Content Matters
Culled from the headlines of the media and technology trade press by Katz’s Content Strategy team, this special edition of Content Matters provides a snapshot of news and issues that affect the business of creating, producing, and distributing content during the pandemic.
2020 Q3 Issue #1
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Network Primetime
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We are at the precipice of a new world order, the “next normal” and as we look to Fall 2020, there is a plan in place for Primetime, but not necessarily an execution. It’s been about five months since the outbreak of COVID-19 and the shut-down of new content production. Week-by-week, the anticipation grows…when will things turn around? When will production re-start? When will we get fresh content? When will we get to stop asking all these questions? “Confident” and “Hopeful” are the carefully chosen words the networks are using for the return of the Fall season, but not even they know exactly when it will or “can” begin.
Let’s set the stage…As the pandemic took its hold on the country, production shut down on most all of primetime programming. Whatever was available, had to be stretched with intermittent repeats, and the season finished early. Sports became a non-starter in primetime (other dayparts as well, but look to the sports section for that info). The NBA, the MLB and the NHL had to cancel or postpone play, while the biggest event of this season, the 2020 Olympics, was moved to 2021. Award shows were also cancelled or postponed. Fresh content was in short supply, and the efficient answer was to produce original remote specials to fill the airwaves and comfort viewers. Celebrities jumped on board to connect with the audience in a more personal way by coming to viewers from their homes.
The networks’ stars also participated in specials that would raise awareness of the pandemic and especially of our “heroes and first responders”, as well as raise funds for those in need. Such specials included, but were not limited to: The iHeart Living Room Concert on FOX (3/29/20); Homefest: James Corden Late Late Show Special on CBS in Prime (3/30/20); ACM Presents: Our Country on CBS (4/5/20); in answer to the postponement of the ACM Awards; Garth & Trisha Live! on CBS (4/1/20), the only actual LIVE remote special; The Disney Family Sing-A-Long, which was the highest rated of the bunch, on ABC (4/16/20) and Disney Sing-A-Long, Vol 2 (5/10/20); One World Together at Home, which aired on all four networks, free of national commercials; Paley Center Salutes: Parks & Recreation on NBC (4/30/20) and a Parks & Rec Pandemic Special, reuniting the cast as their characters for a remote half-hour; Feeding America Comedy Festival on NBC (5/10), also to raise money; Masters of Illusion: Impossible Escape on CW (5/8/20); Bravery & Hope: 7 Days on the Frontline on CBS (5/15/20); Graduate Together: Class of 2000, aired on all nets since graduating classes across the country couldn’t have a proper ceremony (5/16/20); Greatest #Stay at Home Videos on CBS (5/15/20); Penn & Teller: Try This @ Home on CW (5/18/20); Haircut Night in America on CBS (5/29/20), how to cut your hair at home since salon’s were closed; Grammy Salute to Heroes: United We Sing-Unsung Heroes on CBS ( 6/21/20); and John Legend & Family on ABC (6/21/20). A bunch more specials also aired, some of which included sing-a-longs that brought families together around the TV: ABC’S Disney Family Sing-a-Long, Volumes 1 & 2, Masked Singer Sing-A-Long Spectacular (FOX) and a Grease Sing-Along (CBS).
Based on P2+ 000s, The Disney Family Sing-Along on ABC was the top pandemic special, and #13 among all specials for the season (Oscars, Grammy's, Golden Globes, CMA’s, Primetime New Year's Eve on ABC, and new-to-this season, the Jeopardy-Greatest of All competition). In the P2+ VPVH category, both Vol 1 & Vol 2 of the Disney Family Sing-Along were ranked 3rd and 4th out of all specials. Looking at the Top 20 Specials, there are 14 from ABC and three from CBS. The only other “pandemic” special to land in the Top 20 was ACM Presents: Our Country on CBS (which aired since the ACM Awards couldn’t.)
Movie nights, a staple in past years, returned to prime to fill in a good amount of time periods: The Sunday Night Movie on CBS, The Wonderful World of Disney on ABC, The Saturday Movie on NBC and still to come, a Monday Night Movie on FOX.
To fill the summer months, the networks made use of a mix of encore scripted series as well as games, competition and reality programming. There were a few new dramas on the schedule that had already finished production before the pandemic began and a couple of virtual awards shows such as the Daytime Emmy’s, first time back on broadcast TV since 2011 and The BET Awards with pre-recorded performances, virtual packages and presentations, simulcast on BET, CBS and other ViacomCBS properties.
