Too Much TV: Your TV Talking Points For Monday, February 12th, 2024

It was PBS Day at the TCAs

Here's everything you need to know about the world of television for Monday, February 12th, 2024.

SOME PROGRAMMING NOTES
Tonight's newsletter is a bit late due to a can't miss Charlie Puth performance at the TCAs hosted by PBS. And while Puth was great, I was most excited to see Bernie Taupin. I've been a fan of Taupin's for a long time and in fact I saw him live with his little-known band the Farm Dogs back in the 1990s.

The appearance was tied to the upcoming special Elton John And Bernie Taupin: The Library Of Congress Gershwin Prize For Popular Song and if you are young enough to not be familiar with what the duo was capable at their peak, Amazon's Freevee has a series entitled Classic Albums and one of the episodes focuses on the making of what is arguably John and Taupin's finest album, the two-disc Goodbye Yellow Brick Road. It's well worth watching, in part for the cool amount of archival footage included amongst the talking heads. 

I think the rest of the week should be relatively normal. There is a Warner Brothers studio set visit tomorrow, but that should be over by late afternoon. And Wednesday's NBC day also won't be running too late. Then on Thursday, it's The CW in the morning and then I am headed back home to my family waiting patiently at AllYourScreens World Headquarters.

I just wanted to mention how great it has been to run into people this week who regularly read this newsletter. It means a lot, whether or not you agree with my point of view. It's a cliche to say I couldn't do it without you, but it's very true in this case.

PBS DAY AT THE WINTER TCAS
In the past, PBS has spread out their presentation in front of critics across two days, but this time around it was one long day. Which is fine, but I think everyone was tired at the end of it all.

I did some interviews that will be posting over the upcoming days and weeks (depending on the show's timeline). I spoke with producers from Washington Week With The Atlantic, as well as interviews tied to the four-hour documentary Menus-Plaisirs - Les Troisgros and the Independent Lens film Space: The Longest Goodbye. Honestly, PBS has a wide range of really interesting shows coming in the next couple of months but it was challenging wading into all of the panels and interviews for the *13* programs that were promoted today.

SOME THOUGHTS FROM THE PBS CEO ON STREAMING
Because of its organizational structure, figuring out where and how you can stream current PBS content can be confusing. Some content is available for free through the PBS app. But other titles are behind a paywall, available as part of the PBS Passport membership (which you receive when you are a regular member of a participating local PBS station). And some current PBS content (along with additional programs) is available if you subscribe to a PBS service through Amazon channels.

PBS CEO Paula Kerger spoke to critics during an executive session on Monday and in response to a question, she explained how she sees the streaming business of PBS and I found it really helpful:

As people's viewing habits changed, we have tried to be very attuned to making sure that our content is where they (the audience) are. We are also trying to balance the economics of our stations and our producing partners. So producers on public television in the past, part of their revenue used to come from VHS sales and DVD sales and moving forward into streaming. We did some early work with some of the other streamers like Netflix. We made some of their content available and in partnership with WGBH together, we looked at the library of content that we're producing and we developed a relationship with Amazon that enables us to pay royalties to our producers.

But also that enables a lot of the revenue that goes into the investments that we make in the content that we share with our stations. Stations pay about half of our budget but the rest of that, we have to go out and raise. Some of that we do through philanthropy but a big piece of it comes also from this arrangement with Amazon. 

We pay a lot of attention to a few things. One is what is free, what is in front of a paywall, that's why we have been very aggressive in the way that we have built out the work that we do that's available in our free app. It is distributed in many places including on Smart TVs and on places like Roku and others or on your laptop, however you love to watch. 
We also, as we used to do with the sale of DVDs, we have some places that content is behind a paywall. 

And then for our stations, having built Passport for them as a way that we think not only is a benefit that viewers like to receive, but to be able to have access to a wider variety of programming. And so, we try to organize all this windowing in a way that it is not in conflict but that it supports each other. Some people love to have their Passport membership -- which is a really good deal, it's less expensive than frankly the Amazon channel which you buy as an add-on, in addition to having an Amazon subscription. 

