Report: Primetime TV Going Gray

After decades chasing young viewers, the broadcast networks are starting to shift tactics — peppering their lineups with shows and actors who appeal to the growing audience of aging baby boomers, according to Meredith Blake at The LA Times.

"The Millers" on CBS features 72-year-old Beau Bridges and Margo Martindale, 62. NBC has James Spader, 54, in "The Blacklist" and is considering a new family sitcom with Bill Cosby, 76. ABC, stuck in last place, is developing a show about basketball buddies in their 60s.

According to Blake, the trend is being driven by demographics. Members of the baby boom generation will all be 50 or older this year, and they watch a disproportionate amount of TV.

The median age of a broadcast television viewer is now the highest ever at 54. Twenty years ago, it was 41.

The most-watched scripted series in the 1993-94 season was "Home Improvement," with a median viewer age of 34. Today, it's "NCIS," with a median viewer who is 61.

Confronted with these realities, the networks are aggressively making the case to advertisers that older viewers are valuable — especially the affluent and influential 55-to-64-year-olds they're calling "alpha boomers." The 50-and-up crowd of today, they contend, is far different than the frugal and brand-loyal group that came of age during the Great Depression and World War II.

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