In this episode, I bemoan the lack of new or innovative content on broadcast TV based on the offerings of this new fall season.
We also take a statistical look at the recent Emmy awards and notice that the few broadcast and basic cable shows nominated did not earn any wins. AppleTV+ and other streaming services dominated the landscape. Although all of my podcasts are listenable, this one includes charts and spreadsheets that you may want to view on the YouTube version.

Hello, this is Chris Young. Welcome to Episode 100 of Contemplating Life.

Wow! A hundred episodes!

Although all of my podcasts are listenable, this one includes charts and spreadsheets that you may want to view on the YouTube version.

I began making preparations to review new TV series premiering this fall, and I’m already feeling disappointed when I look at what’s coming. I doubt that I will bother doing extensive reviews of all the new shows. I’ve only surveyed broadcast TV. I’m not sure I can come up with an exhaustive list of what’s available on cable and streaming. So I’m only referring to ABC, CBS, CW, Fox, and NBC.

I count 12 new shows premiering in the coming months. There are three half-hour comedies, four reality/competition shows, a documentary series, and four police/fire shows (three of which are spinoffs of existing series).

The overall schedule of prime-time broadcast TV does not resemble the schedule that was typical just a few years ago. I’ve compiled some statistics that shocked me.

NOTE: You can click on the images for larger versions.

There are 91 hours of broadcast network programming per week. ABC, CBS, and NBC each have 21 hours per week. Fox has 16 hours per week, and CW has just 12 hours.

Reality competition shows lead the list with 22 hours or 24.2%. Police and fire dramas capture 19 hours, which is 21%. Sports programming comes in third, at 18 hours, with a 19.8% share. Movies, specials, and variety shows occupy seven hours per week. Sitcoms occupy five hours, medical dramas four hours. A full six hours per week of prime-time network programming is devoted to reruns. I categorized “Matlock” and “Elsbeth” as legal dramas, but I suppose I could’ve taken half of the five hours per week of “Law & Order” as legal as well. Ultimately, I classified all “Law & Order” series as police dramas. The character Elsbeth is a lawyer, but it could be classified as a police show.

Let’s break down the new schedule on a network-by-network basis, starting with ABC.

They start off Sunday night with “Wonderful World of Disney” and/or other entertainment specials. Monday Night Football, which originated on ABC and later migrated to ESPN, is now shown on ABC, ESPN, and ESPN2 simulcast. We get college football on Saturday night.

“Grey’s Anatomy” returns for its 22nd season, and I doubt there will be much new and different about that. Police procedural “High Potential” is a guilty pleasure returning for its second season, and I enjoy that one.

I continue to enjoy “9-1-1” as it enters its ninth season. It is followed by a new spinoff, “9-1-1 Nashville”. As much as I enjoy it, it won’t be anything new. Just more of the same. Note that the 911 franchise originated with Fox and migrated to ABC a few years ago.

Tim Allen’s sitcom, “Shifting Gears,” returns and is typical of his two previous sitcoms. The sitcom “Abbott Elementary” is one of the few broadcast TV shows that are routinely nominated for Emmy Awards. However, it did not win any this year.

Newsmagazine “20/20” returns for its 39th season. The remaining five hours on ABC are devoted to reality competition shows: “Dancing with the Stars,” “The Golden Bachelor,” “Shark Tank,” and “Celebrity Wheel of Fortune.” Is there anything here that excites you? I will enjoy “High Potential” and both “9-1-1s,” but there isn’t much to see beyond that.

Let’s see what CBS has to offer. Newsmagazines “60 Minutes” and “48 Hours” return.

Tuesday night, we get three hours’ worth of “NCIS,” “NCIS Origins,” and “NCIS Sydney.” Great shows, but nothing new to see here.

Two of my favorite reality competition shows, “Survivor” and “The Amazing Race,” fill up Wednesday. These programs expanded from 60 to 90 minutes during the writers’ and actors’ strikes last year, and they are sticking with the expanded format. A new reality show, “The Road,” features aspiring artists who compete to become the next big music star while touring with a headlining superstar.

