Too Much TV: Your TV Talking Points For Wednesday, November 15th, 2023
There is no better way to refresh your public image than with a NY Times profile.
Here's everything you need to know about the world of television for Wednesday, November 15th, 2023.
A BRIEF PROGRAMMING NOTE
Now that there will hopefully fewer late night strike-related breaking news stories, my hope is to get this newsletter out to you a bit earlier beginning next Monday. In the past, subscribers were usually receiving this between 7:00-8:00 pm CT. But in recent months, that has frequently been pushed back by the news cycle until close to midnight. Which means that fewer people read it (a 55% average open rate vs. a 65% average for the earlier time). It also means that I am working an unsettling number of 15-16 hour days, along with frequent weekends.
Given the unpredictability nature of the News Gods, I can't guarantee you'll always get it in that timeframe. But that is my goal moving forward.
THERE IS NO BETTER WAY TO REFRESH YOUR PUBLIC IMAGE THAN WITH A NEW YORK TIMES PROFILE
I don't know that I have ever met a CEO or major celebrity who enjoys being interviewed. But even on that reluctance scale, media company CEOs and Hollywood's best-known celebrities are in a category all of their own. They know how the media works and they often have a wariness of the press that borders on active disdain. They are so accustomed to being surrounded by people who anticipate their reactions and work tirelessly to serve them that they resent being asked difficult questions. Simple inquiries about business models or their explanation for why their company is imploding are often met with scornful resistance.
So for many executives and high-level celebrities, the ideal solution is to give an interview that offers the sweet spot of the highest visibility and the least chance of a public relations disaster. And if that is what you are searching for, a New York Times profile is the perfect solution.
In-depth NY Times profiles all fit into a general template. There is a recounting of the subject's life and work history. There are scattered personal details that are meant to provide color and a sense that the subject "might be a billionaire, but still thinks like one of us schmoes." There are some quotes from equally famous friends and co-workers which serve to bolster the storyline of the profile while also showing off the newspaper's ability to get snappy quotes from famous people.
And then there is the real point of the profile. It touches on whatever subject is currently awkwardly hanging over the subject and while the profile doesn't shy away from the details, no awkward explanations are requested and the uncomfortable screw-ups are offset by the comments from co-workers touting the subject's hidden love of dogs or desire to spend quality time with their elderly parents.
PR people love these profiles because they are a relatively safe space and it's always good for your career when you can go to your boss and say "Hey, I got you a NY Times profile!"
But the home run of bad news whitewashing comes with a New York Times Magazine profile. Not only is it seen as more "prestigious," it's the type of story that the subject's friends in the Hamptons will see while they're sipping early morning Irish Coffees at Sunday brunch.
This brings me to this week's New York Times Magazine profile of Warner Bros Discovery CEO David Zaslav, which is exasperating on so many levels.
Throughout his career, Zaslav has rarely given an expansive interview to industry journalists. He's provided access for the occasional softball profile like this one, but typically when he speaks in public, it's in a controlled setting such as an investor call or appearance at some high-profile conference. He's careful about what he says, which you can get away with pretty easily if you never give a skeptical reporter the chance to pin you down.
This NY Times profile has three reporters on the byline and Zaslav is described as having given "a wide-ranging interview at Warner Brothers Discovery’s corporate headquarters in New York." But as you read the extremely long profile, you realize that there are a surprisingly small number of direct quotes from the CEO. And many of those quotes are hammocked by framing meant to highlight what a great guy he is at heart:
"Zaslav, a born salesman who would prefer to make friends, is more reflective. “You do sometimes get bloodied,” he said in a wide-ranging interview at Warner Brothers Discovery’s corporate headquarters in New York. But business is business. “We have made unpopular decisions because they were necessary.”
"We have to transform this company, and this whole industry that really hasn’t been transformed, and we have no time to waste,” Zaslav says.
But Zaslav rejected Diller’s advice too. He was eager to win over his new town. "Barry is brilliant," he says, "but I felt that I needed to listen."
They reached a tentative deal on Sept. 24. After months of resistance, the moguls capitulated on just about every front. Zaslav says he has no regrets: “They are right about almost everything. So what if we overpay? I’ve never regretted overpaying for great talent or a great asset.”
