TV Used to Give Us Characters. Now It Gives Us Kickoffs

All of the Above with James Brown

There used to be a cadence to the week on broadcast TV. Monday was for The Fresh Prince. Thursday was for Friends. Tuesday? That was Frasier, 3rd Rock from the Sun, maybe NewsRadio if you were lucky. And somewhere in there, a show like ER or Law & Order reminded you what great writing could do.

NBC, once the home of Must See TV, has benched most of that. This fall, Tuesday nights go to the NBA and WNBA. Football stays on weekends. Add in The Voice, Dateline, and Fallon’s On Brand, and only seven hours of primetime are scripted.

Now, NBC — along with CBS, ABC, and FOX — feels small next to streaming giants. They used to guide the culture. Now they just try to keep up.

We all saw this coming. Streaming made things personal. Sports made them immediate. But when I look at the fall lineup, I don’t just see change. I see something fading.

Those old shows — Seinfeld, ER, Homicide, Law & Order — they weren’t just content. They were bright spots. Built to last. They still stream, but it’s not the same.

So here’s my question:

Are we evolving, or erasing?

Is this a win for real-time thrills, or a quiet loss for shared memory?

Let me know in the comments and check out more at jamesbrowntv.substack.com.

On that note, I’m James Brown, and as always, be well.