Why TV Shows Premiere In The Fall

Susan Haber, TV Talent Manager, TV Show Packager and Brand Builder | Hollywood TV Association Instructor

Most of my life I thought that TV shows premiered in the fall because that is when the summer is over, the weather gets colder and people stay in more, get cozy and watch TV. It seemed like that was a perfect tradition and in fact, that’s what I did with my family growing up. But as I looked into it more, it wasn’t that at all.

The main reason, in the beginning, that TV started in September, was that the primetime networks were originally radio stations and they were broadcast out of New York where the summers were unbearably hot. Everybody wanted to get out of the city during that time and go to the beach. So they closed down their programming during the hot summer and then when the weather cooled off, they came back to work. 

Another reason that shows start in September is because there is a system called the Upfronts that started in the 1960s and is still used today. It is the time when the networks present their shows to the advertisers and the advertisers commit to spending their advertising dollars. This happens months in advance of September, in early March and running through May, giving the networks plenty of lead time for planning.

In conclusion, I think the most interesting part of this entire process is the fact that when we see how the TV industry really runs, it is all about the advertisers. As is everything else in life, TV is about money. If nobody’s paying to run commercials, the networks have no way of making money. So even though the creative/development executives at the networks make sure that the show is a great show in some way and very entertaining/interesting, in the end, if the advertisers are not interested in it and they don’t pledge money to that show, the show will not get on the air.

Exceptions to this are the subscription networks now like Netflix, Hulu and Amazon. These companies make their money from charging a monthly membership. They don’t advertise and therefore have more freedom in the type of shows that they can offer. They are not as scrutinized as the network shows because there are no brands attached to them and therefore they do not need to answer to the brands. The producers of these shows can be more creative and take more of a risk without too much of a downside.