But some people who have the Amazon channels really just want drama, that's what they want and that's where they choose to go. And hopefully by organizing in the way that we have, I think are able to keep our local stations strong which I think in this environment is hugely important. 

I didn't get a chance to speak with Kerger at the TCAs, but I am hoping to speak with her on this topic on the future. PBS is carving out an interesting hybrid approach to content windowing that is fascinating to watch play out.

PROGRAMMING SUGGESTION
Hulu didn't provide screeners ahead of time, but for those of you who enjoy South Korean dramas, the subtitled series Cleaning Up premieres tomorrow. Here's the official logline:

Divorced mother-of-two Eo Yong-mi, a cleaner at a brokerage firm, is addicted to gambling and struggling to make ends meet. One day, she overhears an illegal trade being made. If these high rollers can steal company secrets to make even more, why can’t she? She knows it’s a crime, but she’s in no position to be choosy and starts making her own foray into insider trading.

This 2022 series is a remake of a UK series of the same name from about five years ago. I enjoyed the original, but I've been told this take is a bit more series. I'll take a look at it and let you know what I think.

TWEET OF THE DAY

WHY ISN'T THERE A 'SIX MILLION DOLLAR MAN' MOVIE?
This is one of the stories that I wish I had written. The Wrap's Umberto Gonzalez and Drew Taylor look at the question and lay out a complex set of issues. Including the fact that for the past ten years, the theatrical movie rights have been held by Mark Wahlberg, who has been unable to get anyone to finance his take on the idea:

“This one has potential because the IDEA is so strong,” the producer added. “The opening of the show said ‘We have the technology’ and boy do we now. If a visionary uses it to reflect society as it is today, the concept can thrive and be amazing.  That’s not gonna happen with a 52 year old actor now known for Netflix rom coms and hamburgers.”

Ouch.

ODDS AND SODS
* The incredibly useful Substack FASTmaster has a look at how Black History Month is handled on the various FAST channels.

* Minnesotans have a weird inferiority complex that prompts people to try and find a local connection - no matter how tenuous - to celebrities and pop culture events. So there is nothing more on-brand that this piece which managed to uncover a few vague Minnesota connections to well-known actors.

* The documentary The Contestant will premiere Thursday, May 2nd on Hulu. Based on the logline, I can't wait to see this.

* If you're wondering how the ad sales worked for the overtime portion of yesterday's Super Bowl, this Ad Week piece explains it all. The short answer is that some companies buy ads that will only air if there is an overtime.

* While this is an exceptionally niche story, The Daily Beast has identified the longtime gossip blogger known as Enty Lawyer, who runs the web site "Crazy Days And Nights." Not surprisingly, the story is lurid and a bit creepy.

WHAT'S NEW TONIGHT AND TOMORROW

MONDAY, FEBRUARY 12TH:
* Bob Hearts Abishola Season Premiere (CBS)
* Killer Performance Series Premiere (Reelz)
* Lil' Jon Wants To Do What? Season Premiere (HGTV)
* NCIS Season Premiere (CBS)
* NCIS: Hawaii Season Premiere (CBS)
* Rock, Paper, Scissors Series Premiere (Nickelodeon)
* The Daily Show With Jon Stewart (Comedy Central)
* The Neighborhood Season Premiere (CBS)
* The Housewife And The Hustler 2 - The Reckoning (Hulu)
* The Space Race (NatGeo)

TUESDAY, FEBRUARY 13TH:
* FBI Season Premiere (CBS)
* FBI: International Season Premiere (CBS)
* FBI: Most Wanted Season Premiere (CBS)
* Five Blind Dates (Prime Video)
* Kill Me If You Dare (Netflix)
* Tatort: Vienna Season Three Premiere (MHz Choice)
* Taylor Tomlinson: Have It All (Netflix)

SEE YOU ON TUESDAY!