Too Much TV: Your TV Talking Points For Monday, March 28th, 2022
I think it's clear the theatrical movie business has lost its way...
Here's everything you need to know about the world of television for Monday, March 28th, 2022.
I DON'T WANT TO WRITE ABOUT WILL SMITH, BUT TANGENTIALLY....
I don't have much to say about the Will Smith slap during Sunday's Oscar broadcast. Aside from just the weirdness of the slap itself, it's not clear what happened in those few seconds between when the camera showed Will Smith laughing at the joke and him suddenly deciding he was so angry that he needed to slap someone. I have a strong suspicion there is more backstory here than any of us know. So I am just going to watch this from the sidelines.
I will make the observation that Smith's slap is really a reflection of the problems the Oscars broadcast has had in recent years. Unless you've spent time around someone who is a true household name star, you can't conceive the size of the bubble they live in. And that's always been a challenge for Oscar hosts, because the natural approach is to make fun of the seriousness of the event and its participants. And that inevitably leads to various stars being upset by some mild joke. There is a strong sense of "don't you know who I am?" in the room during any Oscar broadcast, so I suppose the logical end game for that attitude is slapping someone who you feel didn't give you and yours the proper level of "respect."
Even before the slap, Sunday's show was a bit of an awkward disaster and the industry's reaction to the rise of streaming services is not helping matters. There is endless talk about "losing the magic of the cinema" and complaints that having movies available primarily on streaming services is bad for the long-term growth of the industry.
But the problem isn't the streaming services. It's that the business model for theatrical releases has made it nearly impossible for any movie that isn't a huge franchise to find any oxygen. Coda might have still won Best Picture even it hadn't been available for streaming. But it will certainly have a much larger audience on a streaming service than it ever would playing in 50 or 100 small independent art houses for a few weeks.
Hollywood has lost it way and increasingly has a business model that is unsustainable. No industry can survive on the hope of a possible home run with every release. Every other entertainment industry in history has celebrated the huge hits, but survived financially thanks to the singles and doubles that have lean budgets and the ability to make a little money even if they don't become worldwide cultural talking points. The infrastructure that makes that possible in the theatrical movie business has mostly disappeared. And until that changes, the movie industry will continue to feel more like a fun holdover from a previous time.
It's sad to think of the theatrical movie business as being the film equivalent of vinyl records, but here we are.
AND THIS IS WHAT I MEAN BY SINGLES AND DOUBLES
While the theatrical business continues to sink into the "Go Huge or Forget About It" abyss, streaming services are creating the smaller, niche projects that used to be a regular part of the movie business. Just look at the highlights of what is coming this week on the major streaming services. There are teen-oriented action shows, goofball comedies, spy dramas, documentaries and stuff that is just lightweight fun to watch. None of which would be greenlit for a wide theatrical release. There are films from Richard Linklatter and Judd Apatow, another Marvel series, a espionage series starring Academy Award-winner Gary Oldman, and Academy Award-nominees Kristin Scott Thomas and Jonathan Pryce:
Tuesday: The Girl From Plainville (Hulu)
Wednesday: Moon Knight (Disney+), When We Were Bullies (HBO Max)
Thursday: Julia (HBO Max), Moonshot (HBO Max)
Friday: Apollo 10 1/2 (Netflix), Slow Horses (Apple TV+), The Bubble (Netflix), The Last Bus (Netflix)
Maybe one or two of these releases will break big. But in the worst case scenario, these are projects that focus on niches in the audience that the theatrical movie business has pretty much written off as not being able to "open wide."
'SQUID GAME' HELPED DRIVE SOUTH KOREAN TV CONSUMPTION IN ASIA
It's well-known at this point that the South Korean Netflix series was a massive global hit for the streaming service. But new data from Media Partners Asia shows that the success of that series seemed to have boosted viewership for some other South Korean projects across Netflix's APAC territories.
According to the report, Squid Game generated more than 1.6 billion minutes streamed globally in its first 28 days of release on Netflix last September. But more importantly for Netflix, the data that the series and other localized content helped add 16.2 million SVOD subscriptions in Southeast Asia.
While the South Korean TV series Hellbound found only modest success in the U.S, it was quite popular across Asia, Europe and Africa. Hellbound was among the Top 10 Netflix shows in 93 countries, and ranked No. 1 in 34 countries, according to the streamer. Netflix data also says the premiere episode nabbed 43.48 million viewing hours. Which means that it was no Squid Game, but it still garnered a sizable audience globally.
Netflix and Disney+ account for about 40% of the Southeast Asia movies and TV content consumption in English-speaking regions such as the Philippines, Malaysia and Singapore. That drops to about 22% in non-English speaking areas of Asia. The difference is in large part due to the success of the streaming service Viu, which is available in 16 markets across Asia, the Middle East and Africa. That service offers a wide range of South Korean and other regional programming and it also creates its own content under the "Viu Original" banner.
CNN+ LAUNCHES TOMORROW
The streaming news-ish service CNN+ launches tomorrow and I'll have a review of it once it's live. It's worth noting a couple of things ahead of time. CNN+ won't be available on Roku devices, which feels like a big missed opportunity. Also, if you are going to subscribe, do so through the web site CNNPlus.com, which will be offering a "half-off for life" deal that gives you the service for $2.99 a month for life as long as you keep your subscription active. That offer isn't available if you subscribe through other platforms, which instead will be offering a 7-day free trial.
TWEET OF THE DAY
ODDS AND SODS
* TNT announced on Monday that production has begun on season four of Snowpiercer. The series has yet another showrunner (Paul Zbyszewski) and is also adding new cast members Clark Gregg and Michael Aronov.
* HBO Sports has announced a new season of its long-running NFL series Hard Knocks. Training Camp With The Detroit Lions premieres on August 6th.
WHAT'S NEW FOR MONDAY
Here's a quick rundown of all the new stuff premiering today on TV and streaming:
Independent Lens: Writing With Fire (PBS)
Therma Romea Nova Series Premiere (Netflix)
Warrior Women With Lupita Nyong'o (Smithsonian)
Click Here to see the list of all of the upcoming premiere dates for the next few months.
SEE YOU TUESDAY!
If you have any feedback, send it along to Rick@AllYourScreens.com and follow me on Twitter @aysrick.