Too Much TV: Your TV Talking Points For February 1st, 2022

Today brings a bunch of random news from Paramount+.

Here's everything you need to know about the world of television for Tuesday, February 1st, 2022. 

FOX, HULU SIGN OUTPUT DEAL FOR UNSCRIPTED, ANIMATED PROGRAMMING
FOX Entertainment and Hulu have signed a program output deal that allows Hulu to stream all out-of-season episodes of key Fox unscripted and animated series. The output deal also includes future unscripted programming that will be owned and controlled by Fox Entertainment.

Under terms of the agreement, Hulu will have the right to stream all episodes of FOX’s unscripted series, including The Masked Singer, Lego Masters, I Can See Your Voice, Name That Tune, The Masked Dancer, Gordon Ramsay’s 24 Hours to Hell and Back, MasterChef and MasterChef Junior.  

In addition, Hulu will stream FOX’s hit animated comedy, HouseBroken, which features the voices of Lisa Kudrow, Will Forte, Clea DuVall, Nat Faxon, Sharon Horgan, Tony Hale, Sam Richardson and Jason Mantzoukas.

A FLURRY OF PARAMOUNT+ ANNOUNCEMENTS
The ViacomCBS streaming service made a bunch of announcements during Tuesday's TCA sessions and here is a recap of the highlights:

* The Taylor Sheridan drama Mayor Of Kingstown has been picked up for a second season.

* The previously announced Kiefer Sutherland espionage drama has been named Rabbit Hole. He plays "espionage operative James Weir in the midst of a battle over the preservation of democracy in a world at odds with misinformation, behavioral manipulation, the surveillance state and the interests that control these extraordinary powers." The series will premiere this fall.

* SEAL Team has been picked up for a sixth season.

* Paramount+ executives also revealed a few details about three shows the streamer has in development. These join the previously announced Frasier reboot/refresh/spin-off/brand extension

URBAN COWBOY: based on the film of the same name, the series goes deeper into Bud’s journey from farm to the big city in 1980’s Houston and will feature iconic music
from that time and place. The show comes From Paramount Television Studios, with James Pondsolt directing and co-writing with Benjamin Percy.

FLASHDANCE: Justin Simien (Dear White People) is onboard to adapt and direct his contemporary take on the Paramount Pictures classic.

GURU NATION: A modern day half-hour docu-style comedy from the brilliant and hilarious minds of Bob Odenkirk, David Cross, and Bill Odenkirk called Guru Nation. Along with co-creating the series, Bob and David are set to star as rival Cult Guru’s manipulating the minds of their deluded followers.

JANICE MIN ON THE FUTURE OF ENTERTAINMENT MEDIA
The Bulwark's Sonny Bunch interviewed The Ankler's Janice Min about her career at places like The Hollywood Reporter as well as what she has in store for The Ankler.

The interview runs about 30 minutes and it's interesting to hear her take on how she "turned around the Hollywood Reporter" and how that experience influenced the way she is approaching The Ankler. It's clear she's hoping to build a Hollywood insider business and from a revenue standpoint, the people in Hollywood most likely to pay for subscriptions would be the same people interested in which agents are headed where or what properties might be available for development.

Still, I wish more outlets would focus on the consumer side of the business. There is a need for coverage that caters to people who are heavy users of entertainment, who are looking for straight talk about the industry without getting lost in the weeds of deal-making. Coverage that isn't fan service, but also is written by people who understand and appreciate the industry without gushing over its celebrities.

And maybe they can figure out a way to do that without putting most things behind a paywall.

TWEET OF THE DAY
The South Korean zombies-outbreak-in-high-school drama All Of Us Are Dead was a show I had on my radar for awhile. But Netflix U.S. didn't seem to be making screeners available ahead of time, so I tracked down the South Korean publicist for the show. An adventure I recounted a couple of weeks ago in the newsletter:

As an example, there is a new South Korean "zombies in high school" series called All Of Us Are Dead premiering on Netflix in a couple of weeks. It sounded like a premise that might be of interest to my readers, but the U.S. Netflix press page only listed a generic PR contact. And my experience with that generic contact is that if I get a response at all, it's along the lines of "Sorry, we don't have a screener available." So I dug around a bit and found the South Korean-based PR contact for the show and emailed her. Based on the email chain I was subsequently part of, she appears not to speak English, but she forwarded it to someone else on her team, who sent it to an English-speaking publicist whose title is "Export Publicity." He arranged for the entire season to be sent to me and while I can't say much because of an embargo, I'm extremely happy I tracked down the episodes ahead of the premiere.

I had a gut feeling the show could be a hit once I saw it and based on the traffic my review garnered (over 100,000 unique visitors in the first 48 hours), I was pretty sure it had reached its target audience. And apparently, I was correct:

Now I suppose one takeaway from this experience is that for shows such as All Of Us Are Dead, Netflix isn't really concerned with U.S.-based publicity. Based on what I've seen online, the company did a pretty heavy promotional effort in the APAC countries, but let random content discovery introduce the show in other regions. I can't say it's the wrong approach - obviously it worked for them in this case. But as a critic, I's like to think we have some small impact on content discovery for our readers.

ROKU CHANNEL FINALLY ADDS WATCH/SAVE LIST
Sure, it might be happening maybe 18 months after it should have. But the Roku Channel has finally added the ability for users to "save" shows to watch later:

ODDS AND SODS
* Roku Ad-Buying platform offering guarantees on Nielsen Demo data. Under the plan, advertisers will only pay for impressions that reach the target audience.

* Fox has ordered seasons 21 and 22 of Hell's Kitchen.

* Hulu's Amy Schumer/Michael Cera comedy Life & Beth is set to premiere on March 18th.

* The ten-episode comedy Minx is premiering on HBO Max on March 17th. The series is set in 1970s Los Angeles and centers around Joyce (Ophelia Lovibond), an earnest young feminist who joins forces with a low-rent publisher (Jake Johnson) to create the first erotic magazine for women.

* HBO Max is set to launch in 15 more European countries on March 8th: Bosnia and Herzegovina, Bulgaria, Croatia, Czech Republic, Hungary, Moldova, Montenegro, Netherlands, North Macedonia, Poland, Portugal, Romania, Serbia, Slovakia and Slovenia.

* Netflix Jr. is launching a free magazine for kids. Because if there is one thing today's kid love, it's a print magazine.

WHAT'S NEW FOR TUESDAY
Here's a quick rundown of all the new stuff premiering today on TV and streaming:

Gabby's Dollhouse Season Four Premiere (Netflix)
My Best Friend Anne Frank (Netflix)
New York Prison Break: The Seduction Of Joyce Mitchell (Netflix)
Princess Anne: The Seven Loves of Her Life (True Royalty TV)
Raising Dion Season Two Premiere (Netflix)
The Real Dirty Dancing Series Premiere (Fox)
The Real Housewives Of New Jersey Season Premiere (Bravo)
The Real Men In Black: Declassified (Vice)
Relentless Enemies: Revealed (NatGeo Wild)
Terry Bradshaw: Going Deep (HBO)
The Resident (Fox)
Ultimate Enemies: Revealed (NatGeo Wild)
Your Attention Please (Hulu)

Click Here to see the list of all of the upcoming premiere dates for the next few months.

SEE YOU WEDNESDAY! 

If you have any feedback, send it along to Rick@AllYourScreens.com and follow me on Twitter @aysrick.