TV Talk: Potential Hollywood strikes loom; ‘Perry Mason’ returns; KDKA-TV renovates

TV viewers, brace yourselves: There’s a perfect storm brewing that may disrupt TV and film production – and by extension, what turns up on living room TVs — as early as May 1. That’s the date the current contract between Hollywood producers and the Writers Guild of America expires.

And then the Directors Guild of America’s contract expires June 30, the same day a pact with actors’ SAG-AFTRA is up. But let’s stick with the WGA since it’s up first and likely the most contentious.

What would a strike mean for viewers? It would be a rerun of the three-month, 2007-08 writers’ strike, which resulted in shortened seasons for scripted series and more reality TV programming.

For viewer impact, the timing of this potential strike is arguably better. A three-month strike this year would simply delay the start of scripted programming in the fall on broadcast networks, not result in shows ending their seasons early as happened in 2008. And networks have been stockpiling a few programs, including NBC’s missing persons drama “Found,” which was originally supposed to debut Feb. 19 but got bumped to fall likely as both a strike contingency and to avoid comparisons with the similarly-themed Fox newcomer “Alert: Missing Persons Unit.”

A strike would likely result in more reality TV on broadcast this fall and diminished output from streaming services as they try to stretch out the premiere dates of shows that have already completed filming (though the larger impact there probably wouldn’t be felt until 2024). It’s worth noting that with or without a strike, streaming services are readjusting their output volume in an effort to turn a profit which only Netflix has managed to do so far. In that respect, a strike wouldn’t be all bad for Hollywood media companies, which could eek out some short-term cost savings.

Both the WGA and producers having good reason to dig in their heels.

For the writers, likely goals in negotiations will include increased minimum payments for scripts; increased residuals for streaming; and ddressing the use of “mini rooms” in which fewer TV writers are hired for shorter periods of time.

It used to be that TV writers earned compensation when their work was rerun. But now with so many fewer reruns on linear TV – and fewer opportunities to work with shorter seasons of shows, sometimes as few as six episodes per season as opposed to the traditional 22 episodes – some TV writers, especially those just starting out, are finding it difficult to earn a living.

For the studios, the timing for these asks couldn’t be worse.

Media companies are spending (and losing) millions. Warner Bros. Discovery, parent of streaming services HBO Max and discovery+, posted a $217 million loss on streaming in the fourth quarter of 2022 and that was an improvement on the $728 million loss a year earlier.

The WGA will begin negotiations for a new contract with The Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers on March 20.

‘Perry Mason’

Almost three years ago HBO’s “Perry Mason” reboot debuted to strong ratings – the best in two years for a new series at the time, though eclipsed significantly in the years since by “House of the Dragon” and “The Last of Us” – and now it’s finally back.

In the show, only six months have passed since the events of season one and Perry (Matthew Rhys, “The Americans”) is once again in a bad place, mourning the suicide of his season one client, Emily Dodson (Gayle Rankin).

It took all of season one, which served as a prologue, to get private investigator Mason to a spot familiar to fans of the Raymond Burr-starring 1957-66 TV series (and 1980s TV movies) with Mason as a criminal defense attorney in business with legal secretary Della Street (Juliet Rylance) and investigator Paul Drake (Chris Chalk).

If season one took two steps forward, season two begins by taking one step back with Mason resolved only to try civil cases, but the show does allow for a “Perry Mason moment” in the premiere, an improvement on season one, which made viewers wait many more episodes for that to happen.

The good news is by episode three “Perry Mason” is back in criminal defense attorney mode, this time taking up a season-long case defending two young Mexicans accused of murdering the son of a prominent (and vicious) Los Angeles businessman.

The eight-episode second season, debuting on HBO and HBO Max at 9 p.m. Monday, gives greater emphasis to Della’s character, who embarks on a new affair. At times Della appears to be a more polished legal eagle than Mason.

The season two plot, courtesy of new showrunners Jack Amiel and Michael Begler (“The Knick”), is less convoluted but still occasionally overly languid. “Perry Mason” remains at its best when the focus is on the series regulars and their relationships, particularly the shared, closeted, queer bond between Della and district attorney Hamilton Burger (Justin Kirk).

KDKA newsroom update

KDKA-TV debuted “KDKA 2.0,” a half-hour special on its renovated newsroom Monday on streaming channel CBS News Pittsburgh and though the visiting-from-New York CBS executives’ platitudes were eyeroll-inducing, the stroll through the KDKA archives of old promos (“Your Home,” “Hometown Advantage,” “KD and You,” “Here’s 2!”) and anchor Ken Rice’s history of the station – all the way back to the WDTV days – had appeal for die-hard local TV junkies eager to revisit clips of Bill Burns.

Rice also reunited retired KDKA employees Harold Hayes, Stacy Smith, Mary Robb Jackson, Paul Martino, Lynn Sawyer, Jackie Johnson Pendleton, Michael Chalik and Jon Burnett for a trip down memory lane.

They reveal the nickname for a row of veteran reporters in the newsroom – I’m guessing circa the early 2000s – as “Jurassic Park.” And they recall how Stacy Smith, Jon Burnett and others sometimes threw a football around the newsroom.

Martino recalled the time Burnett and Bob Pompeani were playing catch and “buzzed [the head of] Brenda Waters. That did not go over well.”

The retirees toured the renovated newsroom, which will be seen during newscasts as a breaking news hub. Hayes remarked that the new, more open newsroom design means “you can’t hide from the assignment editor anymore.”

The program repeats on CBS News Pittsburgh streaming channel — cbsnews.com/pittsburgh — at 8 p.m. Friday and Saturday and 11 a.m. Sunday. A linear airing on KDKA-TV has not yet been scheduled.

WQED debuts pandemic doc

WQED-TV will premiere the new documentary “A Matter of Trust: Reflections on a Pandemic” at 8 p.m. March 8.

The film, produced by Iris Samson, explores the impact and lessons learned regarding covid-19, Western Pennsylvania’s response to the pandemic, the people it affected and the health care disparities the pandemic exposed.

Kept/canceled/spun off

ABC’s “The Goldbergs” will conclude at the end of its current 10th season.

HBO’s “Succession” will end with its upcoming fourth season, premiering at 9 p.m. March 26.

AMC quietly unrenewed (re: canceled) 2020 series “Soulmates” last year.

HBO Max ordered “Welcome to Derry,” a prequel to “It,” blessed by Stephen King and developed for TV by the makers of the 2017 and 2019 movie versions of “It.”

Channel surfing

Pittsburgh native Zachary Quinto will star in NBC’s medical drama pilot, “Wolf,” inspired by the books “The Man Who Mistook His Wife for a Hat” and “An Anthropologist on Mars” by Oliver Sacks. Quinto will play neurologist Dr. Oliver Wolf, an obsessive genius at Bronx General Hospital. … Michael Hayes, who was general manager of Pittsburgh’s WTAE-TV from 2011-17 and is currently chief operating officer of parent company Hearst Television, will become president of Hearst Television effective May 1. … CNBC finally has its Shepard Smith replacement show ready: “Last Call,” examining the intersection of markets, culture and policy, debuts at 7 p.m. March 8, anchored by Brian Sullivan. … Actor Damien Lewis will reprise his role as Bobby “Axe” Axelrod in six of the 12 episodes of Showtime’s seventh season of “Billions.” … Cable’s Reelz Channel is now available as part of a Peacock Premium and Premium Plus subscription along with on demand access to “On Patroil: Live” episodes.