Too Much TV: Your TV Talking Points For Friday, March 17th, 2023

Speaking of comments from subscribers.

Here's everything you need to know about the world of television for Friday, March 17th, 2023.

PROGRAMMING NOTE
Now that Substack has rolled out a web version of its chat service (which is really just a fancy message board), I am going to give it a try this weekend. When I launch it, the system will send out a message letting you know.

From what I can tell, the reaction to the chat service when other newsletters have tried it out ranges from "only a few people use it" to "it's wildly popular." So we'll see. The default setting for the chat is to only allow the newsletter owner to start threads, but anyone can comment. I'm going to set it so that anyone who has a paid subscription can start a thread and we'll see how that goes. It makes for a nice paid subscriber perk and while spam on the chats don't seem to be a big issue, allowing all 46,000 of you to begin posting at once doesn't seem like a great idea. 

SPEAKING OF COMMENTS FROM SUBSCRIBERS
My piece in yesterday's newsletter about NBC's possible plans to slowly back away from scripted programming in the 10:00 pm hour (and also blame the move on a possible writer's strike) prompted a lot of feedback from readers. Including a semi-complaint from someone at NBC News, who complained that I had mischaracterized the deliberations:

"...and you said that the idea was 'in the early stages, but being seriously examined.' I think it's more accurate to say that it is 'one of a variety of possible moves.' It's a possibility, but it's not THE possibility."

Which is essentially what I said in the piece. Although it's interesting that the spokesperson (who declined to be identified) didn't deny the piece or even argue I got it wrong. It was more of a complaint about tone. Which seems a bit of a nitpick, but I'll own it.

CBS PULLS 'LINGO' FROM SCHEDULE
CBS has pulled the game show Lingo from its schedule effective immediately. The remaining four episodes of season one will held until season two. Drama repeats will fill the Wednesdays at 9/8c timeslot beginning on March 22nd:

Wednesday, March 22nd: FBI Most Wanted
Wednesday, March 29th: FBI
Wednesday, April 5th: FBI International
Wednesday, April 12th: CSI Vegas

No reason was given for the move, but I would suspect it's a way for CBS to bank some additional episodes in case there is a writer's strike.

TWEET OF THE DAY

ODDS AND SODS
* Peacock has ordered a third season of Bel Air.

* Season three of Growing Belushi, a reality series about actor Jim Belushi's cannabis business, premieres Wednesday, April 5th on Discovery.

* The Universal Pictures film Knock At The Cabin premieres Friday, March 24th on Peacock.

WHAT 'DRAG RACE FANS CAN DO TO PUSH BACK AGAINST ANTI-DRAG LAWS
I mentioned before that Andy Dehnart's Reality Blurred web site should be an essential stop for reality TV fans. He's just posted an essential read, in which he takes Drag Race host RuPaul to task for not being more vocal in his criticism of the recent wave of anti-drag laws that been passed in a number of Southern states:

Public drag performances are now banned in Tennessee, which means anything from a show with Drag Race stars to Tom Holland’s Lip Sync Battle performance are now illegal.

While this has been happening, Drag Race alumni have been vocal, including in this video from GLAAD. But where was the star of the show that brought drag to mainstream popularity?

RuPaul has not exactly been on the front lines of activism against this growing fascism, unless you count answering a question on James Corden’s show.

The piece also offers up a number of ways you can help beyond RuPaul's suggestion that "you need to vote." It's a great read and if you are so inclined, there are a number of really solid suggestions.

THIS IS A PRETTY SOLID UNDERSTANDING OF STREAMING METRICS
One of the complaints I frequently hear from the creative community is that they miss knowing how many viewers watched their TV show. In part because of vanity, but more importantly because they still see viewing numbers as a proxy for value.

But in this Slashfilm interview, Damon Lindelof shows that unlike many Hollywood creatives, he has a pretty good grasp of the complexities of the question:

Streaming and premium cable metrics fascinate me, because I'm a box office guy and I can look at these numbers, and the numbers don't lie. Streaming fascinates me because I look at it and I don't know how these decisions get made sometimes. It's just crazy.

And it's a black box. I do think the numbers — the idea of what's the more valuable number? How many people watched an episode of "Stranger Things" or how many people watched all episodes of "Stranger Things?" Or are they watching it? Is there a valuation put on, they watch an entire season of "Stranger Things" over the course of four to eight hours, or is the higher value player in someone who watches it over the course of three weeks? Which would make sense because the more time they spend on Netflix — ultimately, you want to make content that rabbit holes your subscribers into other content.

REMEMBERING LANCE REDDICK
Veteran actor Lance Reddick unexpectedly passed away from an apparent heart attack and he was one of those actors who elevated every film and television show he appeared in. He seems to have been a genuinely nice guy and of all the stories I've read about him this afternoon, this excerpt from a 2021 interview with Vulture was my favorite:

WHAT'S NEW FOR THE WEEKEND:
FRIDAY, MARCH 17TH:
Agent Elvis Series Premiere (Netflix)
Angel Flight (Prime Video)
Bono & The Edge: A Sort of Homecoming, With Dave Letterman (Disney+)
Boston Strangler (Hulu)
Class Of '07 Series Premiere (Prime Video)
Dance 100 Series Premiere (Netflix)
Dom (Prime  Video)
Extrapolations Series Premiere (Apple TV+)
In His Shadow (Netflix)
Leave (Shudder)
Maestro In Blue (Netflix)
Monster Factory Series Premiere (Apple TV+)
Nanny Dearest (Lifetime)
Noise (Netflix)
Power Book II: Ghost Season Premiere (Starz)
Put A Ring On It (UP tv)
Servant Series Finale (Apple TV+)
Sky High: The Series (Netflix)
Swarm Series Premiere (Prime Video)
The Magician's Elephant (Netflix)
The Real Murders Of Atlanta Season Premiere (Oxygen)

SATURDAY, MARCH 18TH:
The Hillsdale Adoption Scam (Lifetime)
Winning Team (Hallmark)

SUNDAY, MARCH 19TH:
Call The Midwife Season Twelve Premiere (PBS)
Inside With Jen Psaki Series Premiere (MSNBC)
Lucky Hank Series Premiere (AMC)
Marie Antoinette (PBS)
MILF Manor Season One Finale (TLC)
Sandleton Season Premiere (PBS)
The Cases Of Mystery Lane (HMM)
Your Honor Season Finale (Showtime)

Click Here to see the list of all of the upcoming premiere dates for the next few months.

SEE YOU FRIDAY!

If you have any feedback, send it along to Rick@AllYourScreens.com and follow me on Twitter @aysrick.