Too Much TV: Your TV Talking Points For Thursday, September 28th, 2023

Promote your streaming show like you're Pete Buttigieg

Here's everything you need to know about the world of television for Thursday, September 28h, 2023. 

PROMOTE YOUR STREAMING SHOW LIKE YOU'RE PETE BUTTIGIEG
I was speaking with someone on social media earlier today and I mentioned that some writers would now have an incentive to be out self-promoting their streaming projects, in order to make the new 20% viewing threshold, which would qualify them for the new WGA performance-based bonus.

And I quickly heard back for several showrunners reminding me they had already been doing that. As one person told me "I had to hire my own PR firm because the service refused to promote it."

I have heard that complaint a lot from creatives. It's been an ongoing problem at Netflix, but it's a problem that cuts across all of the major streamers. 

And there are a couple of issues at play here. There are limited marketing and PR resources in the best of times and unfortunately, those departments are also the first to get hit with layoffs when budgets tighten. The larger streamers - especially Netflix - are also releasing so many titles in the course of a month that it's impossible for all of them to receive the attention they deserve. Add to that the perverse PR system that focuses on the combination of a binge release and little to no promotion before the premiere. So a flurry of attention comes out timed to the premiere and then no one hears about the show again.

But if there is a financial incentive to juice numbers, then you want your show to be getting some kind of attention throughout the 90-day period which might qualify you for the bonus. Especially since statistically, most viewing takes place in the first three weeks after release. So in those following weeks, reaching out to audiences which may have missed it during the initial push is key. Particularly if you reach out with a narrative that allows you to attract some viewers who might have initially ignored the project because it didn't sound like "my kind of show."

To accomplish this, showrunners and other creatives have to be out there promoting their shows in the same way Pete Buttigieg promoted his presidential campaign. You talk to anyone who'll have you and that means some outlets that might not seem like the best fit for your project. You never know which audience will be the one to push your viewer numbers over the threshold. 

There are a lot of PR firms out there handling the initial promotion of a show. But I can see the need for firms who specialize in "second chance" PR campaigns.

This should be an interesting wrinkle in PR campaigns moving forward.

THE AUSTRALIAN WRITERS' GUILD SPEAKS OUT AGAINST THE USE OF AI
Following the gains made by the WGA in efforts to rein in the use of AI tools in the television industry, the Australian Writers' Guild has issued a position paper arguing against the use of unregulated AI in the creative sector:

The Guild, representing Australia’s screenwriters, playwrights, game narrative designers, comedians and podcasters, notes the risks of content producers using unregulated AI technology include:

• The degradation and loss of Australian culture in its most accessible forums

• The appropriation and erosion of First Nations culture

• The replacement of thoughtfully developed and realised Australian screen drama, theatre, and interactive content

• The loss of livelihoods for Australian creative workers

• The erosion of the skill base of Australian creatives

• The capture of players’ personal information and

• Exposing video game audiences to potentially harmful or offensive content.

The group has put forward a really thoughtful paper on the use of AI and this is an issue we are going to see being discussed globally, as companies seek to use AI to push down costs - even in territories where the production costs are already substantially lower than in the U.S.

AND THIS IS WHY AI QUESTIONS MATTER
Sometimes it's difficult to wrap your brain about how AI might be used in the television production process. Sure, maybe there are AI scripts or some scans of actors that get used in the place of background people. But imagining al of the ways the technology can seep into the day-to-day business of the industry can be difficult.

On Wednesday, Meta unveiled 28 personality-driven chatbots to be used in Meta’s messaging apps. Celebrities including Charli D’Amelio, Dwyane Wade, Kendall Jenner, MrBeast, Snoop Dogg, Tom Brady, and Paris Hilton lent their voices to their effort. These early efforts are both cringe-worthy and stretching the definition of what it means to be a "celebrity." But still, it gives you an idea of where this technology is headed.

So imagine if you're a streamer with a hot YA franchise. You can pretty easily use AI to ingest every episode of the show, then use the dialogue to train the AI to create a chatbot that can talk in voice of every character in the show. That opens up all sorts of legal and financial ramifications and the new tentative MBA just scratches the surface of the issue. I have this suspicion that despite everyone's best efforts, we are going to see real Wild West behavior from some of the studios, as they seek to monetize their IP by pushing the envelope on what it permissible.

