The impact of the Hollywood writers strike was felt as major television networks began their annual week of sales presentations to advertisers on Monday, with news personalities like Willie Geist and Stephanie Ruhle left to hawk comedies and dramas for NBC Universal.
Fox declined to announce a fall television schedule on Monday, citing uncertainties created by the strike.
Some 11,500 members of the Writers Guild for America, saying the rise of streaming has hurt their earning power, walked off the job two weeks after talks on a new contract broke down, and haven’t returned to the negotiating table since.
Network late-night shows immediately shut down. Picketing writers targeting some of the few shows shooting episodes forced the shutdown, at least temporarily, of programs including Showtime’s “Billions”, “Severance” on Apple TV+ and the new Marvel show, “Daredevil: Born Again” on Disney+.
The network sales presentations, known as upfronts because TV executives use them to convince advertisers to lock in commercial spending months in advance, are major events on the television schedule.They opened with turmoil; writers picketed in front of Radio City Music Hall where NBC previewed programming it hoped viewers would be able to see.
Mark Lazarus, NBC Universal president of television and streaming, quickly acknowledged the uncertainties in speaking to the ad representatives.
Lazarus came to the stage following a song-and-dance routine by an animated bear, Ted, voiced by creator Seth MacFarlane. Following two movies, the “Ted” character is set to begin a series on the Peacock streaming network. The upfront presentations are generally known for star power attempting to woo advertisers, but entertainers were notably missing from NBC Universal’s presentation.