Too Much TV: Your TV Talking Points For Thursday, August 29th, 2024

I have a suggestion for Netflix and AMC Networks

Here's everything you need to know about the world of television for Thursday, August 29th, 2024:

PRODUCTION NOTES
Just a reminder that assuming there is no big breaking news on Friday, this will be the last newsletter until after the Labor Day holiday on Tuesday. 

Because I know a lot of people read them, I am attaching the TV listings through Tuesday at the end of the newsletter.

NOT THAT ANYONE ASKED, BUT....
One of the biggest challenges for smaller networks and streamers is content discovery. You can have the most compelling content in the marketplace, but if few people see it, it's hard to make money over the long term.

AMC Networks finds itself struggling with that challenge. I'd argue that their lineup of originals is as consistently worth watching as any lineup of any mid-sized streaming rival. But because of the continuing slide of its linear networks and the challenges of marketing its standalone streaming services, the company has found itself with a lot of great original programming that few people have seen.

To its credit, AMC Networks has tried to remedy the situation. Earlier in the year, it licensed some early seasons of some of its show for a brief period on Peacock. And another deal has now sent a number of shows to Netflix for what appears to also be a limited period.

Which makes me wonder if it would be in the best interests of both companies to cobble together some sort of non-exclusive output deal. Maybe one similar to the one Netflix had for a number of years with The CW. The episodes of AMC originals would be instantly available on the AMC Networks streamers such as AMC+. But the shows would later be available on Netflix at the end of the current season. Making the deal non-exclusive would allow the shows to appear on both streamers. Which shouldn't be a problem because they appear to have very different audiences.

The phrase "win-win situation" gets used a lot, but it seems appropriate here. Netflix gets access to a lot of distinctive programming that hasn't been widely seen. AMC Networks not only gets a bump of attention from their shows being on Netflix, the licensing fees would likely close a lot of the current revenue gap on AMC's bottom line.

SOMETHING FOR TRUE CRIME FANS...AND CRITICS
The three-part true crime documentary Killer Lies: Chasing A True Crime Con Man premiered last night on NatGeo, but it's also available now on Hulu. On its face, it's a fairly straight-forward case about a massive fraud: a man named Stéphane Bourgoin spent close to two decades as the face of serial killers in France. He was constantly in the media, he wrote a string of popular books and was even asked by various French police agencies to teach their investigators about the behavior of serial killers.

But it turns out it was all a lie and the docuseries is partly about how he was unmasked. He is even interviewed several times by the filmmakers, who seek to get him to admit the worst of his actions. But the show is also about the obsessive nature of the true crime community and how ultimately it feels as if everyone is just hoping to insert themselves into the story.

The docuseries is based on a New Yorker story written by Lauren Collins and I recently had the opportunity to speak with her about the project. Here's a bit of that conversation:

I was fascinated by this story for a lot of reasons, one of which is that my first job working in digital news was for CompuServe back in the late 90s. And one of the most popular things they did were true crime forums. People just obsessed for hours trying to solve cases and come up with clues. So it seems sort of ironic or inevitable in a way that Stéphane is brought down by some true crime aficionados who have nothing but time on their hands.

Well, you were smart enough to figure that out, that the true crime audience is coming to the table with incredible enthusiasm, dedication, non stop energy, and as you said, this kind of obsessive dedication. But what's really interesting is that Stéphane Bourgoin, even after all of his years immersed in this industry and in this genre, really underestimated the intelligence of his audience.

I mean, he went on shows, he went on podcasts, went on the radio, and told these whoppers for years. And somehow he didn't think that the people who were watching and who were listening, who were really attuned to details through what they had learned in true crime fandom, he thought they weren't going to notice. And so I think it's very interesting that you picked up on that, and that wasn't something that was in the forefront of his mind. But I do think that Bourgoin failed to give true crime fans their their due in thinking that they wouldn't catch on.

One of the things I thought was interesting - particularly coming from someone who interviews people for a living - is there was this moment when you talked about how you thought, "Well, I'm gonna be able to sit down with Stéphane and get the final, definitive answer." You're convinced gonna to be able to solve this thing when no one else can, and at some point you realize that's not going to happen.

