Panel-to-Panel: The State of the Broadcast Procedural
An old format gets new twists as serialized drama retreats from the linear environment
Panel-to-Panel is my ongoing journal from the bi-annual Television Critics Association Press Tour, as part of Episodic Medium’s Week-to-Week newsletter—it’s free to all subscribers, and will let you know what we’re covering for paid subscribers on a week-to-week basis. For more information on the newsletter, see our About Page.
In the rush toward streaming within the television industry, it became a necessity for broadcast networks to diversify their offerings with direct-to-consumer streaming options. In retrospect, this was an objective boondoggle, cannibalizing a profitable linear advertising business with zero understanding of how to make streaming profitable in its own right. But that doesn’t change the present reality for networks like CBS and NBC, who now find themselves with streaming platforms Paramount+ and Peacock needing to regroup and figure out a path forward (in these cases, probably a merger of the two following Skydance’s takeover of Paramount).
This moment of transition was embodied at this summer’s Television Critics Association Press Tour, when the two networks held press tour days exclusively devoted to their linear broadcast programming. While it was emphasized that all of the shows featured would also be streaming on their respective platforms, the respective conglomerates went a very different direction than Disney, who paneled a single ABC series in a day focused primarily on FX and Hulu content. Both CBS and NBC could have split time between their linear and non-linear programs, but each instead chose to present a very traditional summer press tour lineup: a collection of new and returning series debuting in the fall, introducing us to shows that they hope will remain a stalwart presence in their lineups for years to come.1
There was an inherent throwback vibe to the weekend panels. February’s tour had a couple of ABC panels and some alarming insight into the new, cost-cutting version of The CW, but the other broadcast networks sat out. And technically neither of this weekend’s sessions were a “proper” network day in a traditional sense, as both chose not to hold an executive session. It’s a decision that still doesn’t really make sense to me: I understand there’s uncertainty and vulnerability in putting yourself in front of a room of reporters, but at this point the organization is so grateful to executives who do hold such sessions that I expect the questions would be pretty routine (and offer lots of insight into what exactly a broadcast network looks like circa 2024).
But even without executives onstage, there was something incredibly pure about broadcast networks bringing out the stars and creatives behind procedurals and sitcoms with nary a serialized drama in sight. I’ll get to those sitcoms once we see some table reads on Wednesday, but I want to focus first on the state of the broadcast procedural, as told by the assembled producers thereof.
There were seven drama series presented to critics across the two days, and every one was built around the core of a week-to-week procedural. But it wouldn’t be fair to say that this means every show is the same. Nkechi Okoro Carroll, who created NBC’s Found, suggests that she prefers to refer to her show as a “charactercedural,” implying a greater focus on the relationships between characters even though there are still episodic cases on display. And across the board, the consensus seemed to be that audiences expect—and showrunners are asking for—more space to understand the people solving the weekly mysteries.
Every showrunner ultimately placed their show on a spectrum of procedural storytelling, in terms of the amount of focus on character and serialized elements. In the case of CBS’ Tracker, which as a “road show” is perhaps the most procedural of the shows in question, showrunner Elwood Reid told me after the panel that it is actually CBS president Amy Reisenbach who has pushed them to explore the serialized elements of the show focused on Colter Shaw’s complicated family relationships in more detail. He notes that the network had no interest in this type of storytelling back during his earlier tenures (Cold Case and Hawaii Five-0), and it’s still an adjustment to figure out the best way to handle it: I noted that the “Previously on” before the first season finale was extensive, and he revealed they actually debated whether to have one at all, but ultimately decided that the risk of overwhelming more casual viewers was worth reestablishing the personal stakes for the character.
Contrast that with a show like Found, which blew up a portion of its high-stakes premise—kidnapping victim holds her own kidnapper hostage to help solve missing persons cases—at the end of its first season by setting Sir loose into the world. While the show is still committed to weekly missing persons cases, it now has to tell those stories while juggling a much more dynamic relationship between its central characters, creating reasons to bring the characters together while not stretching the logic of the procedural stories. When I asked Okoro Carroll about how this is presenting challenges, she mentioned the need to get creative, and credited her locations team for being able to facilitate the creative choices she was making and to her two stars—Shanola Hampton and Mark-Paul Gosselar—for embracing the new dynamic.
NBC’s other two drama series presented—the returning The Irrational and the new Brilliant Minds—can be mapped onto the spectrum in their own way. Like Found, The Irrational used its protagonist’s traumatic past as a serialized arc in its first season, investigating a bombing that left him both physically and emotionally scarred. However, while Found blew open its premise and doubled down on the trauma at the end of its strike-shortened first season, The Irrational—where Jesse L. Martin stars as a behavioral psych professor turned law enforcement consultant—chose a more traditional approach of resolving the story outright and “solving the case.” The result is a focus on character development less tied to a serialized story: as Martin noted when I asked about the decision to resolve the arc, the focus shifts to the idea of how someone whose identity has been defined by this trauma moves on once it’s been “resolved.”
This was echoed by CBS’ Elsbeth, which similarly introduced and then resolved serialized stakes in its first season. The internal affairs investigation that was designed to create tension between Elsbeth and her NYPD co-workers was written off at the end of season one, and the finale—which veered a bit away from the show’s Columbo formula by hiding the true killer—ended by bringing Elsbeth officially into the fold to ostensibly keep solving cases without a strong serialized angle. But producers emphasized that this can’t actually last—they may have set up a show without an overarching conflict, but they’re going to introduce a new one. We didn’t get many details on what that would look like (they actually haven’t started filming yet), but alongside a premiere focused on an opera singer who kills an audience member for poor etiquette, we’ll also be getting new stakes that will bring serialized dynamics into play.