Breaking it down by network, ABC went with a Bachelor remix, The Bachelor: The Greatest Seasons Ever, two encore sitcom nights with a new debut, United We Fall (which premiered to competitive ratings), two game show nights (which are also doing very well ratings-wise), the final season of Marvel’s Agents of Shield, a two-hour 20/20 and What Would You Do? CBS took the route of days gone by, using encores of their strong sitcoms and procedural dramas along with originals/repeats of newsmagazines 48 Hours and 60 Minutes for six of the seven nights of the week. Original competition shows Game On! and the most recent entry, Tough as Nails make up a seventh night (both also turned in competitive performances). NBC utilized original programming with its big summer blockbuster, America’s Got Talent (#1 each week), along with other competition series World of Dance, The Titan Games, The Wall, Songland and newest entry off USA, Cannonball, as well as five hours of Dateline. NBC encores include the Chicago’s (Med, Fire and PD), Law & Order: SVU, Ellen’s Game of Games and SNL in prime. FOX’s Monday, Tuesday and Sunday line-ups consisted of encore dramas and “animation domination” repeats with two midweek nights of original and repeat reality programming (Ultimate Tag, Celebrity Watch Party, Labor of Love and Masterchef-R), a Smackdown Friday and a mix of programming on Saturdays. The CW introduced a CW Happy Hour on Tuesday that included a series of different stand-up comics featured each week. Original dramas such as DC’s Stargirl, The 100, Bulletproof, Burden of Truth and In the Dark as well as a mix of originals and encores from utility players such as Whose Line Is It Anyway? Masters of Illusion and Penn & Teller filled the CW’s schedule.
Some of the latest summer updates include new info for America’s Got Talent, Big Brother and Love Island. America’s Got Talent recently produced their “judge cuts” episodes in the Simi Valley by being creative and using a drive-in movie lot to watch acts on a 300-foot screen with the judges 12 feet apart. AGT is still in the process of figuring out the live shows. Big Brother returns this summer to CBS for its 20th anniversary. Season 22, which begins on August 5th, is the second time in the series’ history to feature an All-Star cast, the first being in 2006. Big Brother will once again have three weekly episodes; Sundays, Wednesdays and Thursdays, featuring the live eviction show hosted by Julie Chen Moonves. According to CBS’ press release, “the all-star houseguests, including winners, finalists, legends, memorable personalities and some of the best to never win the game, will be announced closer to premiere. The Big Brother production will follow specific health and safety protocols for COVID-19 with the welfare of everyone involved as the highest priority. In addition, the live show will not have a studio audience. That’s going to be a tough condition to contain for the houseguests, considering they are on top of each other 24/7.”
Love Island just announced its return date as Monday, August 24th and will air each night of the week with a highlight episode on Saturdays. Sans the island, the show is filming inside a bubble in Las Vegas at a boutique hotel that is currently closed to the public and adjacent to Caesars Palace.
Looking toward Fall, schedules have been set, networks are “confident” that they will debut, but specific dates are not yet in our grasp. Most likely a good portion of primetime will be delayed from the “usual” premiere week to “sometime later” in the Fall. With most of the “traditional” pilot season scrubbed, the networks have chosen to go with their known commodities. Content they can count on. The question remains, will this content be able to be shot? ABC and CBS plan to launch with two new series each and NBC is playing it safe with only one new program (and it’s a spin-off). FOX presents four new hours to its line-up, two were on last year’s mid-season list and two are from other sources, so episodes are ready to go. The CW made a smart and conscientious decision to delay their Fall season until January, debuting a series of acquired programs late summer and into September.
FOX has already set some of its premiere dates for Sunday’s ANIMATION DOMINATION line-up (9/27/20), which doesn’t need live actors or production staff all in one room; Cosmos: Possible Worlds (9/22/20), off the National Geo channel; and sci-fi series Next (10/6/20), which was supposed to debut sometime this season, so episodes are already in the can. The net also announced a switcheroo for its Monday and Tuesday line-ups, moving Filthy Rich to Mondays paired with LA’s Finest and Next to Tuesdays behind Cosmos.
