Too Much TV: Your TV Talking Points For Tuesday, July 2nd, 2024

Where is my "Lost" spin-off series?

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

NATIONAL AMUSEMENTS MIGHT BE SOLD?
The past 24 hours has brought a flurry of Paramount Global and National Amusements (Paramount's parent company) news, much of it somewhat conflicting.

Part of the confusion is due to the fact that the various participants have been "leaking" updates to favorite outlets and journalists in hopes of changing the glidepath of negotiations.

For instance, the NY Times reported yesterday that aging mogul Barry Diller is considering a run at acquiring Paramount Global. CNBC reported that Warner Bros. Discovery (WBD) had an interest in merging Max and Paramount+ as a joint venture.  By this morning, there was news that Paramount was preparing to sell BET for a few hundred million less than it could have sold the division for last year.

Then finally, the Wall Street Journal reported late Tuesday afternoon that David Ellison had reached a preliminary deal to buy the Redstone family holding company, National Amusements Inc., which would give his Skydance Media control over Paramount Global. Shari Redstone, who controls National Amusements and its 77% voting shares in Paramount Global, previously rejected Ellison's offer:

Under the previous deal proposal, Skydance and its financiers had planned to pay more than $2 billion for National Amusements. After the firm’s debt was paid off, the sum would have provided the Redstone family with about $1.7 billion. The new deal provides about $50 million more for the Redstone family than what had previously been envisioned, or about $1.75 billion, one of the knowledgeable people said.

Also making the deal more acceptable to Redstone, Skydance and its backers, RedBird Capital and private equity firm KKR, also agreed in recent days to stronger provisions to shield the company from shareholder lawsuits, this person said.

The $50 million in extra money isn't nothing, but it's basically pocket change in the scope of this deal. What Shari Redstone was apparently more concerned about was the prospect of being sued by unhappy shareholders who would claim she put her interests over those of shareholders and agreed to a deal which shifted more of the final payout to herself. Which - to be honest - is an argument that is probably pretty close to the truth.

So we appear to have a deal. Or at least the agreement to have a deal. Probably.

THAT DARN HOLLYWOOD REPORTER
My recent piece on changes at The Hollywood Reporter received a lot of feedback, ranging from people unhappy they won't be able to listen to Lesley Goldberg and Dan Feinberg's podcast, to someone from PMC corporate who insisted to me today that THR was absolutely not moving to a more entertainment lifestyle/politics direction.

In response to that argument, let me place into evidence the top story at THR this morning:

And the top story on the site as I write this (bylined by Maer Roshan)

Based on the THR archives, this looks to be Roshan's third piece posted at THR in 2024. The next oldest piece dates from 2018, and highlights the best way to get a table at one of Hollywood's hot spots.

And speaking of the THR web site, I also noticed that they've finally removed Lesley Goldberg's name from the masthead.

WHERE IS MY 'LOST' SPIN-OFF SERIES?
Vulture has been getting a lot of attention this week for its guaranteed to be hate-tweeted piece "Lost's Most Pointless Episodes." It certainly is one way to approach Lost's addition to Netflix in the U.S.

But since I love being contrary (I am sure you haven't noticed), I want to highlight this piece I posted today, arguing that Disney+ should consider doing a Lost spin-off series. And as it turns out, there is even a roadmap in place for what the spin-off might look like:

So what would a Lost spin-off series look like? Well, one possibility would be the storyline that the Lost co-creator/executive producer Damon Lindelof and executive producer Carlton Cuse laid out in the 12-minute long epilogue "The New Man in Charge," which was released on the season six DVD collection. The short contained two storylines and both of them build on the backstory of the original series. In segment one, Ben Linus (Michael Emerson) visits two Dharma Initiative workers in a warehouse in Guam. He shuts down their operation, which had been shipping packages and food to the Island. He tells them the Dharma Initiative has not been in existence for over twenty years. And before he shuts down the warehouse for good, he shows them a DVD presentation from the Dharma Initiative that explains some of the events that took place on the Island (including the reason for the polar bears).

Segment two has Ben visiting the Santa Rosa Mental Health Institute, where he convinces an institutionalized Walt to leave with him. Once they reach Ben's van, they find Hurley and he tells Walt it's time for them to return to the island. As the three men drive off, Hurley also tells Walt he might have a job for him.

It would take an extremely confident showrunner to take on this idea, but I think it would be an interesting world to explore again.

ODDS AND SODS
* The not-for-profit Internet Archive assembled a searchable index of 460,575 web pages previously published at mtv.com/news.

* The stand-up special Chad Daniels: Empty Nester premieres July 16th on Netflix.

* The three-part docuseries Teen Torture Inc. premieres Thursday, July 11th on Max. It follows on-going efforts to expose America’s “troubled teen” industry (TTI). 

* Moonlighting is now streaming for free on Tubi.

* TMZ Studios is testing a new syndicated series called Strange & Suspicious. The series premieres with a limited four-week run in 12 major markets including the FOX O&O’s in New York, Los Angeles and Detroit. Other markets also include Chicago, San Francisco, Washington, D.C., Phoenix, Seattle, Minneapolis, Orlando, Milwaukee and Austin. Hosted by Harvey Levin, the show "digs deep into the world of unexplained, unsolved, downright weird stories from across the globe."

TWEET OF THE DAY

WHAT'S NEW TONIGHT AND TOMORROW

TUESDAY, JULY 2ND:
* Detective Maria Kallio Season Two Premiere (Viaplay)
* Disco: Soundtrack Of A Revolution Finale (PBS)
* Doubling Down With The Derricos Season Finale (TLC)
* Hard Knocks: Offseason With The New York Giants Season Premiere (HBO)
* Sprint Series Premiere (Netflix)

WEDNESDAY, JULY 3RD:
* All Up In My Grill Season Four Premiere (Tastemade)
* Beverly Hills Cop: Axel F (Netflix)
* Hope In The Water Finale (PBS)
* Trying Season Four Finale (Apple TV+)

SEE YOU ON WEDNESDAY!