Too Much TV: Your TV Talking Points For Thursday, March 2nd, 2023
Florida legislators want to register bloggers who write about them
Here's everything you need to know about the world of television for Thursday, March 2nd, 2023.
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ONE POSSIBLE SOLUTION FOR THE 'WHERE CAN I WATCH MY FAVORITE TEAM'S GAME?" QUESTION
I've written before that I'm surprised no one has launched an app that would allow you to figure out where you can watch the broadcast of your favorite team. With the expansion of live sports onto the various streaming services, figuring out where to watch a game can turn into a 30-minute exercise in frustration.
But ESPN is apparently hoping to use its size to become the defacto destination for people looking to find their local team's broadcast:
While the business terms of the concept could still change, ESPN has considered a model in which it would take a cut of subscription revenue from a user who signed up for a streaming service through the ESPN app or website, two of the people said. If a customer already subscribes to a given service, ESPN would collect no money and just provide the link as a courtesy, people familiar with the matter said.
ESPN may also alert users to games that air on linear TV, cementing its new role as the TV guide of live sports, the people said.
I am skeptical that ESPN's rivals will agree to this idea, even if the company does currently control about 30 percent of all live sports programing. But the idea is a sound one. I just think it would have to be launched by a third party in order to get a buy-in from the various linear and streaming rivals.
IT'S TIME TO LET GO OF YOUR LINEAR NETWORK FANTASIES
Vulture's Joe Adalian has a great interview with Paramount's Chris McCarthy and there is a lot to unpack: lots of talk about the extended Yellowstone universe, the upcoming changes to Showtime and the state of the business in general. But I especially enjoyed this discussion of the reasons why MTV runs so many episodes of Ridiculousness:
Staying on the evolution of linear, one of the questions I get most often from my colleagues at Vulture and from people on Twitter is, “Why is MTV’s cable lineup now like 90 percent Ridiculousness”? MTV is hardly the only cable network that has turned its daytime lineup over to a couple titles. And some have gone further than you, programming shows which seem very much off-brand. But why Ridiculousness, and why so much of it? We live in an on-demand world where people can use streaming to binge, so what’s the point of doing that on linear?
I think you just answered it with the question: “In an on-demand world, why do you run with Ridiculousness?” The same people that ask you those questions, I’d ask them when was the last time they turned on the television and just leaned back and watched for hours on end? If they did, they were going to one of their favorite channels that delivered them one type of show — one of the home shows they create on HGTV or the Housewives on Bravo. The people who are leaning back on and watching linear television, that audience is older. They’re on linear because they don’t want it to change. And what they love more than anything on MTV is Ridiculousness.
The same people that ask you those questions, I’d ask them when was the last time they turned on the television and just leaned back and watched for hours on end?
Ridiculousness is one of these genius shows that is perfectly, scientifically designed to get older, younger, right, left — it brings them to their instant happy place. And I think what people get confused about is they think we’re still doing 20 episodes a year, when generally, we tend to premiere 8-12 new Ridiculousness episodes per week. And that show just absolutely delivers for the audience that is left watching daytime television. That audience is a lot smaller.
If you were to look at MTV’s biggest shows, what you would see is it’s things like The Challenge. It’s Drag Race and it’s Jersey Shore. The viewer watches on demand or with their DVR. They never come to the channel anymore. They’re about 10 years younger. And they love those shows. But if you’re leaning back, watching just straight live TV, most people who are watching non-primetime linear TV are there to watch one or two shows, whether it’s Ridiculousness or, on other networks, Friends or The Office or House Hunters International.You don’t think there is an audience then that is still on cable that would respond to a linear schedule? Or to bring back music programming and videos?
We have four channels that do exactly that, and they’re our least-watched channels.
