Too Much TV: Your TV Talking Points For Wednesday, February 9th, 2022

There was a time when working for EW would have been my dream job.

Here's everything you need to know about the world of television for Wednesday, February 9th, 2022. 

BARRY DILLER'S IAC PULLS PLUG ON PRINT EDITIONS OF 'ENTERTAINMENT WEEKLY,' 'INSTYLE,' FOUR OTHERS
I'm not sure I would describe it as a huge surprise, but it was still sad to hear that Barry Diller's Dotdash Meredith is shutting down the print versions of six of its magazines, including Entertainment Weekly, InStyle, EatingWell, Health, Parents and People en Español:

“This is an important step in the evolution of Dotdash Meredith, and I want to be clear with everyone about what we are doing and what is ahead,” Vogel’s memo says. “We have said from the beginning, buying Meredith was about buying brands, not magazines or websites. It is not news to anyone that there has been a pronounced shift in readership and advertising from print to digital, and as a result, for a few important brands, print is no longer serving the brand’s core purpose. As such, we are going to move to a digital-only future for these brands, which will help us to unlock their full potential.”

DotDash was formerly known as About.com, which was acquired by Diller's IAC from The New York Times in 2012 for $300 million in cash. IAC then acquired Meredith for $2.7 billion last year. 

It's hard to argue with the logic of the move, especially when it comes to Entertainment Weekly. A print magazine covering week-old (or more) entertainment news in 2022 is a doomed proposition, no matter how well it's executed. 

THE STREAMING WINNERS OF 2021: FILM
The Entertainment Strategy Guy has his look at the winners and losers from last year's streaming film releases. As always, just go to the original piece for his extensive breakdown.

I do have a couple of thoughts. I think it's probably not a fair comparison to argue "hey, this made-for-Netflix/Amazon movie isn't as successful as the latest Spiderman movie." That's a bit like comparing the average thoroughbred horse with a unicorn. 99% of theatrically-released movies couldn't compare to Spiderman's success either.

I am also becoming increasingly convinced that part of the issue with the "success" of streaming movies in general is not the platform, but the marketing/promotional efforts available. The theatrical release business is a hundred years old and the industry has become very efficient at knowing the most effective ways to promote an upcoming release. 

My experience is that the major streaming platforms promote their films as if they are just really expensive two-hour-long TV shows. It's hard to parse just how much more successful a movie like The Forever War or even the recent Home Team would have fared with a more efficient and imaginative marketing campaign. But the streaming services are definitely not being as effective with their promotional efforts as they can be.

AN ORAL HISTORY THAT DOESN'T SUCK
I am generally not a fan of oral histories. Primarily because the typical approach of stringing together a bunch of paragraphs of comments from participants means you end up with a "history" that is more glib out-of-context remarks than a structured story of success or failure.

While the new oral history of Seeso doesn't completely dodge these structural problems, the Vulture piece is still a really fascinating look at the brief two-year rise and fall of the NBCU-owned comedy streaming service:

Seeso’s second full year started out strong. Subscribership continued to rise and would max out close to 300,000 by spring 2017. Shows like My Brother, My Brother and Me and Shrink debuted to positive reviews in February and March. But dark clouds loomed. The platform had burned through the majority of its $4 million advertising budget by the end of its first year (by another account, Shapiro and his team had blown through the entire 2017 budget by the second quarter), and executives at NBCU began questioning their return on investment. 

Then came There’s… Johnny!, Paul Reiser’s passion project that he’d been trying to make for 15 years, and that Shapiro bought (“in the room,” as the parlance goes) in fall 2016. A behind-the-scenes period comedy about Johnny Carson’s Tonight Show days starring Tony Danza, the show was a dramatic departure from Seeso’s other original offerings both in style and price, costing a little more than $1 million an episode. 

Shapiro thought of Johnny as a “moonshot” effort to broaden Seeso’s audience and make some prestige television. It was meant to premiere around the 55th anniversary of Carson’s takeover of The Tonight Show, now hosted by Jimmy Fallon. Those involved were banking on heavy cross-promotion on the program that never manifested. The platform would shutter before any episodes were released. A number of Shapiro’s colleagues considered it irresponsible to spend so much on a show, but Shapiro remains unrepentant. All agree it contributed to his firing in late April 2017. In May, NBCU announced Shapiro was stepping down, to be replaced by his superior, Maggie Suniewick, the president of NBCU Digital Enterprises.

MAJOR J.R.R TOLKIEN RIGHTS HEADED FOR A SALE
The Saul Zaetnz Co. is preparing to sell off a collection of merchandising, gaming and live event rights to Lord Of The Rings, The Hobbit and several other J.R.R. Tolkien books in a deal that some people expect to be worth at least $2 billion:

The Zaentz Co. holdings encompass rights to exploit "LOTR" and "The Hobbit" properties in film, video games, merchandising, live events and theme parks. It also includes limited matching rights should the Tolkien estate decide to make movies or other content based on two compilations of Tolkien writings that were published after his death in 1973: “The Silmarillion” and “The Unfinished Tales of Numenor and Middle-Earth."

These rights have been the subject of several law suits over the years, but this is my favorite tidbit from the story:

Saul Zaentz, an entrepreneur in music and film who died in 2017, acquired film adaptation and other rights to the various Tolkien titles in 1976. One form of media that was carved out of the deal with Zaentz back in the 1970s was the right to produce a TV series that was longer than eight episodes. That loophole allowed Amazon to cut a deal directly with the Tolkien estate for “The Rings of Power” series in 2017 when the Tolkien estate shopped the TV series.

NEWS FROM THE TCAs
Four different networks made presentations at Wednesday's virtual TCAs: Britbox, A&E Networks, Spectrum and OWN.

Here are some of the highlights of the day:

* Here is a first look at two upcoming projects from A&E: the two-night documentary special Biography: Bobby Brown (which premieres Monday, May 30th) and the new limited series Bobby Brown: Every Little Step (which premieres Tuesday, May 31st).

* Spectrum has ordered a second season the Michael Dornan series Joe Pickett, which the network says is the highest-rated original series in its history.

ODDS AND SODS
* Season four of FX's Mayans M.C. premieres on Tuesday, April 19th.

* Here is a first look video from the upcoming Starz original series Shining Vale, which stars Courteney Cox and Greg Kinnear. It premieres Sunday, March 6th.

* Hulu is bringing back the animated series Futurama, with a 20-episode season that will be premiere in 2023.

* CBS has ordered a pilot for a reboot of the Kyle Chandler series Early Edition. And because this is 2022, the lead is now a woman. 

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

Catching Killers Season Two Premiere (Netflix)
Disenchantment Part Four Premiere (Netflix)
Farmer Wants A Wife Series Premiere (Discovery+)
Idias a Venda (Netflix)
Nova: Secrets In The Scat (PBS)
Only Jokes Allowed Series Premiere (Netflix)
Secret Love Series Premiere (Discovery+)
Snowdrop Series Premiere (Disney+)
The Big Shot Game Show Series Premiere (Netflix)
The Privilege Series Premiere (Netflix)

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

SEE YOU THURSDAY! 

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