Too Much TV: Your TV Talking Points For Monday, September 25th, 2023
Even journalists hold grudges. But not everyone is this much of a tool.
Here's everything you need to know about the world of television for Monday, September 25th, 2023.
A COUPLE OF THOUGHTS ABOUT THE TENTATIVE WGA AGREEMENT
I've been hearing some comments from both sides about what might be in the tentative WGA/AMPTP agreement. But given my overall skepticism about sources and their willingness to spin, I'm reserving my judgment until the WGA sends out details and their recommendations to guild members tomorrow.
But I did want to pass along a couple of observations. As a reporter, I have learned a couple of things during the WGA strike. The studio side has some crazy dysfunction when it comes to messaging & goals. More than once, I have heard entirely different takes on the same day from people on the studio side. Some of it could be spin, but it felt more like a reflection of real confusion from various AMPTP members.
And despite the WGA arguing they only speak on the record or not at all, that's not entirely the case.
Which is fine. The WGA needs to be able to push back against stories during negotiations by saying "We aren't talking to the press, these stories aren't coming for us."
My experience has been the studio side is much more willing to talk on background to reporters (or at least to me). Which is why you saw so many studio-centric stories in the trades. WGA folks generally seemed to be interested in just providing some off-the-record guidance, which tbh, is super helpful. Especially when they are pushing back against stories in the trades.
And while it's understandable that the WGA board members and neg committee participants continue to insist publicly that none of them talk to reporters, my emails and private messages would disagree. Again, it is fine to say that in public. They've been careful to hold to that public stance throughout the strike.
But I had one WGA person just unload on me in private messages today, both basically calling me a liar and also wanting to know who had talked to me. All I could tell them was what I would say to any of you. I'm a professional, I've been a journalist for decades. I'm proud of the fact that my reporting throughout the WGA strike has held up pretty well. And that's partly because I am careful and as importantly, I never disclose my sources.
What a strange trip this has been.
ON THE OTHER HAND
Although we don't like admit it, journalists hold personal grudges as much as anyone. Which is a bad thing because we also usually have the writing chops that allow us to take a cheap shot at those we believe may have done us wrong.
I would never do that (cough) but Puck's Matt Belloni seems to have felt as if a few people have done him wrong. Granted, his reporting track record during the WGA strike can charitably be described as "spotty," which prompted quite a few complaints from WGA members on social media. And I have to assume that’s why he took the unusual step of singling out a few writers for dismissive scorn in a piece he co-wrote today about the tentative settlement and what that means for WGA members:
Wow, that seems very pissy.
THIS SEEMS LIKE A VERY NICHE MARKET, EVEN IN THE 1970S
WHY IS AMAZON PRIME VIDEO REALLY ROLLING OUT ADS?
When Amazon announced last week that its Prime Video subscription service would begin running limited advertisements beginning in 2024, my email inbox was filled with an endless number of hot takes. Especially since Amazon has decided to make the ad-supported version of Prime Video the default for subscribers. Viewers who want to enjoy an ad-free Prime Video will have to pay an additional $2.99 per month once the advertising rolls out across the service.
So why did they make that decision? You've no doubt read a number of industry hot takes on the subject. And likely, most of them focused on the wrong thing. I posted a piece on the subject today and I think it's a good primer on why Amazon really made the decision to bring in advertising right now:
So given all of this, if you are running Prime Video and want to increase revenue, you don't have a lot of great options. Increasing the overall Amazon Prime monthly sub fee will only bring limited help, and products such as VOD (rentals and purchases), as well as Amazon Channels, provide some growth, but both are hitting their ceiling. Adding commercials is an option, but rolling out an ad platform comes with substantial costs, even though Amazon has plenty of experience in the advertising sector. In fact, you can make a pretty good argument that at the end of the day, Amazon is primarily an advertising company.
Deciding to make the ad-supported tier the default instead of the non-ad version is a very deft financial move. Rivals like Netflix and Max have taken the opposite approach, but because of Amazon's business model, that won't provide the needed boost in revenue.
For the record, I think this is a smart move by Amazon. But I also don't think it's the latest indication that we are "reinventing the cable bundle."
HULU'S EMBRACE OF TRUE CRIME CONTENT DOESN'T EXTEND TO ITS USER EXPERIENCE
I saw this tweet from the ATX Festival and it made me chuckle quite a bit:
It's good that Hulu is devoting part of its focus to true crime programming. Thanks to some aggressive licensing deals and new documentaries produced by ABC News, Hulu has a growing selection of true crime programming.
Not that you will be able to find it on Hulu's website. There's no spot for true crime programming under the "hub" tab. And if you click into the "TV" section, you'll find an alphabetical list of genre tiles at the top of the page. None of which are labeled "true crime." You will, however, discover a few randomly selected true crime shows and documentaries under a horizontal row on that same TV page. Granted, the true crime section is 13 rows down from the top of the page. But it is there, in what has to be best described as a criminally poor design choice.
TWEET OF THE DAY
ODDS AND SODS
* Season four of the CNN series Who’s Talking to Chris Wallace? can be seen exclusively on Warner Bros. Discovery’s Max, and will not air on CNN’s linear network.
* Season seven of Adult Swim's Rick And Morty premieres on October 15th and here is a first look video of the upcoming season.
* The WGA West will extend health care benefits through year’s end to members who were facing an October 1st expiration of coverage because of the strike.
* David McCallum, the Scottish-born actor who starred as the enigmatic Russian spy Illya Kuryakin on The Man From U.N.C.L.E. in the 1960s and found television stardom again almost 40 years later on the hit series N.C.I.S., died on Monday in New York, at the ago of 90. And while I'm not a big fan of endless NCIS spin-offs, I would have liked to have seen a spin-off based on the "Gibbs & Ducky: The Early Years" story that was part of the NCIS 400th episode.
* In the wake of the tentative WGA strike settlement, actor Matt Walsh has announced he will perform on Dancing With The Stars. ABC has also decided to air the season premiere tomorrow night as scheduled, after initially considering postponing it until after the strike was settled.
* Starz has canceled the sophomore shows Heels, Run the World and Blindspotting. It has also pulled the plug on The Venery of Samantha Bird starring 13 Reasons Why alum Katherine Langford. The latter decision is really interesting because the show had reportedly completed six of its eight episode order before being shut down due to the SAG-AFTRA strike.
WHAT'S NEW TODAY AND TOMORROW:
MONDAY, SEPTEMBER 25TH:
* Below Deck Mediterranean Season Eight Premiere (Bravo)
* Futurama Season Finale (Hulu)
* Halloween Cooking Challenge (Food)
* Kids Baking Championship: Bloodcurdling Bakes (Food)
* Kitchen Nightmares Season Premiere (Fox)
* Little Baby Bum: Music Time Series Premiere (Netflix)
* Special Forces: World's Toughest Test Season Premiere (Fox)
* The Irrational Series Premiere (NBC) - [photo gallery: 10/02/2023]
*The Voice Season Premiere (NBC)
TUESDAY, SEPTEMBER 26TH:
* Chappelle’s Home Team - Luenell: Town Business (Netflix)
* Dancing With The Stars Season Premiere (ABC)
* Savior Complex (HBO)
* 72 Hours In Rittenhouse Square (Paramount+)
* The Fake Sheikh (Prime Video)
* The Victoria's Secret World Tour (Prime Video)
* Who Killed Jill Dando? (Netflix)
Click Here to see the list of all of the upcoming premiere dates for the next few months.
SEE YOU WEDNESDAY!
If you have any feedback, send it along to Rick@AllYourScreens.com and follow me on Twitter @aysrick.