NEW YORK (AP) 鈥� The idea for a came to Craig Sweeny as he was driving. The producer and screenwriter, thinking about how to put his own stamp on a medical series, had to pull over when a familiar figure popped into his mind:
Why not combine a hospital procedural with the lore of Britain's greatest detective? It would have a medical mystery every week and also tell stories of Holmes' good friend, Dr. John Watson. It was a mashup of two popular draws, the TV equivalent of peanut butter and jelly.
鈥淭hey鈥檙e sort of each their own show-worthy premise in a way. And we鈥檙e blessed to have both. So they compete for space in a really interesting way,鈥� says Sweeny.
So was born 鈥淲atson,鈥� a CBS series starring as the titular character who leads a team of medical detectives set in a present-day Pittsburgh populated with Arthur Conan Doyle鈥檚 characters.
鈥淚t鈥檚 one of those blessed moments,鈥� says Sweeny, who was well-versed with the world of Holmes after executive producing and writing for a contemporary update.
鈥淲atson鈥� is not alone among the networks jazzing up the tried-and-true procedural. While the traditional form remains the bedrock of modern TV 鈥� think the prime-time blocks of 鈥淔BI鈥� and 鈥淐hicago Med鈥� 鈥� new twists are emerging.
New TV recipes are heavy on the quirk
ABC鈥檚 鈥淒octor Odyssey鈥� is a medical procedural aboard a luxury cruise ship and NBC鈥檚 鈥淭he Hunting Party鈥� mashes up 鈥淭he Blacklist鈥� and 鈥淐riminal Minds.鈥� CBS has playing an underestimated, retirement-age lawyer 鈥� with the twist that she鈥檚 really a hard-charging mom out for vengeance.
鈥淭here鈥檚 something really pleasurable about the self-contained, 43-minute procedural that gives you a beginning, middle and end, a little bit of a mystery and the fun of watching something get figured out,鈥� says a playwright, TV writer and showrunner. 鈥淚 think that the audience is so familiar with it that it does reward you if you come up with a sort of fun twist on it.鈥�
Tolins' own current take on the procedural is which takes the quirky character Elsbeth Tascioni from 鈥淭he Good Wife鈥� and plops her down in a 鈥淐olumbo鈥�-style police procedural.
Elsbeth, played by is a sleuth in bright colors and a bucket hat, blunt and unpredictable, playing off the guest star of the week. Tolins says the writers and camera crew try not to make her feel like the show's lead, even though she's the very title.
鈥淚 said early on that I think the show works best when it feels like a CBS police procedural with Elsbeth thrown into it,鈥� he says. 鈥淲e talked about always keeping her sort of out of the center of the frame in wide shots.鈥�
Another elevated procedural with a quirky lead character is ABC鈥檚 鈥淗igh Potential,鈥� a police show starring a genius 鈥� but this time, she鈥檚 a single mom of three who has an IQ of 160 and is played by
鈥淪he鈥檚 a bit of a unicorn,鈥� says Todd Harthan, executive producer and showrunner. 鈥淵ou throw a unicorn into the bullpen with a bunch of detectives and they go, 鈥榃hat are we supposed to do with this colorful creature with the horn coming out of her head?鈥欌��
Streaming's menus push traditional TV forward
Supercharging procedurals comes as subscribers a highly curated selection of unconventional, relatively short series with
鈥淚 think that, inevitably, the innovations that streaming is doing bleed into what happens in network TV and challenge what we鈥檙e doing to compete for eyeballs in a healthy way,鈥� says Sweeny.
Procedurals are often referred to as the comfort food of TV, offering a predictable, solvable hour with a familiar cast. So strong is our attachment to the form that streaming services have also been stretching their form with shows like the also 鈥淐olumbo鈥�-like on Peacock and Max's 鈥淭he Pitt,鈥� which takes a medical show like 鈥淓R鈥� and breaks it down into different hours of a hospital shift, like 鈥�24.鈥�
Harthan believes the gap between the streaming and network may be closing as networks offer writers a bit of a longer leash to try different things and at the broad audiences that networks pull.
鈥淵ou鈥檙e always sort of learning and trying to glean certain things from different shows that are very different than the one you鈥檙e working on day-to-day,鈥� Harthan says. 鈥淚t鈥檚 just part of the growth of doing what we do for a living.鈥�
Showrunners caution that mixing different elements into a show to raise the level can't be done willy-nilly. The creator of 鈥淲atson鈥� notes that its hero was already a doctor in the world of Sherlock Holmes, so making him head of a clinic makes sense.
鈥淚t is an exotic combo, but it鈥檚 also very organic,鈥� says Sweeny. 鈥淢echanically you don鈥檛 have to force anything into place. Everything鈥檚 already there.鈥�
Network TV orders up a 鈥榞ourmet cheeseburger,鈥� well done
A few years ago, the term 鈥済ourmet cheeseburger鈥� was given to streaming shows that were both premium and commercial 鈥� take 鈥� and network TV may be going through their own gourmet cheeseburger phase.
鈥淭he more the two converge, the better,鈥� says Robert King. He and his wife, Michelle King, are the prolific creators of shows on networks (鈥淭he Good Wife,鈥� 鈥淓vil鈥� and 鈥淓lsbeth鈥�) and streaming (鈥淗appy Face鈥�).
鈥淲e love working in both and we don鈥檛 start with, 鈥極h, we must do a network show,鈥� or, 鈥榃e must do a streaming show.鈥� It's very much, 鈥楾his idea we have fits more comfortably either in network or in streaming,鈥欌�� says Michelle King.
Robert King considers one of the greatest TV hybrids which mixed a comic premise with violence and put it into a serialized format. It was a hit for HBO but was originally pitched to a network, Fox.
鈥淚 do think the hybrid goes back to 鈥楾he Sopranos,鈥� at least and I鈥檓 sure beyond that,鈥� he says.
Tolins, who leads the 鈥淓lsbeth鈥� writing room, recently got some nice feedback about his elevated procedural skills. CBS did a focus group about the new season's premiere episode, which starred 鈥� spoilers 鈥� Nathan Lane as the killer of an obnoxious operagoer.
鈥淥ne of the women who saw it afterwards kept saying, 鈥楾his is network? I鈥檓 going to have to watch more network television,鈥� which of course was very, very satisfying for all of us listening,鈥� Tolins says.
Mark Kennedy, The Associated Press
