It’s beginning to look like the Walking Dead over there again, but this time not in a good way. AMC is “restructuring.” Apparently that’s the term for slashing a large number of projects.
Peak TV appears to be coming to an end as AMC adds to the pile of cancelled shows. Some of them were fully paid for and produced before being cancelled, never to see the light of day.
Forget the content itself, 2022 was the year that the entertainment businesses itself was where the real drama was happening. Reimagine Tomorrow shocked traditional families, Bob Chapek was publicly shammed, bent the knee, was given fully support by his board of directors, betrayed by his CFO and then ousted in the middle of an Elton John concert, replaced by his disloyal predecessor. And that’s just Disney!
Warner Bros Discovery somehow managed to make tax write downs and restructurings into front page news for the trades like Variety, Deadline, and the Hollywood Reporter. Entire cinematic universes died, were brought back to life, and then issued a summary execution, all while we continue to watch with bated breath.
You could be forgiven if you missed a big one.
In early December, AMC Network announced restructurings, layoffs, and an executive shakeup. The CEO of AMC, Christina Spade stepped down from the company, with Chairman James Dolan informing their employees in a memo described as “dire” by Deadline. In light of the continuing trend of cord-cutting, AMC is laying off 20% of its workforce, including executives in charge of WE tv and the non-fiction segments of AMC channel and SundanceTV.
AMC Network includes nine separate channels including AMC, AMC Premiere, WE tv, BBC America, BBC World News, SundanceTV, IFC, el gourmet, and Mas Chic. It also includes the fledgling AMC+ streaming service.
AMC is known for its premium scripted television content, rising in popularity through shows like Mad Men, Breaking Bad, Better Call Saul, and The Walking Dead. BBC America is also the North America linear home of Doctor Who. While original Walking Dead TV adaptation has ended, the Walking Dead franchise overall is continuing (possibly forever) with multiple spin-off series. AMC has had fewer break-out hits since Mad Men and Breaking Bad ended in their series finales. Better Call Saul ended in April of 2022. In addition, AMC has existing deals with Netflix for their most popular content and Disney+ for Doctor Who, meaning that subscribers do not need a full cable subscription to watch AMC’s flagship content.
In addition AMC is one of the first cable networks to offer their own standalone streaming service with AMC+. Subscriptions are currently around $90 a year, although due to the previously mentioned contracts AMC+ does not consistently carry their most marketable content.
The cuts at AMC have been dramatic, but not uncommon in light of recent actions by Warner Bros Discovery. AMC series Moonhaven, 61st Street, and Invitation to a Bonfire were all cancelled after one season and the content is now considered a loss for tax purposes. On January 6, AMC announced that Demascus, a show featuring Martin Lawrence that had already finished production has also been cancelled. While AMC Studios is allowing the production team to shop the show around to other networks, it does not bode well that a network starved for content would rather just call the show a loss than air it on their networks.
https://twitter.com/BrianGade71/status/1612482448213811200
This morning Deadline announced that animated show Pantheon was also being axed before a second season could begin production. Both Demascus and Pantheon explored issues of identity, technology in the digital age, and personhood.
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