Too Much TV: Your TV Talking Points For Monday, February 14th, 2022
Now if there was an Oscar for picking bad scripts...
Here's everything you need to know about the world of television for Monday, February 14th, 2022.
WHAT COULD POSSIBLY GO WRONG?
If you have spent any time online, you quickly learn a couple of things. You never trust the results of an online-only poll. And you never, ever give people the chance to vote on some social media-driven "people's choice" award. In both cases, the possibilities for random trolling is high and you always run the risk of people hijacking the voting and delivering the win to some random - perhaps problematic - person or thing.
The Academy Awards have decided that what this year's show needs is some social media interaction. So in a move that feels more like 1996-era MTV Awards than real innovation, the Oscars announced on Monday that fans will be able to vote for a "fan favorite" film and the choices aren't limited to films who have received already received a Best Film nomination:
Starting on Monday, Twitter users can vote on their favorite film of 2021 by tweeting the title along with #OscarsFanFavorite and #Sweepstakes. The votes will count for any film, even if it did not receive a single Oscar nomination. Users can vote up to 20 times per day. The winning film will then be revealed during the Academy Awards broadcast, which will be held on March 27.
There is so much that can wrong with this idea. From devoted fans of the unnominated Spiderman: No Way Home waging a campaign for Oscar redemption to conservative media types mounting an effort to nominate the Kevin Sorbo/Mira Sorvino film The Girl Who Believes In Miracles.
Now I am not encouraging anyone to try and game this vote and nominate for a purposely bad film. But if I WERE going to do that, I'd recommend voting for the horrible Bruce Willis film Cosmic Sin, a movie so bad it would need a complete re-edit to reach the level of "waste of time.”
FROM SPORTS JOURNALIST TO ANTI-CRT CAMPAIGN MANAGER
Sports journalist Michele Tafoya worked the sidelines for NBC Sports during Sundays Super Bowl game, which was set to be her final piece of work for the network. Today, Tafoya announced she has been appointed as the co-chair of the campaign to elect Republican Kendall Qualls as Minnesota governor.
Qualls, who failed to unseat Dean Phillips from his 3rd District congressional seat in 2020, is the founder of TakeCharge, an organization dedicated to the principle that systemic racism can’t exist within the United States because there are some rich black folks such as Qualls.
Qualls certainly has an uphill battle in his campaign to unseat current Democratic Gov. Tim Walz. He recently tied for fourth place in a straw poll of Republican precinct caucuses attendees. Other Republican candidates in the race include former MN Senate Majority Leader Paul Gazelka, ex-state Sen. Dr. Scott Jensen, current state Sen. Michelle Benson, and former Hennepin County Sheriff Rich Stanek.
For Tafoya, the Qualls campaign likely feels like a good intellectual fit. In December, Tafoya faced criticism after she guest hosted ABC's daytime talker The View, where she defended those who refuse to get vaccinated against COVID-19 and railed about the potential dangers of Critical Race Theory.
WEIGEL BROADCASTING TO LAUNCH NEW DTV SUBCHANNEL
Another new diginet is launching in March. "Story Television" will air older programming from A&E and History and the focus of the network will be "fact-based historical programming." The lineup will include Biography, The Men Who Built America, World War II in HD, Modern Marvels, and Mankind: The Story of All of Us. The network plans to build each day’s lineup around a theme, similar to the strategy used by Weigel’s Decades Network when it first launched.
This latest move by A&E Networks further illustrates its decision to become a content arms merchant when it comes to older programming. A&E has licenses a select number of older shows to the streaming service Discovery+, while licensing other older titles to diginets such as Story Television or the E.W. Scripps-owned reality TV dignet Defy TV.
A ROM-COM YOU WOULD KNOW IF IT WERE AVAILABLE FOR STREAMING
A lot of times I can figure out why a television show or movie isn't available for streaming. There are obvious issues with underlying music rights or the ownership of the project is in dispute. But in a surprising number of cases, I just can't figure out the issue and that's the case with the delightful 1985 movie Murphy's Romance.
Directed by Martin Ritt, it stars Sally Field as Emma, who moves to a ranch with her son (Corey Haim) after a divorce. She becomes friends with Murphy (James Garner), an older widower who is slyly charming and a steady voice of reason in Emma's life. But any potential romance between the two is complicated not just by their difference in ages. But by the arrival of Emma's ex-husband, who tries to win her back.
It's a low-key, charming rom-com and if you enjoyed Garner in The Rockford Files, the character of Murphy will feel very familiar. And the on-screen chemistry between Garner and Field is strong and natural. It's a great romantic movie, but I don't believe it's ever been available on a streaming service, although you can rent or purchase it on the usual digital platforms.
This is one of those movies that people unfamiliar with the movie wouldn't rent. But I can see a lot of people falling in love with it if it were more widely available.
Even stranger, the soundtrack from the movie has also never been available, despite having been scored by Carole King, who contributes two songs that aren't available anywhere else: "Running Empty" (which runs under the opening title) and "Love For The Last Time," which runs under the end credits and is a really solid song.
BTW, if you don't want to purchase the movie, it is available for free streaming on the Internet Archive. A fact that I am not entirely convinced is legal. But regardless, here it is.
ODDS AND SODS
* HBO has renewed The Gilded Age for a second season.
* TBS has ordered a second season of the game show The Cube, hosted by Dwyane Wade.
* truTV has greenlit 101 Places to Party Before You Die, based on the best-selling book "101 Places to Get F*cked Up Before You Die."
* Season two of the TBS comedy Chad will premiere on April 11th.
WHAT'S NEW FOR MONDAY
Here's a quick rundown of all the new stuff premiering today on TV and streaming:
Aftertaste Series Premiere (Acorn TV)
Ali Wong: Don Wong (Netflix)
Devotion, A Story Of Love And Desire (Netflix)
Fishbowl Wives (Netflix)
Independent Lens: Bulletproof (PBS)
State Of The Union Season Two Premiere (Sundance TV)
Click Here to see the list of all of the upcoming premiere dates for the next few months.
SEE YOU TUESDAY!
If you have any feedback, send it along to Rick@AllYourScreens.com and follow me on Twitter @aysrick.