Too Much TV: Your TV Talking Points For Friday, February 18th, 2022
Hulu's unpleasant surprise
Here's everything you need to know about the world of television for Friday, February 18th, 2022.
PROGRAMMING NOTES
Unless there is some unexpected breaking news, there won't be a newsletter on Monday, due to President's Day. Well, it's less about President's Day itself and more about the fact that my son will be out of school. But the bottom line is that I'll see you Tuesday.
To be honest, I didn't think I would get today's newsletter out at all. The power was out in my suburb for several hours and that did slow me down a bit.
THIS SEEMS LIKE A BAD CHOICE TO HIGHLIGHT ON THE HOME PAGE
Speaking of my son, I wasn't thrilled to see this at the top of my Hulu homepage when I signed on last night. That was a parent/son discussion I hadn't really planned on having right now.
BET+ ORDERS 'MARTIN' 30TH ANNIVERSARY REUNION SPECIAL
From a strictly cultural standpoint, the 1990s sitcom Martin was one of the most comedies of its time. It made Martin Lawrence a household name and its success inspired a whole string of similar television shows.
There aren't a lot of details about the special, although it sounds as if it will be more of a clip show with new original interviews than a full-blown cast reunion like the recent reunion special the Friends cast did for HBO Max:
The special, produced by Jesse Collins Entertainment, will feature interviews with cast members and directors, musical performances and commentary on the show’s impact and legacy.
“Martin is one of the most beloved sitcoms in our community, both because it is hugely entertaining and because it played a pivotal role in changing the narrative of Black voices in entertainment and in culture through the portrayal of young, ambitious Black leads and healthy Black relationships,” said BET CEO Scott Mills in a statement. “Decades later, that representation is still just as important, which is why we’re so excited to honor a series that put Black culture front and center on our platform that embraces Black culture everyday.”
The "healthy black relationships" comment is a bit ironic, given that the final season of Martin was filled with lawsuits, allegations of abuse.
Campbell left the show during its final season after filing a lawsuit claiming Martin was guilty of "repeated and escalating sexual harassment, sexual battery, verbal abuse and related threats." She returned to the show for the final few episodes of the series, but only after wresting an unusual agreement from the show's producers: whenever Campbell was taping scenes, Martin would not be allowed on the set of his own show. Which led to the unusual situation where the one-hour series finale painted Martin and Gina as a happy and loving couple, despite the duo never appearing on set at the same time.
The problems with Campbell were only part of Martin Lawrence's very public meltdown during that period, which appeared to be connected to a publicly undisclosed mental health issue:
During the past year the talented but troubled comic has been arrested for punching a nightclub patron, sentenced to probation for concealing a loaded weapon, hospitalized after ranting at drivers on Ventura Boulevard and twice accused in court of threatening women—his costar Campbell, 28, and his estranged wife, Patricia, 26, who described him in an affidavit as a violent drug abuser who “exhibit[s] irrational and abusive behavior toward me” and “who loves [their 16-month-old daughter, Jasmin] very much” but can-‘t be trusted alone with her. Martin’s troubles spilled over to his work, Patricia contended in her statement, which told of a taping last fall during which he sobbed uncontrollably and had to be “pushed onto the stage to start [his] show.”
Martin’s off-show behavior reportedly contributed to Campbell's fears about working with Lawrence:
Despite a temporary restrainíng order granted to his by-then-fearful wife on Oct. 30, Lawrence went to her room at the Universal City Hilton three weeks later, says Kirk Colby, president of a security firm Patricia hired to protect her. An unsigned note slipped under her door began sweetly enough. “I will do anything to have you back,” it read. “I miss my baby so much.” Then it turned menacing: “If I can’t have you then I will make sure that no-one [sic] has you. So come home now!!! If you don’t, then I will have to do what I have to do.”
After Tisha learned of those threats to Patricia, she quit Martin. The producers sued to force her back to work; she countersued, charging Lawrence with “repeated and escalating sexual harassment, sexual battery, verbal abuse and related threats.” Both sides settled out of court—with one condition being that Campbell would work only if Lawrence were kept away.
