Too Much TV: Your TV Talking Points For Tuesday, March 25th, 2025

Bad news for TV critics on the content discovery beat

Here's everything you need to know about the world of television for Tuesday, March 25th, 2025:

STREAMING ALGORITHMS NOW BEAT WORD-OF-MOUTH FOR CONTENT DISCOVERY
A new report released this morning by Ampere Analysis argues more viewers than ever trust the personalized suggestions offered by streaming platforms rather than the traditional favorite - recommendations from friends and family. This is especially true for subscribers aged 25-to-34 and those in households with young children, who are far more likely to "trust the algorithm" than other groups:

One of the interesting takeaways from the study is that the percentage of viewers relying first on algorithmic selections varies quite a bit by country:

THE FCC THREATENS TO BLOCK MEDIA MERGERS BASED ON CORPORATE DEI POLICIES
FCC chair Brendan Carr tells Bloomberg he plans to consider a media company's DEI policies when determining whether or not the FCC should approve media mergers:

If there's businesses out there that are still promoting invidious forms of DEI discrimination, I really don't see a path forward where the FCC could reach the conclusion that approving the transaction is going to be in the public interest.

It's not clear that the FCC can legally use DEI policies as a reason to block a merger. But the battle over that question is likely a lot more time-consuming and expensive than many media companies would like to tackle.

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THE ARGUMENT AGAINST AI
If you read much of the Hollywood Trades or general entertainment press, you've likely seen a number of pieces that quote industry executives talking about how the increase in the use of AI is inevitable and the industry's creative class should learn to embrace its so-called "ethical" use.

But this fascinating piece in Prospect Magazine does a nice job of laying out the financial bubble that is the AI business:

Wall Street asked itself the same question after the release of DeepSeek R1 and panicked, wiping more than 15 percent ($600 billion) off Nvidia’s stock price, the largest single-day loss for a company ever. And that’s not the only bad sign Altman received about OpenAI’s future. OpenAI is in talks again to raise more money (less than a year after raising $10 billion) at a proposed $340 billion valuation. In most cases, a startup doubling its valuation would be great news. But for OpenAI, the money may make things worse. It signals a desperate need for cash and puts more pressure on a company that today loses $2 for every dollar it makes. As Zitron pointed out, at $340 billion, few companies have the liquidity to acquire OpenAI, and public investors expect strong returns and profitability to justify an IPO anywhere near that price. Plus, the latest round of funding is being led by Masayoshi Son, a billionaire investor known more for losing money than making it. Given Son’s Vision Fund’s disastrous investing record, Zitron said, it’s as bearish a signal as you could find. Hanging over all this for OpenAI is the fact that Microsoft’s investments in the company, which run north of $10 billion, are not standard equity investments but “profit participation units” that will convert to debt in a year and a half.

To recap:
- OpenAI loses $2 for every $1 it makes
- OpenAI projects annual losses of $14 billion by 2026
- To break even OpenAI needs to increase revenue 25x in just 5 years
- 33% of VC portfolios are committed to AI
- 5 AI-heavy stocks account for 29% of the S&P 500's value

This certainly sounds like a financial bubble to me

TWEET OF THE DAY

ODDS AND SODS
* If you want to know what it looks like when a studio uses selected leaks to a reporter as a way to divert attention from their own screw-ups, take a look at this piece in Variety, in which Disney "insiders" suggest Rachel Zegler's tweets are the reason why the Snow White remake is struggling at the box office. Not the insanely out-of-whack $240 million budget or the expensive miscasting of Gal Gadot as the scenery-chewing Evil Queen.

* According to census data, 63% of rural and small metro counties saw an increase in residents aged 25–44 between 2020 and 2023, more than double the growth from a decade earlier. So isn't it about time that a U.S. TV production company ordered an American version of the long-running British TV series Escape To The Country? Or maybe Cheap Irish Homes as Cheap Nebraska Homes?

* Former What Not To Wear hosts Clinton Kelly and Stacy London have a new makeover show. All eight episodes of season one of Wear Whatever The F You Want will premiere Tuesday, April 29th on Prime Video.

* Season three of America's Most Wanted will premiere Monday, April 21st on Fox.

* The new Bravo series Love Hotel will premiere Sunday, April 27th.

* Latenighter has a great look at the end of The Nite Show, America's last remaining local late night TV talk show.

* Disney+ launched a ESPN tile in Australia and New Zealand and I believe this is the first time the company has done this outside of the U.S.

* A new season of 1000-Lb Sisters is premiering Tuesday, April 15th on TLC.

* Season seven of the "immersive culinary" series Lucky Chow premieres beginning Thursday, May 1st on PBS

WHAT'S NEW TONIGHT AND TOMORROW

TUESDAY, MARCH 25TH:
Alert: Missing Persons Unit (Fox)
Bad Romance Season Two Premiere (ABC)
Big Boys (Hulu)
Chelsea Handler: The Feeling (Netflix)
Con Mum (Netflix) - (photo gallery)
Dark Side Of The Ring Season Premiere (Vice)
Family Legacy Season Premiere (Paramount+)
Frontline: The Rise and Fall of Terrorgram (PBS)
The Cleaning Lady Season Premiere (Fox)

WEDNESDAY, MARCH 26TH:
Bref.2 (Netflix)
Caught (Netflix)
Million Dollar Secret Series Premiere (Netflix)
Side Quest Series Premiere (Apple TV+)
The Connors Season Premiere (ABC)
The Grudge Series Premiere (Vice)
The Studio Series Premiere (Apple TV+)

SEE YOU ON WEDNESDAY!