Sitcoms “The Neighborhood,” “George and Mandy,” and “Ghosts” are joined by newcomer “DMV,” a workplace comedy about people who work at the DMV. I’m not excited.

When I learned that Morena Baccarin had a new show, I was excited. On the other hand, I don’t think casting her as a small-town sheriff in “Sheriff Country” is going to work very well. Former “Battlestar Galactica” star Katee Sackhoff was cast in “Longmire” in a similar role a few years ago, that didn’t work. I don’t expect Baccarin to work out in a similar role. I will check it out, but I don’t have high hopes. This is brought to you by the same people who bring you “Fire Country,” which returns for another season.

The popular missing persons procedural “Tracker” returns for it’s third season.

Donnie Wahlberg returns as Danny Reagan in “Boston Blue,” which is listed as a new series, but let’s face it, this is just a retooling of “Blue Bloods” in a different city without Tom Selleck. I’m looking forward to seeing former “Star Trek: Discovery” star Sonequa Martin-Green and Ernie Hudson joining the cast.

I am excited about the return of Kathy Bates in “Matlock,” which was one of the other rare broadcast shows to earn an Emmy nomination. She didn’t win. I alsoenjoy Carrie Preston as the quirky lawyer “Elsbeth,” and I hope to catch up on the back seasons and watch some new ones.

“FBI” returns for another season. However, its spin-offs are absent from the schedule.

Medical drama “Watson” returns for its second season. I was unimpressed last year.

That leaves us two hours on Saturday night, which CBS markets as “Crime Time Saturday.” In reality, it’s reruns of police procedurals. It’s nice that the “Blue” franchise is continuing, and I’m anxious for “Matlock.” The NCIS-verse is enjoyable, but you’ve seen it all before.

Moving along…

I haven’t watched any CW network shows since they canceled “Supernatural” and all of the DC comic heroes. Having abandoned that genre, this network was also known for young adult dramas and family shows, but they are all absent from the upcoming schedule.

Sunday night will be a movie, and Saturday will have sports programming. Tuesday is filled with WWE. We get three hours of magic per week, featuring “Penn & Teller,” which I greatly enjoy, as well as two nights of “Masters of Illusion,” which doesn’t work for me for some reason.

Thursday, we get reality police ride-along show “Police 24/7” followed by a rerun of “Police 24/7.”

Wednesday, I believe, breaks the record for the longest named show of the year with “Law & Order: Toronto Criminal Intent.” Nothing new here. Move along.

Previously unknown to me is a sci-fi police show called “Wild Cards,” which returns for a new season. I may have to check that out. The only bright spot in the CW schedule might be a documentary miniseries titled “TV We Love,” which will cover classic shows like “I Love Lucy” and “The Brady Bunch.”

So, tell me, where are the big hits such as “Supernatural,” “Veronica Mars,” “Riverdale,” and “Vampire Diaries?” It’s sad to see that this network is a shell of its former self.

Speaking of networks that are a shell of their former selves, let’s look at Fox. Sunday night sees the return of four adult animated series that have been a staple of the Fox schedule for many years. It kicks off with “The Simpsons,” which will premiere its 37th season, continuing its streak as the longest-running scripted TV show in television history. This is followed by “Universal Basic Guys,” which I gave a scathing review of last year. I’ve never seen the returning series “Krapopolis” or “Bob’s Burgers.”

Friday and Saturday are devoted to college sports.

Tuesday is the only night of scripted live-action shows on Fox, featuring returning series “Murder in a Small Town” and “Doc.”

Everything else on the Fox schedule is reality competition. We have “Celebrity Name That Tune” and the allegedly new series “Celebrity Weakest Link.” Wednesday has game shows “The Floor” and a new entry, “99 to Beat.” Thursday gives us the return of “Hell’s Kitchen” and “Special Forces: World’s Toughest Test.”

As I said, the network that brought you such popular scripted shows as “The X-Files,” “24,” “Bones,” “Prison Break,” “Beverly Hills, 90210,” “Lucifer,” “The Resident,” and “Fringe” has disappeared.

