Wired for cable
Why network dramas have lost their mojo
‘The Good Wif ” was the last prestige network drama.
The long-running CBS series, which ended its seven-season run Sunday night, regularly received Emmy nominations for acting and won several times (Julianna Margulies, Archie Panjabi, guest star Carrie Preston). It was nominated for Best Drama Series twice (in 2010 and 2011) — the last prime-time network show to receive such a distinction.
The ending of “The Good Wife” doesn’t bode well for the future of the broadcast networks, especially when it comes to awards voted by peers. So wide is the gulf in quality between cable dramas and your basic network show — whichh is producing 22 to 24 episodes a season, and is riddled with commercials — that one has to wonderr how the networks will maintain their relevance.
As a result, the system has left some of the best actors on broadcast TV at a disadvantage when it comes to their cable peers.. James Spader, who won three Bestt Actor Emmys for playing conniving attorney Alan Shore on “T
Practic ” and “Boston L gal,” can’t get nominated for his currentt series, NBC’s “T Blacklist.” In the intervening years, cable dramas such as “Mad M n,” “Br aking
Bad” and “hom land” made stars out Jon Hamm, Bryan Cranston and Damian Lewis — Emmy winners all — and raised the bar for what is considered an awardworthy performance.
This year, in particular, has been a banner year for actors
on cable. The casts of two FX series, “Fargo” and “Am rican Crim Story: T P opl v.
O.J. Simpson,” did stellar work. Those two series had so many fine performances — among them, Jean Smart, Kirsten Dunst and Jesse Plemons for “Fargo” and Courtney B. Vance, Sarah Paulson and Sterling K. Brown for “O.J.”— that some of their talented co-stars are bound to be left out.
Is there a single network drama that can boast a similar bounty? The airwaves are stocked with “ensemble” series — syndication-friendly procedurals, to name one genre — where the actors don’t get a chance to shine due to the genre’s limitations. Comic-book series such as CBS’s “Sup rgirl” will never be known for their acting. You have to look at “star vehicles” such as “how To G t Away
Wit Murd r” and “empir ” to find an actor with the energy and presence of a Viola Davis (last year’s winner for Best Actress) or a Taraji P. Henson who can snare a nomination.
It doesn’t have to be this way, of course, as “The Good Wife” proved in its fifth season, when the producers killed off Will Gardner (Josh Charles) — and, in the aftermath, revitalized the entire show, winning Margulies an Emmy that year (her second in the role of Alicia Florrick). This year has seen a creative resurgence on “Gr y’s
Anatomy” which, in its 12th season, is expected to be ABC’s top drama this year. And ABC’s “Am rican Crim ,” for which star Regina King won an Emmy last year as Best Supporting Actress in a Limited Series or Movie, has a chance for a nomination or two.
We know network series can’t take the same dramatic license as cable shows. So maybe anthology series such as “American Crime,” “Wayward Pin s” and “S cr ts
and Li s” — which have shorter production schedules and are more likely to attract A-list talent — are the networks’ best weapon against their own obsolescence.
Unless the networks can turn it around, the Emmys will end up airing on AMC —and the Big Four broadcast networks will take the evening off.
Just sayin’.