The latest earnings aside, Zaslav says he is rebuilding W.B.D. for the long term. “We’ve got great assets here,” he told us. “Great artillery in this incredible fight. And during moments like this, maybe more than any other time, everything is possible. Everything is possible.”
And that is the entirety of the direct Zaslav quotes in the piece. There are as many quotes from Barry Diller as Zaslav, who we're told gave a wide-ranging interview.
That quote about writers is getting all sorts of attention as if he said that accidentally in the course of the interview or inadvertently revealed some hidden truth. I can almost guarantee that those comments were locked and loaded with his communications staff going into the interview and it's no coincidence those comments were one of the few actual quotes included in the profile. It's a way to provide the writers with a sense that they were right and that they got over on the industry's CEOs. By all accounts, Zaslav does believe talent deserves to be paid fairly. But what the profile glosses over is that his belief in paying talent fairly is often in stark contrast to his desire to boost his company's fortunes and become the Hollywood mogul he apparently believes he was meant to become.
Overall, the profile does a nice job of recounting the myriad of missteps and public controversies that have happened at Warner Bros. Discovery under Zaslav's leadership. Even though the problems are often presented as some string of random problems that no one could have seen coming. Instead of the fairly relentless string of PR missteps that seem a more likely scenario if you've spent time following the company.
But the profile also includes some moments of very odd framing, which seems to be included to suggest many of the complaints from critics are unfair or overblown.
Far from energizing the creative community, the launch of Max unleashed a fresh wave of unexpected outrage at the executive class. The redesigned service had streamlined its credits for films and TV shows, compressing all the writers, directors and producers for every show under the single, seemingly unobjectionable category of "creator."
Zaslav was puzzled by Hollywood’s animosity. It was a tough town. His friend Ken Lerer, a venture capitalist with whom he speaks most days, volunteered an analogy, comparing Hollywood to Washington, D.C. "Agents, writers, directors, producers — everybody hugs and kisses you and gets whatever they can," Lerer recalls telling him. "Then the deep state takes over."
I truly believe it would be in Zaslav's best interest - and in the best interest of the company - to do fewer careful profiles and more interviews in which he's asked tough, well-reasoned questions. If he has such a strong strategic vision, the place to share it is in an actual interview. Not in carefully scripted appearances crafted to provide him with a safe and friendly platform.
Mr. Zaslav, I'm available if you're willing. Your stock price would thank you.
TWEET OF THE DAY
ODDS AND SODS
* Fox announced today that 9-1-1: Lone Star will return for a 12-episode fifth season in the fall of 2024. It was slated to return that spring, but the network apparently decided that doing an abbreviated six-episode season didn't make financial sense.
WHAT'S NEW TODAY AND TOMORROW:
WEDNESDAY, NOVEMBER 15TH:
* Brawn GP: The Impossible Formula One Story (Hulu)
* Cribs Season Twenty Premiere (MTV)
* David Holmes: The Boy Who Lived (HBO)
* Expedition Unknown Season Premiere (Discovery)
* Feedback Series Premiere (Netflix)
* Interrogation Cam Series Premiere (A&E)
* Irvine Welsh's Crime (Britbox)
* Matt Rife: Natural Selection (Netflix)
* Murder In The Heartland Season Premiere (Investigation Discovery)
* Mystery At Blind Frog Ranch Season Three Premiere (Discovery)
* Selling Sunset Reunion Special (Netflix)
* Whitney Cummings: Mouthy (OFTV)
THURSDAY, NOVEMBER 16TH:
* A World Record Christmas (Hallmark Movies And Mysteries)
* Best. Christmas. Ever! (Netflix)
* Drive With Swizz Beatz Series Premiere (Hulu)
* Ghosts (UK) Series Premiere (CBS)
* House Of Kardashian (Peacock)
* In Love And Deep Water (Netflix)
* Inside Track: The Business Of Formula 1 Series Premiere (CNBC)
* Julia Season Two Premiere (Max)
* Mutt (Netflix)
* Sisters On The Run (LMN)
* The Crown Season Premiere (Netflix)
* The Long Shadow (Sundance Now)
* Terror Lake Drive: Summer Purge (ALLBLK)
Click Here to see the list of all of the upcoming premiere dates for the next few months.
SEE YOU THURSDAY!
If you have any feedback, send it along to Rick@AllYourScreens.com and follow me on Twitter @aysrick.