It seems like that's sort of the overarching storyline of this documentary. The idea that everyone wants to be able to tie these stories up in a nice bow. "Hey, I've solved it!" And you know what? In true crime, that generally doesn't happen.

Yeah, you're right. That is frustrating. Wouldn't it be nice to have all the answers and just tie up all the loose ends and know exactly what happened, when, and above all, why, which was the big question mark that I never felt like I could quite nail down. I have plenty of ideas, I have plenty of theories. But Bourgoin was never able to really tell me why he did this, why a person would do a thing like this and why he chose to do it. And I think maybe that comes from him not knowing the answers to those questions himself.

TWEET OF THE DAY

ODDS AND SODS
* The "reimagined" series Scare Tactics will premiere Friday, October 4th on USA.

* The crime dramedy The Madame Blanc Mysteries has been renewed for a seven-episode season four, which will premiere on Acorn TV later this year.

* Season two of The Devil’s Hour will premiere with all five episodes Friday, October 18th on Prime Video. The UK thriller stars Jessica Raine (Patrick Melrose), Peter Capaldi (Doctor Who), Nikesh Patel (Starstruck) and Phil Dunster (Ted Lasso).

* AI and the Future of Us: An Oprah Winfrey Special will air Thursday, September 12th on ABC. Talking heads include Bill Gates, Open AI CEO Sam Altman, FBI Director Christopher Wray and technologist Marques Brownle.

* Virtual MVPD Philo TV is going to unveil a new look next week. Although I have absolutely no idea right now what that means.

* Proving once again that HGTV can find a way to spin-off any of its hit shows, the network announced today that Retta, star of the HGTV series Ugliest House in America, will check out the scary instead of the ugly when she hunts for the spookiest properties in Scariest House in America. The series will premiere on Friday, October 4th on HGTV. I look forward to the inevitable series Smelliest House In America.

WHAT'S NEW TONIGHT AND THIS WEEKEND

FRIDAY, AUGUST 30TH:
* A-List To Playlist Series Premiere (Netflix)
* Breathless Series Premiere (Netflix)
* Inside The NFL (The CW)
* K-Pop Idols Series Premiere (Apple TV+)
* Lavender Fields Series Premiere (Netflix)
* The Deliverance (Netflix)
* The Serpent Queen Season Two Finale (Starz)
* (Un)lucky Sisters (Netflix)

SATURDAY, AUGUST 31ST:
* Andrew Zimmern's Wild Game Kitchen (fyi)
* CW Football Saturday Series Premiere (The CW)
* Head Over Heels (Hallmark)
* Killer Chemistry (Investigation Discovery)
* Twisted Neighbor (Lifetime)

SUNDAY, SEPTEMBER 1ST:
* Borderline (The Roku Channel)
* 90 Day Fiance: Before The 90 Days Season Premiere (TLC)
* The Chosen Season Four Premiere (The CW)
* The Daughter I Gave Away (Lifetime)
* The Great North Season Premiere (Fox)
* Snapped: Behind Bars Season Premiere (Oxygen)

MONDAY, SEPTEMBER 2ND:
* BBQ Brawl Season Finale (Food)
* Born Evil: The Serial Killer And The Savior (Investigation Discovery)
* Chestnut Vs. Kobiyashi: Unfinished Beef (Netflix)
* English Teacher Series Premiere (FX)
* Global Soul Kitchen Series Premiere (fyi)
* Margarita Series Premiere (Max)
* The Chicano Squad (A&E)

TUESDAY, SEPTEMBER 3RD:
* After Midnight Season Two Premiere (CBS)
* Chopped: Legends: Scott Conant (Food)
* Dark Side Of Reality TV Series Premiere (Vice)
* Last One Standing Season Three Premiere (Netflix)
* Phil Wang: Wang In There Baby! (Netflix)
* Untold: Hope Solo vs. U.S. Soccer (Netflix)

SEE YOU ON TUESDAY!