Some network series are preparing to go into production soon, though time will tell. There is not much information in the pipeline right now, but it continues to trickle in day-by-day. Aside from Vancouver, New York, Los Angeles and Atlanta have started bringing production back, but there are all kinds of rules and limitations. In addition to the challenging and expensive protocols, another hinderance is the higher cost of insuring these productions. Card Sharks, part of ABC’s “Fun & Games” line-up went back into production for season two in early July (7/6/20) with no audience and minimal crew and all safety guidelines in check. The Warner Shows that tape in Canada (mostly for the CW) – The Flash, Riverdale, Superman & Lois and Supernatural -- may start production in late August in Vancouver (subject to SAG approval), and could vary for each show between 8/20/20 & 8/27/20 based on when actors would need to arrive and self-isolate for two weeks. If safety protocols are agreed to, there may be other series such as ABC’s A Million Little Things ready to go. Talks are still in the works between the unions, the guilds and the studios. Shark Tank is already in pre-production, getting ready to shoot in a quarantine bubble at a single location in Las Vegas with all safety protocols in place for season 12 rather than on the Sony lot in Culver City. Dancing with the Stars is looking to be back in production for the 29th season by September with new host Tyra Banks. ABC and BBC Studios are working through health and safety protocols and still figuring out if the show can go live or not! No more Tom Bergeron or Erin Andrews – going in a different direction. The latest season of The Bachelorette may already be underway at an undisclosed location, but no start date revealed and word is The Bachelor will possibly be back on track for taping in late September to be ready for a January 2021 premiere. FOX’s MasterChef may have an October production restart, 18 episodes for season 11 (half were already filmed before the March shutdown). CBS’ Survivor will not be returning in the Fall. It has been pushed back to later in the season. Latest prime series either back in production or getting ready to for Fall include: ABC’s Supermarket Sweep re-boot shot in California with Leslie Jones as host; FOX’s Masked Singer, hopefully over next six weeks to be ready for a September start; CBS’ S.W.A.T., possibly this week in Los Angeles; ABC’s The Good Doctor is prepping for a possible mid-August shoot in Vancouver; and NBC’s The Blacklist, taped in NYC and ABC’s The Goldbergs, taped in LA, may be looking at the end of August to film. More information is released every day.
Most schedules will have to remain flexible depending on how the virus’ impact changes in the months ahead.
Aside from Network (ABC, CBS, NBC, FOX and the CW) press releases and information, the material gathered in this section is from a variety of other sources including: B&C, Cynopsis, Deadline, Hollywood Reporter and Variety. See below for a few of the trade articles written on the subject.
For further reading:
https://deadline.com/2020/07/supermarket-sweep-production-resumes-abc-1203001163/
https://deadline.com/2020/06/americas-got-talent-resume-filming-simon-cowell-1202973731/
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Sports
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It’s January 2020, the AFC/NFC Divisional Playoffs and Championship Games make their touchdowns, the NBA shoots for the extra point, anticipation for the Super Bowl grows. All is good. Then Kobe Bryant’s plane crashes and all the deaths involved are shocking and senseless. Many tributes are made. It’s early February, time for the biggest yearly event in television, the Super Bowl LIV. History is made. The Kansas City Chiefs were victorious (31-20 over San Francisco) returning home champions for the first time since their win fifty years ago; and Patrick Mahomes was the SB MVP, the youngest quarterback in history to earn the trophy and the second youngest to win a SB title. Viewers were on a high. More NBA, NCAA Basketball, XFL, NHL, NASCAR, MLS and the P’s (PBR, PBA and PBC Fight Night) competed through early March. Then the pandemic hit full force – March Madness cancelled (oh my), the Summer Olympics postponed for a year (oh my, my), the NBA, NHL and MLB postponed. Heads started shaking, not only would homebound sports viewers not have their favorite form of entertainment, but a lot of money was at stake in the industry and a lot of primetime and even more weekend time periods needed to be filled. Classic encores of sporting events took the place of live sports, older NCAA Tournaments, March Madness Memories, past NBA Finals and even last year’s Super Bowl. It wasn’t the same for viewers and the ratings experienced a decline.
April hosted the first live event, it wasn’t an actual game, but a revered tradition. The NFL Draft for 2020 was not cancelled or postponed, but went on the air virtually with COVID-19 protocols in place, possibly giving viewers hope for fall play. Viewers were starving for live sports by April where the 2020 NFL Draft was able to pull off a live virtual event for the fans. The 2020 NFL Draft in Primetime achieved a +25% boost in P2+ Impressions on Thursday (night 1) and a +23% increase on Friday (night 2) over the first two nights of the 2019 Draft. There were gains across all key demos as well from year ago in ratings, shares and impressions.
