Too Much TV: Your TV Talking Points For Friday, January 21st, 2022
Looking to discover the next "Squid Game?" Good luck with that.
Here's everything you need to know about the world of television for Thursday, January 20th, 2022. I'm writing this from the Twin Cities, where AllYourScreens HQ has spent much of the day on the radio trying to explain Netflix earnings news to people who don't really understand the stock market or streaming.
THE GROWTH OF INTERNATIONAL STREAMING PRODUCTION IS BAD NEWS FOR TRADITIONAL PR EFFORTS
To some extent, every major streaming platform is increasing its international production and shifting resources into the global marketplace. As just one example, Netflix is premiering 25 South Korean originals in 2022. And it’s a similar situation for Netflix in the rest of APAC and EMEA, along with rollouts of new projects everywhere from Russia to Nigeria. Nearly all of this content will be available globally, which means that in theory, each program will need global promotional efforts. And I am here to say that won't happen anytime soon.
Back in the old days, content was very much siloed by country or territory. While American-produced television tended to be sold around the world, it was rarely the case that the pipeline flowed the other direction. American viewers did see a fair amount of British programming, but it was rare to see a TV show produced in Australia, much less France or Mumbai. And that made the PR and marketing efforts pretty easy for everyone. U.S.-based publicists were almost exclusively dealing with American-produced programs. If you were in France, you did have plenty of America-produced programming, but the primary television diet was French-language programming. And that programming was only being aired in France and a few other French-speaking countries. Each territory had its own primary content silo and publicity efforts could be concentrated almost exclusively in that territory.
But thanks to global streaming platforms, locally-produced content now has a global audience. If you think content discovery is tough in the U.S. now, adding a bunch of international programming - much of it dubbed and/or subtitled - only makes the situation more complicated. From the perspective of a TV critic, finding out about that new show from Denmark or New Zealand is only the first step. Is it possible to get screeners, additional information or even an interview about a show produced halfway around the world?
Netflix's approach in the U.S. (and from what I can tell, it's the same in all of its larger territories) is to do PR triage. International shows that have a higher company priority or that might be an easier fit for American audiences get a U.S.-based publicist, with screeners and some level of promotional support. But the other shows are just out there, waiting to maybe being discovered by some segment of the audience when they premiere.
As an example, there is a new South Korean "zombies in high school" series called All Of Us Are Dead premiering on Netflix in a couple of weeks. It sounded like a premise that might be of interest to my readers, but the U.S. Netflix press page only listed a generic PR contact. And my experience with that generic contact is that if I get a response at all, it's along the lines of "Sorry, we don't have a screener available." So I dug around a bit and found the South Korean-based PR contact for the show and emailed her. Based on the email chain I was subsequently part of, she appears not to speak English, but she forwarded it to someone else on her team, who sent it to an English-speaking publicist whose title is "Export Publicity." He arranged for the entire season to be sent to me and while I can't say much because of an embargo, I'm extremely happy I tracked down the episodes ahead of the premiere.
I have a lot of sympathy for Netflix and their various PR people. A random publicist in South Korea isn't set up to deal with requests from a global press corps that spans multiple languages. And they certainly don't have the bandwidth to deal with potentially hundreds of requests. But there has to be a better way to make it possible for someone in the U.S. to cover a show produced in Germany as easily as one produced in Atlanta.
I am using Netflix as my example of this challenge, but to be fair, it is better suited than its competitors to handle global PR issues. Many of Netflix's PR and marketing problems are the result of the sheer size of its original programming slate and the number of territories now producing original content. Plus, Netflix has a slick screener interface that allows preview content to be assigned directly into someone's regular Netflix account. Which means that it's much easier to make screeners available globally without resorting to outside services or other hacks. WarnerMedia, Discovery, Comcast and Viacom/CBS all have various levels of international production capabilities, but none of them have a process in place to make sure the original content is shared promotionally around the world. In the case of some of the companies, you would need a psychic to even discover the existence of a new show, much less get promotional access to it.
