Too Much TV: Your TV Talking Points For Tuesday, January 3rd, 2023
Sometimes it's all about building the brand....
Here's everything you need to know about the world of television for Tuesday, January 3rd, 2023.
BUILDING OUT THE BRAND
Paramount+ has a fascinating three-part documentary series premiering today and it's a reminder of how little effort the streamer is putting into the company's musical heritage.
Sometimes When We Touch takes a look at the rise, fall and resurrection of 1970s-era Soft Rock and it is jammed with archival footage and new original interviews. If you have any interest in that music, some of the revelations will surprise you - from the news that the two guys who invented the term "Yacht Rock" never made a dime off of the idea to a powerful interview with Toni Tennille (of the Captain & Tennille), who discusses how the duo's carefully constructed romantic marriage was built on a lie. As it turns, out the Captain was "a pretty odd duck" and never even told his then-wife he loved her:
"It was hard. The first few years I kept...hoping. I couldn't make him fall in love with me. I'd hoped he would. But as the years went by I realized he was not capable of that. But I know he admired me tremendously."
She also talks about how she wrote their hit "The Way That I Want To Touch You" about her inability to connect emotionally with Daryl (The Captain) Dragon:
"But throughout that entire relationship with Daryl, I never, ever cheated on him. I never had an affair. He was the only man that interested me. And even though I couldn't have him the way I wanted him, whenever I had erotic dreams...he was the guy in those dreams."
The documentary is a solid fit for the streamer and it perfectly fits the demo of Paramount+. But it's also a reminder that there is so much more the company can be doing to service these music fans.
Based on the documentary, I would order an interview series that focused on that era of music. It's cheap to produce and a lot of those artists have compelling personal stories that aren't familiar to anyone but super fans. And it's not clear to me why Paramount+ doesn't offer any live music channels, given they have both linear music networks as well as some FAST music channels. Being able to offer a soft rock streaming channel in conjunction with the premiere of this documentary feels like an easy call.
And while budgets are tight at Paramount, there are some ways to creatively produce reality programming that could have a home both on linear television as well as on Paramount+.
I would argue that of all the Paramount TV brands, MTV is one of the strongest ones and playing to the nostalgia of that makes a lot of sense.
THE HIDDEN COSTS OF CHEAP TVS
Most things, such as food and medical care, are up from 80 to 200 percent since the year 2000; TVs are down 97 percent, more than any other product. As this piece in Atlantic notes, the reason is because manufacturers are watching what you do and monetizing your behavior:
Smart TVs are just like search engines, social networks, and email providers that give us a free service in exchange for monitoring us and then selling that info to advertisers leveraging our data. These devices “are collecting information about what you’re watching, how long you’re watching it, and where you watch it,” Willcox said, “then selling that data—which is a revenue stream that didn’t exist a couple of years ago.” There’s nothing particularly secretive about this—data-tracking companies such as Inscape and Samba proudly brag right on their websites about the TV manufacturers they partner with and the data they amass.
While this tracking might not seem like a big revenue stream at first glance, it turns out to be a very robust revenue stream:
This can all add up to a lot of money. Roku earned $2.7 billion in 2021. Almost 83 percent of that came from what Roku calls “platform revenue,” which includes ads shown in the interface. And Roku isn’t the only company offering such software: Google, Amazon, LG, and Samsung all have smart-TV-operating systems with similar revenue models.
This all means that, whatever you’re watching on your smart TV, algorithms are tracking your habits. This influences the ads you see on your TV, yes, but if you connect your Google or Facebook account to your TV, it will also affect the ads you see while browsing the web on your computer or phone. In a sense, your TV now isn’t that different from your Instagram timeline or your TikTok recommendations. There’s an old joke: “In America, you watch television; in Soviet Russia, television watches you!” In 2022, TVs track your activity to an extent the Soviets could only dream of. But hey, at least that television is really, really cheap.
To be super picky, the "old joke" actually comes from 1970s comic Yakov Smirnoff, whose gimmick was doing jokes for American audiences about the depressing state of life in the Soviet Union.
WHAT'S GOING ON WITH NETFLIX'S 'WEDNESDAY?'
I talk a lot about the need for more transparency in the industry - at least as much as possible - and the dangers of letting the press write your story for you. And a textbook example of that is the weirdness surrounding the future of Netflix's original series Wednesday. Season one has proven to be wildly successful and the show has been the most-watched series on the streamer for a number of weeks. But for reasons that aren't clear, the series hasn't been publicly picked up for a second season, even though producers are publicly exploring locations for the season. And that lack of clarity about the show's future has led to some fairly wild speculation.
On Monday, The Independent reported that Wednesday could be leaving Netflix in favor of an Amazon property, likely Prime Video, for season two. The theory being that the underlying IP is owned by MGM, which is now owned by Amazon. And since Netflix hasn't officially renewed the show, that must mean it is headed somewhere else.
Today, Indiewire published a piece pushing back against that narrative, albeit by also relying on unnamed sources:
The “Wednesday” deal between Netflix and MGM were locked in long before Amazon purchased MGM, a person with knowledge of the situation told IndieWire for this story.
Reps for Netflix and Amazon did not immediately respond to our requests for comment.
As I said, the fact the show hasn't been officially renewed is odd. Although I do recall a Netflix executive telling me that internal metrics show that generally viewing numbers drop off after a show has been renewed. Apparently because people then decide they have plenty of time to watch the series before the next season premieres. So perhaps the show's renewal will be announced once the viewer numbers for Wednesday begin to aggressively taper off.
But it gets back to my original premise. If a company doesn't provide a narrative to the press and its customers, someone else will do it for them.
FOR YOUR CONSIDERATION | 'THE BANSHEES OF INISHERIN' (SPONSORED AD)
ODDS AND SODS
* According to a piece in Puck, House of The Dragon's co-showrunner Miguel Sapochnik left the show because HBO refused to let his wife Alexis Raben join the producing team of the show. After mediation, he left the show and changed agents. A move which reportedly cost him millions.
* Game of Thrones author George R.R. Martin posted on his blog that the company’s restructuring has led to some potential Game of Thrones spinoffs being shelved, though others remain in development.
* Simon Cowell said in an interview that he is in talks with NBC to bring back The X Factor to U.S. audiences.
* I forgot Entertainment Weekly stopped running this year, and that used to be one of my main magazines.
WHAT'S NEW FOR TUESDAY:
Beyond Oak Island (History)
FBI Spring Premiere (CBS)
FBI International Spring Premiere (CBS)
FBI: Most Wanted Spring Premiere (CBS)
Finding Your Roots With Henry Louis Gates Jr. (PBS)
New Amsterdam Spring Premiere (NBC)
Sometimes When We Touch (Paramount+)
The Resident Spring Premiere (Fox)
The Rookie Spring Premiere (ABC)
The Rookie: Feds Spring Premiere (ABC)
Welcome To Chippendales Season One Finale (Hulu)
Will Trent Series Premiere (ABC)
Click Here to see the list of all of the upcoming premiere dates for the next few months.
SEE YOU TUESDAY!
If you have any feedback, send it along to Rick@AllYourScreens.com and follow me on Twitter @aysrick.