“Classic” sports repeats of past games, championships and finals continued through April. In May, Auto Racing, a non-contact sport, returned with Live from Darlington (5/17/20), followed by the Coca Cola 600 (Charlotte Motor Speedway on 5/24/20). Both with more than competitive total viewership. As for Horse Racing’s Triple Crown: The 152nd Belmont Stakes, originally set to air on June 6th, was postponed to June 20th; the 146th Kentucky Derby was postponed from May 2nd to September 5th; and the 145th running of the Preakness was moved from May 16th to October 3rd.
Non-contact or less-contact sports such as NASCAR, MLS Soccer, Horse Racing and PGA Golf were a few of the leagues that made it to our living rooms sooner rather than later, and while these sports have their fan bases, it’s MLB, the NFL, the NBA and the NHL that most of Americans have been craving. They are also the live events that bring in the most viewers and the largest ratings. College Football is still more of a mystery with harder conditions to work out all around, though NBC still has Notre Dame Football on its schedule. There is also some scheduling on in-conference games. The NHL and NFL are on their way while the NBA re-started on 7/30/20 as well as MLB, which had its opening day (7/23/20)! Play Ball!
Realistically, will any of these major team sports actually be able to finish a season? Will College Football even have a season? With Baseball just resuming and more players testing positive for COVID-19 each day, we’ll have to see how it all plays out. And will the same thing happen with Football? All the rules and “bubble” environments involve very difficult protocols to follow. We all hope there is a season, but we must think at what cost to lives? With that said, here is a breakout/timeline of when these other major sports are making their way back to their venues -- the green, the court, the fields, the track and the rink (in date order). Also attached is a link to each sports’ site for easy access to informational updates, how many games planned, protocols and more.
NASCAR/Auto Racing: returned with Live from Darlington on 5/17 (to a larger viewership than we’d seen for sports in March, April and May), followed by the Coca Cola 600 on 5/24.
https://www.nascar.com/nascar-cup-series/2020/schedule/
PGA: resumed June 11-14, Charles Schwab Challenge in Ft. Worth, Texas.
https://www.pgatour.com/tournaments/schedule.html
https://www.pgatour.com/impact.html
MLS: returned July 8th with Orlando City SC vs Inter Miami CF at the ESPN Wide World of Sports Complex in Disney World.
MLB: June 23, NY Yankees at Washington Nationals followed by San Francisco Giants at LA Dodgers. Baseball is Back! The “hit” heard round the world, 60 games per team for the season, some emphasis on geographical proximity. Currently experiencing positive COVID-testing results, already has had postponements and cancelled the Field of Dreams game.
NBA: Being dubbed “A Whole New Game”. The NBA restarted on July 30th on TNT (Utah Jazz vs New Orleans Pelicans & LA Clippers vs LA Lakers); July 31st on ESPN and NBA-TV; and on ABC, August 2 (Portland Trailblazers vs Boston Celtics (afternoon), followed by the Bucks vs the Rockets (in Primetime). There will be a single site at ESPN’s Wide World of Sports Complex at Walt Disney World Resort near Orlando, Florida. The venues for all games will be inside the Arena, Field House and Visa Athletic Center.
https://stats.nba.com/returntoplay2020/
https://www.nba.com/nba-returns-2020-faq
NHL: Stanley Cup Qualifiers began on August 1st. Hub Cities include Edmonton and Toronto, protective zones, designated spaces.
https://www.nhl.com/news/training-camp-buzz-news-and-notes-july-21/c-317552672
NFL: The official season is set to touch down on Thursday, 9/10 with the NFL Kickoff in primetime on NBC with the Houston Texans versus the Kansas City Chiefs. Next games will be that Sunday (9/13/20) in the afternoon on CBS and FOX and in prime on NBC. The preseason games in late summer were already cancelled.
https://www.nfl.com/news/all-news
College Football: As mentioned above, with more challenging restrictions which would have to be in place, there is no word yet on when this sport may begin.
