Too Much TV: Your TV Talking Points For Friday, July 19th, 2024

Do the TCAs still matter?

Here's everything you need to know about the world of television for Friday, July 19th, 2024:

PROGRAMING NOTE:
It is not your imagination, there wasn't a newsletter yesterday and I was seriously considering not doing one today. I apparently picked up a bug while I was at the TCAs and I am really suffering today. The problem is that even though I am physically sick, my brain is continuing to work in overdrive. So I might as well get these thoughts into a newsletter.

I still have some coverage from the TCAs that I haven't gotten finished, but once I'm somewhat back to normal, I'll post it all.

READER FEEDBACK
Earlier this week, I mentioned an old PBS roundtable series that dealt with subjects like ethics in journalism. But I couldn't recall the name. Luckily, newsletter reader Kim had the answer: "The old PBS series was called The Fred Friendly Seminars. They were held at Columbia University and hosted by Fred Friendly, a former president of CBS News. They were great. It's a little bit of an America we've lost. Some clips on YouTube and Vimeo. The older original ones are the best." Thanks, Kim.

SPEAKING OF THE TCAS
The Hollywood Reporter's Mickey O'Connell wrote a piece today headlined "The Television Critics Tour Is Shrinking - How Small Can It Get?," and while this isn't the first time one of the trades has written a piece with similar complaints, this article was a bit snarkier and a lot more unfair than the normal take.

To be clear, I will be first to admit that the Television Critics Tour has its issues. I wrote my first take on the subject in 2007's "Do The TCAs Still Matter?," which examined some of the issues then facing the organization:

Newspaper TV critics are rapidly becoming a dying breed, in large part due to the fact that they seem less relevant to a younger audience. The critics aren’t reflecting the changes in the industry, they’re not writing frequently enough, or about a wide enough range of programming.

They are also ironically being hurt by the very premise of the TCA gatherings. Ten years ago, giving a TV Critic in Cleveland access to quotes from Steven Bochco was great for both the critic and his newspaper. The readers didn’t realize he had the same quotes as the critic from Des Moines or Birmingham. Most people only were able to read the local coverage.

But with the everyday use of the Internet, that lack of original coverage is noticeable both to readers and to the management at the respective newspapers. And when it’s time to make job cuts, many TV critics are feeling the pain because there is a growing impression that the paper can now just get those Bochco quotes from a wire service.

The THR piece plows a lot of the same ground, but it also ignores some very relevant information. Yes, the TCAs likely need to be reinvented. But it's the same challenge facing every live event from Comic-Con to Sundance. Finding the right mix of outlets and approaches that best service the networks/studios as well as the journalists is a challenge.

Part of the issue I suspect the TCA is dealing with is the near-extinction level loss of jobs across the industry. I don't know what the official breakdown is, but the vast majority of the current membership appears to be comprised of either freelancers or very junior writers who are essentially just covering what they are told by their bosses to write about. I had one writer tell me this week that her boss told her not to turn in a piece on any show that hadn't been nominated for an Emmy. And that lack of expanse in what to cover makes the job of both the journalists and the networks a lot more difficult. 

But there remain moments of true content discovery at the TCAs. One of the events at the Paramount set visit was a screening and Q&A with the cast of Colin From Accounts, an Australian series streaming on Paramount+ that is truly a blast to watch. But it wasn't a well-known show inside critic circles and the event left participants raving about the series. 

It's true that some critics can ask some monumentally dumb questions, but when it comes to talent and preparation, every profession grades on a curve. Not every critic can be Roger Ebert in the same way that not every actor is Meryl Streep. There's no way to ensure you'll only have to deal with the most talented superstars and you learn to live with the imperfections. Believe me, I have dealt with a few less-than-optimal actors during interviews.

