Too Much TV: Your TV Talking Points For Tuesday, December 13th, 2022

Social media temporarily forgets how the television industry works in 2022.

Here's everything you need to know about the world of television for Tuesday, December 13th, 2022.

A PROGRAMMING NOTE
This is a pretty short newsletter today. I'm battling some sort of cold/virus thing and right now all I want to do is sleep. Hopefully, things will back to normal tomorrow.

I'M NOT A DAVID ZASLAV FAN, BUT YOU SHOULDN'T READ TOO MUCH INTO HBO MAX 'WESTWORLD'
When news broke last night that HBO MAX was removing the series Westworld as part of another round of content cutting, social media exploded with all sorts of anti-David Zaslav screeds, even more so when it became clear which other shows were also being removed from the streaming service:

The most high-profile of these series is HBO’s “Westworld,” which was canceled this fall after falling ratings in Season 4. Other shows getting taken off include Victorian England sci-fi show “The Nevers” and rom-com anthology series “Love Life.” In a similar vein to the Lionsgate series “Minx,” the pulling of these shows effectively doubles as their cancellation announcement. According to sources, other less-high profile titles will be announced to leave the service in the next few days.

To be clear, I think critics tend to overexaggerate the impact of these moves. Traditional broadcast networks and cable outlets make these types of decisions all of the time. And this isn't similar to the situation with the pulled Batgirl movie, where Warner Bros. Discovery buried the movie forever in a vault in order to take advantage of a tax write-off. The majority of these shows will return to television - either as part of the rumored WBD FAST channel or on whatever rival service is willing to pay the licensing fee.

In the case of The Nevers, the show has a half season of unaired episodes, which makes it more valuable for licensing elsewhere.

I have a lot of sympathy for people who worked on these shows and who worry their hard work will end up just evaporating into the ether.

But that's not a problem that has only surfaced during the streaming era. There are scores of television shows from even the 1990s or early aughts that have never been syndicated, have never been available on a physical media like DVD.  I mean, you worked on Snoops or Sleepwalkers, then your show might as well not have existed.

This ephemeral category of television is frustrating to see, especially if you worked on the show in question. But streaming hasn't made things worse. It's just made the loss more obvious.

I also want to mention that these content cuts are also taking place at the sister streamer Discovery+, which I reported yesterday may lost as much as a third of its catalog when it combines with HBO Max next year.


'MINX' UPDATE FROM JAKE JOHNSON

ODDS AND SODS
* Season two of The Proud Family: Louder and Prouder will premiere Wednesday, February 1st on Disney+.

* The Reluctant Traveler, a new globe-trotting travel series hosted and executive produced by Eugene Levy, will premiere globally February 24th on Apple TV+.

* The Hulu Original series How I Met Your Father returns for its second season on Tuesday, January 24th. 

* Fuse Media's original series Like A Girl premieres on Monday March 27th. It's hosted by model, designer and former college athlete Beija Marie Velez, who "takes an unfiltered look into the unique perspective of women in sports today."

* Starz has canceled Step Up after three seasons. The show's first two seasons aired on YouTube, Starz picked up the show for season three.

* Starz has also undone its renewal of Dangerous Liaisons, canceling it after its first season. No official reason was given, but the show's slumping ratings as the rookie season progressed were most likely the cause.

TWEET OF THE DAY

WHAT'S NEW FOR TUESDAY:

Breathing Happy (Fandor)
Dr. Seuss Baking Challenge Series Premiere (Freevee)
Gudetama: An Eggcellent Adventure (Netflix)
Kindred (Hulu)
Last Chance U: Basketball Series Premiere (Netflix)
Pelosi In The House (HBO)
Real Time Crime Series Premiere (Investigation Discovery)
Sampled Series Premiere (Paramount+)
Singles Inferno (Netflix)
The Battle For Justina Pelletier (Peacock)
The Nine Lives Of Vince McMahon (Vice)
Tom Papa: What A Day! (Netflix)

Click Here to see the list of all of the upcoming premiere dates for the next few months.

SEE YOU WEDNESDAY!

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