Too Much TV: Your TV Talking Points For Friday, September 24th, 2021

Why aren't these dramas from the 90s available for streaming?

Here's everything you need to know about the world of television for Friday, September 24th, 2021. I'm writing this from the Twin Cities, where AllYourScreens HQ is powered by a severe lack of sleep.

UPCOMING NEWS STREAMERS CNN+ ANNOUNCES KEY EDITORIAL HIRES
CNN has announced some new members of the CNN+ content leadership team, according to TV Newser:

The new team features former NBC Nightly News executive producer Jenn Suozzo, who has joined CNN as the vp of daily programming for CNN+. Suozzo left NBC News last month after a 22–year run at the company, first on the local stations level, then at MSNBC before ascending to the role of NBC Nightly News executive producer in July 2018.

In addition to Suozzo, CNN has named Nancy Han vp of weekly programming for CNN+. She joins CNN from NowThis News where she was evp of News, and svp of news originals and content strategy before that. Prior to NowThis she spent many years as an ep at ABC News and senior producer at CBS News on a variety of programs.

There are a number of more hires and its going to be interesting to see what CNN+ looks like when it launches. Based on some of these hires, the service looks to be framing itself as a mainstream big media news service, just available on streaming instead of linear television.

DISNEY GAMBLES ON SPORTS BETTING
As Disney and ESPN embrace gambling, one of ESPN's high-profile NFL analysts, Adam Schefter, is investing with Patriots owner Bob Kraft in a gambling company. Bloomberg's Tim Obrien writes that while Disney has built its brand on being family-friendly, company executives increasingly see sports betting as a key component of its future:

Now ESPN is reportedly pursuing licensing deals worth at least $3 billion with sports betting titans such as Caesars Entertainment Inc. and DraftKings Inc. Those transactions could create ESPN-branded bookmakers. Disney also has a large equity stake in DraftKings and ESPN airs specials focused on sports gambling called the “Daily Wager.” Disney’s magic kingdom may end up unsullied by all this, or it may wind up with some adult problems on its hands.

30 DRAMAS FROM THE 90S THAT SHOULD BE STREAMING
I write about classic TV and streaming quite a bit and one of the things I've never quite understood is why so many dramas from the 1990s aren't available for streaming. I know that the 1990s were the decade when broadcast networks really began to lean into stuffing their shows with a lot of contemporary tunes instead of using generic stock music. But I would also guess that most of those shows are new enough that they would have separate audio tracks, which should make it easier to replace music without getting involved in expensive music rights negotiations or expensive editing around the dialogue.

Still, there are a lot of 1990s dramas that have never been streamed (as far as I can tell) and haven't appeared in syndication on one of the many classic TV diginets. Some of them are shows that only lasted a season (but featured some now-famous actors) and others lasted three seasons or more. None of them have any obvious reasons for not being available, other than a lack of of interest by the various streamers.

Here are 30 shows I'd love to see available for streaming, in no particular order:

1) Millennium
2) Dark Skies
3) Against The Grain
4) American Gothic
5) Profiler
6) Murder One
7) Due South (although this is available in Canada)
8) The Adventures Of Briscoe County Jr.
9) Snoops
10) Bodies Of Evidence
11) Moon Over Miami
12) New York Undercover
13) Space: Above & Beyond
14) Nowhere Man
15) Reasonable Doubts
16) Leaving L.A.
17) M.A.N.T.I.S.
18) VR 5
19) Covington Cross
20) The Byrds Of Paradise
21) Strange Luck
22) Charlie Grace
23) EZ Streets
24) Mr. & Mrs. Smith
25) Roar
26) Brooklyn South
27) Prey
28) Significant Others
29) The Visitor
30) Sleepwalkers

NOW THIS IS INVENTIVE PR
I often am arguing in this newsletter that the networks need to pursue out-of-the-box PR ideas. But even I will admit that The Washington Post reaching out to customers on Peloton is pretty far out there. I'm not sure how effective it might be, but I have to admit that it is pretty genius:

If you read articles about Peloton, they’re really a personalities-focused community. There are different instructors; they each have their own kind of hook. I’ve always been interested at the Post to try to build up specific personalities, and you have different audiences hook on to different people. And so I don’t think we ever took that as far as, Hey, I’m gonna get Jonathan Capehart on the Peloton bike and you can high five Jonathan Capehart. That would be one way to go about this. But that’s not really what ended up kind of being interesting to me.

The second thing is fairly simple, which is that Peloton users are already familiar with subscriptions, they pay a lot of money to have a bike and or the app. They’re people familiar with paying for content in some way. And so from an audience point of view, I’m very interested because we also sell subscriptions. And we also really want to tap into people who, who kind of get value from that, from that ongoing content for lack of a better word.

ODDS AND SODS
* Here's a recap of Thursday night's episode of Big Brother.

* Opinion: the cowardice of Conservative talk radio.

* YouTube Originals announces its new and returning programming for the fall/winter 2021.

* Vince Carter: Legacy, a new documentary about the NBA's longest career athlete, premieres October 1st on Crackle.

* The first three episodes of the five-part documentary The Way Down: God, Greed And The Cult Of Gwen Shamblin will premiere Thursday, September 30th on HBO Max

* Amazingly, the web site for the ABC animated series Clerks is still live and accessible.

* Netflix has announced Tiger King 2 is coming coming to the streaming service.

* Ayo Davis to succeed Gary Marsh as President of Disney Branded Entertainment.

* Family Matters, Full House and Step By Step are coming to HBO Max on October 1st.

* The psychological thriller Dead & Beautiful will premiere Thursday, November 4th on Shudder.

* The Hulu original The Orville: New Horizons will premiere Thursday, March 10th, 2022.

SEE YOU MONDAY (OR MAYBE THIS WEEKEND)

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