Too Much TV: Your TV Talking Points For Wednesday, October 16th, 2024

The broadcast TV conundrum

Here's everything you need to know about the world of television for Wednesday, October 16th, 2024:

THE BROADCAST TV CONUNDRUM
CBS is premiering the majority of its fall primetime schedule this week, and all of the other networks continue to dribble out their premieres throughout the month. 

And what strikes me about the rollouts is that I am not hearing any buzz about new shows - or even most returning ones for that matter. Yes, older familiar shows have their audiences. But it doesn't feel as if they are picking up any new viewers. Despite the episodes being widely available on streaming. 

And as far as new shows go, maybe I've heard a bit of talk about the new Young Sheldon spin-off. But exactly zero percent of the people can remember the name of the show (Georgie & Mandy's First Marriage). So I'm curious to hear how many of you are following the new primetime season rollout. What are you watching? What are you looking forward to?

I'm genuinely interested, but I also want to know to help me prioritize what to cover. I will say in passing that overall, the broadcast networks are more challenging to work with than the streamers when it comes to PR, at least for small independent sites such as myself. So I'm looking for guidance on what you're interested in and what I should be covering.

You can contribute something to the comment section below, or respond directly to this newsletter.

READER FEEDBACK
I received a lot of comments and emails about yesterday's newsletter and I wanted to highlight some of them. My apologies if I couldn't include yours, I had a couple of dozen good ones to choose from and couldn't include them all.

First, my comments about the hopeless mess that is Hulu's UI prompted a lot of similar complaints from readers:

Thanks for ripping on Hulu. It's so irritating trying to keep track of whether live sports will record even if I've added the team to my favorites.

--Joe L.

The "Continue Watching" is the most baffling experience of all. There are so many shows on there that no one in the household watches, and no one else has access to the account. Where are they coming from?!

--Joey H.

We got Hulu Live when it first started, but the constant buffering through live TV made it short-lived in our household. We've been generally happy with YouTubeTV, but the bar isn't set very high: a non-intuitive interface that seems more "product-placement" than "user-friendly," categorization tabs that don't make sense, and -- understandably -- an over-reliance on Search. But for Live Sports, I'm surprised you're sticking with Hulu over YouTubeTV after the latter's acquisition of NFL Sunday Ticket. That's been a great experience for us with a household of varying allegiances. And the experience is even better than when we had it with DirecTV. 

--ww

(ed. note. We stuck with Hulu because my son and wife are NY Islanders fans. Most of their games are available on ESPN+, which in theory we can also access on Hulu Live with our Disney bundle). 

And then there was my complaint about the flurry of pieces arguing that the streamers are cancelling their original shows too soon:

The "Streamers are willing to give shows a chance" seems to be the modern version of think pieces about networks pulling the plug on shows that used to appear trade publications in the 80's and 90's. I think the only difference nowadays is the numbers a Streamer considers when evaluating whether to renew a program is now considered proprietary information, whereas back the "golden days" when Networks Ruled the Earth, the Nielsen Ratings were published every week, allowing people to see how their favorite shows were doing.

--WJ

Just wanted to respond to your mention today of people suggesting that Netflix doesn't give certain shows a chance, because it feels like you don't understand what's being discussed. Everyone is aware that the shows were disappointments in terms of viewership. The issue people are talking about - and one that's become much more widespread among consumers - is that the shows were canceled very quickly after their initial releases, which were only a few episodes. This is not unprecedented, and it's also not unprecedented for fans to mount revival campaigns and hold a grudge about it forever.

What people are arguing is that a loyal fandom for a show that didn't do very well in an 8 episode order, may sometimes be (though not always) a signal that a show has growth potential that can only be realized with a second season order. And that, rather than making quite so many shows that never gain any traction whatsoever, it could be a smarter strategic move to allow those shows with some traction, the opportunity to have a longer runway for word-of-mouth. Especially shows with fandoms - shows with fandoms can also be further monetized with merchandise to offset some of the costs of a second season. Those shows are worth taking a second swing at if they appear to still be converting fans, because the long-term financial value of a show with fans is different than a show aimed at a broad audience that fails. 

--Kris L.

ODDS AND SODS
* The Taron Egerton, Jason Bateman action film Carry-On premieres Friday, December 13th on Netflix. Here is the official logline: A young TSA agent fights to outsmart a mysterious traveler who blackmails him into letting a dangerous package slip onto a Christmas Eve flight.

* Drew and Jonathan Scott will fix problematic homes for frustrated families in the new series Don’t Hate Your House with the Property Brothers. The six-episode season will premiere Wednesday, November 13th on HGTV.

* The stand-up special Anthony Jeselnik: Bones And All will premiere Tuesday, November 26th on Netflix.

WHAT'S NEW TONIGHT AND TOMORROW

WEDNESDAY, OCTOBER 16TH:
* Ancient Apocalypse Season Two Premiere (Netflix)
* Are You Smarter Than A Celebrity? Series Premiere (Prime Video)
* I Am A Killer Season Five Premiere (Netflix)
* Jeongnyeon: The Star Is Born Series Premiere (Hulu)
* Justice (Netflix)
* Nemesis Series Premiere (Hulu)
* Shrinking Season Two Premiere (Apple TV+)
* Sistas Season Premiere
* Sweet Bobby: My Catfish Nightmare (Netflix)

THURSDAY, OCTOBER 17TH:
* Brothers (Prime Video)
* Elsbeth Season Two Premiere (CBS)
* Georgie & Mandy's First Marriage Series Premiere (CBS)
* Ghosts Season Four Premiere (CBS)
* Gundam: Requiem For Vengeance Series Premiere (Netflix)
* Jurassic World: Chaos Theory Season Premiere (Netflix)
* Louder: The Soundtrack Of Change (Max)
* Love Stuck (Prime Video)
* My Professor's Deadly Secret (LMN)
* Outside (Netflix)
* Passenger (Britbox)
* Shane Smith Has Questions Series Premiere (Vice)
* Star Trek: Lower Decks Season Premiere (Paramount+)
* Superman & Lois Season Premiere (The CW) 
* The Devil's Climb (NatGeo)
* The Lincoln Lawyer Season Three Premiere (Netflix)
* The Midwich Cuckoos: Village Of The Damned (Acorn TV)
* The Pradeeps Of Pittsburgh Series Premiere (Prime Video) 
* The Shadow Strays (Netflix)
* Wicked City Season Premiere (ALLBLK)

SEE YOU ON THURSDAY!