October 19, 2024 Update: Since writing the commentary below, I have done a few months more of additional research. The Results will be featured in a soon to be released documentary. Petition signers will receive a free invitation to the Video Documentary Premiere tentatively scheduled before November of 2024.
End of October 18, 2024 Update.
The recently canceled CBS shows NCIS Hawaii, Blue Bloods, and So Help Me Todd have one thing in common, they are all shot on Location. Another CBS cancelled show, Bob Hearts Abishola, may have been cancelled so CBS could slot in the Show's Hall of Fame Executive Producer Chuck Lorre's new show, Georgie and Mandy. Even this "trade off" is mysterious since Lorre had 2 CBS Prime Time shows come to an end, Young Sheldon and Bob Hearts Abishola, and only was awarded one new show, Georgie and Mandy. It was as if CBS realized they better throw Lorre a bone before Lorre completely leaves and takes his talents elsewhere. Truly stunning that CBS let Lorre start new shows elsewhere, wow.
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Apparently CBS may be trying to avail itself to potential suitor Sony to buy their brand by making their studio look as profitable as possible, even if means destroying the lives and careers of those who have provided services for CBS.
Suddenly the murky behavior of CBS needs to be examined to see if their actions are in violation of the law.
My speculation is CBS has turned to their own bean counters to advise CBS on how to increase the value and sales price of CBS to prospective buyer Sony; even if it means punishing CBS television shows that are NOT shot on the CBS studio lot. Even the mythically talented Executive Producer Chuck Lorre was forced to to maintain his creative empire by taking his talents elsewhere. LeBron James would be proud of Chuck for doing so, CBS fans, not so much.
Blue Bloods is shot on location in New York and one assumes is a boon to the local economy. NCIS Hawaii is shot in Hawaii, and one would think is a source of income to Hawaii, especially after the devastating fire that decimated the town of Lahaina on the island of Maui. So Help Me Todd is filmed in Vancouver and surely helped the Vancouver economy.
Because each CBS location show was cancelled, CBS will be able to show a more robust stage billing percentage versus off site production costs, which in turn makes CBS stages look more valuable to any entity interested in buying the CBS brand.
Speculation points to an absolutely tyrannical lust for maximizing the value of CBS studios to Sony so CBS can grind out a billion or billions more dollars from prospective buyer Sony!
Memo to Sony, if you reward CBS for their cancellation strategy, Fans of all the cancelled shows will also boycott Sony for rewarding CBS's anti fan agenda.
Imagine the ferocity of a multi-billion dollar juggernaut Network like CBS with the mindset of a 2 year old saying "mine, mine, mine" at every turn, then throwing and breaking the toys that bore them so nobody else can have them. But for a theory of cancelling shows produced outside of CBS studios to increase the value of CBS to a prospective buyer to possibly be true, then a series like CSI Vegas would have also been cancelled. Oh wait, CSI Vegas was also cancelled by CBS!
So a studio that thrives on viewers all over the U.S., Canada, and even internationally (Bob Hearts Abishola is popular internationally) appears to have selfishly cancelled location shows and a show that appeals to international audiences. This cancellation celebration may allow CBS to drive up the percentage usage of CBS studio billable time versus the total operating budget for each episode, which in turn should increase the overall value of the CBS Stages and CBS brand so CBS can squeeze extra money out of a sale to Sony.
If the above cancellation of location agenda is true, it sounds like it would take a season's worth of So Help Me Todd episodes to expose this demonic, self indulgent, real life madness.
But what if it is even worse than a motive to both create a higher CBS brand sales cost while also messing with the lives and futures of multiple brilliant creatives and their teams of talented casts and crew?
If you think the above scenario is not possible, studio executive knuckleheads either approved or have remained quiet as to who ordered the cutting down of shade trees during the Writers Strike to help bake the brains of the most creative minds on the planet, the ones that produce the shows that gives CBS their studio value! Or maybe it was a competitor of CBS that ordered the cutting down of the shade trees specifically because CBS was so far ahead in scripted program ratings??? (make that 2 seasons worth of new of So Help Me Todd episodes to expose this escalating madness).
What if the California Politicians responsible for the rapidly expanding California Budget Deficit want CBS studios to drop their outside out of State location production so more studio jobs will be added locally? What if California wants the CBS sales price to go as high as possible since it will mean a substantial raise in property tax revenue and all the other associated tax revenue by creating more California based shows using local talent?
On a sad but potentially related issue, the quid pro quo between California governance and the White House is so incestuous you would cringe if you knew the details.
Additionally 24 billion for homeless projects have gone unaccounted. The Political Motivation to encourage CBS to cut their "out of California location productions" and focus on California based production suddenly seems like a fiscal quid pro quo for both CBS and California. CBS first cuts all outside of California Entertainment Production, this results in an increase in California jobs and local production at CBS Studios, which helps jack up the sales price of the CBS Brand to prospective suitor Sony, which helps California increase its tax revenue base in a myriad of ways, which helps reimburse the 55 billion dollar in fraudulent unemployment reimbursements to the Federal Government faster, or, help battle the rapidly rising California Budget deficit crisis.
One way California and the White House can prove there has been no quid pro quo between California and the White House is to swarm CBS with real FBI agents and honestly investigate if CBS traded the livelihood of those who worked on these cancelled shows so CBS Executives and Equity Stake holders could pocket extra money at the expense of Creatives and the legacy programming CBS obliterated.
Calling Margaret's law firm, Beverly Crest, where are you when we need you and Todd to investigate? Doesn't it seem like So Help Me Todd is truth, and we in the "real world" are trapped inside a cauldron of fraudulent reality that is more dishonest than the make believe world of Todd? Maybe Todd is real, and we are make believe?
Update: May 19, 2024 6:06pm.
What exactly did CBS do that would warrant an investigation? I would suggest posing as a studio that accepts Television series that shoot on location, and then using this exact same reason to cancel the same series would be a change in terms violation and breach of contract.
The further issue that could be argued is CBS hoarded scripted, highly rated location shows so other Networks could not have them, thus becoming a scripted series ratings monopoly; then offering no relocation payment remedy as they cancelled their location shows.
Since location shows have been disrupted, there could also be a Hobbs Act violation, which is disruption of interstate commerce.
There could also be some type of allegation of private enrichment through the use of public airwaves since the goal is to personally profit by canceling the very shows that created value through the public airwaves. Paramount Plus could possibly tell anyone to get lost for no reason at all since they are subscription based, but the bar would have to be higher for a publicly owned / Government controlled transmission signal that is used by CBS to increase its resale value.
Lack of monetary remedy to the cancelled TV shows should be asked for based on the alleged violations listed above.
1 comment:
Wow! This article takes my breath away. No wonder our efforts have fallen on deaf ears. “Follow the money!” , a line from “All the President’s Men” has become a way of life, hasn’t it? Fans have begun to understa that pleas, petitions, etc to cbs is useless, and we need to start making our voices heard, really heard, with other networks. Alessandro, this article is worthy of a Pulitzer Prize.
Thank you. I’ve been saying that something is afoot with cbs. It’s nice to know, even tho I wish I were wrong, that my gut didn’t let me down.
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