The networks are under attack - from new rivals like Netflix, from a young audience spending more time on mobile devices and from the emergence of more cable channels drawing viewers away. "The networks are getting more aggressive in how they are pursuing talent," says ABC Studios executive vice president Patrick Moran. While having a hit show on a broadcast network is still a holy grail, writers, producers and stars are growing more enamored of cable and online programmers. Amazon Studios has picked up several new projects, including the thriller The After from The X-Files creator Chris Carter, while Yahoo, Xbox and AOL unveiled ambitious programming slates. .The competition from these new programmers is forcing broadcasters to make unusual deals, such as NBC's play for the Jennifer Lopez detective drama Shades of Blue, which immediately earned a direct-to-series 13-episode order. "The changes in the way people watch television that have occurred in the past two years are more significant than the changes that occurred in the previous 20 years," CBS chief research officer David Poltrack said late last year at a media conference. Networks are insisting on stacking rights (having more than just the five most recent episodes of a series available on-demand) in order to catch viewers up on their shows, but studios don't want to risk losing out on an off-network deal with streaming services - increasingly, the only way for studios to fix their deficits in a depressed syndication climate. The turnabout happened so quickly that the Academy of Television Arts & Sciences, which had merged the TV movie and miniseries Emmy categories in 2011 due to fewer entrants, separated them once again. "When we're in the middle of making these pilots, we question the insanity of it," says Universal Television executive vice president Bela Bajaria. [...] while they bemoan the system, network and studio chiefs feel limited in their ability to do anything about it. NBC also ordered 13 episodes of Aquarius, starring David Duchovny as an LAPD sergeant tracking a budding cult leader. Other series ordered far in advance include Fox's sitcom Last Man on Earth, starring Will Forte; Fox's detective drama Backstrom, with Rainn Wilson; NBC's Mr. Robinson, starring The Office's Craig Robinson as a music teacher; ABC's upstairs/downstairs soap The Club; Fox's sitcom Weird Loners, starring Zachary Knighton and Becki Newton; Fox's ancient-Egypt drama Hieroglyph; and NBC's Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt from 30 Rock's Tina Fey and Robert Carlock starring another Office alum, Ellie Kemper.
Reported by SeattlePI.com 2 hours ago.
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