Brilliant Minds, though, is the one show that doesn’t seem like there’s a strong serialized element in play based on what we’ve seen. Zachary Quinto stars in this show that used to be called Dr. Wolf when it was first picked up to series, but has since been rebranded. When I asked about the title change, they emphasized that it was in part due to a hilarious concern that a show starring Quinto and featuring Wolf in the title would lead people to presume a supernatural premise, but that they also liked it because it better reflected the medical drama’s focus on both the doctors themselves (Quinto is playing a take on neurologist Oliver Sacks) and his patients. The trailer we saw emphasized this, with a strong focus on pilot guest star André DeShields, and less focus on Dr. Wolf and the show’s other characters. When I spoke with showrunner Michael Grassi about the serialized balance, he emphasized they absolutely intend to reveal more details about him over time, but it sounded less like the high-stakes serial elements other procedurals are toying with and more a House-style use of weekly cases to highlight character backstory (e.g. family trauma) gradually as the season progresses. That said, Grassi did mention that the reality of neurology care is that many patients would return on a recurring basis, and that he’d like to explore that storytelling potential if they were to get more seasons.
And that’s the point, right? These shows are all explicitly designed to run for as long as possible—even Found, which feels like its high-stakes premise would be harder to take for a long run, is mapped out through at least season five (and Okoro Carroll joked that she’d happily take it to SVU territory if NBC agreed). As a format designed to be replicated, the procedural is often understood through its limitations, but there’s a lot of possibility that can emerge within that framework. What I love about talking to the producers behind these shows is that they know those limitations, but they’re wired to vocalize their creativity, and are always really engaged when you get in the weeds with them about the narrative dimensions of the format. I don’t know if my television diet allows for a lot of network dramas—I binged a few Irrational and Elsbeth episodes at different points during the year but never got around to the rest of their seasons, and that’ll probably be the case for the new series as well. But these panels reinforced that one of the most profitable and thus reliable performers for broadcast networks remains a vital part of the TV ecosystem, and continues to evolve in compelling ways even if the end products don’t end up making a significant mark on the cultural zeitgeist reflected by this newsletter.
Episodic Observations
I covered five of the seven procedurals here, but I’ll leave the other two—CBS’ Matlock and NCIS: Origins—for another day, since we’re heading to the show’s respective sets on Wednesday for more opportunities to chat with the cast and creators (in the former case Jane the Virgin showrunner Jennie Snyder Urman, who joined via Zoom for the panel over the weekend).
Shoutout to Elsbeth star Wendell Pierce for being the last talent standing at CBS’ evening cocktail party, holding court with some reporters long after the bar was closed. (Matlock star Jason Ritter was a close second, and just an absolute delight to chat with long past the point he was professionally obligated to, even before he slipped into Dipper voice when asked about Gravity Falls).
I don’t always have a good reason to talk to actors, but when I watched the season one finale of The Irrational, I heard Jesse L. Martin pronounce “Norfolk” correctly, and so I had to make sure he understood how much locals would appreciate that. Turns out his mother lives in Norfolk (he was born in the commonwealth), and we had a lovely chat about my work as a professor after he talked about his appreciation for teachers like his character on the panel.
For anyone who has been following my writing since my days writing about Shameless at The A.V. Club, I did not get a chance to talk to Shanola Hampton, who I’m overall glad to see thriving after being stuffed into siloed C-stories for eleven years.
The one non-scripted series presented across the two days was CBS’ new reality show The Summit, which was screened for critics followed by a Zoom Q&A with producer Kevin Lee. The competition series where 16 people of various walks of life climb a mountain as a group has some potential based on the episode screened for critics, but I was mainly entertained by my experience of thinking “Gosh, this reminds me of Stranded With a Million Dollars” (which I screen in my Reality TV class) and then realizing Lee created that show. Makes sense, then!
On the non-fiction point, NBC held a lunch themed to their special event programming for the holidays, and when they brought the executive to our table I definitely launched into a full explanation of my obsession with Rockefeller Christmas Tree Lighting host Kelly Clarkson eventually earning the first 21st-century Christmas song on the Billboard Top 10 with “Underneath the Tree.” She did a great job pretending to share my investment in a professional setting, so hats off to her.
CBS/Paramount are highlighting one Paramount+ original this week, as we’ll be visiting the Frasier set on Wednesday.
I wish the procedural framework would get used to tell stories about things other than crime or medicine. The West Wing is my "just have something on" how and has been for years, but at this point I have really sucked all the meat off those bones. I need something else with more story than a sitcom but formulaic enough that it doesn't demand my full attention. But if I don't want to spent my time with cops or doctors I don't have a lot of choices.
Thanks for this report! I really like network shows and am sad there are far fewer today. Of the shows mentioned, I am a dedicated viewer of Elsbeth. I watched The Good Wife and The Good Fight, and am just a big fan of the Kings. But you nailed it on how the limitation of a procedural can also be a source of creativity. I think case of the week with some serialized elements is a superior format to the prestige drama bloat format (having one story across a season which gets tedious). However today’s procedurals on network TV are usually unambitious and small c conservative. We have to remember Buffy and Lost and the X Files still were at heart episodic. I end up watching lots of non-episodic TV for their ambition but I wish it weren’t so heavily serialized.