Procedural shows on broadcast television are not new, but, according to the team at CBS, audiences are craving the long-term investment in characters that a limited series on streaming services can’t compete with. This was the focus of the panel “Fire Country and the Boom of Broadcast Procedurals (Again!)” at the NAB Show.
The actual procedure of the procedural isn’t why audiences resonate with CBS shows. Rather, Bryan Seabury, executive vice president, head of content strategy and drama development at CBS Studios, asks himself if the show is built “to go the distance.”
“Other shows … they’re limited, they’re designed in a different way,” Seabury said. “Here, the questions we ask in a pilot are much more open-ended and hopefully, you’re planting seeds that go for seasons.”
Fellow panelist Yelena Chak, executive vice president, scripted development at CBS Entertainment, agreed that streaming has changed a lot for broadcast television, not just in terms of pilot planning but also in success metrics due to all the different formats a viewer can watch a show.
Though differentiating themselves from streaming services, the CBS panelists couldn’t ignore platforms like Netflix, which offer viewers binge-able content at a clip. However, in the age of streaming giants pulling audiences away from linear television, Chak found that Netflix can be used as a promotional tool.
“The people who found it on Netflix, they watched the first season there, which then drove them to Paramount+ to watch season two, which then in turn drove them back to CBS broadcast network for season three,” Chak said. “So it brought people right back to our ecosystem.”
Good character development matters
“Fire Country” co-creators and executive producers Joan Rater and Tony Phelan realized that investing in character development is the best way to keep audiences drawn to procedurals. The writers can push the bounds of storytelling by allowing characters to grow, experience setbacks and change over a more authentic timeline, rather than in eight episodes, like some streaming-service originals, according to Rater.
Seabury also noted that this era of television gives executives the ability to see ratings and viewership not only on premiere night but also on delayed viewing, on the network’s streaming platform and then later, on a third-party streaming service like Netflix, which can improve overall results. Case-in-point: In the month that season one of “Fire Country” was released on Netflix, 3 billion minutes of the show were viewed between Netflix and Paramount+.
The long-term strategy doesn’t stop there. In the coming months, the “Fire Country” spinoff, “Sheriff Country,” which focuses on the character development of a small-town sheriff dealing with personal and professional dilemmas, will premiere on CBS. The spinoff will serve as a marketing vehicle for the original show by way of crossover episodes, and panelists agreed that this spinoff is a testament to the deep character development of procedurals that keep audiences engaged with whatever universe is being created.