Too Much TV: Your TV Talking Points For Tuesday, April 2nd, 2024

The most predictable idiots in the comedy world think Dan Schneider is misunderstood

Here's everything you need to know about the world of television for Tuesday, April 2nd, 2024:

SOMETIMES IT'S THE LITTLE DETAILS THAT SCREW YOU
Netflix has been promoting the fact that the old USA "blue sky" drama White Collar was heading to the streaming service and there was some anticipation that there might be the same kind of bump for the show that previously happened with its sister show Suits.

Unfortunately, series creator and executive producer Jeff Eastin has been pointing out on social media throughout the day that many of the season one episodes are mislabeled and out of order. Which is a big issue for a show that makes a lot less sense when you're watching the episodes in a random arrangement.

Not surprisingly, Netflix publicists have declined to answer questions about the problem. But this is one of those simple mistakes that has an out-of-sized impact on press coverage for the launch.

THE MOST PREDICTABLE IDIOTS IN COMEDY THINK DAN SCHNEIDER IS MISUNDERSTOOD
Unless you follow a certain strain of modern stand-up comedy, you might not be aware of the massive success of the alt-jerk wing of the industry. While Joe Rogan is the best known example, there is an entire universe of comics whose main schtick is saying the most uninformed and dismissive things they can think of because in the end it makes them money.

In a lot of ways, they are no different than Donald Trump. In the same way that he makes money selling bibles, gold shoes and wine as a way to make money and troll his critics, these comics have built a substantial money train saying dumbass things and then arguing any effort to push back is really just an effort to "cancel" them led by humorless drones who can't take a joke.

Which brings me to the podcast Legion Of Skanks, which is generally about funny as you might expect from the show's title. The content is crude, relentlessly dumb and about as subtle as a sledgehammer to the head. I generally wouldn't waste my time writing about them. Except that in their most recent podcast, they decided to weigh in on the documentary Quiet On Set. And to argue that not only did the documentary absolve Schneider, but that people make too big of a deal about things like consent.

I wrote a piece about this earlier today and I had some thoughts:

I am not going to get into some deep-dive into the history of the podcast, the quite popular Skankfest live event, or the careers of co-hosts Luis Gomez, Big Jay Oakerson, and Dave Smith. I'll just say they are part of the trend of aggressively obnoxious and predictable comedians who follow the mantra that cracking jokes about child or sex abuse is the height of cleverness. 

Weirdly, this comedy style (which to be fair, is wildly popular with its fans), is the flip side of the predictable conservative political humor that cares more about "triggering the libs" than being clever or funny. The Legion Of Skanks podcast is all about the outrage. "Isn't it funny how people got worked up about X?" It's for the people who say to themselves, "I like Joe Rogan, but I find he's a little too intellectual and way too subtle."

So what kind of jokes were they cracking about the situations revealed in Quiet On Set? Well, here is one of the more family-friendly examples:

Then after a side discussion about Roman Polanski, Gomez returns to Schneider. "Today, we have decided to celebrate the leadership stylings of Dan Schneider," Gomez explains. And then he proceeds to ask one of the female crew to squeeze the water out of a cucumber, in the same way Ariana Grande massaged a potato in an infamous video that was included on Quiet On Set. "And when I say asking you, I'm telling you to get the juice out of this cucumber," he told the crew member.

I don't think a lot of people in the industry are aware how widespread this type of humor is in the stand-up community. There is an attitude that if you can think it, you should say it out loud. And if people are shocked, well that's even better than if they laugh. And of course, the end result is to use that outrage to make money. 

APPLE TV+ ADDS A FEW MORE LICENSED MOVIES (FOR NOW)
After adding its first-ever licensed movies last month, Apple TV+ added another round of licensed films to the service on April 1st. The 29 films are set to expire in 30 or 60 days and while they are mostly star-driven, recognizable titles, they are also titles that have already been on multiple rival SVODs in the past. Movies in this addition include the first three John Wick films, The Godfather and Godfather II, Dunkirk, Crazy Rich Asians, Forrest Gump and Transformers.

It's still not clear what Apple is hoping to accomplish. I'm assuming it's an effort to see if licensing films helps with churn, which is a growing problem for the streaming service. But that's just a guess.

TWEET OF THE DAY

ODDS AND SODS
* There are four shows premiering new seasons on Magnolia in April: Homegrown (April 6th), Building Off The Grid (April 11th), Restoration Road With Clint Harp(April 22nd) and Restoring Galveston (April 30th).

*The Hunger Games: The Ballad of Songbirds & Snakes will get its SVOD premiere on Starz, beginning Tuesday, May 14th.

*Grey's Anatomy has been renewed by ABC for a 21st season.

* The next episode of the David Letterman Netflix talker My Next Guest Needs No Introduction features comedian John Mulaney and will premiere on Tuesday, April 30th.

* The 82nd Annual Golden Globe Awards will air on Sunday, January 5th, 2025.

* Korean political drama Uncle Samsik will launch with its first five episodes Wednesday, May 15th on Hulu. That will be followed by two episodes per week with a three-part finale on June 19th, for a total of 16 episodes.

* 911 has been renewed for an eighth season, it's second on ABC.

WHAT'S NEW TONIGHT AND TOMORROW

TUESDAY, APRIL 2ND:
* Demetri Martin: Demetri Deconstructed (Netflix)
* Lopez Vs. Lopez Season Premiere (NBC)
* Julius Caesar: The Making Of A Dictator (PBS)
* Physical: 100 Season 2 finale (Netflix)
* Together: Treble Winners (Netflix)
* Weakest Link Season Premiere (NBC)

WEDNESDAY, APRIL 3RD:
* A Brief History Of The Future (PBS)
* American Horror Story: Delicate Part 2 (FX)
* Bartender Glass Of God (Crunchyroll)
* Crime Scene Berlin: Nightlife Killers (Netflix)
* Files Of The Unexplained Series Premiere (Netflix)
* Ghost Adventures: House Calls Season Three Premiere (Discovery)
* Loot Season Two Premiere (Apple TV+)
* Pawn Stars Season Premiere (History)
* Pawn Stars Do America Season Premiere (History)
* Resident Alien Season Three Finale (NBC)
* Sight Unseen Series Premiere (The CW)
* Take My Tumor Series Premiere (TLC)
* The New Look Season One Finale (Apple TV+)
* Walker Season Four Premiere (The CW)
* Zero To Hero [aka Rodeio Rock] (Netflix)

SEE YOU ON WEDNESDAY!