Too Much TV: Your TV Talking Points For Friday, August 23rd, 2024

A couple of weekend viewing tips

Here's everything you need to know about the world of television for Friday, August 23rd, 2024:

I DON'T UNDERSTAND THIS APPROACH
I have had readers tell me that while I make some good points when I criticize the management decisions at Warner Bros. Discovery, the complaints don't have a lot of impact because "it's easy now to criticize David Zaslav." And while I suppose that's true on one level, it's also true that he is being criticized a great deal because he is making some perplexing strategic moves. And at the end of the day, if you are a major media executive whose decision-making skills are suspect, then do you really deserve to stay in your job?

Today, The Wall Street Journal's Joe Flint reported that TNT is getting back into the scripted television business:

Shows in the works for 2025 and beyond include what one executive described as “high-adrenaline” dramas that will play well with the channel’s male audience and be a good fit with the network’s sports programming.

TNT has acquired “The Librarians: The Next Chapter,” a sequel to the supernatural adventure series “The Librarians,” which aired on the network for four seasons. The network is also planning to raid the Warner Bros. movie library to reboot several films into made-for-TV movies or series for TNT, the people said.  

While the company is turning the faucets back on, the content it is making won’t be the super-expensive fare for which TNT was previously known, the people said. “Snowpiercer,” for example, cost $7 million an episode.

So to recap, after the merger several years ago, TNT eliminated its scripted lineup in an effort to save money so WBD could pay down debt acquired during the merger. Warner Bros. Discovery executives opted not to spend the money to match Peacock's deal for the rights to the NBA, which will likely have a substantial impact on the fees the network receives from cable and satellite operators to carry TNT.

So faced with the loss of the NBA in a year, the network decided to order some scripted programming, albeit nothing too expensive or high profile. And apparently hope that somehow those carriage fees won't drop substantially once the network's NBA games go away. 

Maybe it's worth a try, but the entire idea just reeks of desperation.

SOME WEEKEND VIEWING PICKS
If you're looking for something new to watch this weekend, I have a couple of suggestions:

The Killer (Peacock)
Serious action movie fans will be familiar with the original of this film, directed by famed Hong Kong director John Woo in 1989. That version starred Chow Yun-fat as a hired killer who decides to help out a young woman he accidentally blinded during a shootout. 

It's impossible to imagine anyone other than Yun-fat in the role, so when Woo decided to remake the film for Peacock, he opted to cast an actress in the lead and tweak the story a bit to fit the change. And the result is a briskly-told action film with stylish action and inventive split-screen perspectives. Even if you've seen the original, this version of the film is entertaining and clever enough to stand on its own. If it helps, here's a look at the trailer of the film.

Incoming (Netflix)
This is less a recommendation than a warning. If you tune into this teen comedy expecting something along the lines of Super Bad, you are almost guaranteed to be disappointed. The film feels like it was produced from a script written during the 1990s American Pie/Van Wilder teen movie boom and just updated a bit in 2024 to include current technology. Incoming is dumb, predictable and manages to somehow include every teen horndog movie trope in one 90-minute package. This is one movie that won't prompt any suggestions that it deserved a theatrical release before moving to streaming. 

TWEET OF THE DAY

ODDS AND SODS
* Season two of the documentary series Sprint, which follows athletes from the Olympic trials through the Paris Games, premieres Wednesday, November 13th on Netflix.

* The series Say Nothing will premiere Thursday, November 14th on Hulu. The limited series is based on the book by Patrick Radden Keefe about Irish Republican Army members.

* Jersey Shore Family Vacation will premiere the second half of its seventh season on Thursday, September 18th, with the squad traveling to Las Vegas, NYC, and Miami.

* Prime Video's long-running series The Grand Tour will conclude on Friday, September 13th with the special The Grand Tour: One For The Road.

* Roger Cook, known to viewers of PBS’ long-running series This Old House as the landscaper with a solution to every problem, died August 21st following a lengthy illness. He was 70.

WHAT'S NEW TONIGHT AND THIS WEEKEND

FRIDAY, AUGUST 30TH:
* A-List To Playlist Series Premiere (Netflix)
* Breathless Series Premiere (Netflix)
* Inside The NFL (The CW)
* K-Pop Idols Series Premiere (Apple TV+)
* Lavender Fields Series Premiere (Netflix)
* The Deliverance (Netflix)
* The Serpent Queen Season Two Finale (Starz) [TCA summer 2024 photo gallery]
* (Un)lucky Sisters (Netflix)

SATURDAY, AUGUST 24TH, 2024:
* Terry McMillan Presents: Forever (Lifetime)
* The Magic Of Lemon Drops (Hallmark)

SUNDAY, AUGUST 25TH, 2024:
* City Of God: The Fight Rages On Series Premiere (HBO Latino)
* Deadly DILF (Lifetime)
* Evil Lives Here Season Premiere (Investigation Discovery)
* Married To Evil Season Premiere (Investigation Discovery)
* 90 Day Fiance: Happily Ever After? Season Finale (TLC)
* No Place Like Nebraska (ESPN)
* Ol' Dirty Bastard: A Tale Of Two Dirtys (A&E)
* Orphan Black: Echoes Season Finale (AMC)
* The Girl On The Milk Carton (Oxygen) - [first look video]

MONDAY, AUGUST 26TH:
* Houses of Horror: Secrets Of College Greek Life Season Finale (A&E)
* No Gain, No Love (Prime Video)
* Sommerdahl Murders (Acorn TV)
* Voces: Almost American (PBS)

SEE YOU ON MONDAY!