• by Wayne Friedman , Staff Writer, 3 hours ago

Scripted TV shows seem to be getting some bigger press and marketing spin on streaming platforms, in comparison to scripted shows on linear TV networks.

We can talk about Netflix’s “Stranger Things” or “Squid Game” in recent years. Perhaps one should mention "Landman" from Paramount.

HBO Max may talk up “The Pitt” or “House of the Dragon.” 

More recently, Apple TV’s “Ted Lasso” has returned for its fourth season, which started up recently.

Nielsen reports that over a two-day release period -- August 4 and 5 -- it amassed 296.6 million minutes. That made “Lasso” the strongest two-day premiere period of viewing ever for any streaming TV show on Apple TV (which started up as Apple TV+ in 2019).

This shift in attention is noticeable because it speaks to the future and where all TV series are going for consumers.

All this comes as live sports continues to gain a bigger foothold -- and squeeze out traditional primetime programming on linear broadcast TV networks. NFL games have been going in that direction for some time, including in recent years with more  “Monday Night Football” action shifting back to ABC (its longtime original home) from ESPN.

Looking forward to the new 2026-27 TV season which will start up in around the third week in September, the NBA is now adding more fuel to that shift with traditional entertainment programming  -- especially first-run scripted programming -- losing ground.

NBC and ABC will add 11 new live games to their NBA regular season of games -- now totaling 90, up from 79 a year ago. That means an additional 270 more hours on broadcast TV,  according to The Hollywood Reporter.

The radical shift in broadcast prime-time has been slowly changing over the past two decades, beginning in 2000 when the first big and high-rated "unscripted"-reality TV show -- “Survivor” -- started up in the summer of 2000.

Reality shows from “The Voice” and “American Idol” and many others are now staples in broadcast prime-time.

This doesn’t mean high-rated, scripted TV shows will disappear, such as CBS’s “Tracker,” new editions/shows of “NCIS,” or perhaps a new NBC variation on its “Chicago Med," “Chicago Fire” and “Chicago P.D.” franchises.

Broadcast TV is still a useful tool for prime-time brands as well as a promotional arm to alert viewers to alternatively watch episodes on their own streaming platforms -- typically the next day.

Major League Baseball has grown as well, with more prime-time games on NBC’s “Sunday Night Baseball,” moving over from ESPN. Now broadcast networks -- Fox, NBC and ABC -- collectively air nearly 50 games.

At the same time, we may anticipate that more sports are coming -- perhaps from niches we have not seen previously.

Prime-time pickleball, anyone?