Too Much TV: Your TV Talking Points For Monday, May 2nd, 2022
Finally...a newsletter without any Netflix news...
Here's everything you need to know about the world of television for Monday, May 2nd, 2022.
'TRY HARDER' EXAMINES THE CHALLENGES OF ONE HIGH SCHOOL CLASS AS THEY NAVIGATE COLLEGE ADMISSIONS
Try Harder! chronicles a life in the year of high school seniors at San Francisco’s prestigious Lowell High School – the majority of whose student population is Asian American – as they navigate the competitive landscape of college applications to top universities. The film is a moving portrait of young adults in the most diverse American generation ever, as they navigate the external and internal pressures of growing up and figuring out their futures.
It premieres on the PBS documentary series Independent Lens tonight and ahead of the premiere, I spoke with director and producer Debbie Lum about the film, society's expectations for Asian American kids and the model minority myth:
As a filmmaker, how difficult was this process of watching these kid's stories play out? Either in a positive way or negative way, where you just you can see what's happening. And you just think, "oh no, this is not the way that I thought it was gonna be for them?" I suspect you end up feeling a lot of empathy for their experience.
Oh, absolutely. One anecdote comes to mind. We never even talked about the UC system, where you have 100,000 kids applying to schools. Well, one of the students told me one day, "I woke up at 4:00 am today, because I was checking the portal, because I had to check the portal to see if I got into my school." And it's because there are so many applicants that they have to assign check in times, otherwise, the system will crash. And his check in time started at 4:00 am. So he got up at 4:00 am. Why in the world are the people who create the system telling a 17-year-old to get up at four in the morning?
Technology is everywhere in our society and it has its pros and cons. One of the cons is because everyone is using a common app, students can apply to 20 colleges at once. Without realizing that it is going to consume every waking moment of their last year of high school. And that applying to that many colleges will mean more potential rejection, which will take that much longer to recover from. There are so many choices and they are drowning in all of the data crunching and expectations they set for themselves.
Read the entire interview here.
IN A COUPLE OF YEARS, THIS WILL BE A HULU MINI-SERIES
For years, a Grey’s Anatomy writer shared her personal traumas with friends and online, as she spun them into fodder for hit TV. But as an email to showrunners claimed, and as her colleagues began to realize, the stories weren’t her own. This piece in Vanity Fair is just absolutely insane and there is a still a second part waiting to post:
Cancer afforded her certain privileges. She had an extra comfortable chair. From there, she tacitly claimed extra talking rights. The writers room was like one “Jewish nosh-table on a Sunday morning,” as one writer describes it, with everyone talking over each other. But when Finch had the floor, she was not to be interrupted, and took whatever time she needed drawing out her stories. Anyone else could lose their job for being such a room hog. “We all tolerated it because we thought she might be dying. These might be her final words,” says this writer. Coworkers recall that her frequent bouts of illness and mental stress coincided with deadlines for her episodes. In these instances, she’d often have to pull in a senior writer to pick up the slack. She showed little interest in returning the favor for other people’s episodes.
PEACOCK TWEAKS ITS UX
Along with the things that were announced today at the NewFronts (see below), Peacock unveiled a new interface, which is in the process of being rolled out across the platforms.
The biggest change is to move the navigation bar from the top to the side, which matches the layout on rivals ranging from Netflix to Paramount+. Peacock is also beefing up the title card, which will now includes a short synopsis of the title. Previously, users had to click the “More Info” button to get a description of the show or movie.
THIS WEEK ON ALLYOURSCREENS
There's a lot of new TV coming this week and here are some highlights of what I'll be covering on AllYourScreens.com. As always, thanks to various embargoes, there isn't a lot I can say about these shows ahead of time. And in the case of a couple of shows (most notably this week Star Trek: Strange New Worlds), I didn't receive screeners ahead of time, so coverage will probably be the following day.
There are also some interviews coming up for some of this week's premieres, including Sheryl Crow, the producers of Apple TV+'s The Big Conn and HBO Max's The Staircase.
I'll also be linking directly to the coverage in each day's newsletter:
TUESDAY, MAY 3RD, 2022:
Hold Your Breath: The Ice Dive (Netflix)
Spring Awakening: Those You've Known (HBO)
The Secret Of Skinwalker Ranch Season Premiere (History)
WEDNESDAY, MAY 4TH, 2022:
Meltdown: Three Mile Island (Netflix)
THURSDAY, MAY 5TH, 2022:
Star Trek: Strange New Worlds Series Premiere (Paramount+)
Taste Of The Border Series Premiere (Discovery+)
The Pentaverate (Netflix)
The Porter (BET+)
The Staircase Series Premiere (HBO Max)
FRIDAY, MAY 6TH, 2022:
Bosch: Legacy Series Premiere (IMDb TV)
Mamas Series Premiere (The Roku Channel)
Marmaduke (Netflix)
Sheryl (Showtime)
The Takedown (Netflix)
The Big Conn (Apple TV+)
The Twin (Shudder)
The Unsolved Murder of Beverly Lynn Smith (Prime Video)
DAY ONE OF THE NEWFRONTS
The NewFronts (think of it as the streaming world's answer to the UpFronts) kicked off today and there was bunch of news from Peacock and Tubi:
* Beginning today, all Bravo shows will be available on Peacock and new episodes of Bravo programs will be available the next day on Peacock. This is part of NBCU's unraveling of its deal with Hulu.
* Peacock and Lionsgate have closed a multiyear theatrical output deal for all theatrically released Lionsgate films beginning with the studio’s 2022 slate. The Pay 2 deal will begin in 2024 with the film The Unbearable Weight Of Massive Talent. Other films that fall under the deal of John Wick 4, Expendables 4, Borderlands, The Ballad Of Songbirds And Snakes, White Bird: A Wonder Story and Are You There, God? It's Me, Margaret.
* NBCU unveiled a new ad format for its streaming-video hub Peacock that will surround a show with a "frame" sponsored by an advertiser. The graphic overlay may even contain interactive elements that let Peacock subscribers shop for the product or service being advertised. The streamer is also experimenting with virtual in-program advertising, which could insert advertiser's logos and other information into a scene of a show or movie. For example, digitally inserting an ad on a billboard that is visible in a scene.
* Peacock's first original Dateline series Dateline: The Last Day, premieres on June 14th.
* Peacock announced three upcoming original films scheduled to premiere on the service in 2023: Shooting Stars, Praise This, and The Killer. Each film is part of the previously announced collaboration with Universal Pictures to produce a number of films made exclusively for Peacock.
* Tubi has renewed its original animated series The Freak Brothers for a second season.
* YouTube used its NewFronts event to announce an exclusive partnership with Paramount to livestream the world premiere of Top Gun: Maverick.
TWEET OF THE DAY
ODDS AND SODS
* I like Nikki Glaser a lot. Her new E! series Welcome Home Nikki Glaser....not so much.
* Linda Martindale recapped Sunday's episode of Riverdale.
WHAT'S NEW FOR MONDAY
Here's a quick rundown of all the new stuff premiering today on TV and streaming:
Bloody Heart Series Premiere (Disney+)
Elizabeth (Smithsonian)
Independent Lens: Try Harder (PBS)
Lil Jon Wants to Do What? Series Premiere (HGTV)
Murder In The Heartland Season Premiere (ID)
Octonauts: Above & Beyond Season Two Premiere (Netflix)
Signora Volpe Series Premiere (Acorn TV)
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.