https://www.si.com/college/2020/07/27/college-football-season-status-decisions-acc
While the Tokyo Olympics was postponed to Summer 2021, viewer appetite for sports programming remains vigorous. In response to that enthusiasm, from an NBC Sports press release: "NBC Sports began on July 24th to present “more than two weeks of nightly Olympic Games programming across NBCSN and Olympic Channel: Home of Team USA, reliving more than 100 hours of historic Olympic Games moments from the past 25+ years, featuring the 2008 Beijing Games, 2012 London Games, 2016 Rio Games, as well as Olympic Opening and Closing Ceremonies. During programming from July 24 through Sunday, August 9, as part of Return to the Olympic Games presented by Toyota, NBC Sports will present nightly primetime programming highlighting memorable Olympic moments and athletes, including Michael Phelps, Simone Biles, Usain Bolt, Katie Ledecky, Allyson Felix, Kerri Walsh Jennings, and many others. On Thursday, July 23, at 6:55 a.m. ET, Olympic Channel: Home of Team USA will present live coverage of a ceremony at the Olympic Stadium in Tokyo, Japan, to mark one year until the start of the Tokyo Olympics.”
Aside from Network (ABC, CBS, NBC and FOX) press releases and information, the material gathered in this section is from a variety of other sources including: B&C, Cynopsis, Deadline, Hollywood Reporter, Variety and Sports Sites such as: MLB, NBA, NHL, NFL, MLS, PGA, NASCAR and ESPN. See all section links above for news written on the subject.
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Daytime
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For those viewers missing their daytime dramas, good news is here. Days of Our Lives (NBC), which tapes much further in advance than the other soaps, has enough original episodes to last through September. Once the rest of the fresh episodes taped for broadcast were complete for the other soap operas, The Young & the Restless (CBS), Bold & the Beautiful (CBS) and General Hospital (ABC), the networks started airing theme-week, classic episodes. Even if there had been more originals for some of these soaps, there were constant preemptions and break-ins for COVID-19 reports from the Governors and Mayors of certain high-profile states and cities as well as special Presidential news conferences.
The Bold & the Beautiful went back into production the week of 6/22/20 with a slight hiccup on day one – a problem with the virus testing. To their credit, they stopped production, fixed the problem and went back to work on 6/24/20. One of the actresses from B&B revealed that they would be using spouses or significant others as stand-ins for love scenes to keep social distancing parameters in check! There has also been talk of using mannequin-like dummies. Y&R targeted the week of 7/6/20 to begin producing new episodes and according to CBS returns with all new episodes on 8/10/20 while GH announced they would resume airing original episodes on 8/3/20. For this to happen, all these programs will have to follow strict COVID-19 safety guidelines. Turning to the talk/news genre, like some of their syndication counterparts, The View, The Talk and Hoda & Jenna continued their shows virtually, headlining the topics of the day in three very unique styles. The timing for getting back into the studio is still to be determined. ABC’s GMA3 is currently broadcasting as GMA3: What You Need to Know (June 2020) and will continue into the Fall with not only pandemic news, but all news of the day. Strahan, Sara & Keke will not return, off the air since March 2020 when GMA3 became Pandemic: What You Need to Know. Games The Price is Right and Let’s Make a Deal were both able to remain in originals at least through April since they typically tape months in advance of their air-dates (and usually do two to three episodes per day). As for restarting production, it may be harder for these two games, which depend on the studio audience, to re-enter original production.
Aside from Network (ABC, CBS and NBC) press releases and information, the material gathered in this section is from a variety of other sources including: B&C, Cynopsis, Deadline, Hollywood Reporter, Variety and TV Line. See below for a few of the trade articles written on the subject.
Daytime Links
https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/live-feed/cbs-young-restless-books-return-date-1305562
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Late Night
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Looking for laughter after all that informative (and sometimes stressful) 11PM news? For those that prefer the monologue, live conversation and entertainment in the wee hours over Friends, The Big Bang Theory and a myriad of other scripted sitcoms, Late Night Talk is the place to tune in. When the pandemic hit, like all other live programs, the late-night talkers had to shut down production for a short time until they could figure out what came next. Some tried in studio with no audience, but when that didn’t work, they all moved home! Some were already scheduled to be on hiatus, which does happen in March and for parts of the summer.