What the article glosses over is that having an independent Television Critics Association is bad for Penske Media. The company works hard to be "official" primary outlet for entertainment news. They don't just own the lions share of the big industry outlets, they own (or co-run) awards shows, festivals such as SXSW and ATX, and they also have a thriving live events arm. All of this has been designed to maximize the amount of money the company can extract out of the industry for things such as the lucrative FYC ad campaigns. So the less competition they have - the fewer other outlets that are out there breaking news - the better it is for their bottom line.

DAVID ZASLAV'S FEVER DREAM
There has been a lot of talk over the past few days about a piece in the Financial Times that reported Warner Bros Discovery head David Zaslav is exploring the possibility of splitting up the company to boost its stock price. And if I have learned anything after following the discussions is that a wide range of people really don't understand how WBD works or what it would really take to spin-off parts of the company.

According to the article (and its very clearly based on background info leaked by company executives), the plan would be to spin-off the company's linear TV assets as well as the bulk of its debt into a new company, leaving WBD with the studio and streaming business. And honestly, that idea is so monumentally stupid I am surprised the journalist's reporting this were able to crank out the piece without laughing hysterically.

Now there is a world in which WBD could spin off its linear channels to an equity firm, which would strip mine the still-profitable business for a few years in order to extract every bit of value from the enterprise. But that isn't possible if the new company is also saddled with tens of billions of dollars in debt. 

And if WBD was able to convince some sucker to buy this debt-impaired media business, it doesn't solve the company's streaming problems. Because a great portion of the programming currently on Max is created by one of the company's linear channels - ranging from HGTV to the Cartoon Network. Max would then have to license them back from this new entity, a cost which makes streaming even a bigger challenge.

But an even bigger issue is that Warner Brothers Discovery isn't primarily a US business. It has interwoven businesses across the globe and untangling them would be complicated and expensive. Combining all of these assets in the first place was a dumb idea that seems to have driven primarily by greed, hubris and advisor John Malone's apparent belief that we live in 1997 and bigger is better.

It's possible to turn Warner Bros. Discovery around, but it will require some substantial changes. Replace the executives at the top and change the incentive program from one that uses stock price and free cash flow as metrics to reward executives to a plan that focuses primarily on improving the viability of the company. 

It is so frustrating to see the company struggle to solve problems which are almost entirely the result of financial problems brought on by a merger which should have never have happened in the first place. 

WHAT'S NEW TONIGHT AND TOMORROW

FRIDAY, JULY 19TH:
Betty la Fea, The Story Continues Series Premiere (Prime Video)
Deb's House Season Finale (WE tv)
El Encargado (Hulu)
Find Me Falling (Netflix)
Lady In The Lake Series Premiere (Apple TV+)
LaLiga: All Access Series Premiere (Netflix)
Mama June: From Not To Hot Season Finale (WE tv)
Omnivore Series Premiere (Apple TV+)
Skywalkers: A Love Story (Netflix)
Spread (Tubi)
Sweet Home Season Three Premiere (Netflix)
Tell Me How I Died Series Premiere (A&E)
Too Hot To Handle Season Premiere (Netflix)

SATURDAY, JULY 20TH:
Abducted At An HBCU: A Black Girl Missing Movie (Lifetime)
A Very Vermont Christmas (Hallmark)
New House No Debt Series Premiere (A&E)
Vacation House Rules Season Finale (HGTV)

SUNDAY, JULY 21ST:
A Family Nightmare: Secrets On Maple Street (Lifetime)
D.I. Ray Season Finale (PBS)
Forbidden Love Series Premiere (TLC)
Professor T Season Three Finale (PBS) 
Snowpiercer Season Four Premiere (AMC)

MONDAY, JULY 22ND:
Bob Newhart: A Legacy Of Laughter (CBS)
Candice Renoir (Acorn TV)
Deadly Case Files Series Premiere (TV One)
Fatal Affairs Series Premiere (Investigation Discovery)
Great Escapes With Morgan Freeman Season Premiere (History)
61st Street Season Two Premiere (The CW)

SEE YOU ON MONDAY