Too Much TV: Your TV Talking Points For Wednesday, August 24th, 2021

A bit more on Rachel Maddow, the Food Network gets into scripted programming & we don't learn much about Amazon's movie plans.

Here's everything you need to know about the world of television for Wednesday, August 25th, 2021. I'm writing this from the Twin Cities suburbs, where AllYourScreens HQ is powered by leftover Chinese food.

A WASTED OPPORTUNITY
Maybe it's because I'm a journalist, but I generally don't like interviews in which a celebrity interviews another celebrity or industry executive. It's not that the resulting interview will always be second-rate. But celebrities tend to ask the question they care about or ones they believe the audience cares about. Rather than digging into subject matter which might not be sexy, but it's the stuff that really matters.

James Corden just interviewed head of Amazon Studios Jennifer Salke at the Edinburgh TV Festival and I think it's fair to say that you won't learn much after reading her comments. Oh, sure, it's interesting to learn Amazon lost out in the bidding war over Mare Of Easttown. But I defy anyone to decipher the strategy in these comments, other than "try and make stuff people will watch:"

“You’re going to see us lean into more of a bigger movie strategy around various types of content, and that will be global,” Salke added. “Also just stay tuned for the international growth, which is coming, the teams are building, the relationships are growing, the content is flourishing, and more interesting and exciting original content [is coming] every day. So [I’m] hoping to really expand our global home for talent and the success we’ve had building that thus far into a bigger international growth strategy.”

MSNBC AND RACHEL MADDOW, DAY THREE
I hadn't planned on discussing this again today, but there is another round of stories about her new contract and my standalone recap piece yesterday received a lot of attention, including a mention in CNN's "Reliable Sources" newsletter:

This piece in the Daily Beast doesn't provide much in the way of new details, but it does reinforce the point I've been making this week: that the management at MSNBC has failed to think about her replacement in a serious way and now they are literally paying the price:

That knowledge left MSNBC president Rashida Jones and her boss NBCUniversal News Group chair Cesar Conde working feverishly to secure Maddow’s new deal in what has been described by multiple MSNBC insiders as a “face-saving” move—one that has bought the pair much needed time to find a replacement.

“I don’t think they have any clue what they are going to do when she leaves,” a person familiar with the situation told The Daily Beast.

I'm told that of the various offers fielded by Maddow's team from rival networks and streamers, the most tempting was a deal from WarnerMedia that included a series of platforms ranging from a weekly HBO series to documentaries for HBO Max and CNN. No one is commenting on any of the negotiations publicly, but I was also told that at least one of the offers was more financially lucrative than the NBCU deal, but that Maddow's preference was to stay at the network if possible.

SHOWTIME AT THE TCAS
Showtime did its second of two days worth of presentations in front of the TV critics of the TCA today. Not much news coming out it, but panels with the cast of Yellowjackets, Detainee 001 and Work In Progress.

Tomorrow is a day with ABC and they apparently opted not to do a second day, which is disappointing to me. They have a number of interesting shows coming up this fall. Panels will include Big Sky, Dancing with the Stars, Queens, The Wonder Years and the Disney+ Doogie Howser update Doogie Kamealoha, M.D.

THE FOOD NETWORK'S FIRST SCRIPTED CHRISTMAS MOVIE
Well, to be precise, while it's being billed as a Food Network production, the movie is actually premiering on Discovery+ in December. Here is the info, according to the Food Network:

The film is a discovery+ entry into original scripted content and built on Food Network’s exponential popularity during the holiday season. It stars Molly McCook (Last Man Standing), Aaron O’Connell (The Haves and The Have Nots), Jae Suh Park (The Big Short), John McCook (The Bold and the Beautiful), with the network’s own Ree Drummond (The Pioneer Woman) making her feature debut. The fictional story takes place during the holidays, set in the picturesque Peppermint Hollow, the Peppermint Capitol of the world. Candy Coated Christmas will deliver on the food-centric content that Food Network fans love and it will bring in audiences that enjoy the feel-good stories associated with the holiday season. 

I have no idea if the movie will be any good and to a certain extent, it doesn't matter. Christmas movies typically are pretty lightweight and I suspect this film will be just fine. And there's no real downside for Discovery+. It's a relatively inexpensive genre and it's not as if anyone is expecting Ree Drummond to really "act." But if the movie is a success, what can we expect to see next year for the holidays? Bobby Flay starring in 'Que For Christmas?

If you have any ideas, send them to me at rick@allyourscreens.com and I'll share the best of them in tomorrow's newsletter.

ESPN CANCELS RACHEL NICHOL'S SHOW AFTER HER COMMENTS ABOUT A COLLEAGUE
The Sports Business Journal broke the news today that ESPN has taken Rachel Nichols off its N.B.A. programming and canceled The Jump, the daily basketball show she has hosted for five years:

The show’s cancellation comes one month after The New York Times reported on disparaging comments made by Nichols about Maria Taylor, one of her colleagues at ESPN at the time. In a conversation with an adviser to the Lakers star LeBron James, Nichols, who is white, said that Taylor, who is Black, had been chosen to host 2020 N.B.A. finals coverage instead of her because ESPN executives were “feeling pressure” on diversity.

Nichols was unaware the conversation was being recorded. Taylor has since left ESPN and joined NBC.

“We mutually agreed that this approach regarding our N.B.A. coverage was best for all concerned,” said Dave Roberts, the executive who oversees ESPN’s N.B.A. studio shows.

There is a certain amount of suspicion in the sports media that the move was made partly due to her comments, but also because it gave the network a chance to get rid of a show that was critically acclaimed, but not a big ratings grabber. ESPN has recently been shuffling its schedule and The Jump was seen by some at the network as a show that had outlasted its moment.

I'M A LITTLE LATE GETTING TO THIS
The Hollywood Reporter's Seth Abramovich has am excellent interview with Brett Butler, whose addictions destroyed her hit 1990s series Grace Under Fire and in recent years has struggled to rebuild her career. So much so that she had to launch a GoFundMe campaign in order to raise money to pay her back rent payments. There are a ton of fascinating stories in the piece, but one that stuck out to me was this classic TV reboot that I would have loved to have seen:

Finding post-Grace gigs proved elusive. There was the daytime panel show that never came to fruition (getting co-hosts to work with Butler became an insurmountable challenge) and a close-but-no-cigar reboot of the 1970s detective show McCloud, in which she was set to play the title character. “[Former Viacom president] Doug Herzog was hiring me for that,” she says. “Then someone new who did not care for me took over the network. You’re not going to be everybody’s cup of anything — and I guess that might go double for me.”

SEE YOU THURSDAY

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