According to some later reporting, the lawsuit between Campbell and Lawrence was settled out of court, although Lawrence has also contended that Martin ended because he was ready to move on and the conflicts with Campbell were overblown by the press.
In a 2020 interview with GQ, Lawrence reluctantly discussed the allegations, although like the rest of the interview, his comments were more than a bit vague and passive/aggressive:
You did the show for five seasons, right? How come it ended?
Well, how can I say this? It just was time to end. Let's just put it that way. It was just, at that time, there was some, um, there were some things that was being said that—
You’re talking about Tisha Campbell’s lawsuit?
Yeah. Yeah.
I saw that you guys had been spending time together recently.
Yeah. Because none of that was true. It was all a lot of bullshit and—
What was bullshit?
Just whoever's side it was, it was bullshit.
Did you guys ever talk about it?
We don't need to talk about something that just didn't happen. So I just decided to walk away from the show. I just decided to end it. People said that I got canceled, but that wasn't the case. I decided to just leave the show.
Let me ask the question a different way: Do you understand Tisha’s perspective differently now than you did then?
I love Tisha. I've seen her then and now, now and then, always with nothing but love. I have nothing but love for her, and I always have.
Lawrence's comments apparently came as a surprise to Campbell, who appeared on the CBS daytime panel show The Talk a few days later and said she was surprised by his comments:
I can’t go into much detail about the past because there was a confidentiality agreement, so the gag order says no,” she began. “But what I can say is…I was actually kind of shocked.
Both stars have since said that they currently have a friendly relationship, which makes since given that it's been thirty years. But I suspect this is an issue that won't receive much airtime in the BET+ reunion special.
WHY DID PARAMOUNT+ ADD, THEN QUICKLY REMOVE, SURVIVOR AUSTRALIA/NEW ZEALAND/SOUTH AFRICA?
I've written in the past about some of perplexing content decisions made at Paramount+. And along those lines, Reality Blurred's Andy Dehnart attempts to discover why seasons of several international editions of Survivor were added to Paramount+ in the U.S., only to disappear suddenly several weeks later:
Australian Survivor, Survivor NZ, and Survivor South Africa were recently added to Paramount+, ViacomCBS’s streaming service.
That gave American Survivor fans their first chance to legally watch six seasons, including the first three modern seasons of Australian Survivor, which has been acclaimed and heralded by some fans who argue that it’s better than the CBS version.
Now they’re all gone from Paramount Plus, less than four weeks later.
Dehnart manages to eventually get an official explanation for the move, although it still doesn't make a lot of sense.
And by the way, if you're interested in reality television, you should be reading his site Reality Blurred.
TWEET OF THE DAY
ODDS AND SODS
* Amazon has renewed Harlem for a second season.
* The CW will premiere the new series Would I Lie To You? on Saturday, April 9th.
* Discovery+ will premiere the new competitive restaurant makeover series Restaurant Rivals: Irvine vs. Taffer on Tuesday, March 3rd.
WHAT'S NEW FOR FRIDAY
Here's a quick rundown of all the new stuff premiering today on TV and streaming:
Alien Abduction: Betty & Barney Hill (Discovery+)
Alien Abduction: Travis Walton (Discovery+)
Downfall: The Case Against Boeing (Netflix)
Extraordinary Stories Behind Everyday Things Season Three Premiere (Magnolia)
How I Met Your Father Series Premiere (Hulu)
Lincoln's Dilemma (Apple TV+)
LOL! Last One Laughing Canada (Prime Video)
Love Is Blind Season Two Premiere (Netflix)
Lov3 (Prime Video)
Painting With John (HBO Max)
Rabbids Invasion Special: Mission To Mars (Netflix)
Severance Series Premiere (Apple TV+)
Sneakerella (Disney+)
Space Force Season Two Premiere (Netflix)
Texas Chainsaw Massacre (Netflix)
The Cuphead Show! Series Premiere (Netflix)
The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel Season Premiere (Prime Video)
The Wonderful Winter Of Mickey Mouse (Disney+)
Uprooted (Discovery+)
Click Here to see the list of all of the upcoming premiere dates for the next few months.
SEE YOU MONDAY!
If you have any feedback, send it along to Rick@AllYourScreens.com and follow me on Twitter @aysrick.