There was a time when “Upfront Week” was covered like the Super Bowl. Now it is more about football than any new comedies, dramas or even reality shows. Today at these big budget presentations, sports leads; dramas and comedies are thrown in as extras.
Upfront Week is simply now known as the second week of May. Does anyone outside of Dick Wolf’s immediate family and perhaps ad salespeople at Rogers’ Citytv really care that NBC has renewed all three Chicago hour-long procedurals for another season?
When the big news is that the geniuses at Warner Bros. Discovery have decided to once again rename their streaming service Max “HBO Max,” you know you are deep in I Don’t Care mode.
There are, however, plenty of takeaways from the American network Upfronts. For instance:
- Paramount-owned CBS is still bullish on broadcasting. The “Tiffany” network saw a jump in ratings among networks this past season, as did each of the Bog Four except ABC (which was even for the year). CBS won the overall ratings crown for a 17th straight season in primetime. Its daytime dominance has lasted 39 seasons and 1500 straight weeks. The network announced an aggressive slate of eight new shows for 2025-26, including an all Dick Wolf-produced Monday lineup (FBI, CIA and – I kid you not – DMV) and an all NCIS sked Tuesday nights. Fridays are all Jerry Bruckheimer dramas. Other nights feature new cooking and singing competitions.
- Also new to CBS this fall: Boston Blue, a Blue Bloods spinoff starring Donnie Wahlberg; Y: Marshals (terrible working title), starring Luke Grimes as Kayce Dutton; and a series from mystery novelist Harlan Coben, Harlan Coben’s Final Twist. CBS also ordered three mid-season shows and a couple for 2026-27, including Einstein, a drama starring Matthew Gray Gubler.
- Comedy still seems stuck in a down cycle. CBS had the No. 1 network comedy last season with Georgie & Mandy’s First Marriage. Several horrible sitcoms were canceled, including that Night Court reboot (after three years!), that show with George Lopez and his daughter, Poppa’s House with Damon Wayans and his son.
- Among the dramas that have been canceled: The Equalizer with Queen Latifah; The Irrational after two seasons (the title was irrational); Rescue: Hi-Surf (wiped out in one year); Suits LA (both viewers: the series finale airs Sunday on NBC): and Shemar Moore’s S.W.A.T. This time for good after eight seasons.
- The CW, the fifth broadcaster stateside, announced this week that they will add Law & Order Toronto: Criminal Intent to their schedule this fall, picking up the first two seasons from the Canadian studio. Hopefully this will not trigger any tariffs.
- Better have a Netflix subscription if you want to watch NFL football this coming Christmas Day. The streamer will host a double-header as live sports continues to be the biggest tent in media. The Disney Company also played to NFL football fans at their upfront digs at the North Javits in Manhattan with Kansas City Chiefs quarterback Patrick Mahomes and Philly running back Saquon Barkley on stage taking bows. YouTube is also in on the game, with plans to livestream the Los Angeles Chargers home opener against the Chiefs this September.
- The football fuss at upfronts is no fumble. The LA Times reports that NFL games accounted for 95 of the top 100 most-watched TV programs in all of television in 2024.
All of the networks invited athletes on stage to hype all the NFL, NBA and MLB coverage. Fox had both David Ortiz and Derek Jeter at their Upfront presentation on Monday. NBC let advertisers know that they will have both the Super Bowl and the Olympics during the upcoming season.
“This is all sports,” ABC Upfront roaster-in-chief Jimmy Kimmel joked from the stage. “What happened? We used to be so gay.”
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Streamers such as Netflix and Amazon seem fine with the trend toward subscribing to platforms that are ad supported. Netflix’s far less expensive ad tier now reaches 94 million subscribers worldwide; Amazon’s Prime Video ad tier is the choice of 130 million Americans. More eyeballs, more ad revenues. Hey, it is a formula that has worked for 80 years with plain old television.
As for the Canadian network Upfronts: they take place in Toronto during the first week of June.
