Tips & Strategy

Advice for The Networks: Primetime — teaching, a first game, cash and passing, shows and timeslots, genre tracks, player counts and the Megacorp modules, with the reviews it comes from.

Advice, not rules: where a tip and the rulebook differ, the rulebook wins.

How to teach

• Teach from one show card: timeslot icon, season track, coloured versus gray slots, expenses. Then the six actions, then the end of round. Teach the Game follows that order.
• Say early that signed stars and ads wait in the green room, and that upkeep comes before scoring.
• Use the Beginner Pilot Season for new players and leave the Megacorp modules for a later game — the Megacorp rulebook itself suggests a first Telly Time game without Moguls or Executives.

First game

• Your three starter shows score 2, then 1, then nothing: replacing them quickly matters more than waiting for the perfect show.
• Network cards are free and many score at game end; reviewers call ignoring them a common mistake.
• Keep an eye on cash: every $3M left at the end is a viewer, but a lineup you cannot pay for gets canceled before it scores.

Cash and passing

• Passing early is the reliable way to refill your wallet — the first pass is worth $10M at 4 players.
• Cards taken from the display are not replaced, so the last player to pass can scoop up the leftover free ads and network cards.
• In the Classic Turns variant a weak round buys first pick next round; plan for it.

Shows, timeslots and canceling

• A show out of its preferred timeslot loses its two best rows, but a cheap show whose third row is still strong can be worth producing out of place for a round or two.
• Canceling early is not waste: each new show climbs a genre track, and the designer notes that canceling shows mercilessly — even in their first season — wins games (BGG).
• Before the final round, count rerun values: a canceled show still scores its bottom row at the end.
• Filling a running show with stars and ads can beat replacing it — especially in round 4, when the display may not offer the show you need.

Genre tracks

• Spaces 3 and 4 give network and wild bonuses; reaching space 5 of one genre is worth 15 viewers.
• Sports and Reality give an ad (cash) on space 2, the other genres a star.
• With four rounds you will not climb every track: pick two or three genres and follow what the display offers.

Player counts and solo

• Smaller games use a trimmed show deck (fewer 3+ and 4+ shows) and their own setup board side.
• Solo, the opponent discards by position, so you can predict which card it will take next.

Megacorp

• [Moguls] The first player to reach space 3 of a track gets a mogul — racing one genre early pays.
• [Execs] Every executive has a real drawback; play to the ability and plan around the drawback from the first round.
• [Telly] The weekend slot gives four shows on the air, so four rounds feel longer; aim your shows at lines on your grid rather than at single genres.

Host game

Rehearse Millie’s Dawson’s Reek replacement before the first round: pay five million, cancel the old show and its attachment, then fill the new show’s required star slot from the green room. On the first three turns, check coloured required slots separately from gray optional slots. When someone signs a star or ad, put it visibly in the green room so a later attachment action is not skipped.

Sources

• The Networks: Primetime Review: Mommy, What’s a Neilsen? — The Dice Tower
• The Boardgame Mechanics Review The Networks: Primetime — The Boardgame Mechanics
• Breaking News: The Networks Is Back and Better Than Ever with Allplay! | Primetime & Megacorp Review — Love 2 Hate
• BGG Rules forum — designer answers from Gil Hova