Network TV Shows May Not Return For Current Season

[kemcha]

Well,, it looks like the current seasons of most network television shows may be finished for this season, due to the current Coronavirus pandemic. It was initially believed that most shows would resume production to some degree but it looks like THAT may not be the case.

Nothing’s final yet, but executives at the major broadcast TV networks are now working under the assumption that few — if any — of the dozens of series that halted production in recent days because of the coronavirus pandemic will be returning anytime soon. Per multiple TV industry insiders, it now seems almost certain most series already on the air will end their seasons early, anywhere from one to four episodes short of their planned full-season orders. “Realistically, every show that shut production down is done,” one exec told Vulture.

When networks, studios, and streaming platforms last week began announcing they were shutting down production to safeguard the health of casts and crews, they generally described the pauses as “temporary,” suggesting they’d reassess the situation in a few weeks. But now, even if the rosiest scenarios for the course of the pandemic play out — if, say, the CDC suggests in two or three weeks that it might be safe to loosen social-distancing measures — the industry insiders Vulture spoke with believe it won’t matter. While it might be possible to resume filming in early April and still complete an episode or two in time for this broadcast season, it won’t be practical in most cases. “It just doesn’t make a sense to come back in a month for the last episode or two,” one insider told us.

That’s because of the costs associated with shutting down and starting up productions, not to mention concerns about crew contracts and actor commitments. Assuming a production returns to anything near normal within a month, folks may have already booked other assignments or otherwise not be available to work all the way into May. In fact, at least four shows have already told cast and crew their seasons are over, sources told Vulture, confirming that fact on the condition that the names of the productions not be published since official decisions haven’t been announced yet.

This doesn't bode well for such network shows as The Flash, Supergirl, Legends of Tomorrow, NCIS, Blue Bloods and many others.

Source: https://www.vulture.com/2020/03/netw...ronavirus.html

[kevin87]

Legacies finished 16 episodes so they supposedly shortened it to 16 to just end it for the season, America Ferrera said Superstore finished shooting for the season but she may come back to finish up the Amy storyline since it was going to be her final season... I can see most shows just not coming back for the current season and either adding extra episodes next season or just resuming the storylines next season instead, but shows like Supernatural obviously won't be coming back and they filmed 18 out of the 20 ordered so they'd have to film and air them in a quick turnaround maybe in the summer.

I think this will change how TV production is handled in the future, possibly returning earlier so they can get more episodes filmed before the season even begins, possibly have them all, or nearly all, filmed so that if anything like this happens again it won't be a huge impact. Might even decide to do shorter seasons, nobody needs 20+ episodes a season anymore.

[thecooldud]

Speak for yourself. Some of us like TV shows that don't end after three weeks...

[kevin87]

Originally Posted by thecooldud

Speak for yourself. Some of us like TV shows that don't end after three weeks...

That's an overexaggeration, even most British shows have more than 3 episodes lol They could easily cap a show at 20 a season and still have a lot of filler to have only needed 18.

[ben6543]

my favorite show Legends Of Tomorrow finsihed filming last year so I don't have to worry about that.

[thecooldud]

I suppose the good news is they might postpone the filming of the next season of the current Dr Who trainwreck.
Preferably indefinitely.

[Joeker]

Sucks for Supernatural since that show was ending.

[kemcha]

The one thing this could do is that with genre shows like Arrowverse and other long running shows like NCIS, could see current shows end on a cliffhanger and wrap up during the lead up to the mid-season break, prior to December. I had heard that Falcon and the Winter Soldier, WandVision and Helstrom have all finished production.

I expect that other shows such as The Mandalorian, the Rogue One prequel, the Obi-Wan series and many others are undoubtedly postponed until this crisis is over.

Most of the standard network shows usually end their respective seasons on cliffhangers anyways. But, I suspect that genre shows like CW's Arrowverse will stop where they are and end on season ending cliffhangers for the next season. The upcoming Stargirl series, new seasons of Doom Patrol and Titans are also, most likely, postponed, as well.

[Michael24]

It was just announced recently that The Mandalorian had wrapped production on season two. It wasn't set to premiere until October anyway, so I would think it'd be fine.

[kedavis]

No loss for me at least. I'm down to 3 network shows, 2 of which are ending this season and have already wrapped. There's plenty else to catch up on.
Oh, I forgot CBS All Access, which I suppose is network TV. I watch the new Star Trek shows: Discovery, Picard, & Short Treks; plus many episodes of the new Twilight Zone. It would be a bummer to have them delayed.

[jokerzwild]

Originally Posted by Joeker

Sucks for Supernatural since that show was ending.

It is insane they were still filming this, they are only a handful of episodes out from it. You hear so many productions being finished filming many months ahead of broadcast for editing and post. How in the world could they be cutting it that close.

[Fiffy]

I just hope the second half of Vikings season 6 isn't cancelled, given that it's the final season. Anybody know if they were able to finish production?

[kevin87]

Originally Posted by kemcha

The one thing this could do is that with genre shows like Arrowverse and other long running shows like NCIS, could see current shows end on a cliffhanger and wrap up during the lead up to the mid-season break, prior to December. I had heard that Falcon and the Winter Soldier, WandVision and Helstrom have all finished production.

Most of the standard network shows usually end their respective seasons on cliffhangers anyways. But, I suspect that genre shows like CW's Arrowverse will stop where they are and end on season ending cliffhangers for the next season. The upcoming Stargirl series, new seasons of Doom Patrol and Titans are also, most likely, postponed, as well.