A lot of the complaints about television tend to come from someone's personal experience and response to how they watch television - or stream shows. Sure, if you remember the glory days of MTV, then the current schedule is depressing and you think "why would anyone watch this?," because it's not something you would do. But when you look at the numbers, there isn't a market anymore for destination programming on a lot of cable networks. The only thing that draws any tangible audience is lean back programming. And that more often than not means sports, reality TV or some sort of unscripted programming. It might be depressing, but that's the reality of the world we live in right now.
TWEET OF THE DAY
ODDS AND SODS
* Season two of the animated series Housebroken premieres Sunday, March 26th on Fox.
* The Ankler has a great piece on the behind-the-scenes on the set of Gone With The Wind as producers and writers struggled to decide how much blatant racism and condemnations of slaver should appear in the film.
* Apple TV+ announced it has ordered Monster Factory, a series which goes behind the scenes at a world-renowned wrestling school in southern New Jersey. The series debuts on Friday, March 17th.
* The Hallmark Channel has picked up a second season of the Andie McDowell drama The Way Home.
* Paramount+ has renewed Sky Med for a second season.
YOU CAN'T SIT OUT THE CULTURE WARS
I've written a few pieces arguing that Hollywood and the entertainment industry is not going to be able to dodge the fallout of the ongoing culture wars. When taking on the mean old media companies is an easy way to score points with your supporters, attacking Hollywood is a strategy with few downsides, since most media companies are not inclined to get into a battle with some sizeable percentage of their customer base. But it's also true that ignoring the problem won't make it go away. And at some point, media companies will be faced with two equally distasteful options: stand up to the culture warriors and defend themselves. Or submit to changes demanded by conservatives, who are already arguing that there is too much "woke" content on TV and the streaming services. Whatever that means.
But in the meantime, the Florida legislature has apparently decided to go after "bloggers," although it's not clear what that means.
A newly proposed "Information Dissemination Bill" would require wants bloggers who write about Gov. Ron DeSantis, Attorney General Ashley Moody, and other members of the Florida executive cabinet or legislature to register with the state or face fines.
In the bill, Brodeur wrote that those who write "an article, a story, or a series of stories," about "the Governor, the Lieutenant Governor, a Cabinet officer, or any member of the Legislature," and receives or will receive payment for doing so, must register with state offices within five days after the publication of an article that mentions an elected state official.
If another blog post is added to a blog, the blogger would then be required to submit monthly reports on the 10th of each month with the appropriate state office. They would not have to submit a report on months when no content is published.
For blog posts that “concern an elected member of the legislature” or “an officer of the executive branch,” monthly reports must disclose the amount of compensation received for the coverage, rounded to the nearest $10 value.
Additional compensation must be disclosed later on.
Failure to file these disclosures or register with state officials, if the bill passes, would lead to daily fines for the bloggers, with a maximum amount per report, not per writer, of $2,500. The per-day fine is $25 per report for each day it’s late.
Explicitly, the blogger rule would not apply to newspapers or similar publications.
I am assuming that under these guidelines, I would fall into the blogger category. So since I've written about Governor DeSantis and his battles with Disney, this proposed law would impact me. And I can tell you right now that I have no intention on submitting to this law if it passes. And I look forward to seeing the State of Florida in court. Because I have no doubt I can find someone willing to take on my case to swat down this unbelievably corrupt idea.
WHAT'S NEW FOR THURSDAY:
Alaska Daily Spring Premiere (ABC)
Bite Of A Mango (ALLBLK)
Dragons: The Nine Realms (Hulu/Peacock)
Framed! A Sicilian Murder Mystery (Netflix)
Karate Sheep (Netflix)
Mariachis (HBO Max)
Marlon Wayans: God Loves Me (HBO Max)
Masameer County (Netflix)
Monique Oliver: Accessory To Evil (Netflix)
Omega: Gift And Curse Series Premiere (WE tv)
Sex/Life Season Two Premiere (Netflix)
Spoonful Of Sugar (Shudder)
Temple Series Premiere (Topic)
The Flipping El Moussas Series Premiere (HGTV)
Walker Independence Season Finale (The CW)
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.