I’m sad to report that NBC isn’t faring much better. Sunday night kicks off with NFL football. Saturday night will be nothing but reruns.

The first two hours of Monday and Tuesday are devoted to “The Voice.” Monday also sees the return of medical drama “Brilliant Minds,” which did not impress me when I reviewed it last year.

Tuesday night has the premiere of a new reality competition show called “On Brand with Jimmy Fallon,” which will also air on Friday night. As best I can tell from the previews, this is a reboot of “The Apprentice,” blissfully without its former host. Contestants who are marketing experts complete designing marketing campaigns.

In mid-fall, Tuesday will be handed over to the return of the NBA to NBC.

In late fall, “The Voice” is reduced from two hours to one hour, making room for the return of the sitcom “St. Denis Medical.” This is followed by a new sitcom, “The Paper,” a mockumentary about a small town newspaper that tries to survive by bringing in volunteer reporters. The series is currently streaming on Peacock+, essentially making this a rerun on broadcast TV. It is produced by the team that brought you “The Office.”

Chicago Wednesday returns, with Chicago Med, Chicago Fire, and Chicago PD.

Law & Order Thursday returns, with the original followed by SVU and “Criminal Intent.”

In late fall, “On Brand” is replaced by the return of the Reba McIntyre sitcom “Happy’s Place,” followed by a new mockumentary, “Stumbles” about junior-college cheerleaders. This doesn’t have me jumping for joy.

Friday is rounded out by two hours of “Dateline NBC.” While the Law & Order and Chicago franchises remain popular, where are the hit sitcoms like “Seinfeld” or the quality family dramas like “Parenthood” and “This Is Us?”

None of the new shows planned this fall is going to show us anything new or different.

For several years now, I’ve been bemoaning the death of broadcast television, at least when it comes to quality content. This year’s Emmy awards continued the trend away from broadcast toward streaming. Let’s look at some numbers.

We’ll look at the major categories awarded by the Academy of Television Arts and Sciences, a.k.a. the Emmy Awards, at the ceremony held on September 14, 2025. I will limit our focus to prime-time scripted comedies and dramas. We will exclude late-night shows, talk shows, reality competitions, and live events. There were 21 awards were given to a field of 104 nominees.

Let’s break down the nominations by network. Out of the 104 nominations we are considering, streaming services earned 61. Breaking down the distribution: AppleTV+ had 26, Netflix had 18, HBO Max had 8, Hulu had 7, and Disney+ had 2. The only premium cable network to earn a nomination was HBO with 21 nominations. FX was the only basic cable channel to be nominated, and it earned 15 nominations.

Of the 21 winners, streaming services accounted for 19 awards. Breaking that down, we had seven going to Apple TV+, Netflix had six, HBO Max had five, and Disney+ had one win. Israel cable had 2 nominations. No basic cable or broadcast TV won anything in these categories.

As we mentioned, ABC was the only broadcast network to be nominated in the categories we are considering. All five of its nominations were for the sitcom “Abbott Elementary,” Which did not win anything.

Of the 15 nominations for FX, with ”Dying for Sex” and “The Bear” earning 6 each. “What We Do in the Shadows had 2 nominations, and “Say Nothing” had one. None of them won, although it should be noted that “The Bear” has won 21 Emmys in previous years.

The most impressive performance was AppleTV+ with 7 wins from 28 nominations. Surrealistic drama “Severance” had 2 wins from 10 nominations. The new comedy, “The Studio” took home 3 statues from its 6 nominations. British spy drama “Slow Horses” earned one win from 4 nominations. “Shrinking” and “Presumed Innocent” each had 5.

Of all the nominated shows that I saw, every one of them was much deserved.

All of this raises the question: What good is broadcast TV?

I’m going to be moving into a skilled nursing facility soon, and although they have cable TV in each room, it does not include a DVR. I’ve been exploring streaming options and have decided on YouTube TV, which provides me with all the local channels, as well as all the basic cable channels, all of this over the internet. It also includes unlimited recording for nine months. That means that when you record a show, it stays on your on your virtual DVR for nine months and then disappears.

