Despite rough year, network TV still hanging on

It’s commonly said now that we’re living in a golden age of television, but try telling that to executives at the Big Four networks.

The buzzy shows you love to talk about are typically on cable, while CBS, ABC, NBC and Fox are all wrapping up one of their worst seasons on record.

Many successful shows have lost steam, with no breakout hits to fill the void. The trickle of viewers that has been lost year over year became a sharp drop this season. Nearly 20 percent of viewers in the 18-to-49 demographic, according to the Wall Street Journal, have fled.

A media analyst for Bank of America Merrill Lynch was quoted in The New York Times saying “his year was the tipping point.”

“It was a really bad year, there’s no denying that,” said Joe Adalian, the West Coast editor for Vulture, New York Magazine’s culture website.

But he says it’s still too early to ring the death knell.

“The network’s response to that is, ‘Let’s make a lot more shows.’ They’re taking a lot more chances,” he said.

This week in the upfronts, the networks unveiled ambitious fall lineups. According to Adelian, CBS, which typically launches two or three shows per season, has launched eight this year.

Some will have shorter runs than the typical 22-episode network model, taking a page out of cable’s playbook.

“Networks have lost the war for buzz and their stranglehold on pop culture,” Adelian said.

But when it comes to audience and advertising, network TV is still the biggest game in town. He cites FX’s The Americans, about Soviet spies undercover in the U.S.

“It was a great show that launched this year, a lot of strong buzz, and in the overnight ratings it was losing to repeats of Big Bang Theory,” he said.