Too Much TV: Your TV Talking Points For Thursday, November 17th, 2022
30 TV shows from the 1990s that should be available for streaming.
Here's everything you need to know about the world of television for Thursday, November 17th, 2022.
AMAZON TO LAUNCH SEVERAL 'SPIDERMAN' RELATED TV ORIGINALS
Amazon is officially moving forward with multiple live-action shows based on the Marvel characters controlled by Sony, according to Variety.
The first series under the deal will be “Silk: Spider Society,” which was developed by “The Walking Dead” showrunner Angela Kang along with “Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse” producers Phil Lord and Christopher Miller. The show is based on characters created by Dan Slott and Humberto Ramos for Marvel Comics. It follows Cindy Moon, described as “a Korean-American woman bitten by the same spider that bit Peter Parker, as she escapes imprisonment and searches for her missing family on her way to becoming the superhero known as Silk.”
Somewhat buried in the Variety story is that in the U.S., the show will premiere on Epix (soon to be MGM+), followed by a global launch on Amazon Prime.
That detail is interesting because it offers a hint of Amazon's plans for MGM+. Amazon Prime Video is a somewhat subscription-based video platform, Freevee is Amazon's AVOD and MGM+ will be built out more as Amazon's premium video platform.
30 DRAMAS FROM THE 90S THAT SHOULD BE STREAMING
I write about classic TV and streaming quite a bit and one of the things I've never quite understood is why so many dramas from the 1990s aren't available for streaming. I know that the 1990s were the decade when broadcast networks really began to lean into stuffing their shows with a lot of contemporary tunes instead of using generic stock music. But I would also guess that most of those shows are new enough that they would have separate audio tracks, which should make it easier to replace music without getting involved in expensive music rights negotiations or expensive editing around the dialogue.
Still, there are a lot of 1990s dramas that have never been streamed (as far as I can tell) and haven't appeared in syndication on one of the many classic TV diginets. Some of them are shows that only lasted a season (but featured some now-famous actors) and others lasted three seasons or more. None of them have any obvious reasons for not being available, other than a lack of of interest by the various streamers.
Here are 30 shows I'd love to see available for streaming, in no particular order:
1) Millennium
2) Dark Skies
3) Against The Grain
4) American Gothic
5) Profiler
6) Murder One
7) Due South (although this is available in Canada)
8) The Adventures Of Briscoe County Jr.
9) Snoops
10) Bodies Of Evidence
11) Moon Over Miami
12) Jack & Bobby
13) Space: Above & Beyond
14) Nowhere Man
15) Reasonable Doubts
16) Leaving L.A.
17) M.A.N.T.I.S.
18) VR 5
19) Covington Cross
20) The Byrds Of Paradise
21) Strange Luck
22) Charlie Grace
23) EZ Streets
24) Mr. & Mrs. Smith
25) Roar
26) Brooklyn South
27) Prey
28) Significant Others
29) The Visitor
30) Sleepwalkers
RELATED TWEET OF THE DAY
TWO LONG INTERVIEWS WORTH LISTENING TO
Here are two hour-long interviews that are well worth watching/listening to. Although neither one has a whole lot of actual unexpected revelations.
CNBC's David Faber spoke with Liberty Media's John Malone and the interview does provide a sense of where Malone thinks the streaming industry is headed. He spoke a lot about churn and given that various Warner Bros. Discovery executives keep mentioning HBO Max's "good" churn (whatever that means), I'm left with the impression that churn is an issue at HBO Max and Discovery+. It also makes me wonder if the company is concerned about an increase in the churn rate next year, after those two streamers combine.
Malone also said that every time he speaks with WBD CEO David Zaslav, he counsels him to focus on the company's free cash flow. Malone also said he's not concerned with the company's debt level, because much of it is long-term debt that has a low interest rate. But if that debt is forcing the company to make billions of dollars of cuts in order to improve free cash flow, that is a real impact that doesn't appear to concern Malone.
The second interview is one by Kara Swisher, who spoke with CNN head Chris Licht. Like Faber, she's someone who is a known quantity in corporate PR circles and while she isn't an easy interview, her tendency to try and sneak in the odd difficult question under the guise of being conversational and non-threatening. The hour-long podcast does a nice job of giving Licht the opportunity to talk about his vision for CNN. And it's worth listening to just for the part about 26 minutes in as he attempts to dance around the question of whether he had spoken with former CNN Jeff Zucker and what they might have discussed. Licht did speak of their friendship in the past tense. Which makes sense, given the way Zucker left the network.
ODDS AND SODS
* The beloved Australian soap Neighbours is returning to television after being recently canceled following a 36-year run.
* The Fresh Prince Of Bel-Air dark-ish reboot Bel Air is returning to Peacock for a second season on Thursday, February 23rd.
* Season eleven of Letterkenny is premiering Monday, December 26th on Hulu. I had a fun conversation with K. Trevor Wilson and Lisa Codrington last January when the previous season premiered.
* HBO has announced a new stand-up comedy special featuring Marc Maron, set to debut in 2023. The special, which will feature all-new material, will be taped in front of a live audience at New York City’s Town Hall on Thursday, December 8th.
* Robert Plant & Alison Krauss will star in a special 90-minute presentation of CMT Crossroads set to air on Tuesday, November 29th.
WHAT'S NEW FOR THURSDAY:
Here's a quick rundown of all the new stuff premiering today on TV and streaming:
A Christmas Story Christmas (HBO Max)
Christmas Party Crashers (BET+)
Christmas With You (Netflix)
Dead To Me Season Three Premiere (Netflix)
Dragons: The Nine Realms (Peacock)
1899 (Netflix)
First Wives Club Season Premiere (BET+)
Fleishman Is in Trouble (Hulu)
Gangs Of London Season Premiere (AMC+)
I Am Vanessa Guillen (Netflix)
Leopard Skin (Peacock)
Muxes (HBO Max)
Paradise (HBO Max)
Pepsi, Where's My Jet? (Netflix)
Pickled (CBS)
Santa Camp (HBO Max)
Sweet Navidad (Lifetime)
The Sex Lives Of College Girls Season Two Premiere (HBO Max)
Top Gear Season Premiere (BBC America)
Click Here to see the list of all of the upcoming premiere dates for the next few months.
SEE YOU FRIDAY!
If you have any feedback, send it along to Rick@AllYourScreens.com and follow me on Twitter @aysrick.