The Late Show with Stephen Colbert became Stephen Colbert @ Home when he began filming original virtual episodes on Monday, 3/30/30 (from his bathtub no less!). Prior to that, Colbert shot fresh monologues to air at the top of repeats while the program went on a 10-day hiatus, which had already been planned for March Madness. Colbert went into repeats in July. The other late-night talkers also added @Home to their titles Jimmy Fallon @ Home, Jimmy Kimmel @ Home and the later, late night hosts Seth Meyers and James Corden followed suit by using their homes as their new studios. Seth Meyers shot from his attic and James Corden from his garage. All became more casual, but Corden continued to wear a suit to look more “professional.” Kimmel’s show was eventually moved to after midnight to follow Nightline and give the news of the pandemic and more recently the riots, protests and everything else going on around the world and at home, a priority. Kimmel is taking some of the summer off with a series of guest hosts to fill in. Attaining the job as host and one of the producers of the virtual Emmy Awards on September 20th, Kimmel has a lot on his plate.
While these virtual programs are a good way to stay on the air with fresh content, there have been some slight modifications to the formats. Kids, pets and wives have become part of the fabric of the @home shows making them more family friendly during these trying times. Monologues were originally all about the world, the pandemic, politics and making fun of POTUS and though all those issues are still included, there has been a turn to racial and social injustice. Monologues have gone from a “stand-up” gig to more conversational. Usually, the late-night host would make a joke and pause to wait for the laughter of the live audience, but now, monologues have become a little more conversational since there is no one there to laugh (or boo!). Some of the energy is lost on the remote/virtual shows without a live audience. Also, along with the usual type of celebrity guests, there are more visitors to the show from the worlds of science, politics and everyday people trying to make it through.
As for moving forward, Late Night Starring Jimmy Fallon has made the first step and returned to the 30 Rock studio in NYC on July 13th with his band “The Roots” and the crew and of course, safety guidelines in place. There was, and will be, no audience and guests will continue to be virtual. Four months into the pandemic, even with having to wear face masks and shields and having COVID-19 nose swabs, Fallon wanted to “bring a little bit of normal back to the studio.” On the cable front, Conan is the only talker in the daypart to shoot his show away from home. Conan O‘Brien resumed taping on July 6th at a comedy club in LA ( Largo at The Coronet) with a limited crew and protocols in place. Who knows when the show will return to the Warner Bros studio. Other cable properties such as Full Frontal with Samantha Bee, The Daily Show with Trevor Noah, Bill Maher and Last Week Tonight with John Oliver also taped remotely, but no specific word on when they will return to the studio. Lilly Singh has been renewed for a second season on NBC and will be back as soon as production allows. Lilly finished this past season, even with the pandemic, because her shows were already produced in batches. She hopes “to bring more topicality to the show, more diversity in season two” with a return date to be determined. Colbert plans to return to shooting in-studio, but there is no time table announced. The same scenario for the other broadcast network late-night hosts.
What about Saturday Night Live you ask? SNL almost finished its 45th season in front of a studio audience on March 7th, but produced three @home episodes for April/May with the season finale on May 9th. The sketch comedy show is hoping to restart production on season 46 ahead of the election in November, but talks are still ongoing with the powers that be that will make that decision. SNL usually doesn’t premiere each season until October anyway, so they have a little time to see what kind of condition the country and New York are in by then. The premise of SNL over some of the other shows is that it is “live in front of a studio audience”, it says so at the top of every show. We know it can be done remotely or without an audience, but it loses something in translation. Time will tell (the watchwords of today)!
Aside from Network (ABC, CBS and NBC) press releases and information, the material gathered in this section is from a variety of other sources including: B&C, Cynopsis, Deadline, Hollywood Reporter, Variety and TV Line. See below for a few of the trade articles written on the subject.
Late Night Links
https://tvline.com/2020/07/20/saturday-night-live-returning-studio-production-snl-season-46/
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Syndication
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After the pandemic hit, production stopped and repeats began. Talkers Live with Kelly & Ryan, Tamron Hall, Kelly Clarkson, Ellen, Wendy Williams and Rachael Ray were among the series that went virtual, utilizing Zoom and Skype to keep their shows relevant and new from their homes, some sooner than others. Kelly Ripa has even been co-hosting Live from a friend’s house in the Caribbean for part of the summer. There is no word yet on when LIVE will return to the studio. Ellen and Twitch kept their rapport going virtually using executive producer Andy Lassner as comic relief, peeping into Ellen’s window, almost always in her shot. Rachael Ray was joined by her husband on many an occasion to help with the libation to go along with whatever meal she was whipping up. Kelly Clarkson shot from her house in Montana adding new or updated segments to some of her already taped episodes. Currently, The Kelly Clarkson Show: Summer Staycation is airing with both original and repeat episodes. Wendy Williams was shooting live from home until the middle of May when she took an indefinite hiatus due to her on-going health issues. Repeats have been airing. However, Wendy will be back in her Manhattan Studio on 9/21/20, sitting in her purple chair, talking about everything and everyone. Tamron Hall, who by the way, just won a Daytime Emmy for “Outstanding Informative Talk Show Host”, began her remote journey with just her iPhone and an iPad and oh, a new showrunner, eventually graduating to more professional remote- control room technology in April with some dedicated segments to the pandemic.
