Turn on the television on any given night and chances are at least one procedural drama will be airing on a major broadcast network. Procedurals are the typically hour-long dramas that focus on a new mystery each week. These puzzles are usually resolved by the end of the episode. Think "CSI," "Law & Order," "House" — the shows that are, now more than ever, ubiquitous on the television landscape.
What's a procedural?
Several television genres have been staples over the years: game shows, sitcoms, soap operas, dramas and more recently, reality shows. For almost as long as there have been dramas, procedurals have existed as a sub-genre. "Dragnet," which premiered on television in 1951, is widely considered to be the first police procedural, establishing the tone and many of the tropes that subsequent procedurals would use for years to come.
Several other police procedurals aired over the next decades, with programs such as "Hill Street Blues" and "Miami Vice" finding great success. It wasn't until 1990, however, that the procedural craze as we know it took off with the launch of Dick Wolf's "Law and Order" on NBC. The series is currently in its 20th season, making it one of the longest-running scripted programs on television, and has spawned several spin-offs to become a procedural franchise.
The popularity of such programs paved the way for more recent hits, like the various versions of "CSI" and "NCIS." The genre has even opened up to non-crime focused mysteries, like medical procedural "House" and legal dramas "Boston Legal" and "The Good Wife."
Procedurals typically focus more on the case or mystery than on the characters, although some shows strike a balance between puzzles and character-driven drama. Even using only the clear-cut procedural definition, the major networks currently air 18 shows in this genre during Sunday through Friday primetime — almost a quarter of the available programming time each week.
The space occupied by procedurals will not likely decrease any time soon. "NCIS" is currently the number one show on television in terms of overall number of viewers. Its spin-off "NCIS: LA" is number five and fellow CBS procedurals "CSI," "The Mentalist" and "Criminal Minds" are all in the top 10. With viewership this high, the networks will likely be looking for more of the same in coming seasons.
Why so popular?
Procedurals are popular in the television industry and among audiences, but this popularity results from two very different reasons. For the television industry the reasoning is simple: Procedurals make money. Television networks and studios are driven by profits, so when a program attracts a large audience, the networks are able to charge advertisers higher prices to run their commercials during that time period.
Procedurals also repeat well and can be easily sold into syndication. Although "Castle" creator Andrew Marlowe told the LA Times earlier this year that "first-run and international is becoming more important" for television shows, syndication value is still a big factor, especially when networks like USA and SpikeTV air almost constant repeats of the most popular procedurals.
Sarah Sobieraj, an assistant professor of sociology at Tufts University, explained that, "Hollywood in general, and TV in particular, is reluctant to innovate." They build on successful shows of the past. Since procedurals have proven to be financially worthwhile, they keep being churned out. "Particularly right now with reality [programming] continuing to succeed, for scripted programs to compete it makes more sense for business to go with what works," Sobieraj said.
What works means not only more procedurals, but more of the same exact ones. This reluctance to innovate is why there are three versions of "CSI," two versions of "NCIS," even more versions of "Law and Order" and rumors of spin-offs in development for "Criminal Minds" and even "House."
From an audience's perspective, the reasons that procedurals work are quite different. Audiences don't care about what makes money, they care that shows are enjoyable and, in the case of procedurals, comforting. Professor Aurora Wallace, the director of undergraduate studies in the Department of Media, Culture and Communication at New York University, wrote in an e-mail to the Daily, "The formulaic nature of the shows can be very reassuring for viewers; the sameness is comfortable. Their simplicity makes them very easy to follow, and the tension between anxiety and reassurance is worked out in favor of the latter every time."
Focusing specifically on crime procedurals, Wallace went on to say that these shows are soothing because "justice is uncomplicated, the delineation between good guys and bad guys is very clear … so viewer appreciation might come from the fact that although we do not live in this world, we wish that we did." Even though the shows present an utterly unrealistic process of dealing with crime, viewers appreciate that every case is neatly wrapped up in an hour and that "as troubling as our immediate world might be, problems are being dealt with by extremely competent professionals … and incredibly good-looking scientists and investigators," Wallace wrote.
Wallace also explained the explosion of procedurals over the past decade. "It is meaningful that these genres proliferate in the post-9/11 televisual landscape. The previous failures of intelligence are being symbolically corrected through the fantasy of perfect technology," she wrote. Not only are procedurals showing us an ideal world of justice, but they are doing so because of mistakes made in real life.
Tufts students have slightly different explanations for why procedurals are so popular. Junior Molly Newman said that procedurals are "a lot easier to get into, just because every episode stands alone, and you don't have to watch every episode to enjoy it." Although she does follow "House" and "Law and Order: SVU," she explained that she doesn't watch them religiously. Her enjoyment comes not from a serialized plot and rich characters, but from the story of the case in each episode.
The appeal to Lucas Schlager, also a junior, has more to do with the fact that procedurals require little active viewing. "I'll put on an episode and not really have to watch it," he said, explaining that he "always functions better with background noise."
Sobieraj echoed these statements, saying "procedural shows are drop-in shows, [so you] don't have to watch each week." Millions of people apparently do watch them weekly, but missing an episode does not put one at a disadvantage.
Why aren't they perfect?
Procedurals are clearly popular with audiences and networks, but they don't fit the network ideal quite as perfectly as they may seem to. Though many procedurals rank high in overall viewer numbers, what advertisers really care about are demographic ratings (demos), particularly in adults aged 18-49. When considering the demos, "House" still ranks near the top, but the other powerhouses are pushed out of the top 10. Procedurals' audiences skew older, which accounts for these irregularities, but it also means that advertisers aren't as keen on the demographic.
A recent story in the online journal Advertising Age published the average rates advertisers are charged for a 30-second commercial during each primetime show. The top ad prices went mostly to comedies or character-dramas, with only "CSI" breaking the top 10 most expensive. Successful procedurals can still command high prices, but with older audiences, no matter how large, the prices just won't be as high as others.
Not all procedurals work, and some shows that try to tweak the tropes don't flourish. Last season's quirky "The Unusuals" on ABC was canceled, and it looks like this year's "The Forgotten" may end up on the same ship. NBC recently took a lot of heat for its cancellation of "Southland," the gritty LA-based procedural that was critically acclaimed but lacked viewers and ratings. And shows that toe the line between procedural and serial, like "Dollhouse" and "Fringe," have drawn the most criticism for stand-alone episodes that draw focus away from their compelling mythology.
Maybe procedurals are so popular because they offer escapism or clear-cut messages of good versus evil, or maybe they're just something good to have in the background. The bottom line is that people keep watching, and so the shows keep coming. Audiences equal money, and as long as there's money, that's good enough — just ask NBC and Jay Leno.
