A version of this piece first ran in the Too Much TV newsletter
I have spent more years than I would care to admit writing about television and the media. And in a larger sense, trying to parse out the best way to approach the job during a non-stop series of seismic changes to what it means to be a journalist writing about the medium of television.
I tend to do a lot of my thinking about this issue out loud and that has not always endeared me to some of my fellow critics. Back in 2007, I wrote a piece pondering the future of the Television Critics Association and while it became a big topic of conversation at the time, it also was an impediment when it came to me trying to get into the organization. But the TCA has changed over the years and continues to work to figure out its most effective path in an industry where a majority of critics are now freelancers or part-timers.
As recently as last year, I wrote a long piece laying out my rule book for being a TV critic. And looking back at it earlier today, I don't think there is much I would change about it.
But my point then and now isn't the the TCA isn't useful. It is - both from the perspective of critics as well as the studios and networks. It's that nearly 20 years ago the organization needed to change in order to reflect the changes in the industry. And it feels as if the publicity side of the TV business is at its own tipping point right now.
We live in this weird time where content promotion and curation has never been more difficult for viewers. You'd be hard pressed to find someone who doesn't have a complaint about not knowing what they should be watching or where they should be watching it. Consumers desperately need guidance from trusted voices. And while casting information and looks at the latest trailer are fine, in the end those are mostly just dressed-up marketing. They don't tell viewers what they want to know: what is this about? Why should I watch? Can you suggest something that you think is worth trying?
All of this is complicated by the fact that an increasing number of television executives - often on the streaming side - don't believe TV criticism, reviews and what might look like "traditional" industry coverage is either useful or effective.
The Ankler's Lesley Goldberg had a great interview with CBS President Amy Reisenbach, and this paragraph jumped out at me:
LG: FX CEO John Landgraf once explained the three buckets that would lead to a renewal for a show there: Critics have a say, ratings, and how internal execs feel about the show’s creative — two of those three will lead to a pickup. Is there a similar approach to renewing a show in 2025 amid the industry’s cost-cutting measures?
AR: We’re looking at the whole picture. We have to aggregate the numbers, and that means looking at how we’re doing from a streaming perspective, from the linear perspective and international too. All those things get taken into account. All of our shows are beloved by the audience, and for us, those are the critics that we care most about.
Reisenbach didn't specifically say "critics don't matter so much anymore." But that was certainly the subtext. And that is more and more common across the industry's executive ranks. They like being able to get a piece or two in a big outlet makes the talent happy. But in their hearts, they don't believe it moves the needle at all for the show.
And if that's the case with the larger outlets, then there is even less of an incentive to work closely with smaller outlets. Networks will organize some virtual press events so reporters can each get their version of the same quotes. And limiting the interviews to five or maybe seven minutes ensures the quotes get spread across the maximum number of outlets.
The problem with that approach is that those somewhat similar stories aren't especially engaging and yes, then they don't have much impact on whether or not someone watches a show.
The biggest challenge the industry has right now is the PR and marketing is optimized to push out press coverage on a small number of high-profile titles. But there is so much else going on in television that barely elicits a ripple on the TV viewing zeitgeist.
I don't have some great vision of what needs to be done on either side of the equation. But I do know the process feels broken and the industry is spending a lot of energy and money not promoting a lot of worthwhile projects.
