Too Much TV: Your TV Talking Points For Thursday, December 8th, 2022

The paper tiger that is Great American Family.

Here's everything you need to know about the world of television for Thursday, December 8th, 2022.

THE JOY OF DISCOVERING THE ENSEMBLE
One of my favorite things to do right now is interview people who aren't household names. The television industry is filled with talented actors working as everything from a recurring role on a series to a high-profile guest spot. I try and interview as many of them as I can, because the bigger trades don't consider it an important enough topic.

My latest interview is with Tristen J. Winger, who plays "Lyle" on the rookie CBS comedic drama So Help Me Todd. Overall, I enjoy the show. Except for character of Todd, which does make regular viewing a bit more challenging. Despite that, there is a lot of really solid acting on the show, including from Winger, who previously starred in Insecure and Bigger.

Here is a short excerpt from the interview, which can be found in full here:

Q: I mentioned on social media that I was going to talk to you. And I heard from someone who said, "Look, I'm a black man in corporate America. And I recognize that persona of "I have to be together all the time. I have to be very, very insular. And I can't afford to joke around a lot of times, I can't afford to do goofball things other people do. Because I always have to be perfect." And I wonder if that was sort of the same approach you took with Lyle?

Tristen J. Winger: Absolutely. 100%. Correct. That is a subtext for everything that Lyle is presenting. Because just beyond the character choices, he's also a black man that has to work 10 times as hard to get the same money recognition as everybody else. He has worked 10 times as hard. And so because of that, when Todd comes into the office, this is a man who lost his investigator's license. But despite that, he now gets to work because his mom is a partner at this law firm, but he didn't earn this. Oh, that sets him off. That sets him off because Lyle was the person who has to work so hard. So hard for where he is. He's so poised and here comes this train wreck of a man -  this man child coming into the office here all tussled clothes and wrinkles. You know, it sets Lyle off because Todd does not have his stuff together. Lyle has everything together. Everything is organized. Everything has its place every T is crossed. Every i is dotted and he triple-checks just to make sure.

If you're a publicist who knows an actor that fits in this wheelhouse, I'd love to interview them.

TWEET OF THE DAY

The horror-centric streamer Shudder has laid off an unknown number of people today, while at the same time touting the service now has one million monthly subscribers. The AMC Networks streamer appears to be revenue-positive, but AMC Networks is in the midst of an aggressive round of cost-cutting across the company this week.

One of the arguments I am hearing from various media industry reporters is that AMC Networks is "to small" and therefore isn't able to make money. Which I don't completely buy in this case. From what I can with the limited amount of info the company releases, the small streamers are all revenue positive or at the very least, revenue neutral. The bigger challenge is on the linear side, where the company has been spending in an effort to find the next Walking Dead or Breaking Bad. 

Blaming job cuts on "scale" is a lot like blaming web news org layoffs on a "pivot to video." That might be a contributing factor. But especially in the linear and streaming world, the problem often isn't that the affected businesses aren't profitable. It's that they aren't profitable enough. At least, not profitable enough to allow the owners to grab that fat profit margin that got accustomed to during the glory days of linear TV and the cable TV bundle.

THE PAPER TIGER THAT IS GREAT AMERICAN FAMILY
There are a number of people writing about Christmas movies, but most of them don't spend much time on the business side of the equation. When Christmas movies are written about in the trades, it's generally some puff piece about casting or another "look how popular Christmas movies are this year" article with no real context.

The twitter user @sleepykittypaw writes a lot of about the movies, but they are also very skeptical of a lot of the industry's claims. They've tracked how GAF renames old VOD Christmas movies and labels them as "new" or inexplicably edits PG-13 Christmas movies for "content."

This thread today is a great example of their work and if it's a subject you're interested in, they are definitely worth following:

ODDS AND SODS
* C-Span Programming Vice President Terry Murphy is retiring from the company after 42 years. Hired as a field technician in 1981, he soon moved into management and has served as C-SPAN's head of programming for several decades. 

* WE tv is premiering the new scripted drama Kold x Windy on Thursday, January 5th.  The series follows the lifelong hustle of rising hip hop and drill stars Malika "Kold" Wise (Sh’Kia Augustin, Black Lightning) and Renee "Windy" Johnson (Nijah Brenea, Rap Sh!t) in Chicago’s South Side.

* HLN continues to slowly hint at its new programming approach. This Saturday, the news-ish network will be airing a simulcast of the live TNT sports event Capital One's The Match. The special will also air on sister networks TruTV and TBS.

WHAT'S NEW FOR THURSDAY:

A Miracle Before Christmas (BET+)
Brink Of Disaster Series Premiere (Discovery)
Christina On The Coast Season Premiere (HGTV)
Classic Homes Series Premiere (Magnolia)
CMA Country Christmas (CBS)
Copenhagen Cowboy Series Premiere (Netflix)
Doom Patrol Season Premiere (HBO Max)
Harry & Meghan (Netflix)
In Broad Daylight: The Narvarte Case (Netflix)
Lookism (Netflix)
Million Dollar Listing Season Fourteen Premiere (Bravo)
Retrograde (NatGeo)
Scentsational Christmas (Lifetime)
Solo Amor Y Mil Canciones (Disney+)
South Side (HBO Max)
Superstar: Reba McEntire (CBS)
The Bad Guy (Prime Video)
The Daily Show With Trevor Noah Finale (Comedy Central)
The Elephant Whisperers (Netflix)
The Real Housewives Of Miami Season Five (Bravo)

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.