Falcon/WS and WandaVision got shut down also.

https://deadline.com/2020/03/marvel-...on-1202883491/

Stargirl started filming in March 2019, so I'd hope they managed to finish filming by now lol Arrow ended and LoT is done filming, but Supergirl and The Flash have basically been more episodic lately after Crisis, so they could probably end anytime and it would just be like a cliffhanger because there's no real big overarching storyline that needs to wrap up... but Batwoman is still kind of using their pre-Crisis storyline.

Originally Posted by jokerzwild

It is insane they were still filming this, they are only a handful of episodes out from it. You hear so many productions being finished filming many months ahead of broadcast for editing and post. How in the world could they be cutting it that close.

They filmed 18 of the 20 episodes, so they'd have been done next week probably had they not been shut down, which would only be 6 or 7 episodes away from the end... The 100 had a few days left on their series finale episode, but they managed to get it done in time.

Originally Posted by Fiffy

I just hope the second half of Vikings season 6 isn't cancelled, given that it's the final season. Anybody know if they were able to finish production?

Were they still filming? I assumed when they ordered them as 20 episodes they filmed them continuously but just aired them in parts.

[kemcha]

It doesn't surprise me. This pandemic is going to have an unforseen impact on our culture and on society at large. What we're seeing with the economy, with employment, with these shutdowns in public and with the media, is just what we currently see what's happening. But, I think it's going to get much worse before it gets better.

The entertainment industry is going through its own crisis, like the airline industry went through and the housing market went through in 2008. They're going through their own Baptism of Fire.

[JamesOttoSweetHeart]

If filming for the current season is now done, when will we know about what shows will be back in the fall...if filming is allowed to resume by then that is?

God bless you always!!!

Holly

[kemcha]

I don't see this pandemic going away any time soon. But, I imagine for shows like The Flash and Supergirl, they may have an episode or two left already finished before any new decisions are made. But, if the current seasons are finished, I would imagine that the Eva/Iris/Speed Force saga would be wrapped up when the seventh season of Flash returns for the 2020/2021 season. I can see Arrowverse producers changing things up and wrap up Season 6 GN #2 by the time the Arrowverse shows wrap production for the Winter break in December (2020).

But, it's going to be a lot of wrangling by television studios as they try to figure out what to do about the current seasons for the various network shows. My guess? They're probably working on a contingency plan. I wouldn't even mind it if they released the remaining part of Season 6 for Flash through the Blu-ray release for the season set. Honestly, I prefer buying the season sets to watch the shows I enjoy.

[Gretiem]

Originally Posted by Joeker

Sucks for Supernatural since that show was ending.

I really hope they give us a good ending after 15 years and not just leave it

[kemcha]

There's been an update on the Arrowverse shows, per TVLine:

According to TVLine, those Arrowverse shows have gotten an update about where they're at with The Flash, Supergirl, and Batwoman. For its part, Legends of Tomorrow is unaffected since it had wrapped filming already. Even though The CW renewed its entire slate of ongoing series already, only time will tell how this production suspension delays the filming of the next seasons. As for the current seasons, starting with the Grant Gustin-led drama, the outlet states that 20 out of 22 episodes were filmed prior to the shutdown. With two episodes left of season 6, those are traditionally the big finale installments. For Supergirl season 5, it was stated that 21 out of 22 episodes were shot and completed prior to the announcement. That leaves their last episode unfinished as that would have been the season 5 finale of the Kara Zor-El (Melissa Benoist) centered series.

For this season's newcomer, which is Kate Kane (Ruby Rose) aka Gotham's new protector, Batwoman was the one to have the most episodes left undone. According to TVLine, 19 out of 22 episodes have been shot and the publication specifically mentions this show is likely to have a shortened season. Looking at the workload that comes with that many episodes uncompleted, it's understandable if The CW cuts season 1 down to 20 episodes. Depending on when filming starts again, rewrites might be done to fit in with a shortened season for all the shows. So far, The CW hasn't specified if scripts are being re-done to conclude the ongoing seasons as soon as production starts again.

While those are the current DC shows that have been affected, it's possible the upcoming Superman & Lois spinoff is facing a similar fate. Since it has an straight-to-series order, it was previously reported that WBTV and CW are skipping the pilot cycle for the Man of Steel drama. By doing that, the focus is to get the Tyler Hoechlin and Elizabeth Tulloch-led project into immediate series production. As the studios keep observing the coronavirus situation, production will hopefully resume shortly for The Flash, Supergirl, and Batwoman for the remainder of this Arrowverse season.

This was reported on Slashfilm and Liist Studio:
https://liistudio.com/arrowverse-sho...seasons/14795/
https://screenrant.com/flash-supergi...y-coronavirus/

[huskersports]

Originally Posted by JamesOttoSweetHeart

If filming for the current season is now done, when will we know about what shows will be back in the fall...if filming is allowed to resume by then that is?

God bless you always!!!

Holly

Sometime in May is usually when the broadcast networks announce their fall schedules (the "up-fronts", I believe, is the industry lingo). September season/series premieres usually start filming in August.

[kemcha]

Well, that's when they "start" announcing them. The renewal announcements are usually staggered over several weeks, with some announcements delayed until the last possible minute. But, I remember when the television seasons used to start the first week in September. I hate these startups in late September and October.