The TCA: If it's summertime, this must be Beverly Hills

TCA -- As you all know from reading the indispensable Hollywood Reporter blog The Live Feed penned by James Hibberd -- who has inherited the crown once worn by James Brown as the hardest working man in show business -- the Television Critics Association's twice-yearly press tour has been going down since Tuesday at the Beverly Hilton Hotel. And when I say "going down," I honestly don't mean that literally despite my Monday column in which I posed some serious questions about the event's future -- earning me the enmity of many of the regular attendees. It would have earned more save for the fact that the ranks of newspaper TV critics nationally are dwindling so rapidly and alarmingly.

But what's been interesting, and even heartening, to see so far this tour from the gathered journalists and bloggers (whom I also consider journalists) is a certain defiance in their belief that TCA shall not fade away. And the truth is that if those who are involved care enough to make certain this thing doesn't die, it won't. As others already have pointed out, however, it will need to change in some fashion. The broadcast networks in particular -- at least, ABC, NBC and CBS -- seem almost to treat the confab as a necessary evil whose actual necessity they're taking increasingly to question.

I spoke on Thursday with one executive -- from a cable network that shall remain nameless -- who told me she believed that no matter what, cable, PBS and Fox (and possibly the CW) have no intention of allowing the critics' gathering to implode.

"We have a lot riding on our generating publicity and buzz out of this," she assured. "Even if press tour evolves into a different form, we'll want to be involved. And I think I can speak for my colleagues throughout cable that they're in agreement. So is Fox, which seems to see the value in it more so than the other broadcasters."

When the exec uttered the phrase "evolves into a different form," the presumption is one of a few things:

1. A weekend-long multi-network free-for-all, which no one really wants but may become a cost-effective way of getting it done.

2. A days-long webcast that can be covered from the comfort of one's home office or the corner Starbucks.

3. A no-frills extravaganza that removes the swag, the feedings and the cocktail parties and cuts the time commitment, say, in half.

All options remain on the table. But what would have the effect of a stake through the heart is any move by the broadcasters to remove sessions with their executives from the schedule. Then, it would devolve into less an information-gathering opportunity than a marketing tool.

What is also more evident than ever during this TCA is the persistent encroachment of blogs and the Internet. It can't merely be pigeonholed as "The Future" anymore; it's here and it's now, baby. Equally obvious is the slow, painful downward spiral of the print media, already challenged as never before with flagging interest and declining advertising. Ink itself is beginning to resemble the tar in tarpits more with each passing day. This isn't pessimism or paranoia but simple fact. It really gets back to a simple rule of commerce: people are reluctant to pay for what they can get for free, or near-free.

The day probably isn't all that far off when a printed publication will represent a mere elite adjunct to a periodical's cyberspace presence. That reality is creeping up on us whether we want to hear it or not. Hopefully, the press tour will go with the evolution and thrive into the future. But right now, the survival challenge is there and it's undeniable. For all of us. Those who choose to embrace rather than fight it will be the ones who get to live.