• by Wayne Friedman , Staff Writer, 5 hours ago

Pilot season seems to be making a slow return to what will hopefully be clearer skies for network TV. For longtime executive producers, more flights may be coming.

But don't expect this to be some sort of return to the full-scale, old-school business model: testing TV shows in the spring with the hope that those efforts would start up in earnest at the beginning of the TV season in September.

Major broadcast networks and streamers are just looking at a handful of shows -- less than around 10 overall currently, according to reports.

In the old days before streaming and before the COVID-19 pandemic, broadcast networks' TV pilot season saw dozens of shows for each network with full completed episodes -- as many as 50 or so.

Those pilots were analyzed, sent to critics, run by advertising and media agency executives, and generally scrutinized. Then network executives would make decisions.

Then COVID hit, and two industry strikes -- both writers and actors -- came calling.

On top of lower linear TV ratings, this meant searching for harder-to-come by, year-round scheduling opportunities -- not just in the fall.

All the while, Netflix -- which almost always rebuffed the use of pilots -- was becoming more powerful. Executives say Netflix's main approach has been to go with a strong concept -- an idea -- and then figure out how to make it work.

In a somewhat more cautious approach, NBC seems to be also going with proven show themes that continue to work well, such as crime procedural dramas.

Six of its drama pilots include a reboot of “The Rockford Files” -- another show about criminal investigator, “What the Dead Know” -- and "Puzzled," from Dick Wolf's Wolf Entertainment, about a star athlete who suffers a brain injury that makes him a whiz at solving crimes.

ABC has a spinoff of “The Rookie” and a comedy from Rachel Bloom. CBS has two comedies -- “Eternally Yours” from the “Ghosts” producers and one called “Regency.”

Even Netflix has picked up one pilot -- a sequel of “A Different World.”

Cutting back on pilots also moves to more conservative financial cost formulas -- especially now that linear TV revenues continue to trend down.

The goal is the same. While most will never even get off the ground, some will take flight -- and land in increasingly tougher-to-come by prime-time locations.