Too Much TV: Your TV Talking Points For Friday, August 2nd, 2024

Warner Bros Discovery's three-card monte approach to subscriber numbers

Here's everything you need to know about the world of television for Friday, August 2nd, 2024:

WARNER BROS DISCOVERY'S THREE-CARD MONTE APPROACH TO SUBSCRIBER NUMBERS
You might have seen the news that Warner Bros Discovery is shutting down its animation-centric streaming service Boomerang, although the linear network of the same name will continue.

However, the important thing to watch here isn't the WBD is shutting down the service - that decision likely makes a lot of financial sense.

I wanted to highlight the little three-card monte trick WBD is doing with its subscriber numbers. Following its completed merger two years ago, it announced that subscriber numbers for a number of its niche services would no longer be publicly released or included in the company's overall direct-to-consumer streaming numbers. The suspicion was the move would make it more difficult to track the overall reach of the company's niche streamers. And given those services were likely shedding subscribers, the losses wouldn't count against WBD's overall streaming numbers.

But the interesting twist in this Boomerang shutdown is the current Boomerang subscribers are being automatically moved from Boomerang to the ad-free version of Max. Which is quite a deal, given that it costs $6 a month for Boomerang and $17 per month for ad-free Max.

So why would the executives as Warner Bros. Discovery make such a generous deal to current Boomerang subscribers? My hunch is that because it allows the company to add these "new" Max subscribers to the service's overall fourth quarter subscriber numbers, potentially adding hundreds of thousands of subscribers at little or no costs for marketing or customer acquisition. Max needs a win right now and this is a too-clever-for-their-own-good way to juice the subscriber numbers. Now you see them, now you don't.

JOE ROGAN'S VICTORY LAP FOR RIGHT-WING COMEDY
Seth Simon has been perhaps the clearest voice out there highlighting the weird right-wing, post-COVD turn many stand-up comedians have taken, thanks in large part to the support of Joe Rogan. Rogan has a live comedy special airing Saturday on Netflix and Simon writes in The Daily Beast about how Rogan's success has not only lifted the careers of comedians who think like he does. It's given them cover to say pretty much what they want. Because at the end of the day, they'll make companies such as Netflix a lot of money:

Almost across the board, comedians in this milieu are obsessed with trans people, often using the usual slur to express their disgust with the community and its onerous, incessant, unyielding demands for basic rights and dignity. Many of these comics have a penchant for mocking Asian people; some are fed up with the immigrants they think are gobbling up our public resources; nearly all of them harbor a deep disdain for women. They use their platforms to host conspiracy theorists like Alex Jones, far-right ideologues like Tucker Carlson, public health threats like Robert F. Kennedy Jr., and violent misogynists like Andrew Tate, exposing their audiences to a steady torrent of extremist thought.

They are also immensely lucrative investments. Comedians by night and propagandists by day, they just happen to be the industry’s most bankable talents—in no small part thanks to Joe Rogan.

Consider Tim Dillon. A podcaster and Joe Rogan Experience regular, Dillon has devoted considerable airtime to railing against immigration, going so far as to embrace the white nationalist great replacement theory in a JRE appearance last year. In other segments, he has questioned whether America can really “absorb” any more people, argued against gender-affirming care for trans youth, and complained about trans athletes. A longtime fan of Alex Jones, Dillon has hosted the disgraced Sandy Hook truther on multiple episodes, including a 2020 New Year’s Eve live-stream where Jones raved about election fraud and promoted the upcoming rally he helped organize in Washington, D.C. (Yes, the one you’re thinking of.) In addition to all of this, he is an incredibly popular comedian. Netflix released his last hour in 2022 and just announced his next one, a “talk-show style special” out this fall.

For all the talk from Rogan about the "cancel culture" and how comedians are afraid to say anything right now, these chuckleheads are making a fortune saying whatever crazy, racist thing pops into their head. And because they have a dedicated fanbase, companies such as Netflix are willing to trade a bit of bad press for big viewer numbers.

WEEKEND VIEWING TIPS
It is a remarkably slow weekend for premieres, unless you're interested in watching the R-rated director's cuts of the two Rebel Moon movies on Netflix. But one docuseries I want to highlight is Cowboy Cartel, which premiered today on Apple TV+. 

The name might be a bit goofy, but it is the fascinating story of a rookie FBI agent who is assigned to the Laredo, Texas office. It is not considered a plum assignment and given his lack of experience, no one is expecting much from him. But he ends up stumbling into a case which ultimately took down the Treviño brothers, the leaders of Los Zetas, one of the most powerful cartels in Mexico. 

He notices that one of the other Trevino brothers is buying race horses in Texas and uncovers a complicated international money laundering operation.  The resulting cases not only send dozens of people to jail, but the arrest destabilize the Los Zetas enough to eventually collapse that cartel.

It is an absolutely crazy story and it's complicated enough to justify its four-episode length. 

The documentary also reminded me that I would love to see a similar deep dive on the Mexican cartel's control of the Mexican avocado industry. Several cartels not only control the production and distribution of most of the crops, they've used violence and bribery to illegally harvest hundreds of miles of protected forests. Which they then turn into avocado fields after selling off the prized old-growth woods.

And once you've watched Cowboy Cartel, check out this video interview I did with executive producers Dan Johnstone and Castor Fernandez. It doesn't include spoilers, per se. But the interview will make more sense once you've see the series.

TWEET OF THE DAY

ODDS AND SODS
* The Gay Supermarket Sweep “Business Partners” from the ’90s have a wilder story than you know.

* The Federal Trade Commission is giving $12 million in refund payments to those duped by a Utah company associated with multiple HGTV stars.

* The "Fool In Love" festival has a great lineup of classic soul, R&B and soft rock acts. But I don't think that I've ever seen a festival that encouraged people to buy the weekend tickets on layaway.

WHAT'S NEW TONIGHT AND THIS WEEKEND

FRIDAY, AUGUST 2ND:
* Cowboy Cartel (Apple TV+)
* Jazz Ramsey: A K-9 Mystery (Hallmark Mystery)
* Modern Masters: SS Rajamouli (Netflix)
* Rebel Moon – Chapter One: Chalice of Blood (Netflix)
* Rebel Moon – Chapter Two: Curse of Forgiveness (Netflix)
* Saving Bikini Bottom: The Sandy Cheeks Movie (Paramount+)

SATURDAY, AUGUST 3RD:
* Elizabeth Taylor: The Lost Tapes (HBO)
* I Thought My Husband's Wife Was Dead (Lifetime)
* Joe Rogan: Burn The Boats (Netflix)
* Johnson (Bounce)
* Junebug (Hallmark)
* Single Mom Missing (Investigation Discovery)
* 30 For 30: Dude Perfect: A Very Long Shot (ESPN)

SUNDAY, AUGUST 4TH:
* Granchester On Masterpiece Season Finale (PBS)
* Fully Torqued Season Four Premiere (fyi)
* 73rd Miss USA Pageant (The CW)
* The Neighbor Who Saw Too Much (Lifetime)
* 39th Annual Stellar Gospel Music Awards (BET)

MONDAY, AUGUST 5TH:
* Gabby's Dollhouse Season Premiere (Netflix)
* Judy Justice Season Premiere (Freevee/Prime Video)
* POV: Fauna (PBS)

SEE YOU ON MONDAY!