ABC visits Martha Stewart’s castoffs

As we bid goodbye to the 2021-‘22 network television season, we can draw some sobering conclusions. Tonight’s finales for “Survivor” and all three of Dick Wolf ’s “Chicago” series indicate that network success now depends on serving up the familiar. “Survivor” debuted May 31, 2000. Time was, the only shows that lasted 22 years were daytime soap operas — which is as good a way to describe “Survivor” as any.

Wolf ’s “Chicago” shows aren’t as long in the tooth, but his patented “Law & Order” series dates back to 1990. It’s almost as old as “The Simpsons.”

So, it’s easy to see that the key to broadcast network success is to come across as turn-of-the-century comfort food.

That’s a notion reinforced by ABC’s oneoff special “The Great American Tag Sale With Martha Stewart” (8 p.m., TV-PG). For many years, Stewart hosted holiday shows, offering tips about decorating the Christmas dining table, entertaining or cooking hors d’oeuvres to feed the guests who never seemed to show up on those chilly specials — that would distract the cameras from the host.

Those “Martha” tutorials were fun to watch (and fun for critics to make fun of), but they were from another era, a time when Regis might show up on a Kathie Lee Christmas spectacular.

Stewart’s brand of didactic instruction has since been taken over by cable. And even cable’s galaxy of home shows has been made redundant by short YouTube lessons that (mercifully) don’t adhere to the standard 30- and 60-minute TV formats.

And Stewart, a smart and remarkably influential social influencer and TV personality, seems to be aware of this paradigm shift. She’s long since moved to cable and away from teacher mode to preside as a famous person among her peers.

And that’s entirely the point of this “Tag Sale.” Stewart announces that after decades of collecting, she’s holding the first sale of her life. While intended to raise money for a cancer charity, her event has been necessitated by the sale of her place in the Hamptons and warehouse in Manhattan. There’s just not enough space in her chateau for so much stuff! Cue the violins.

Assisted by three appraisal experts and organizers, who practically levitate with excitement at the prospect of working for Stewart (!), she embarks on a month-long preparation for the sale. Turning mundane tasks into “fabulous drama” is the stuff of reality TV, and this crew does not disappoint.

Unfortunately, Stewart’s presence and imprimatur detracts from the tagsale quality of this “tag sale.” People scour the odd garage sale for the unknown and unexpected and the odd chance that you might find a treasure amid the piles of stuff that have become burdensome to homeowners.

Here, everything is cataloged, tagged and given the Stewart seal of approval. Like some saintly relics, every item accrues near-mystical value. The notion of owning Stewart’s saltshaker or garlic press is like having touched the hem of her garment.