Too Much TV: Your TV Talking Points For Monday, August 23rd, 2021

Why doesn't MSNBC have a better team of anchors? And Netflix releases lots of movie premiere dates.

Here's everything you need to know about the world of television for Monday, August 23rd, 2021. I'm writing this from the Twin Cities suburbs, where AllYourScreens HQ is powered by Mac & Cheese and antacids.

MSNBC'S RACHEL MADDOW PROBLEM
News broke over the weekend that cable news network MSNBC has come to an agreement with its lead talent Rachel Maddow. Reporting suggests that the deal will eventually result in Maddow cutting back on her schedule, although it's not clear if that means she'll adopt a late-era Johnny Carson schedule of more vacations and shorter work weeks or if she'll transition to a weekly show. But regardless, it's clear that by this time next year, what we know as The Rachel Maddow Show likely won't exist in its present form.

Which is a huge problem for the news channel, given that Maddow is by far the network's most-watched talent. And casting a wider net, her show is unlike any other cable news show on the air right now. She and her staff spend most of their days working on the show's "A Block," which is a sprawling opening segment that can last more than 20 minutes without a commercial break. The segments tend to be tied to the top story of the day, but her presentation is part history lesson and part Paul Harvey's "Rest Of The Story." She brings context and unexpected details to even the most overreported issue. It's not unlike writing a novella five days a week and it's a primary reason why Maddow is reportedly getting burned out by the process.

But the rest of her show is also unique in the world of cable news. She doesn't interview pundits and rarely speaks with MSNBC contributors who aren't legal or historical experts in their right. In fact, a number of those people now working for MSNBC as contributors were first exposed to the network on her show. The Rachel Maddow Show flaunts every convention of cable news in general as well as MSNBC's approach during the rest of its schedule. And given her success, I remain perplexed that MSNBC hasn't made more of an effort to develop talent that is complementary to her work.

I've been reporting on MSNBC for decades, since I wrote a number of pieces recounting the reasons behind Phil Donahue's exit from the network back in 2003. And if there has been one constant through the years, it has been the tension between the management at NBC News and MSNBC. NBCU and NBC News have always seen its primetime schedule as a necessary evil. It's what they believe might bring viewers to the network. But they also believe that will keep them is the rest of the day's reliance on good old traditional journalism. So much of the talent and show-building efforts at MSNBC have centered around veteran NBC talent such as Chuck Todd and Andrew Mitchell, along with "newer" talent such as Katy Tur. The network's management did realize that it needed younger, more diverse anchors. Especially those with ties to the more progressive wing of the Democratic Party. 

So when it was time to add new fill-in MSNBC anchors, or build-out the original news coverage on NBC's streaming service Peacock, executives primarily hired diverse voices and then had them produce shows that are slightly more millennial versions of Meet The Press. When you look at the shows in Peacock's "The Choice FROM MSNBC" tab, while the anchors represent a wider variety of points of view than you might find on the MSNBC mothership, the presentation is disappointingly familiar.  I suppose it's a great training ground, since anchors such as Zerlina Maxwell, Joshua Johnson and Medhi Hassan have become frequent guest anchors on MSNBC. But how does that help solve the problem with MSNBC's primetime schedule?

On a side note, I'd love to hear someone at Peacock explain to me why there are only 5 days worth of any of their "The Choice" available for viewing? It's not a licensing problem, the shows are created in-house. It would seem to me that having an archive of these interviews would be useful. 

But getting back to my main point. Rachel Maddow is a singular talent. But there are also other singular talents out there to be discovered. And when they are discovered, they need to be put into an environment where their talent can be nurtured and they can develop their own individual voice. Rachel Maddow's first months on MSNBC were often cringy uncomfortable until she found her rhythm. Chris Hayes has taken years to way to the point where he is doing his own show in a way that is unique and valuable to the audience. I don't understand why MSNBC hasn't taken advantage of Peacock and used that streaming platform as a place for experimentation, instead of a graveyard for Deadline episode and clips from NBC News shows.

IS THE WEEKLY RELEASE OF 'TED LASSO' SEASON TWO EPISODES HURTING THE SHOW?
At least once a week some TV critic cranks out a hot take complaining about streamers and their tendency to release an entire season in one bingeable content dump. So it's refreshing to see someone argue that having a TV show released on a "one episode per week" schedule is a bad creative decision. And that's just the argument being made by Decider's Meghan O'Keefe, who argues that critics tend to love the current season of Apple TV's Ted Lasso a lot more than the public, because they've seen the entire season and know where's heading:

If Ted Lasso Season 2 had been released all at once, I don’t know if the conversation would be this heated. It’s not just that if you binge the first eight episodes, you get a better sense of the overall story arc for the season. When Ted Lasso is watched weekly, folks have more time to obsess over episodes individually, i.e. focus on the places where each episode was weakest. Most people came late to the Ted Lasso Season 1 party which meant they binged the first season. You know, the season that made them fall in love with the series. They got to enjoy how the story’s momentum built and didn’t have the time to examine each episode on its own.

