Had the sitcom died, what would have replaced it as America's favorite TV shows?
The sitcom. Somewhat different from OTL, but it's not like all those TV writers are going to do something else and within a year or two some new sitcom will catch fire and then everybody will be making them again.
Edit: on news anchors I have a great book, so I'll get back to y'all on who is the most likely on the variables discussed so far.