Networks rely on reboots, franchises amid streaming's rise

Everything old is new again on network television, and without apology

Everything old is new again on network television, and without apology. As the TV industry rushes into the future with streaming services, traditional broadcasters unveiled 2021-22 schedules that rely heavily on familiar series brands and reboots of decades-old shows. There’s even a two-fer based on “CSI: Crime Scene Investigation,” the Las Vegas-set forensics drama that dazzled viewers when it arrived in 2000. Get ready for “CSI: Vegas,” a CBS remake complete with original stars William Petersen and Jorja Fox and, in a sign of diversity progress, Black actor Paula Newsome as the lead investigator. The annual network tradition of wooing potential ad buyers with lavish New York City presentations of upcoming shows and their stars was reduced by COVID to a virtual presentation for the second year.