Too Much TV: Your TV Talking Points For Thursday, October 7th, 2021

Sleeping more isn't always a good thing....

Here's everything you need to know about the world of television for Thursday, October 7th, 2021. I'm writing this from the Twin Cities, where AllYourScreens HQ managed to fall asleep early last night. Which was probably great for my health, not so great for getting my newsletter out on time.

IN DEFENSE OF CHRIS HAYES
One of the things that happens a lot if you regularly write about the media is that you get a lot of people at the various networks who want to influence your reporting. Sometimes the pitches are fairly benign: "Hey, you've been writing about X, have you ever considered also covering X?" But it's not uncommon to be pitched in a way that is a bit more manipulative. Early in my career, I used to get these frequent pitches from someone at Fox News PR, offering up negative ratings info and other stuff about the channel's rivals if I wouldn't include that they were the source of the information. 

And that happens fairly frequently now, especially from network PR people who want to provide "context" or pitch a certain narrative for the network. And then there are the pitches from personal publicists and other interested parties - all hoping to shape the way I write about their client, network or business. These contacts aren't necessarily bad, but I am always skeptical when it happens. Part of the trick is attempting to determine the motivation behind the pitches, because sometimes that is a much better story than the narrative I'm being pitched.

I've been writing about MSNBC since the days when I was freelancing in between regular media jobs. I've watched the network evolve through a number of phases and management initiatives. I'm also a regular viewer of the network, which likely makes me a bit more opinionated about the network's programming than the average media reporter.

One of my long-term criticisms has been that network management (and the management of NBC News in general) still tend to see MSNBC's primetime programming as a necessary evil. They are much more comfortable with the daytime programming mix of news stories and network contributors than the more difficult mix of context and opinion that fuels the three primetime shows hosted by Chris Hayes, Rachel Maddow and Lawrence O'Donnell. Although O'Donnell's show is really only a small evolution away from what viewers will find in the daytime hours of the network.

As I've written before, the overwhelming success of Maddow has been a mixed blessing for the management at MSNBC. Her approach to the medium of cable news is so unique that she has really invented a new format for the network. And faced with that, MSNBC could lean into her approach and encourage similar anchors and unusual approaches. Especially since the network could use Peacock as a low-cost place to experiment. Instead, the network has decided to double down on the daytime programming approach. Various network people have been regularly reaching out with stories about Nicole Wallace's possible move into Maddow's spot when she exits her M-F schedule at some point next year.

I am recapping all of this because it provides some context into my thoughts about Chris Hayes, whose shows leads into Maddow's each night. Like Maddow, Hayes was not a natural fit for television. His first regular show for MSNBC was 2011's Up With Chris Hayes and the early shows were rough as he adapted to television. But even then, his show had a distinctive editorial approach. It was a roundtable that wasn't boring, feeling more like a conversation over breakfast with some of the coolest young voices in American politics.

When he moved to primetime in 2013, All In With Chris Hayes was a reflection of his editorial point of view. But it was also a pretty traditional cable news show. But the eventual success of Maddow's approach gave Hayes a bit more cover to experiment and his show evolved into its own distinctive editorial mix. His A-block editorial/commentary each night is a textbook example of what you want in a cable news show. Yes, he obviously has a political point of view and he is comfortable expressing it. But unlike the competition on Fox, it's never 90% opinion and 10% vague facts. He backs up what he says with figures and builds an argument with context and relevance in the same way that he used to craft arguments back in his early blogging days.

I am as much a fan of his show as I am of Maddow's and I wish that some of the network's management felt the same way. But over the past weeks I've heard all sorts of stories about how Hayes doesn't fit in with the network's post-Maddow future. That his show doesn't get her ratings (who does?) and that Katy Tur or one of a half dozen other current MSNBC anchors (primarily the female ones) would be a better with a Nicole Wallace primetime show.

To be blunt, this argument is one of the dumbest ones I've heard in a long time. Katy Tur is a fine anchor - she has her own strengths. But the primetime audience has very different expectations and it's ludicrous to expect the viewers who currently watch Hayes would be happy with Tur's much more corporate approach to cable news. The truth is that there is some concern among network executives that having Hayes on just before Nicole Wallace (or someone similar) would only highlight the difference in approaches between the two shows. Which I think is a valid concern. But the answer isn't to push Hayes out.

Chris Hayes is one of the best voices in cable news and the fact that some at MSNBC are attempting to quietly trash talk him on background is not a positive sign for the network's future.

SPEAKING OF POLITICAL COVERAGE
For all of the complaints about the vapidity of the average cable news show, the print side of political journalism isn't much better. The art of Hunter Biden is "Driving The Day?"

DRIVING CONTENT DISCOVERY
I've written a lot about content discovery and someone from Hulu reached out to me this morning to let me know that the service has had an "exceptional success" driving viewers to watch episodes of the old ABC cop series Castle. Reruns of the show were recently picked up by Lifetime and Hulu had been highlighting the show in that big top promo window that greets users when they sign into their profile. I was told the response to that move had been very strong, but as is the case with almost all streaming metrics, there weren't a lot of specifics attached to the claim. Still, it's interesting to see how even a show that has been available on streaming for a long time can get a boost with the right promotion.

THE BEST INTERVIEW YOU'LL READ TODAY
Courtney A. Kemp is one of my favorite showrunner/producers in the business. She has a distinctive, creative voice and under a deal with Lionsgate, she created the series Power, which has spawned five spin-offs and arguably kept Starz afloat as a viable streaming option. In August, she signed a new deal with Netflix and in this interview with The Hollywood Reporter, she displays some of the reasons why I love her work. When asked the inevitable question about whether she would ever write a script for one of the Power shows, she frames it in a way that isn't about her, but about her staff:

But there are people — Ryan Murphy and the American Story shows come to mind — who haven’t extricated themselves from old business. As a perfectionist, is it going to be easy for you to not write an episode here and there?

I’ll answer it this way: If I write an episode of one of those series, I’m actually taking money out of the pocket of writers on those series who would have been assigned and gotten paid to write it. I wouldn’t look to do that, no. I’m experiencing grief around leaving the franchise, of course, but it was necessary. That job had become so much about the business of the show, as opposed to being able to really tell stories. You get an empire, and it’s not the same anymore. At some point, Mrs. Fields stopped baking the cookies.

And these comments about the type of shows that matter to her:

I want to challenge my audience. I want to be pushed or to push people. I love honest, frank talk about race, gender and sexuality. It’s not a small thing to me. When we were creating the characters in Ghost, one of the sons in the drug-dealing family is gay and has a relationship. There were people who were like, “You shouldn’t do that because the audience won’t like it.” Well, if you make a show about people who are college-age in 2021 and everyone is straight, you’re an asshole. You’re an asshole if you make that show.

FACTOID OF THE DAY

SEE YOU FRIDAY

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