THE BEST TAKE YOU'LL READ ON CNN'S 'THE HISTORY OF THE SITCOM'
I don't usually highlight someone else's review, but this take on CNN's The History Of The Sitcom is notable for a couple of reasons. First, it's written by an executive who worked at NBC during its golden "Must See TV" years. And given that he is now (mostly) retired after spending a number of years at Fox, he is free to say what he wants. And man, does he have some strong feelings about the series:

Putting on my PhD cap for a second, there is a term in labelling theory called "retrospective interpretation" where the past is filtered through a point of view in the here and now to validate that point of view. The show runner (not Bill) had an agenda and, rather than giving us eight episodes on the history of the sitcom we were offered eight hours of how corporate media perpetuated racist, misogynist, homophobic, xenophobic and transphobic myths and IT IS ONLY NOW THAT THIS SAME CORPORATE MEDIA IS GETTING IT RIGHT. A lot of this story was being told by people too young to have been around for most of the history of the sitcom which was pretty fucking hilarious. They didn't live what they are critiquing. 

Let me be very clear. Even for what it was attempting to communicate it was awful. Each hour was supposed to be a different way of letting us know how sitcoms perpetuated capitalist myths of the family, outsiders, various sexual orientations etc. but they were repetitive. they used the same comedies to make different points, They used dramas and said they were comedies. They focused on several niche shows that were not viewed by large numbers of people but were darlings among the TV intelligencia. I don't think they ever even described what a sitcom was other than it was generally a half hour. Certain observers were used over and over and over and over again.

All I'm saying here is that this was not the history of the sitcom. Without breaking a sweat I could have laid out eight episodes which would have told the story in a much more entertaining and informative way and.....oh yeah even addressed the issues that this series did in such a ham handed way. 

NETFLIX ANNOUNCES RELEASE DATES FOR A NUMBER OF FALL & WINTER ORIGINAL MOVIES
Typically, Netflix releases the premiere dates of its upcoming original movies individually, in order to maximize the amount of press coverage. But the streamer announced a number of premiere dates today in one big group. I suspect the change had two goals. The first was just to remind subscribers that there are a number of movies they are going to want to watch, so they shouldn't think about dropping their subscription. It's also a bit of shade-throwing going into the fourth quarter. "Hey, you can talk about HBO Max or Disney+ all you want. But we have a lineup that is as good as anyone." And I can't help suspecting that there is also a bit of flexing when it comes to Netflix deciding to release so many of its upcoming films of Wednesday, which Disney+ is now using as its favorite day of the week to release new projects.

Here is a list of all the titles they announced, and it's worth noting that a few of the films will have a brief theatrical window before premiering on Netflix:

September
Thursday, 9/2
Afterlife of the Party: On Netflix

Wednesday, 9/3
Worth: On Netflix

Thursday, 9/9
Blood Brothers: Malcolm X & Muhammad Ali: On Netflix

Friday, 9/10
Kate: In select theaters and on Netflix 

Wednesday, 9/15
Nightbooks: On Netflix 
Schumacher: On Netflix 

Wednesday, 9/22
Intrusion: On Netflix

Friday, 9/24
The Starling: In select theaters Sept. 17, on Netflix 9/24
My Little Pony: A New Generation: On Netflix Sept. 24
Sounds Like Love: On Netflix Sept. 24

Wednesday, 9/29
No One Gets Out Alive: On Netflix

October
Friday, 10/01
The Guilty: In select theaters Sept. 24, on Netflix 10/1
Diana: The Musical: On Netflix

Wednesday, 10/6
There’s Someone Inside Your House: On Netflix

Wednesday, 10/20
Found: On Netflix
Night Teeth: On Netflix
Stuck Together: On Netflix

Friday, 10/29
Army of Thieves: On Netflix Oct. 29

Hypnotic: On Netflix this October

Fever Dream: In select theaters and on Netflix this October

November
Wednesday, 11/03
The Harder They Fall: In select theaters Oct. 22, on Netflix 11/03

Friday, 11/05
Love Hard: On Netflix

Wednesday, 11/10
Passing: In select theaters Oct. 27, on Netflix 11/10

Friday, 11/12
Red Notice: On Netflix

Friday, 11/19
tick, tick…BOOM!: In select theaters Nov. 12, on Netflix 11/19

Wednesday, 11/24
Bruised: In select theaters Nov. 17, on Netflix 11/24
Robin Robin: On Netflix Nov. 24

Monday, 11/29
14 Peaks: Nothing Is Impossible: On Netflix

11 Prisoners: In select theaters, on Netflix this November

A Boy Called Christmas: On Netflix this November

A Castle for Christmas: On Netflix this November

The Princess Switch 3: On Netflix this November

December
Wednesday, 12/01
The Power of the Dog: In select theaters Nov 17, on Netflix

Friday, 12/03
Shaun the Sheep: The Flight Before Christmas: on Netflix

Friday, 12/10
The Unforgivable: In select theaters Nov. 24, on Netflix 12/10

Wednesday, 12/15
The Hand of God: In select theaters Dec. 3, on Netflix 12/15

Friday, 12/24
Don’t Look Up: In select theaters Dec. 10, on Netflix 12/24

Friday, 12/31
The Lost Daughter: In select theaters Dec. 17, on Netflix 12/31

Back to the Outback: On Netflix this December

Mixtape: On Netflix this December

Single All the Way: On Netflix this December

SEE YOU TUESDAY

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