Too Much TV: Your TV Talking Points For Thursday, January 26th, 2023
Here's everything you need to know about the world of television for Thursday, January 26th, 2023.
STREAMING THE OSCAR-NOMINATED FILMS AND DOCUMENTARIES
After the this year's Academy Award nominations were announced Tuesday morning, I posted a piece listing every movie or documentary available on a streaming service.
I often talk about marketing and UX choices of the streamers and how often they pass up low-hanging fruit with their promotional choices. And these Oscar nominations are a perfect example. Netflix, Peacock and HBO Max all have multiple nominated films available for streaming, but none of the three services have any special Oscars section or even a mention that a specific title has been nominated. Sure, Peacock can promote The 40-Year-Old Virgin on its top-of-home-page multiple window carousel. But there's no mention of multiple Oscar-nominated films such as Elvis and The Banshees Of Inisherin. And you have to scroll down through about a dozen horizontal categories on the home page before you find a "coming soon" category that mentions the multiple-nominated Tar is coming to Peacock tomorrow.
The only streaming service that highlights its Oscar-nominated films is Disney+. The first selection in the top promo window is called "Critically Acclaimed Collection" and that includes the Oscar-nominated films. I'd argue that mentioning the Oscars would be helpful, but that's a minor complaint. Other windows in the top promo carousel also link to individual films, with "Oscar Nominated" in the short description. There's even a spot for the Oscar-nominated film Black Panther: Waconda Forever, which will be available on Disney Plus on February 1st.
As I said at the top, this is low-hanging fruit. The Oscar nominations are fresh in people's minds this week. So why not take advantage of the interest and promote your library of nominated films?
NATASHA LYONNE ON "POKER FACE'
Peacock's new series Poker Face premiered today and if you are a fan of the classic 1970s TV detective series, this show will fill that big gap in your viewing habits. Here is a link to my review.
1970s detective-centric TV shows are the creative inspiration for the series, both from creator Rian Johnson and star Natasha Lyonne. In particular, the Peter Falk series Columbo was apparently a big influence on the series and during the recent TCAs, she was asked if Peter Falk was an influence on her take of the character or was it written that way:
"It really is a chicken or the egg, isn't it? I mean, I have a great love of Peter Falk from all the Cassavetes and "Wings of Desire," and I just love the guy. I love his oil paintings. So I think, sort of as somebody that's essentially just self‑taught based on my interests, I've always gravitated to him. But the other guy I love so much is Sipowicz. I love Sipowicz, Dennis Franz. But other than that I want to say I would love to go on "Finding Your Roots" and discover that Peter Falk was some sort of deep, distant relation."
SPEAKING OF 'POKER FACE'
Some critics have been perplexed by Peacock's decision to drop four episodes of Poker Face today, especially given that the season only runs ten episodes.
It might seem like an odd decision on the face of it, especially given that a lot of new originals that are receiving a weekly release are only premiering with perhaps two episodes.
I was told yesterday by someone at the streamer on background that it was decision with "multiple factors." But apparently a primary reason is that Peacock is now allowing its viewing numbers to be included in Nielsen's Most-Viewed charts. And dropping four episodes at once - especially for a show executives believe people will binge - will juice the numbers and give the show a more impressive debut.
TWEET OF THE DAY
HULU'S LIVE ENTERTAINMENT ADD-ON
Even though I am a longtime subscriber to Hulu Live TV, I had forgotten that the service had an overpriced entertainment add-on tier for all of the channels that no one watches. These are literally the channels MVPDs and vMVPDs are forced to carry as part of the mega-bundles that are offered in a take-it-or-leave-it fashion during carriage negotiations.
I was reminded of this extra tier today when I received an email from Hulu letting me know that "Starting on March 1, 2023, the Boomerang network will no longer be available as part of Hulu's standard Live TV subscription, but the good news is that you can keep watching all the Boomerang content you love with a subscription to our Entertainment Add-on."
I included the link that was part of the message since it went to a 404 Error page on Hulu.com
For the record, the Entertainment Add-On Tier (this is the correct link) costs $7.99 a month and includes:
American Heroes Channel
BET Her
CNBC World
Cooking Channel
Crime + Investigation
Destination America
Discovery Family
Discovery Life
Hallmark Drama
Magnolia Network
Great American Family
Military History Channel
Nicktoons
MTV2
MTV Classic
Science
TeenNic
While there are useful channels in this list, I don't think it's worth anywhere near $7.99 a month. I would love to know how many Hulu Live TV subscribers are actually paying for this add-on.
ODDS AND SODS
* CNBC has decided not to pick up new seasons of Jay Leno's Garage and Money Court, which pretty much ends their prime time original lineup.
* Fox Entertainment has ordered early renewals of its animated shows The Simpsons, Bob's Burgers and Family Guy, with each series getting a two-year renewal.
* Netflix has renewed The Recruit for a second season.
* Season four of Succession will be returning to HBO on March 26th.
*Animal Planet will live simulcast the annual Puppy Bowl across multiple Warner Bros Discovery channels including HBO Max.
WHAT'S NEW FOR THURSDAY:
Clean Sweep Series Premiere (Sundance Now)
Daniel Spellbound (Netflix)
Jersey Shore Family Vacation Season Premiere (MTV)
Jimmy Kimmel Live! 20th Anniversary Special (ABC)
Killing County (Hulu)
Nikki Bella Says I Do Series Premiere (E!)
Poker Face Series Premiere (Peacock)
Record of Ragnarok II (Netflix)
Snap Season Finale (ALLBLK)
Teen Wolf: The Movie (Paramount+)
The Lair (Shudder)
The 1619 Project (Hulu)
Wolf Pack (Paramount+)
Click Here to see the list of all of the upcoming premiere dates for the next few months.
SEE YOU FRIDAY!
If you have any feedback, send it along to Rick@AllYourScreens.com and follow me on Twitter @aysrick.