Too Much TV: Your TV Talking Points For Wednesday, April 13th, 2022

Today, it's mostly about the streaming....

Here's everything you need to know about the world of television for Wednesday, April 13th, 2022. 

SOMEWHERE IN AMERICA, SOME BRANDING EXECUTIVES ARE WEEPING
Amazon is rebranding its free ad-supported streaming service IMDb TV as Freevee. The service began in 2019 as IMDb Freedive, before being rebranded as IMDb TV.

Why rebrand the service again? Sure, Amazon executives could figure out how to better differentiate the service from its parent Prime Video subscription service. Or the company could spend the money to launch an app with a useful search function and the basic features that should be the bare minimum requirements for any streaming service. 

But what fun is that when you can spend some money changing the name of the service while you increase content spend on programs that people are going to struggle to find?

It doesn't make sense to me, but hey, I don't work for a company making so much money it could launch 20 free streaming services with equally dumb names and never break a financial sweat.

My favorite part of this announcement is the quasi-mission statement in Variety's coverage of the launch. I dare you to try and translate this marketing speak into anything close to resembling actual useable information:

“We have been delighted by the viewer response to our modern television network in a streaming landscape,” said Lauren Anderson and Ryan Pirozzi, co-heads of content and programming for Freevee. “With Freevee, our current and future viewers will discover a home that allows creative talent the freedom to tell impactful, entertaining and inspiring stories; a service accessible to all and freed from time-slot restrictions and device availability; and a destination that provides customers with both new and familiar, escapist and engaging content — free of charge.”

Ooooookay.

CNN+ OFFERED LIVE BREAKING NEWS COVERAGE OF SUBWAY SHOOTING...FOR AWHILE
On Tuesday morning, I received this email from a reader: "So considering today’s news out of Brooklyn, what would having CNN+ bring different to me rather than me watching on CNN?"

That was a very good question and it reminded me to check out the new streaming news platform CNN+ to see how they were covering the shooting on the NYC subway. The event was happening in the streamer's backyard, so they presumably should have some coverage of the shooting's aftermath. 

Here's what I found.

BTW, I have an interview coming tomorrow afternoon with someone from CNN+'s programming side. Assuming everything happens on schedule, I should be able to post the story and link to it in tomorrow's newsletter.

TELL ME YOU'RE OVER 40 WITHOUT TELLING ME YOU'RE OVER 40
If the news that Amazon is bringing back the classic sketch comedy series Kids In The Hall gets you excited, then you are either a) a serious fan of sketch comedy or, b) over 40. Maybe 50.

Amazon unveiled a slate of ten new Canadian-produced originals coming to the streaming service and one notable show was a new season of Kids In The Hall, featuring all five original members of the group. While this refresh of the show wasn't a secret, today brought the official announcement of a premiere date (May 12th), as well as the addition of a companion docuseries, The Kids in the Hall: Comedy Punks.

Other productions in the slate include The Lake, a comedy set in cottage country that stars Orphan Black actor Jordan Gavaris, Madison Shamoun and Julia Stiles; an untitled documentary by director Mike Downie about the iconic Canadian rock band The Tragically Hip; The Sticky, an English-language dramedy set in Quebec and about a real-life maple syrup heist; Three Pines, which stars Alfred Molina and is produced and director Nathalie Bibeau’s true crime doc series The Unsolved Murder of Beverly Lynn Smith.

THE PROMISE OF NICHE STREAMING SERVICES
Sure, trying to take on Netflix on even Paramount+ requires an Elon Musk-sized wallet. But there is a thriving market for smaller, niche streamers and services that have a loyal subscriber base can build a successful business. 

I was reminded of this fact yesterday, when a publicist reached out to me about AfriakShrine.tv, a subscription-based service that broadcasts out of the legendary legendary Afrobeat venue the New Afrika Shrine in Lagos, Nigeria. 

Beginning this weekend, fans can watch three live performances from the club for the equivalent of $5 or you can watch all three for $10. The concerts will be available for replay for seven days.

But beginning on May 1st, fans of Afrobeat music and/or Nigerian performers of all genres can subscribe to the streaming service for $5 and will be able to access interviews, documentaries, concerts, and never-before-seen footage.

Does this content have a huge audience in the U.S.? No. But there is some subset of people who are really into this and I suspect that given the number of Nigerians who are living outside of their homeland, there is a definite audience for the content across the globe. 

As I said, this is a niche streaming service. But if you live Afrobeat music, why not get it from the source? And $5 a month is honestly a pretty low barrier to entry.

OTOH, I don't know what to make of the new streaming service Sakka. Deadline got an exclusive on the launch info for the service, which focuses on Japanese cinema. But I don't know how seriously I should take any streaming service that is launching with a catalog of only five films:

At launch, it will feature five movies: Happy Hour, the 2015 movie from recent Oscar nominee Ryusuke Hamaguchi; Shô Miyake’s 2018 feature And Your Bird Can Sing; Seiji Tanaka’s 2018 film Melancholic; Chihiro Amano’s 2019 pic Mrs Noisy; and Hajime Tsuda’s 2020 drama Daughters. Synepic said it was focusing on independent films and would be acquiring two further titles later in the summer. 

The short piece doesn't mention a cost, but given the paltry amount of content, I am guessing that it will be ad-supported?

TWEET OF THE DAY

ODDS AND SODS
* NBCU announced today that the syndicated daytime talk show Karamo has been sold in about 90% of U.S. markets ahead of its premiere this fall. Karamo has been a frequent guest host on Maury over the past two seasons. 

CHART OF THE DAY

WHAT'S NEW FOR WEDNESDAY
Here's a quick rundown of all the new stuff premiering today on TV and streaming:

Almost Happy Season Two Premiere (Netflix)
CMT Storytellers: Brooks & Dunn (CMT)
High Design With Kim Myles Series Premiere (HGTV)
Ice Age: Scrat Tales Series Premiere (Disney+)
Moonshiners: American Spirit Series Premiere (History)
Our Great National Parks Series Premiere (Netflix)
Smother In Law Series Premiere (Netflix)
Today We Fix The World (Netflix)

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

SEE YOU THURSDAY! 

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