Too Much TV: Your TV Talking Points For Wednesday, December 1st, 2021
The other part of the Chris Cuomo story.
Here's everything you need to know about the world of television for Wednesday, December 1st, 2021. I'm writing this from the Twin Cities, where AllYourScreens HQ is not surprised to learn that Kacey Musgraves was my most-streamed musical choice in 2021.
A QUICK THANKS
I just wanted to pass along a quick thanks to everyone for the support. November ended strong on AllYourScreens.com, with traffic hitting just over 2.3 million unique visitors. And this newsletter is a couple of hundred subscribers short of hitting 19,000. Seriously, it's a very competitive marketplace and I appreciate everything.
I'LL ADMIT, I'M CONFUSED
Joshua Johnson has a new show premiering on Monday and you'll be able to watch it a number of places. The "home" for NOW Tonight with Joshua Johnson will be on the NBC News App, but it will also be available on the NBC News AVOD channel that streams on The Roku Channel, YouTube TV, YouTube, Fubo, Xumo, Pluto, and Tubi. But it apparently won't be available on Peacock, which on the face of it seems like an odd choice. NBC News executives have been touting the news vertical on Peacock and there are already a number of original Peacock news shows available. Having Johnson's show on Peacock feels like a natural fit, but there are apparently a couple of things going on here.
First, it's still not clear to me that the show won't be available on Peacock at some point. I spoke on background with an NBC News executive on Tuesday, who assured me that the show wasn't set to stream on Peacock. But then called me back to say that the decision was "fluid."
Apparently, making the show's home on the NBC News app is driven by a couple of factors. The NBC News division is trying to build the audience for their app and this new show is one of the core efforts to do that. There is also the now-familiar tension between the old-school NBC News executives who are wary of anything that might be construed as "opinion." It's the issue that has been the source of battles at MSNBC since its founding days and I've been told that some executives feel the original news programming at Peacock tends to be more opinionated than they are comfortable with overall.
I think they are completely off-base with this. Peacock's news vertical would be better if it leaned more into opinion. And for that matter, highlighted a wider range of political beliefs.
THE OTHER PART OF THE CHRIS CUOMO STORY
By now, you've heard at least the outlines of the news that CNN has suspended primetime anchor Chris Cuomo after emails surfaced suggesting he had used his position at the network to run interference for his brother, former New York Governor Andrew Cuomo.
Rather than focusing on the details of that story, I wanted to highlight a related issue this controversy brings up. The decision by CNN and MSNBC to spend so much time covering Andrew Cuomo's speeches and press conferences during the worst of the COVID-19 surge in New York.
The situation was obviously worthy of news coverage, but because Cuomo was seen as "standing up" to then-President Trump, he was regularly being touted as some beacon of independence. CNN and MSNBC covered nearly every Cuomo press conference live and anchors regularly discussed how "brave" his was for his approach to dealing with the Trump administration's COVID-19 response. (Just as an aside, this was not the finest moment for MSNBC's Nicole Wallace).
Even at the time, there were complaints surfacing that the Cuomo administration had made some serious mistakes in its handling of the pandemic's effect on New York's elderly population. But because he was seen as an opponent of Trump, his sometimes daily ramblings were journalistic catnip for some cable news networks.
This is a variation of the trend that found some cable news show booking attorney Michael Avenatti for multiple appearances where his primary role seemed to be just to rant about Trump. He had no particular subset of skills that made him an expert on the then-president, other than being articulate and being the attorney of Stormy Daniels. To be fair, not every show made this decision. But I'd sure love to ask MSNBC's Lawrence O'Donnell if he regrets having Avenatti on his show so many times in 2020.
It's a similar situation with Chris Christie, who has been on CNN so much in recent weeks that he might as well have been a guest anchor. The network seems to love him because he is just critical enough of conservatives to seem like an opponent and he is another example of a former politician who knows how to crank out a good soundbite. But when you listen to his segments, he doesn't actually say much. Partly because he seems to be spending a lot of his airtime trying to rehabilitate his public image in the post-Trump years. But his lack of candor and insight doesn't appear to have bothered the good folks at CNN, who recently gave Christie an hour-long primetime interview with Dana Bash.
There is rightfully a lot of criticism of Fox News, but this Cuomo story is a reminder that the other cable networks have made some editorial decisions that deserve a great deal of soul-searching and reflection. CNN head Jeff Zucker certainly has some things to answer for. Although given his status at Warner Media, that is unlikely to ever happen.
A MESSAGE FROM NBC NEWS
NBC News NOW streams more live, original hours than any other major news organization — and we're still growing.
Hear from voices like Tom Llamas, Hallie Jackson, Lester Holt, Savannah Sellers and more.
Watch NBC News NOW for free, 24/7, wherever you stream.
A GREAT USE OF DATA
Streaming services collect a lot of customer data and the ways they use it tend to be hidden from public view. One of the more clever ways of using data as a promotional tool is the #SpotifyWrapped campaign. Each December, the streaming service creates a unique set of lists, based on each individual's listening habits. For what it's worth, here is mine from 2021. I highly recommend the track from the Oklahoma-based band Saugeye. It would have likely been #1 on my list if I had discovered it earlier in the year.
Collecting that data and spitting out personalized lists does require some substantial resources. But these lists have also turned into great social media drivers for Spotify. And I can't help thinking that Netflix is missing out on an easy way to promote itself. Creating similar individualized viewing lists would lead to some impressive social media sharing and I don't know how many other streaming services collect the granular level of user data required to create these lists.
I'd love to see a list of my most-watched Netflix shows and rundowns of genres and other categories.
SEE YOU THURSDAY!
If you have any feedback, send it along to Rick@AllYourScreens.com and follow me on Twitter @aysrick.