Broadcast networks show a mini-revival in pilot season but traditional TV production continues to decline
Networks increasingly favor efficient script-to-series pickups over traditional pilot seasons
High-profile cancellations reflect broader industry economic pressures
The shift prioritizes profit over comprehensive storytelling and workforce opportunities
📖 Full Retelling
Broadcast networks in the United States are experiencing a mini-revival of TV pilot season in 2025, with NBC ordering eight pilots in the past two months, more than double last year's total, though this bittersweet trend comes as traditional television production models continue to decline amid economic pressures, pandemic aftershocks, and industry strikes that have reduced workforce opportunities for writers, actors, and crew members. ABC and CBS have each ordered two pilots, bringing the total to twelve, a far cry from the sixty-six pilots ordered in 2019 and the record low of just five in 2024, as networks increasingly abandon traditional pilot seasons in favor of more efficient script-to-series or straight-to-series pickups. The decline reflects a broader industry transformation where the television that once involved real sets being built, fully staffed writers rooms, series regulars, dozens of recurring and guest roles, and attention to production value is becoming increasingly rare, replaced by cost-cutting measures and technological efficiencies that prioritize profit over comprehensive storytelling. This shift is evident in recent high-profile cancellations including CBS' 'financial decision' to end The Late Show after Stephen Colbert's 11-season run and the entire 33-year franchise, as well as the impending conclusion of Kelly Clarkson's and Sherri Shepherd's daytime talk shows, leaving only a handful of such programs still in production.
🏷️ Themes
Industry Transformation, Economic Pressures, Cultural Shift
Pilot season may refer to:
Pilot season (television), the time of year television pilots are often shown.
Pilot Season (comics), a comic book series from Top Cow Productions.
Pilot Season (TV series), a six episode 2004 series by Sam Seder.
No entity connections available yet for this article.
Deep Analysis
Why It Matters
The resurgence of pilot season signals a brief return of traditional TV production, but the overall decline in pilots and the shift to streaming models highlight a major transformation in how content is created, funded, and consumed, affecting jobs, creative processes, and audience habits.
Context & Background
NBC ordered eight pilots in 2025, double last year
Fox and The CW favor straight-to-series models
Streaming services now account for nearly half of TV viewership
What Happens Next
The industry is likely to continue prioritizing streaming and AI-driven production, with fewer traditional pilots and more on-demand, short-form content. Mergers and cost-cutting may further reduce opportunities for writers and crew, while new technologies could reshape storytelling formats.
Frequently Asked Questions
Why has pilot season declined?
Economic pressures, streaming competition, and labor strikes have made the costly pilot model less attractive.
What does the rise of streaming mean for traditional TV jobs?
Many roles are shifting to lower-budget, non-union productions, reducing stable employment for writers, actors, and crew.
Will AI replace human creators?
AI can assist but is unlikely to fully replace human storytelling; however, it may reduce the need for certain production roles.
Original Source
Share on Facebook Share on X Google Preferred Share to Flipboard Show additional share options Share on LinkedIn Share on Pinterest Share on Reddit Share on Tumblr Share on Whats App Send an Email Print the Article Post a Comment Logo text The mini-revival of TV’s pilot season this year has been an unexpected surprise — and also a bittersweet one. NBC has ordered eight pilots in the past two months, more than double the number of pilots it picked up last year — and more than the total of seven across all broadcast nets during the 2025 development cycle. ABC and CBS have two pilots each, bringing the total to 12. But the wider lens is more bleak: In 2019, networks ordered 66 pilots, which at that time was the fewest in at least seven years. Since then, a number of factors — a switch to other development models in search of more efficiency, COVID, and aftereffects of the 2023 strikes among them — combined to push the number of network pilots down each year to a low of just five in 2024. Fox and The CW have all but abandoned pilots in favor of script-to-series or straight-to-series pickups, while other networks have leaned on those models along with development writers rooms. Related Stories Business Councilmember's Push to Improve L.A. Filming Conditions Passes Latest Hurdle: "We Can't Lose Any More Time" Movies Salma Hayek, Mexican President Back New 30 Percent Film Tax Incentive The mini-revival of pilot season represents a small beam of optimism for TV as we used to know it. There are chances for writers, actors and crew members to secure work for at least a little while, and that executives are rediscovering that some supposedly outmoded ways of making television can still be good, actually. There’s also a heavy dose of nostalgia involved. The old model of network pilot season was terribly inefficient from a business standpoint. Ordering hundreds of scripts that turned into dozens of pilots, all cast and filmed in a frenzied three- to four-month window, out of whi...
