Too Much TV: Your TV Talking Points For Tuesday, January 26, 2021

Here's everything you need to know about the world of television for Tuesday, January 26th, 2021. I'm writing this from the Twin Cities suburbs, where AllYourScreens HQ is powered by iced coffee and a full night of sleep.

THE GOOD NEWS IS THERE IS AN IMDb APP FOR ROKU. THE BAD NEWS IS.....
I spend entirely too much of my time in this newsletter complaining about the UI of Amazon's Prime Instant Video app. But that's because it is so frustratingly, unbelievably bad. It's challenging to find programming, the search function is not especially accurate and because Amazon is trying to cram so many different categories of content into one app, the result is something that doesn't please anyone.

One of the things that has been rolled into the Amazon video app is its free, ad-supported streaming service IMDb TV. And as you might expect, the interface is clunky and trying to find programming is such an awkward exercise that I generally end up searching for shows or movies on Amazon's web interface and adding them as favorites so I can find them inside the app.

The good news is that Amazon has launched the first IMDb TV app for Roku, which means that viewers no longer have to go through the Amazon video app to watch IMDb TV programming. The bad news is.....well, pretty much everything else.

The app has a clean, straight-forward interface that looks a lot like the Roku Channel app. But it also has some of the same limitations as that app. 

There is no search function. No, really.

There are horizontal content bars, labeled "Continue Watching," "Popular Movies & TV," Popular TV," "Popular Movies," "Sci-Fi Movies," "Action & Adventure Movies," "Documentary Movies"  and "Comedy TV." From what I can tell, the titles in the categories are primarily a mix of random titles & in my case, titles I may have previously looked at and/or favorited.

Did I mention there isn't a search function?

There aren't many times when I find myself absolutely stumped by someone's decision-making. But this app just leaves me speechless. In theory, any AVOD would want to encourage as much engagement as possible. Because the more people watch, the more ads run and the more revenue that is generated. Launching an app that doesn't allow for content discovery just seems crazy.

A+E NETWORKS LEAN INTO LINEAR
Multichannel News has a good interview with A+E Networks group president Paul Buccieri, who said that while there is money to be made in the streaming business, A+E continues to focus on its relationship with its linear television partners:

Why do you feel that the A+E Networks commitment to linear gives the company an advantage in reaching viewers?

I do think we distinguish ourselves as a portfolio because of our commitment to linear.  We have an incredible depth and breadth of upcoming stuff that is premiering on linear brands and have one of the most robust offerings of original content. We have 1,400 hours planned of original content between our brands that’s going to be premiering on linear, which is really something we take a lot of pride in.

Does it concern you that your networks' competitors are potentially reaching new viewers and cord cutters on the digital front with their respective SVOD services

Clearly we're in a moment of disruption. For us, we really value our linear ecosystem -- that’s where a huge portion of our bread is buttered. We are really pleased with our linear audiences and our brands. As to what our competitors are doing in the streaming world, I do think there is obviously a shifting landscape, and clearly we have done library deals with some [streaming] companies. It really shows the strength of our content that it is so desired by a lot of our direct competitors and that they want to be in business with us in that way.

As Buccieri notes later in the interview, A+E Networks do operate several smaller niche streamers that seem to be doing well: History Vault, Lifetime Movie Club and Crime Central. But the reality is that A+E doesn't have the depth of content to successfully launch its own direct-to-consumer general interest streaming service. 

But it's worth mentioning that one future move might be to integrate closer with the newly launched Discovery+. There are already some older titles available on that service and in fact, Discovery+ has them broken out into individual channel tabs. So it would be easy to add more A&E Network content in the future, especially given the audience crossover between A&E and Discovery Communications programming.

WHAT'S ON TODAY:
Here is a rundown of the paltry number of new television programs premiering today:

1) Go Dog Go (Netflix)
Handy and inventive pup Tag chases adventure with her best pal, Scootch, solving problems and helping the citizens of Pawston along the way.

2) Love In.....Series Premiere (MHz Choice)
Set against the backdrops of six of the world’s most beautiful and exotic, locations, (Jaipur, Andalusia, Bora Bora, Lapland, St. Petersburg and Vienna, The Love in… Collection explores the ups and downs of being in love in modern relationships.

3) mixed-ish Season Premiere (ABC)
After finding out Johan has been pretending to be a different race, Rainbow gets mad, and Alicia and Paul try to find a way to encourage Johan to be proud of being Black.

4) The Misery Index Season Premiere (TBS)
Teams compete against each other by attempting to determine the ranking of hilarious and miserable real-life events - from getting fired to accidentally sexting your grandfather - on a scale of 1-100.

This newsletter is called "Too Much TV" because....well, it's hard to keep track of all the new television premiering everyday. To help you prioritize your viewing, click here to see our list of more than 400 upcoming television premieres, movies and finales. You'll find listings from more than 70 networks, as well as streaming services and web shows.

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I'll be back with another one tomorrow. If you have any feedback, send it along to Rick@AllYourScreens.com and follow me on Twitter @aysrick.