Too Much TV: Your TV Talking Points For Monday, May 13th, 2024

Kevin Costner has some thoughts about "Yellowstone"

Here's everything you need to know about the world of television for Monday, May 13th, 2024:

WHAT WOULD YOU LIKE TO SEE?
It's Upfronts Week and given that it's the time when networks are looking ahead towards the next year, I've been inspired to do a bit of the same here at Too Much TV (as well as on AllYourScreens.com).

I am currently wrestling with a long-term problem that I haven't been able to solve. As you know, every Too Much TV newsletter is free and I intend to keep it that way. It's the best way to ensure people share it and that happens a lot. Most editions have two or three times as many people reading it as there are official subscribers. And several recent newsletters have hit the five or six times mark.

The free subscriptions continue to grow steadily and I am adding some paid subscribers. But not at the rate that I would like. And I get it. Paid subscribers don't get much in the way of extras and human nature being what it is, the "please show your support for what I'm doing" isn't the most effective pitch. 

So are there any other features I can provide that you would find valuable enough to encourage you to sign on to the paid subscription option? 

KEVIN COSTNER SOUNDS OFF ABOUT 'YELLOWSTONE'
I am a very competitive person. And because of that, I know when I feel a journalist has done a great job with an interview. Because I read it with equal portions of fascination and jealousy.

Deadline's Mike Fleming Jr. has an interview with Kevin Costner that is tied to his new feature film trilogy Horizon: An American Saga. But after an unusual number of comparisons to what Martin Scorsese is doing with his latest film, Fleming asks Costner about press reports that suggested he had unexpectedly bailed from the series Yellowstone. Either because he was tired of being on the show and/or because he wanted to continue work on Horizon. And Costner was having none of it:

DEADLINE: Seems like that happens when it comes down to an auteur showrunner. TV followed firm hourlong time slots, until Kurt Sutter told FX some of his Sons of Anarchy episodes ran long. Suddenly, an hour stretched beyond that. Taylor Sheridan has done a lot of other shows, including the epic Yellowstone spinoffs 1883 and 1923. That is a lot of output for one writer, while remaining the main writer voice of Yellowstone…

COSTNER: He should be the main voice of it and all those other things. But everybody lives with a contract and they were comfortable signing. Two companies have to sign the contract they signed with me. I’m a single person. I signed the contract. And I’m not a person who is [inflexible]; every season we didn’t start on time and every season we went over. I dealt with that through seasons one, two, three and four, and didn’t say a word. When they canceled a whole season to make room or whatever, I didn’t even complain about that. I’m only talking about it now. Five years ago, when they did that, I knew I had to be in position that if they ever did that again — if you do something once you’re capable of doing it again — that I would know what I was going to do. And I wanted to work more than once a year. And I’d only worked at that point in time once a year and I wasn’t used to that.

If you aren’t going to really start when you say you’re going to start and you’re going to fudge at the end — I understand production, I get that perfectly. Writing is really hard. I get it. But in my instance, I have real obligations. I had 400 people waiting for me on August 1, and I worked a nine-day week to help them as much as I could. And then I went to do my thing with 20 days of prep or 15 days of prep. Try making a movie that way.

Costner has a lot more to say in the interview and my takeaway from this interview and others I've read is that he has a very clear sense of who he is and what he wants to do with his career.

I especially thought this observation about the upsides of owning the movies outright made a lot of sense. A lot of stars aren't willing to trade an immediate paycheck for the possibility of a long-term payout. And it's impressive to me that Costner is making a $100 million bet on himself:

COSTNER: Well, the reality of that is the film lives and whatever are the viewing habits, I own it for the rest of its life. Would you want to own these two pieces for the rest of your life? Hell yeah. And every five years, license them around the world. Relicense them here in America. The difference is I own that, because of the risk I’ve taken. Why is Vegas there? It’s for all the people that lose to the house. Why are studios there? It’s because those movies continue to make money, well beyond their opening weekends.

DEADLINE: Even with the death of the DVD?

COSTNER: Death of the what? DVD is not dead, at all. That’s what they’d have you believe. Maybe it’s not making the same amount of money, but just try to go ask for that from the studio. They won’t give that up. A lot of people that like my movies, they can’t get to a theater, and they’re waiting for that moment. You can’t make your film for the opening weekend. You have to make it for its life.

FOX ANNOUNCES ITS 2024/2025 PRIMETIME SCHEDULE
(New programs in UPPER CASE; all times ET/PT) 

MONDAY 
8-9 P.M. — 9-1-1: Lonestar
9-10 P.M. — RESCUE HI-SURF - [first look video]  

TUESDAY 
8-9 P.M. — Accused 
9-10 P.M. — MURDER IN A SMALL TOWN - [first look video] 

WEDNESDAY 
8-9 P.M. — The Masked Singer
9-10 P.M. — The Floor 

THURSDAY 
8-9 P.M. — Hell's Kitchen
9-10 P.M. — Special Forces: World’s Toughest Test

FRIDAY 
8 P.M. — FOX College Football Friday/FOX College Hoops/FOX UFL

SATURDAY 
7:00-10:30 PM — Fox Sports Saturday

SUNDAY 
7:00-7:30 PM — NFL On Fox
7:30-8:00 PM — The OT / FOX Animation Encores
8:00-8:30 PM — The Simpsons
8:30-9:00 PM — UNIVERSAL BASIC GUYS - [first look video]
9:00-9:30 PM — Bob’s Burgers
9:30-10:00 PM — Krapopolis

ODDS AND SODS
* I reviewed the Adam Corolla animated comedy Mr. Birchum, which premiered Sunday on Daily Wire+.

* Late Night With Seth Meyers has been renewed through 2028. But what year will it be shifting over to MSNBC?

* Snoop Dogg and Michael Buble join returning coaches Reba McEntire and Gwen Stefani on the upcoming season of The Voice.

* MTV has announced that they are putting the Movie & TV Awards on hiatus for a year.

WHAT'S NEW TONIGHT AND TOMORROW

MONDAY, MAY 13TH:
* After The Flood (Britbox)
* Harry Wild (Acorn TV)
* Nova: Secrets In Your Data (PBS)
* Princess Power (Netflix)
* Spacey Unmasked (Investigation Discovery)
* Summer Baking Championship Season Premiere (Food)

TUESDAY, MAY 14TH:
* Doubling Down With The Derricos Season Premiere (TLC)
* Hostage Rescue Series Premiere (The CW)
* Pillowcase Murders (Paramount+)
* The Express Way With Dule Hill Season Finale (PBS)
* The Killing Kind Series Premiere (Hulu)
* The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon 10th Anniversary Special (NBC)
* Vanderpump Rules Season Eleven Reunion (Bravo)
* Who's Afraid Of A Cheap Old House? Series Premiere (HGTV)

SEE YOU ON TUESDAY!