Nine, which earned Andre Braugher four supporting-actor nods, bid its adieu as well, a twilight example of a canceled series jumping to another channel, as opposed to today’s norm of shifting to streaming. By all indications, this year should cement network TV’s obsolescence.
Only, that’s not quite the case. TV’s dinosaur has finally adapted, both in content and distribution, resulting in an unexpected explosion of contenders. As my colleague Rebecca Ford reported, ABC’s Abbott Elementary leads that pack, with strong ratings and even stronger reviews propelling it to a likely huge noms haul next week. But the story extends well beyond the beloved Quinta Brunson mockumentary, and into murkier territory that raises tough questions about the state of broadcast—and how well its titans are adapting.
Take NBC. It’s ending the great network hope of the last decade, This Is Us, while armed with a massive slate of new contenders between the linear channel and its nascent streamer, Peacock. After a few years of slightly lower nomination totals, This Is Us appears primed for a grand awards farewell. Buzz is high for everything from the finale’s script to Mandy Moore’s lead performance. “NBC did some big things this year for all of their shows,” says a strategist familiar with NBC and Peacock campaigns. “There was an uptick in advertising…and [the cast] did a lot. So much of it was because they really wanted to honor the band on this last go-around. That helped the awards front as well.”
As the Emmys increasingly gravitate toward shows that click with audiences—that are not just good, but popular—actually finding viewers is becoming a key part of awards conversations. This goes particularly for studios whose content doesn’t hit the Zeitgeist as easily as, say, HBO Max or Netflix; without fans, they’ve got nothing. In partnership with Universal Studio Group, NBC launched its first Emmys activation site this season at The Grove in Los Angeles, with the hope of drawing both voters and casual crowds. Attracting attention early and often is the new name of the game. “How do you find an audience when the pool is so big and so crowded?” says the strategist. “Where are your viewers, and how are you finding them? I’m going to spend a lot more time thinking about that for next season.”
NBC and Peacock have struggled to gain awards traction for their newer programs. The latter’s big 2021 hit, Girls5Eva, received a full-court press of a campaign only to come away with a mere comedy-writing nomination. This year, prestige limited series toplined by the likes of Renée Zellweger, Kate McKinnon, Emmy Rossum, and Joshua Jackson appear destined for similarly underwhelming fates next week, despite a few receiving strong reviews. “The pros are it’s Wild West—you can be creative, you can come up with new ideas and there are ways in,” the strategist says of campaigning for a new streamer. “But people are going to be watching the established streamers because that’s just natural. It’s already on their TV. They don’t have to hunt it out.”
As networks have receded from Emmys dominance, a strange kind of “there can only be one” mantra has settled in. In drama, it was This Is Us; in comedy this year, it’s Abbott Elementary. The ABC sitcom will have a significant showing next week, which has put rival breakout broadcast comedies like CBS’s Ghosts and NBC’s American Auto at an inevitable campaign disadvantage.
CBS has undergone its own kind of evolution in comedy, veering away from the traditional multi-camera setup of years past (which it dominated in the last decade) toward a younger-skewing format. The ensemble-driven Ghosts is a huge hit for the network, and has found a completely different audience on Paramount+, where it streams concurrently. “If Abbott wasn’t in the mix this year, I think Ghosts would be probably more prominent in that conversation,” says a strategist familiar with various campaigns for CBS and Paramount+ shows this season.
The Television Critics Association recently showered both Abbott and Ghosts with nominations, a real stamp of approval. Yet the path to Emmy recognition is uncertain, despite Ghost’s buzz and acclaim, in part because Abbott holds more buzz and acclaim. “The big thing is just getting it out in front of folks,” the strategist says. “There’s the awards and the visibility, but it’s also just allowing a breakout show to break out even further. That’s been the strategy.”
Like Peacock, Paramount+ is a ways away from catching up to its broadcast sibling. In addition to the Yellowstone prequel 1883, which is getting a big awards push, the streamer fields two of the most critically acclaimed dramas on the air: The Good Fight and Evil. Both hail from creators Robert and Michelle King, Emmy mainstays for their CBS legal drama The Good Wife. Awards attention has not followed their shift to streaming, and it likely won’t for the Yellowstone universe either (at least not yet).
Why? The Kings’ shows, for one thing, have experienced rocky distribution journeys. Evil’s first season aired on CBS; its Emmy-eligible second and currently airing third are Paramount+ exclusives. The strategist explains that The Good Fight’s launch on the unpopular CBS All Access platform, before it was rebranded as Paramount+, put it at an instant disadvantage: “What we find is, on these shows, you’ve got to break out on that first or second season in the awards space.”
There are exceptions to that rule, like Schitt’s Creek or pending breakthrough Yellowstone. And both King dramas have grown in momentum while maintaining a sterling reputation, popping up consistently with critics’ groups and on year-end top 10 lists. But in a landscape this crowded, it’s hard to come from behind—especially on a streamer the industry is only just beginning to embrace.
Content
This content can also be viewed on the site it originates from.
"TV" - Google News
July 06, 2022 at 12:05AM
https://ift.tt/pBor2Wi
Network TV's Emmy Hopes, From This Is Us to Abbott Elementary - Vanity Fair
"TV" - Google News
https://ift.tt/kcCjb8o
Bagikan Berita Ini
0 Response to "Network TV's Emmy Hopes, From This Is Us to Abbott Elementary - Vanity Fair"
Post a Comment