Too Much TV: Your TV Talking Points For Wednesday, November 13th, 2024

Pluto TV to overhaul its on-demand UI. Plus, CBS releases its midseason schedule

Here's everything you need to know about the world of television for Wednesday, November 13th, 2024:

CBS ANNOUNCES ITS MIDSEASON SCHEDULE
CBS announced its midseason/spring premiere primetime schedule and I think it's fair to say there aren't a lot of surprises:

Wednesday, January 8th
8 p.m.: The Price Is Right at Night
9 p.m.: Raid the Cage

Thursday, January 9th
8 p.m.: Hollywood Squares

Sunday, January 26th:
10 p.m. ET/7 p.m. PT (approximate): Watson (follows AFC Championship game)

Friday, January 31st:
8 p.m.: NCIS: Sydney (spring premiere)

Wednesday, February 26th:
8 p.m.: Survivor

Wednesday, March 6

9:30 p.m.: The Amazing Race

PLUTO TV TO OVERHAUL ITS ON-DEMAND UI
Of all of the free ad-supported platforms on the market, I tend to use Pluto TV the most frequently. That is in part because if I watching programming that way, I'm using it to relax and unwind. And when I do, my go-to programming is food and home shows. 

And Pluto has the best selection of those FAST channels, far more than major rivals such as Tubi. And since Pluto's interface favors FAST channels, I can favorite a dozen or so FAST channels and they automatically load when I log in.

Tubi notably takes the opposite approach, leaning into its on-demand titles. Which may be why Pluto decided that it needs to update its on-demand interface. Which is a good thing, given that it's current setup is non-intuitive and often frustrating.

Pluto TV product management SVP Tad Ro talked to The Wrap about the changes, and honestly, I'm a bit annoyed someone got to the story first. But there are some interesting nuggets in the story, even after though reading it I can't figure out if someone from The Wrap did an actual interview oo if Pluto just passed along the comments:

Ro said Pluto TV will continue to evolve its VOD experience, with themed content collections and “spotlights” as a way of emphasizing specific pieces of content. It will also roll out a filter in its search function that will allow users looking for VOD content to differentiate between movies and TV shows.  

The fact it has been so hard to differentiate between VOD movies and TV shows is fairly shocking, given that feels like one of those baseline UI requirements.

Along with the VOD UI changes, there will also be updates to the interface for the service's FAST channels:

“The linear experience has always been this lean-back, passive experience. But as you can imagine, it’s all time based. So if you start watching the linear channels and you’re in the middle of a piece of content when you first open up the app, how are we letting the user know they can watch this from the beginning and giving them the option to do that?” Ro said. “We already have some of those features today within the content details pages or within the player itself, but how do they actually see that when they’re browsing through the EPG? So that’s where our next step is, because there’s a lot of users who only stay in the linear experience and actually utilize the EPG as their navigation to browse for more channels. But we want to let people know, even in the EPG experience, that we might have this content available on the on-demand side to actually bridge them over.”

It sounds as if Pluto wants to move more viewers towards VOD, but isn't having much luck so far.

There is also a bit of talk about using AI for content discovery. And my short take is that services such as Pluto TV and Tubi should provide the information that would allow those of us writing about television to aid in that content discovery challenge. Let us know what titles or coming and going from the service. Not just a short list of the top stuff. People care about the obscure titles as much or even more.

As an example, one of the consistently most-popular posts on AllYourScreens are lists of what titles are coming or going on Tubi. Even though they are not as comprehensive as they could be if I was receiving official info from Tubi. I’d love to have more information from Tubi as well as Pluto TV and other rivals.

SPEAKING OF FAST CHANNELS
I'm putting together a list of holiday fireplace FAST Channels and will post it around 12/1. So if you have one launching, please let me know.

ODDS AND SODS
* Season two of The Night Agent premieres Thursday, January 23rd on Netflix. Here is a first (and brief) video look at what to expect.

* The Later Daters is a new series where a group of six baby boomers with the help of their adult kids, closest friends, and a relationship expert, get "another shot at love." Having watched the series, I'm not sure if I enjoyed it or not. But it premieres Friday, November 29th on Netflix and here is a first video look at what to expect.

* Hulu has renewed Reasonable Doubt for a third season. 

* Season nine of Shetland will premiere Wednesday, December 11th on Britbox.

* The documentary Music Box: Yacht Rock: A Dockumentary premieres Friday, November 29th on Max. I'm interested to see if this doc carries any different ground than Sometimes When We Touch, a three-episode docuseries that premiered last year on Paramount+. That program focused on soft rock but had an episode devoted to yacht rock. It also included one of the most depressing stories from Toni Tennille that I have ever heard on music documentary.

* Speaking of music programming, the four-part series AS1ONE: The Israeli-Palestinian Pop-Rock Journey will premiere Tuesday, December 3rd on Paramount+. Here is the official logline: "Throughout this compelling four-part docuseries, music being the ultimate connector is explored in the chronicled journey to create the world’s first Israeli-Palestinian pop group. Over a five year period, the band members share their ups and downs including the challenging audition process in 2020; their language barriers, intense rehearsals, emotional highs and lows as they found their footing; navigating the very unexpected world events that happened on October 7th, 2023 – the morning after they flew to LA to record their first album; and the monumental challenges they have faced each day since. With so much more at stake because of the war, the band finds greater purpose in their music now representing something much greater than the six of them."

TWEET OF THE DAY

WHAT'S NEW TONIGHT AND TOMORROW

WEDNESDAY, NOVEMBER 13TH:
Bad Sisters Season Premiere (Apple TV+)
Emelia Perez (Netflix)
Hot Frosty (Netflix)
Return Of The King: The Rise & Fall Of Elvis Presley (Netflix)
Say Nothing Series Premiere (Hulu)
Sisters' Feud Series Premiere (Netflix)
Sprint: The World's Fastest Humans Season Two Premiere (Netflix)
The Mother Of Penguins Series Premiere (Netflix)
The Stanford Prison Experiment: Unlocking The Truth (NatGeo)
Where's Wanda? Season Finale (Apple TV+)

THURSDAY, NOVEMBER 14TH:
A Reason For The Season (Hallmark Movie Channel)
Beyond Goodbye (Netflix)
Carl The Collector Series Premiere (PBS)
Cross Series Premiere (Prime Video)
Decoding Beauty (Curiosity Stream)
Emilia Perez (Netflix)
Harry Potter: Wizards Of Baking Series Premiere (Food)
Holidazed Series Premiere (Hallmark+)
Say Anything Series Premiere (Hulu)
Sherwood (Britbox)
Style Me For Christmas (BET+)
The Day Of The Jackal Series Premiere (Peacock)
The Dog House UK S5 Christmas Special (Max)
The Lost Children (Netflix)
The Mother Of Penguins Series Premiere (Netflix)
The Woman With My Face (LMN)
Unwrapping Christmas: Mia's Prince (Hallmark+)

SEE YOU ON THURSDAY!