Too Much TV: Your TV Talking Points For Tuesday, February 28th, 2023

Would you pay $5 a month to watch Chris Hansen?

Here's everything you need to know about the world of television for Tuesday, February 28th, 2023.

WHEN FAN SERVICE BECOMES PART OF YOUR BUSINESS MODEL
When my son was younger, he was interested in reading some superhero comic books. But the problem was that the Marvel and DC universes have so much backstory, so much mythology, that you can't just pick up a few issues and dive in. You need to go back and read this run of one comic and another run from a second one and maybe a compilation or two before the comic you purchased will make any sense. It was annoying and oft-putting and not a very effective of a way to build a new fanbase.

And I often have the same feeling watching the Disney+ Star Wars and Marvel universe shows. I feel as if I need to do homework before I can understand them enough to enjoy them. Fan service is fine. But I shouldn't need a whiteboard full of context and notes in order to enjoy an hour of television:

Now, I have no idea if this article is accurate about the new season of The Mandalorian. In what I am sure is a coincidence, I stopped receiving Star Wars-related screeners after panning the first episodes of The Book Of Boba Fett. But it feels accurate, based on what I've experienced in the past. To be clear, I really enjoyed the first two seasons of The Mandalorian, even if it did annoy me that after most episodes I had to spend time on Wikipedia uncovering the meaning of various Easter eggs and in-jokes.

I don't mind working hard in order to fully appreciate a television show. I just don't like feeling as if I won't completely enjoy it unless I do all of my homework as wellas the extra credit assignments.

ONE DAY WE WILL ALL HAVE OUR OWN STREAMING SERVICE
If you spent anytime watching Dateline in the early 2000's, you likely remember Chris Hansen. He was a fixture on NBC with his To Catch A Predator series, which focused on catching alleged predators trying to meet children online. Sadly, the ensuing years have not been so kind to Mr. Hansen, in part because his reputation for being very pro-law enforcement isn't the best fit in today's environment.

Hansen's latest project is a new SVOD called TruBlu, which he co-founded with documentary filmmaker Shawn Rech. The service offers about 140 documentaries, ranging from true crime to young priests who play soccer. There is also a scattering of original TV shows, including four seasons of Takedown With Chris Hansen.

But there's more:

The channel also features a growing list containing hundreds of hours of feature length films and documentaries, as well as programs exploring police equipment, technology, and methods. The channel recently ordered a season of Iron Sheriff, featuring Genesee County, Michigan Sheriff Chris Swanson, and Police: In The Line Of Fire, featuring retired Milwaukee County, Wisconsin Sheriff David Clarke. TruBlu is also quickly becoming the largest repository of law enforcement recruiting videos, on track to host over 1,000 such videos by the end of 2023.

Hundreds of law enforcement recruitment videos! Where do I sign up?

All joking aside, I'm not sure of the market for a service that costs $4.99 a month and offers such a lackluster amount of programming. But I guess we shall see.

ODDS AND SODS
* Follow four polyandrous relationships in various stages and their quests for more love in TLC’s new series Seeking Brother Husband, which premieres on Sunday, March 26th.

* FX chief John Landgraf and ABC programming head Simran Sethi will expand their duties under an executive shuffle at Disney’s TV operations, one of the first big moves under Dana Walden, who was assigned responsibility for the company’s TV networks after Bob Iger returned as Disney’s CEO: 

Landgraf will take oversight of National Geographic as well as Onyx Collective, the production unit devoted to projects from communities of color and underrepresented groups. Sethi, meanwhile, will oversee programming and development for both ABC and Freeform. She will continue to report to Craig Erwich, president, Disney Television Group.

ASSESSING THE WRITERS GUILD DEMANDS
Roy Price has a lot of experience seeing the industry from the perspective of a studio and network executive. So his piece parsing the "pattern of demands" released yesterday by the Writers Guild Of America (WGA) has a unique perspective you might not read anywhere else:

I would consider adding the following, in order of increasing boldness.

End free pitch docs 

• Young writers — well, all sorts of writers, I guess — are used by producers and managers to churn out free pitch docs for ideas and books that the managers want to produce. If the pitch doc is great, the manager has a hot project, if not, nothing is lost.

• This is uncompensated work. Work is work

• If you want a writer to read a 300 page book and produce a 20 page treatment for a show, you must pay a minimum

• I think this is a big issue. Happens all the time. Technically, I think this is against the rules but it is so routinely done that some mechanism needs to exist to enforce this. 

All development deals are temporary licenses — free the imprisoned projects!

• Too often, a great project is picked up by a studio and it doesn’t work out and the project is stuck at that studio dead in the water basically forever. The studio has invested a lot in various drafts of the script, so much in fact that no one will subsequently be willing to take on the project.

• This could be your life masterpiece and it’s just stuck because some exec got fired or for whatever reason. This happens to major writers and authors.

• Today the turnaround process can be ambiguous and technical 

• Propose that all buys are licenses. If development has been discontinued after three years or if the project has not been produced in any case within four years, all rights revert to the writer with an email from the studio disclaiming any interest and free of liens.

• (A similar concept could even be applied to films that have been produced. Should reboot rights always and forever stick with the producer of a film or should they under some circumstances revert to the person who created the idea?)

WHAT'S NEW FOR TUESDAY:

A Whole Lifetime With Jamie Demetriou (Netflix)
FBI True Series Premiere (Paramount+)
Hidden Theories Series Premiere (MHz Choice)
Homestead Rescue Season Premiere (Discovery)
Too Hot To Handle: Germany Series Premiere (Netflix)
When Metal Ruled The 80s (Reelz)


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.