According to Deadline, citing ongoing contraction within Hollywood, the Television Critics Association (TCA) has announced the cancellation of its Winter Press Tour.
As per Deadline, in a letter sent to members, TCA President Jacqueline Cutler explained the decision, writing, “As you know, Hollywood is in a deep contraction. While several streamers, networks, and studios committed, it wasn’t enough for a full press tour. We wanted to be respectful of our members’ need to plan, so as a board, we set an early November deadline to make this call.”
Cutler also underscored the positive feedback from previous tours, stating, “I want to stress something that members who attended last February and July already know – those were great tours. Executives I’ve spoken with have been exceptionally positive about those events, and importantly, all of them expressed a strong desire to participate in the Summer 2025 tour. We’re already working toward that.”
This isn’t the first time the Television Critics Association (TCA) has canceled its biannual press tour, an event that has encountered several setbacks in recent years. The COVID-19 pandemic led to the cancellation of TCA’s in-person tours five times: in the summer of 2020, as well as both the summer and winter tours of 2021 and 2022. During this period, the event shifted to a virtual format. The Winter 2023 tour marked the first in-person return, though the Summer 2023 tour was scrapped due to uncertainty surrounding the WGA strike.
According to The Wrap, the TCA’s Summer Press Tour typically takes place between late July and early August, while the Winter Press Tour is scheduled for late January to early February.
Founded in 1979, the Television Critics Association is a nonprofit group that brings together television critics, editors and writers from across North America. In addition to being affected by global crises or industry disruptions, the TCA typically holds two multi-week press tours each year, where networks highlight their upcoming shows with presentations from executives, cast and producers. The association also runs the TCA Awards, which have been celebrating excellence in television since 1984.
In the meantime, some networks and streaming platforms are organizing their own promotional events for midseason programming. Fox, for instance, has scheduled an event on November 18 to promote Special Forces: World’s Toughest Test and The Real Full Monty.