THIS IS NOT WHAT I PICTURE WHEN I THINK OF SAUDI ARABIA
Whip Media just published a paper on FAST viewership worldwide and there are a lot of great takeaways. Including the fact that anime is apparently very popular in Saudi Arabia:

ODDS AND SODS
* I may have an answer to the question "what is the worst hour of programming currently streaming on Tubi?"

* Fifteen years after being stranded on a remote island, an aspiring singer reenters society — stopping at nothing to pursue her dream of becoming a star on Castaway Diva, which premieres October 28th on Netflix.

* Here are the today's ten global TV stories you should know.

*Chrishell Stause and Diora Baird star as a lesbian couple headed on a babymoon to a remote mountain town that isn’t as peaceful as it seems in the Lifetime movie You're Not Supposed To Be Here, which premieres Saturday, November 4th on Lifetime.

* Season two of The Haunted Museum premieres Thursday, October 26th on The Travel Channel.

* Oxygen is premiering its newest true crime series Real Murders Of Los Angeles on Friday, October 6th.

* Danny Glover will play Santa Claus in the upcoming original movie The Naughty Nine, which premieres Wednesday, November 22nd, on Disney/Disney+

* Season eight of The Real Housewives Of The Potomac premieres Sunday, November 5th, on Bravo.

NO THANKS, I'M WAITING FOR THE "SAG-AFTRA STRIKE IS OVER!" DISCOUNT

WHAT'S NEW TODAY AND TOMORROW:

THURSDAY, SEPTEMBER 28TH, 2023:
* A Guard And Her Dog (Crunchyroll)
* A Really Haunted Loud House (Nickelodeon)
* A Time To Kill Season Premiere (Investigation Discovery)
* Bachelor In Paradise Season Premiere (ABC)
* Castlevania: Nocturne (Netflix)
* Dino Pops (Peacock)
* Hell's Kitchen Season Premiere (Fox)
* Ice Cold: Murder, Coffee And Jessica Wongso (Netflix)
* Lego Masters Season Premiere (Fox)
* Love & Murder: Atlanta Playboy (Part Two) (BET+)
* Love Is In The Air (Netflix)
* People's Choice Country Awards (NBC)
* Sasaki And Miyano: Graduation [subtitled] (Crunchyroll)
* Starstruck (Max)
* The Darkness Within La Luz del Mundo (Netflix)
* The Golden Bachelor Series Premiere (ABC)
* The Hunt For Raoul Moat (Britbox)
* The Kardashians Season Premiere (Hulu)
* The Swan (Netflix)
* The Vanishing Triangle (Sundance Now)
* Toya & Reginae Season One Finale (WEtv)

FRIDAY, SEPTEMBER 29TH, 2023:
* Choona (Netflix)
* Dateline Season Premiere (NBC)
* Disney's Launchpad (Disney+)
* Do Not Disturb (Netflix)
* Frieren: Beyond Journey's End [dubbed and subtitled] (Crunchyroll)
* Flora & Son (Apple TV+)
* Frieren: Beyond Journey’s End (Crunchyroll)
* Gen V Series Premiere (Prime Video)
* Gold Rush Season Premiere (Discovery)
* Interrupting Chicken Season Two Premiere (Apple TV+)
* Killer Cases Season Premiere (A&E)
* Marvel Studios Legends (Disney+)
* Murder In The 21st Century Series Premiere (A&E)
* Mystery Island (Hallmark Movies And Mysteries)
* Nightmare (Shudder) 
* Nowhere (Netflix)
* Power Rangers Cosmic Fury (Netflix)
* Real Time With Bill Maher Season Premiere (HBO)
* Rebuilding Black Wall Street (OWN)
* Reptile (Netflix)
* 72nd Miss USA Pageant (The CW)
* Shark Tank Season Premiere (ABC)
* The Great Baking Show Season Premiere (Netflix)
* The New York Times Presents How To Fix A Pageant (FX)
* The Ratcatcher (Netflix)
*20/20 Season Premiere (ABC)

Click Here to see the list of all of the upcoming premiere dates for the next few months.

SEE YOU FRIDAY!

If you have any feedback, send it along to Rick@AllYourScreens.com and follow me on Twitter @aysrick.