Magazine Inside Edition went remote inside Deborah Norville’s home. Extra, Access Hollywood and TMZ kept on reporting with a slightly different focus than pre-coronavirus. Court shows presented a mix of originals and repeats, more on the repeats. Court is much easier to air in repeats than some other genres. People’s Court was one courtroom that went virtual during the pandemic, straight from Judge Marilyn Milian’s living room. For Judge Jerry, all new “Quarantine Court” episodes debuted for the week of 7/20/20. They included all-new syndicated content with five episodes of “Judge Jerry Quarantine Court”. From NBCUniversal: “Through a partnership with independent studio Sneaky Big, the show was shot in three different states and merged to create a virtual courtroom. The producer said remote production and a virtual reality set “allowed every aspect of the show to adhere to strict COVID-19 guidelines and safety measures.” Another use for this test was to see if everything worked out in case they needed to revert back to "at home" status. Currently Judge Jerry is back in its Stamford, CT studio, taping season 2 for Fall with all guidelines in place.
Moving forward to Fall, Jeopardy (37th season) started taping the week of 7/27/20 with five episodes per day, two days a week and Wheel of Fortune (38th season) ramped up for this week (8/3/20). Government guidelines are in place to protect everyone connected with the shows, behind and in front of the cameras. Word is that there will also be slight adjustments to the sets to keep social distancing between the contestants and between the contestants and the hosts.
With The Nick Cannon Show pushed back to Fall 2021, The Drew Barrymore Show remains the only first-run talker still set to debut this Fall. Her journey through the syndication experience is revealed in a “behind-the-scenes” look at “The Making of The Drew Barrymore Show”. This digital series will air going forward leading up to its September 14th premiere. Other digital segments include: “Drew’s Movie Nite”, (#DrewsMovieNite) where Drew will host a viewing party on Twitter (@DrewBarrymoreTV) and be joined by cast members of the film; “The Art of the Interview”, where Barrymore will enjoy in-depth dialogues with talk show hosts that have inspired her over the years; and “Drew’s Cookbook Club”, where Drew gets to share her love of cookbooks and cooking with others by exchanging recipes and tips and preparing all kinds of dishes with the viewer at home. (Information on Drew Barrymore specifically from Deadline). Family Feud, with Steve Harvey at the helm, should be back in the studio on August 4th in Atlanta with all safety protocols and industry guidelines in check, getting ready for a September 14th premiere with original episodes.
Most other programs debuting in the Fall for their first season in syndication are not first-run, they are either off-net or off-cable properties, so there is no worry about production. Episodes from shows such as Common Knowledge, The Carbonaro Effect, Who Wants to Be a Millionaire (repeats from season 2018-19), Monk and Schitt’s Creek are ready for Fall line-ups. In fact, Common Knowledge begins a four-week summer test this week on FOX stations. As far as we know now, with start dates set, every effort is being made to have first-run shows back in the studio with protocols in place and most likely with no audience and virtual guests.
Aside from information from Syndication Companies, the material gathered in this section is from a variety of other sources including: B&C, Cynopsis, Deadline, Hollywood Reporter and Variety. See below for a few of the trade articles written on the subject.
https://www.nexttv.com/news/syndication-preps-summer-plans
https://deadline.com/2020/07/family-feud-to-return-to-atlanta-studio-with-health-safety-set-adjustments-1203001270/https://deadline.com/2020/07/family-feud-to-return-to-atlanta-studio-with-health-safety-set-adjustments-1203001270/
https://deadline.com/2020/07/wheel-of-fortune-jeopardy-head-back-to-studio-1202997931/
https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/live-feed/nick-cannon-daytime-talk-show-pushed-back-2021-1303338