Too Much TV: Your TV Talking Points For Tuesday, January 28th, 2025

CNN pushed Jim Acosta off the network. He went straight to Substack

Here's everything you need to know about the world of television for Tuesday, January 28th, 2025:

JIM ACOSTA EXITS CNN
In my paid subscriber-only video earlier today, I talked about Jim Acosta's exit from CNN and what it means for both that cable news network and for legacy news journalism. The short version is that CNN seemed to hope that moving Acosta to a midnight ET timeslot would ease criticism from Donald Trump, who famously tangled repeatedly with the reporter during his first administration.

Well, it's not working out that way so far, since this was the message sent out on Donald Trump's Truth account before Acosta officially announced he was leaving:

“Jim Acosta, one of the worst and most dishonest reporters in journalistic history, a major sleazebag, has been relegated by CNN Fake News to the Midnight hour, ‘Death Valley,’ because of extraordinarily BAD RATINGS (and no talent!).”

After he signed off, Acosta announced he was launching a paid Substack called The Jim Acosta Show. He's asking $80 for an annual subscription and given his high-profile exit, I expect it won't take long for him to create an independent revenue stream that might not match his CNN salary, but will provide a very nice income.

Declaring that some event in media "feels like a tipping point" is so over-used it's almost a Trope. But if Acosta can leave a high-profile cable news job and create his own viable and independent news voice, then this move certainly feels like an important moment in the shift away from the mainstream media.

That being said, Acosta has some kinks to work out with the technical aspects of this new-found media voice. A little while ago, he did a live stream on Substack with former CNN colleague Norm Eisen as his guest. And I'll just be charitable and say the experience was "rough" to watch.

It often felt like the random conversation you overhear between friends on an elevator. And I think he would have been better to have a conversation with someone in which he'd talk more his exit and what he hopes to do independently that he couldn't do at CNN.

But he did make a couple of notable points, including "One of the reasons I spoke out today is that you can't speak truth to power if those in power can crush the truth....you can't play both sides here if it's not an even playing field...when you have a candidate going out there like Donald Trump in that last campaign and talking about people being "the enemy within"....I'm sorry, that's unamerican. That's just not America."

"I think it's well within our rights as journalists to call that out.....that is what a true newsperson does. You tell people the truth. Even when it hurts."

TWEET OF THE DAY

THE COMPLICATED ISSUE OF PRODUCTION CREDITS
Australia, like a lot of countries, has a substantial government-funded pool of money it grants to foreign producers as a reward/incentive for producing original programming in Australia. But is it a good deal for taxpayers? Not according to this great piece in The Conversation:

Headlines about Screen Australia’s latest annual Drama Report have highlighted one particular figure: a 29% drop in total industry expenditure compared to the year before.

But a closer look suggests this isn’t the most concerning finding. The report also reveals a significant chunk (42%) of the A$803 million spent on producing Australian TV drama in 2023–24 was funded by taxpayers.

What’s more – watching half of the Australian TV drama hours broadcast in 2024 required a streaming subscription. Watching all of them required seven different subscriptions.

With Australians’ funding of this commercial, for-profit sector on the rise, we can’t help but ask: what do Australian viewers get in return?

One of their suggestions is to focus more of the production credits on stories that tell the Australian experience and not on shows such as NBC's Young Rock or the Disney+ series Nautilus.

ODDS AND SODS
* Peacock has announced that the suspense thriller series Long Bright River will premiere on Thursday, March 13th. Based on Liz Moore’s bestseller, it stars and is executive produced by Amanda Seyfried, who plays a Philadelphia police officer who patrols an area hit particularly hard by the opioid crisis.

* ABC has announced that The Conners' seventh and final season will premiere on Wednesday, March 26th for what the network bills as "a six-episode farewell event."

* Tubi has picked up Roboforce: The Animated Series, from The Nacelle Company (The Toys/Movies That Made Us, Kevin Hart’s Guide to Black History) and Dwayne Johnson and Dany Garcia’s Seven Bucks Productions (Red One, Behind the Attraction). The six-episode half-hour animated sci-fi series is set to premiere on the free, ad-supported streamer in April.

* Two years after it was first announced, MGM+ has given an eight-episode series order to American Classic, a half-hour comedy starring and executive produced by Oscar winner Kevin Kline. Here is the official logline: "Kline plays notorious narcissist Richard Bean, who suffers a spectacular public meltdown and returns to his hometown and the family-run theater where he first became aware of his own brilliance. When he arrives, he is shocked to discover that his father, the former artistic director, has lost a step and that the once-respected theater, now run by his brother Jon (Tenney) and his wife (now the town’s mayor). has become, by necessity, a low-rent dinner theater serving roast beef and murder mysteries. He decides to save the town, the theater and the world by presenting a great American classic on the dinner theater stage, directed by and starring, of course, Richard Bean."

* The Jonas Brothers are doing a Christmas holiday special for Disney+. In the film, "Kevin, Joe and Nick Jonas face a series of escalating obstacles as they struggle to make it from London to New York in time to spend Christmas with their families."

* Prime Video's Bosch: Legacy will return for its third and final season on March 27th, with ten episodes.

* Reelz is sticking with the one TV genre that seems to get them an audience, and today announced it is renewing On Patrol: Live for a 90-episode fourth season. It also picked up the lead-in spinoff On Patrol: First Shift for an additional 90 episodes.

WHAT'S NEW TONIGHT AND TOMORROW

TUESDAY, JANUARY 28TH:
A French Village Season Two Premiere (MHz Choice)
FBI Spring Premiere (CBS)
FBI: International Spring Premiere (CBS)
FBI: Most Wanted Spring Premiere (CBS)
Great Migrations: A People On The Move (PBS)
Hunting History With Steven Rinella Series Premiere (History)
Liza Treyger: Night Owl (Netflix)
Tatort: Harbor Crimes Series Premiere (MHz Choice)
Tom Green: I Got A Mule! (Prime Video)

WEDNESDAY, JANUARY 29TH:
All-American Season Premiere (The CW)
American Manhunt: O.J. Simpson (Netflix)
Mythic Quest Season Four Premiere (Apple TV+)
6 Nations: Full Contact Season Two Premiere (Netflix)
The Challenge: All-Stars Season Premiere (MTV)
The Hooligan (Netflix)
The Hot Spot (Netflix)
The Flip Off Series Premiere (HGTV)
Your Friendly Neighborhood Spider-Man Series Premiere (Disney+)

SEE YOU ON WEDNESDAY!