Just a few years ago, it seemed like shows where a group of characters confront and neatly solve a crime or court case in a single episode, a staple of TV since its inception, wouldn’t make the leap into the streaming future. .
In the 2010s, as Netflix was on the rise, several hugely successful proceedings were dismissed. NBC has unceremoniously canceled ‘Law & Order’. CBS canceled “CSI”, the popular police show, as well as three “CSI” spin-offs. Many television executives felt that a story told over the course of an entire season, such as “Big Little Lies” or “House of Cards,” would be better for Netflix-style binge-watching.
As it turns out, those old-fashioned procedures don’t just survive, they flourish, in a new medium.
The backup libraries of network series such as “Criminal Minds” (2005-2020), “NCIS” (2003 to present), “The Blacklist” (2013 to present), and “Bones” (2005-2017) are all among the most streamed shows since 2020, according to Nielsen’s streaming ranking, which sums series by minutes watched.
In fact, “Criminal Minds” was the most watched show in streaming in 2021, beating out shows that are considered cultural phenomena such as “Squid Game”, “The Great British Baking Show” and “Bridgerton”. In 2022, ‘NCIS’ was viewed more than ‘Ozark’ and the movie ‘Encanto’.
And “Law & Order”? Last year it started again.
Part of the reason the shows are rated so highly is that there are hundreds of episodes for viewers to watch. For example, “Criminal Minds” has over 300 episodes and it seems that many viewers automatically play to the next episode over and over again. Many of the most popular shows with storylines lasting a season or more have far fewer episodes. “Squid Game” has nine.
Part of the appeal is that the procedures have a low barrier to entry. They’re straightforward, unfortunately – if viewers zoom out or scroll through their phones, they won’t miss much; nor is there a need for an online synopsis or podcast to help decipher complicated plot points.
David E. Kelley, the veteran producer of shows like “Ally McBeal” and “The Practice,” and now creator of a show for Peacock, “The Calling,” said this is a big draw.
“It’s only logical that a viewer would say, ‘I want to see something. I don’t have time to watch it for 100 hours, or even 10 hours, but I want to spend three, four hours on it. I want to feel like I’ve had a whole meal,” he said.
The race to rule streaming TV
He continued, “You feel like you’ve had the whole totality of the storytelling experience in three or four episodes, and then you can choose to go back to that restaurant or not for another meal.”
Going back to the 1950s with “Dragnet,” or the 1980s and 1990s with “Murder: She Wrote,” or the 2000s with “Law & Order: SVU,” the procedure has survived technological shifts before.
Steven Binder, an executive producer of “NCIS,” said he believed older procedural and other network-style dramas had a “universal appeal” that allowed them to thrive in streaming libraries.
“When I look at other shows in history that have been as popular as ‘NCIS,’ going back to ‘Gunsmoke’ or ‘Star Trek,’ you have characters on the show working together to solve problems,” he said. “Our show is not about the fights between the characters.”
He pointed out that Gene Roddenberry, the creator of “Star Trek,” had a concept: no conflict between the Starfleet crew.
“It was groundbreaking at the time when he said, ‘No, we don’t let our characters fight each other – they’re all a team and the conflict comes from the outside,'” he said. “That’s what our show is: it’s competent, capable people working together to solve problems. I think people always liked to see that. They are heroes.”
George Cheeks, the president of CBS since 2020, who was previously a top NBC executive, noted that “NCIS” and “Criminal Minds” did well on Netflix.
As a network manager, Mr. Cheeks, people often asked him why he didn’t follow the mid-2010s Netflix model where he could spend $10 million or more per episode on premium drama series.
“I would always politely remind them,” he said, “that these programs that you think have lost value show value, both on broadcast TV and streaming.”
The most popular shows on Paramount+, home to popular streaming series like “Survivor” and “1923,” are dominated by proceedings, with five series making the top 10 most-watched list over the past few months, according to internal data from Paramount+, which was reviewed by The New York Times.
Series like ‘NCIS’, ‘Criminal Minds’, ‘Blue Bloods’, ‘FBI’ and ‘SEAL Team’ are all in the top 10. Procedurals also perform very well on free streaming services like Pluto.
“There’s a beginning, middle and end, and you don’t need to have seen the previous episode to enjoy the current episode,” Tom Ryan, Pluto TV co-founder and the president of streaming at Paramount, told The Town. . podcast in October. “A lot of the content on Pluto that performs so well is just like that.”
It also helps that the format travels well beyond the United States. Mr Cheeks said that “CSI”, “NCIS” and “FBI” are taking a big interest in international markets “in a way that streaming originals just doesn’t.”
When Mr. Cheeks saw that “Criminal Minds” was performing well on streaming, he urged it to be rebooted for Paramount+. “Criminal Minds: Evolution” debuted in November, two years after the series was canceled on CBS. It will continue its weekly run on Paramount+ on January 12.
And while the show has been reimagined somewhat, the core of the story remains.
“When you turn on ‘Criminal Minds,’ you know we’re going to take you to the dark, we’re going to scare you – and then we’re going to save you,” says Erica Messer, an executive producer of “Criminal Minds: Evolution” who is on the original iteration worked.”A lot has changed over the 15+ years the show has been on. But that hasn’t changed.
“I think it’s comforting to know that I’m going to get really scared,” she continued, “but I’m going to solve the mystery with these heroes.”