Although I haven’t canceled cable yet, I’m discovering that unlimited DVR changes the way I manage my content. I click on record for any show that I might ever possibly want to watch. The show will remain in my library for nine months before it’s removed.

So who needs broadcast TV? All of the major networks also release their content on streaming services. Original local programming, such as local news or community affairs shows, can be easily made available on a streaming service. For decades now, the only time I’ve ever used over-the-air television via an antenna is on the rare occasion when my cable goes out.

I attempted to find statistics on the number of people who actually use over-the-air content via an antenna. I came across an article on Forbes from August 2024 titled, “The Future Of Television Is Broadcast & Streaming: Here’s Why.” Really? They think the future is watching TV through an antenna?

Forbes cites statistics from Civic Science, which states that 30% of households have a television antenna. That is split with 17% who use it often and 13% who have one and don’t use it much.

I can understand why the rising costs of cable TV and growing interest in streaming make cutting the cord a popular option. For under $200, you can purchase a DVR that records over-the-air broadcasts, making broadcast TV a viable option for those who want to save money on cable. But is that enough to save broadcast TV?

Consider that 92% of households have Internet access, so even if they cancel cable, I still feel that over-the-air television might soon become irrelevant.

I agree with Forbes that there is a trend toward streaming, but I’m not as optimistic as they were about broadcast TV. At the end of the article, they quote industry analyst Bill Harvey, who believes that the impending death of broadcast TV, which he describes as “linear TV,” has been greatly exaggerated. Harvey goes on to say, “…the networks need not care which delivery path a viewer chooses, they will all be almost equally lucrative. But not if linear backs away from scripted series in favor of lower cost reality shows, that would be the way to make the feared future doom scenario come true.”

So there you have it. An industry expert who is very much pro-broadcast TV admits that the abandonment of scripted series will be the downfall of broadcast TV. And the statistics I’ve compiled indicate that the doom scenario has indeed come true.

In conclusion, it is extremely evident that broadcast TV is on life support, and the prognosis isn’t good.

Since the FCC doesn’t regulate streaming content, I wonder if shows like “Jimmy Kimmel Live!” and “The Late Show with Stephen Colbert” could be moved to streaming platforms. The problem is, Disney owns ABC, Disney+, and Hulu. If Kimmel moves to Hulu exclusively, would the FCC have the guts to threaten ABC broadcast licenses over content presented only on Hulu? Could Stephen Colbert move to Paramount+ only? Could the FCC threaten Paramount/CBS over content that was streaming only?

Given the current circumstances, I would guess they would try. If ABC or Stephen Colbert attempted to sue over government censorship under the current circumstances, most pundits believe they would prevail. However, if Kimmel and Colbert were exclusively on streaming services and the government tried to punish the parent companies by revoking their broadcast licenses, I think they would have an even stronger case. The problem is that neither Disney nor Paramount seems to have the necessary spine to bring such a case.

Perhaps a student service that is not owned by a media company that also has broadcast licenses would be less likely to be censored. Then again, Apple TV+ recently canceled “The Problem with Jon Stewart” over creative differences regarding his comments about China and artificial intelligence. Naturally, Apple has economic interests in China and doesn’t want to upset the Chinese government. So even though this isn’t a case of government censorship, it still is a case of corporate interests influencing what a network or streaming service will or will not show.

Either that or we need an entirely new non-fascist administration.

If my dad were alive, he would say, “Why don’t you wish in one hand and shit in the other and see which gets full the fastest?”

The bottom line is that there is plenty of high-quality content available these days. But you won’t find it on broadcast TV. You have to pay to see it.

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All of my back episodes are available, and I encourage you to check them out if you’re new to this podcast. If you have any comments, questions, or other feedback, please feel free to comment on any of the platforms where you found this podcast.

I will see you next time as we continue contemplating life. Until then, fly safe.