TCA Press Tour: Canaries in the Coal Mine, with Note Pads?... And an Update!

Since I'm not joining the Television Critics Association press tour until Monday, I've been relying on phone calls, press accounts and dispatches from TV WORTH WATCHING's own Diane Werts to learn about the Big Buzz this year. And so far, by all accounts, the Big Buzz appears to be generating around... wait for it... the TCA Press Tour itself...

Traditionally, press tour is a semiannual event -- three weeks in summer, two in winter -- at which more than 200 TV critics from the U.S. and Canada converge in Los Angeles to witness and interrogate an endless parade of stars, producers, writers and network executives, all of whom try to promote their new projects while confronting the realities of their previous ones.

Stars and reputations can be made almost instantly on press tour, if the talent or program is impressive enough. Ken Burns brought an early taste of The Civil War to press tour, and presto: He became "Ken Burns."

And in front of a roomful of critics who had never heard of him, Robin Williams performed such a manic stand-up while promoting a silly new sitcom called Mork and Mindy that everyone ran from the room shouting, and writing, about this amazing new comedian. And so on, through the years and decades, from Hill Street Blues to Lost.

But as the July 2008 tour begins -- on the heels of the January 2008 tour being cancelled because of the writers' strike -- dispatches from those front lines have been unusually, and justifiably, self-absorbed. Like bees and bats, or canaries in a coal mine, TV critics seem to be falling victim to some unseen but serious malady. Laid off, downsized, fired, transferred, redefined, devalued. It's happening to enough of us, in such rapid succession, that it's becoming news.

Take for example, two very recent dispatches from Canadian TV critics, both of whom are recent or current members of the TCA board. Bill Brioux, an excellent writer, explains it all here -- and even uses me as Exhibit A. Or, at least, Exhibit C or D. (he also provides the photo seen here, which shows three former tenured TCA print critics: Ed Bark, Dusty Saunders and, sigh, myself.)

Then there's Rob Salem of The Star, who likens the press tour's current shakiness to that of TV in general, and makes a sadly persuasive case. Read his story here.

These guys aren't the only ones looking up at the sky and wondering whether it's falling. Another Canadian writer, Andrew Ryan of The Globe and Mail, writes this. Closer to home -- right, in fact, in Hollywood's back (and front) yard, Ray Richmond of The Hollywood Reporter wrote an advance story on the press tour, and quoted me, among others, in doing so. Read any of these stories, and you'll get a sense of the smell of change (or is it fear?) in the wind.

UPDATE: Aaron Barnhart, one of the original TV critics on the web and a TCA board member also, shot me his recent column and poked gentle fun at me for overlooking it. Point taken -- it's a really good take on the subject, and here it is, worth reading in all its detail and glory.

And, of course, there's the latest from our own Diane Werts, soldiering on, as are all the TCA attendees, to find and report actual news and nuggets about what's happening, and about to happen, in the world of television.

But that world, and the world of TV critics, may be changing as I write this. And out on press tour, there are enough good reporters to take note -- and to take notes -- as the world around them trembles a little.