Too Much TV: Your TV Talking Points For Wednesday, November 6th, 2024

Hollywood can't sit out the upcoming culture wars

Here's everything you need to know about the world of television for Wednesday, November 6th, 2024:

HOLLYWOOD CAN'T SIT OUT THE CULTURE WARS
In this morning's video (available to paid subscribers), I talked a bit about what I thought what be the impact on Hollywood from Donald Trump's decisive win on Tuesday. One of the things I discussed was my belief that there was going to be a lot of pressure put on Hollywood to dial back on the diversity, which would include greenlighting fewer LGBTQ-friendly projects and casting shows with less diversity.

One of my readers disagreed with this a bit:

"One I would push back on is that all of a sudden, Hollywood is going to stop making projects with BIPOC or LGBTQ leads/talent, because of the election.

The buyers will buy anything that will bring them awards and money—period. They will still buy a SCANDAL or INSECURE or THE LINCOLN LAWYER or FAST AND FURIOUS for the same reason—they’re hits, and a hit is a hit. 

They will continue to pursue diverse projects with diverse casting because they want to bring in those audiences. What they will likely not be doing—and this started way before the election—is anything where its ABOUT the diversity, or any sense of politics around that. 

I agree to a point. But I think it's dangerous to assume that things won't go a certain way because of previous experiences.

While it's true that buyers will go for anything that brings them awards and money, they are also extremely risk-adverse. And given that cultural conservatives are already pointing to Trump's win as proof they are on the correct side of the cultural wars, expect to see a lot more pressure put on media companies to retreat from diversity gains we've seen in the past couple of decades.

It's the "stay quiet or I'll shoot this dog" approach to politics. This is all about fear. It's about making the price of supporting diversity so high that corporations will be scared off from doing anything but the occasional Black History month campaign. 

The problem with cowering to this mob is recent American history has shown us that winning a battle isn't enough. Like hostage-takers everywhere, the cultural purists of the conservative movement see this as a literal do-or-die cultural war. And once you win one battle, you don't celebrate. You move on to your next target. Republican legislatures move to restrict abortions, then move on to birth control. And now there are Republican legislators arguing that frozen embryos should be considered people and should be "adopted" and brought to term, even if the donors disagree.

Moves against trans athletes in high school quickly evolved into anti-trans laws, then laws that targeted same-sex couples. It didn't take long for concerns that schools were teaching Critical Race Theory to evolve into complaints that teaching about Rosa Parks made white students "feel bad" and that any book for children that portrays same sex parents wasn't appropriate for school libraries.

Liberals in Hollywood are convinced they're on the right side of history and that they can dodge the effects of the upcoming culture wars by pretending to play nice, while still producing more diverse programming.

I suspect they are in for a very unpleasant surprise.

WHAT'S WRONG WITH MSNBC?
I generally enjoy MSNBC's primetime lineup. Chris Hayes, Rachel Maddow and Alex Wagner are informative and partisan while still being willing to criticize "their side." Which is all I'm really looking for in a cable TV news anchor.

But as I have written before, even in a cable TV news universe where former political consultants and disgraced politicians form the core of every network's commentariat, MSNBC leans heavy into conventional political wisdom. Nicole Wallace, Lawrence O'Donnell, Jen Psaki, Simone Sanders Townsend, Michael Steele are just some of the former longtime political insiders who form the core of the network's primetime and weekend coverage. Both Psaki and Sanders Townsend are former Biden and Harris advisors or press secretaries and while that certainly brings some perspective, it also means their sources lean heavily in the direction of the administration.

And if there was one thing this election needed, was some independent perspective that wasn't insider-based. Because if the insiders are wrong - if they have blind spots that might cost them the election - you're going to end having some of the same ones.

I watched a bit of MSNBC this afternoon and the first thing I heard was a complaint that Harris never had a chance because of the flood of misinformation. And if that's your takeaway from yesterday's election, you should be put in some cable TV news version of a time-out. Not provided time to complain about the Biden and Harris camps got it wrong to someone who used to work in that world.

I've said this before, but the cable TV news networks are desperately need a content makeover. And given my politics, I am hoping that MSNBC is the first to start. Bring in some fresh faces, people from outside the Beltway, people who have never worked in Washington or for a national campaign. I like Claire McCaskill, but maybe it's time to allow the 71-year-old former Senator to retire as a paid political consultant moving forward. Townsend Sanders is fine and all, but at this point, I don't need to get a behind-the-scenes glimpse of the Harris Campaign or what Biden World might be thinking.

What I do need is to hear from people in the trenches. I want to hear from voices who have new ideas, reporters who cover the local and state stories we're missing. I don't need reporters who frame every issue as a horse race or who are constantly mentioning the texts they're receiving from insiders behind the scenes.

One thing is clear from yesterday's results. The Harris campaign misjudged the race and the dynamics that shaped it. Given that track record, I'm not sure that relying on anchors and reporters who lean heavily on those sources is the best way forward for any cable news network.

TWEET OF THE DAY

WHAT'S NEW TONIGHT AND TOMORROW

WEDNESDAY, NOVEMBER 6TH:
* Alan Cumming's Paradise Homes Series Premiere (Britbox)
* Feuds Turned Fatal Series Premiere (Investigation Discovery)
* Gangnam B-Side Series Premiere (Hulu)
* Love Is Blind: Argentina Series Premiere (Netflix)
* Meet Me Next Christmas (Netflix)
* Pedro Páramo (Netflix)

THURSDAY, NOVEMBER 7TH:
* A Christmas Miracle (BET+)
* After The First 48 Season Premiere (A&E)
* Alaska PD Season Premiere (A&E)
* Born For The Spotlight Series Premiere (Netflix)
* Christmas Cookie Challenge Season Premiere (Food)
* Citadel: Honey Bunny Series Premiere (Prime Video)
* Countdown: Paul Vs. Tyson (Netflix)
* Eat Slay Love Series Premiere (Peacock)
* Five Gold Rings (Hallmark Movies Network)
* Interrogation Live Season Premiere (A&E)
* Outer Banks Season 4B Premiere (Netflix)
* 10 Days Of A Curious Man (Netflix)
* The Day Of The Jackal (Peacock)
* Until I Kill You (Britbox)
* Unwrapping Christmas: Tina's Miracle (Hallmark+)
* Who's Stalking My Family? (LMN)

SEE YOU ON THURSDAY!