This issue might seem like inside baseball, but it's a problem that will have an increasingly large impact on content discovery. No one has ever tried to build a robust global PR infrastructure, but it's something that needs to be done. After all, what's the point of creating global content if you can't promote it around the world?
THE STATE OF STREAMING IN 2021
Nielsen has released a look at the most popular streaming titles in the U.S. in 2021 (except for services such as HBO Max, which decline to allow its numbers to be released). There aren't a ton of surprises, although the continuing popularity of Longmire years after its Netflix run has ended makes me wonder if the service shouldn't be ordering some more rural, Western-oriented dramas:
I FEEL SEEN
There are a group of early aughts political bloggers who have over the years managed to work their way up to national prominence. They tend to share a common sensibility about independent journalism and to be honest, it often rubs me the wrong way.
But I saw some comments in the Matthew newsletter "Slow Boring" this morning that really resonated with me. If I have a perspective on what I do, it is probably pretty close to this take:
Not to be an egomaniac or anything, but I think the main way that I maintain a high level of productivity is that I write serviceable prose much faster than most people and I’m really good at remembering things I read or hear.
In terms of process, I would just say I always have a lot of balls in the air. It’s not rare for me to jot down a few paragraphs in the Notes app on my phone while watching TV or standing in line at the local coffee shop just because I came up with a point that I like. Those paragraphs might become the basis of tomorrow’s article, but they also might lay around for days or weeks until I come up with an appropriate frame or hook that makes them relevant. When I’m walking around or folding laundry, I’m usually writing things in my head. And because I really enjoy this work, I’m don’t mind putting in extra time on nights and weekends. I also have help — from Kate and Claire editing the posts and Milan doing research.
But mostly I think different people are good at different things. I can’t visualize anything at all (aphantasia, it’s called) and can’t really describe what things look like, so I’m bad at writing narratives. I don’t really break news or get scoops. And even if I tried really really hard to do those things and took all the best advice, I still don’t think I’d be any good at it. I’ve never won any kind of journalism prize. But we are at a moment in the economics and technology of content distribution where being able to write a high volume of somewhat informative, somewhat interesting stuff is valued, and I am lucky to have come along at just the right time for that.
ODDS AND SODS
* Longtime TV critic (most recently at The Hollywood Reporter) Tim Goodman has launched his own subscriber-based Substack newsletter. It's good to see the cranky one back in the TV criticism saddle. Although as someone who has his own newsletter, I wouldn't agree that there is a *void* on Substack for TV criticism.
* Meatloaf was my softball coach. This Deadspin piece is from 2011, but it's still pretty entertaining.
* DC is launching a new, six issue event series titled set in the CW's Arrow-verse, written by the show's staff, and in continuity. Each issue of "Earth-Prime" will focus on a different show, leading to a crossover in the sixth, and final issue. Launches April 5th, and runs for three months.
WHAT'S NEW FOR FRIDAY
Here's a quick rundown of all the new stuff premiering today on TV and streaming:
A Hero (Amazon)
Aileen Wuornos: American Boogeywoman (Netflix)
Amandia (Netflix)
As We See It Series Premiere (Amazon)
Back On The Record With Bob Costas Season Premiere (HBO)
Fraggle Rock: Back To The Rock Series Premiere (Apple TV+)
Munich: The Edge Of War (Netflix)
My Father's Violin (Netflix)
Ozark Season Four Part One Premiere (Netflix)
Picabo (Peacock)
Pokémon Master Journeys: The Series (Netflix)
Real Time With Bill Maher Season Premiere (HBO)
Servant Season Premiere (Apple TV+)
Summer Heat (Netflix))
Click Here to see the list of all of the upcoming premiere dates for the next few months.
SEE YOU MONDAY!
If you have any feedback, send it along to Rick@AllYourScreens.com and follow me on Twitter @aysrick.