Too Much TV: Your TV Talking Points For Thursday, January 13th, 2022

Is it 2023 yet?

Here's everything you need to know about the world of television for Thursday, January 13th, 2022. I'm writing this from the Twin Cities, where AllYourScreens HQ is struggling to get over whatever weird virus I managed to catch last week. So today's newsletter is later (and shorter) than normal. It's already been a long 2022.

HOW THE PANDEMIC HAS CHANGED THE TV INDUSTRY, PART 72
The up-and-down COVID-19 pandemic has forced a lot of changes onto the television industry, some of them changes that probably should have happened before now. People are much more comfortable with the idea of Zoom calls and that has made talent and executives much more accessible to journalists like myself who live and work outside the traditional Hollywood/NYC/Vancouver/Atlanta Nexis. For instance, just today I participated in a Fox call for their new show Welcome To Flatch, did an interview with an executive in Nigeria and spoke with an actor sitting in his Denver hotel room. This Zoom-fueled world has been great for improving my access and I am hoping that won't change post-pandemic.

The latest edition of Joe Adalian's Buffering newsletter focuses on the relationship between content sellers and buyers, particularly at Disney-owned 20th Television. It's a great read, but this related paragraph jumped out at me:

The execs also say communication has dramatically improved under the new system, in part — somewhat ironically — because of the pandemic. Hulu and Disney’s TV studios have kept their offices mostly shuttered through most of the past two years, and while business lunches and some events resumed (at least before Omicron), most contact between execs has been virtual and much less structured than in the Before Times. “One of the silver linings of the way we’ve evolved our work during the pandemic is we’re all just infinitely reachable,” Burke says. “We all have each other on speed dial, and there’s a group text [among top execs]. It’s allowed us to be in pretty constant communication. I can get to Craig or [other Disney TV execs] within an hour or two with the answer to a question. There’s a transparency and a partnership that is unlike anything I’ve experienced before with my colleagues.”

This story reinforces my general theory that the current work-for-home regimen has led to some unexpected positives. Although I will be honest, I miss doing set visits.

GLENN BECK GETS COVID-19 AGAIN
Glenn Beck said in an interview on Wednesday with fellow conservative talk show host Mark Levin that he has contracted Covid-19 for the second time. "It’s starting to go into my lungs today and a little disturbing. I’m on all the medications and treatments and everything else, so...it’s all good." 

Mr. Levin, a vociferous booster of any and all things Trump whose voice has been compared with Master Shake on the Cartoon Network program Aqua Teen Hunger Force, asked Mr. Beck if he was using a monoclonal antibody treatment.

Mr. Beck said the antibody treatment "doesn’t seem to be working" in his case, but he added that he is taking Ivermectin, an anti parasite drug popular in right-wing, anti-vaccine circles that has no proven effect against Covid-19.

“I’m not going downhill. I mean, I think I’m feeling better. It’s just getting into my lungs...you will want to avoid that,” he said, adding that his condition has not been helped by being, in his words, a “fatty-fat-fatso”.

HBO MAX ORDERS NEW 'DEGRASSI' SERIES
WarnerMedia has acquired the Degrassi: The Next Generation library, which will be on HBO Max this spring. Currently, every episode of the series is available on the AVODs Pluto TV and Tubi TV. They are also available on the official Degrassi YouTube channel.

As part of the deal, HBO Max has ordered a new Degrassi series, comprised of 10 hour-long episodes. It will premiere first on HBO Max and at a later point will get its linear TV premiere on WarnerMedia-owned Cartoon Network.

Of course, there's no way to know what the new series will look like. But this feels like a lot of these reboots of 80s & 90s series that the various streamers have been ordering. Most of them end up being the streaming world equivalent of a single or maybe a double. They get mcuh more attention from the press than they do from audiences. And while most of them have enough of a familiarity to keep them from being disasters, they also aren't special enough to add much value to their parent streaming service. 

FOR FANS OF OBSCURE/SEMI-CLASSIC TV
The Fox-owned AVOD Tubi has been adding a number of off-the-wall TV shows and it's especially an interesting collection if you're a fan of syndicated action shows in the 1990s and early 2000s. There is also a nice collection of very early 1950s shows as well as extensive collections of TV shows from Asia and Russia.

Some of the shows now available include Family, Women's Murder Club (Angie Harmon), The Client List, the original Joe Millionaire, La Femme Nikita, Sanford, What's Happening, the Ving Rhames remake of Kojak, Police Woman, Renegade, Movin' On, Robocop: The Series, Timecop, Tales Of The Unexpected, Glen A. Larson's NightMan, Cleopatra 2525, the animated The Ultraman, Tropical Heat, The Mothers-In-Law, Follow That Man, Forever Knight, The Veil, Lights Out, The Gabby Hayes Show, My Living Doll, Medic, Space Angel, The Dresden Files, Rush, Silver Spoons the 1976 Honeymooners reunion special and the astoundingly weird live action superhero roast Legends Of The Superheroes.

ODDS AND SODS
* The Producers Guild has postponed the  2022 Awards Ceremony due to COVID-19 surge.

* Camila Bernal has been promoted to CNN Correspondent based in that network's L.A. bureau.

* Hemisphere Media Group announced on Thursday that it has inked a multi-year carriage agreement with fuboTV to make all five of Hemisphere’s cable networks available in HD to subscribers of fuboTV's Latino channel plan in the U.S. and Puerto Rico. The networks include WAPA América, Cinelatino, Pasiones, CentroAméricaTV and Televisión Dominicana, and are expected to become available on fuboTV in Q1 of 2022

* Frndly has added FMC to its programming lineup.

* Lincoln's Dilemma, a new docuseries exploring "Abraham Lincoln's complex journey to end slavery," will premiere February 18th on Apple TV+.

* Pluto TV has added the BBC Kids channel.

* MLB star Mookie Betts has signed a producing deal with Ben Silverman and Howard T. Owens' Propagate that will see the outfielder develop scripted and unscripted film, TV and podcast projects.

TWEET OF THE DAY

WHAT'S NEW FOR THURSDAY
Here's a quick rundown of all the new stuff premiering today on TV and streaming:

Brazen (Netflix)
Chosen (Netflix)
Diego, The Last Goodbye (HBO Max)
Madagascar: A Little Wild (Peacock/Hulu)
Married To Real Estate Series Premiere (HGTV)
My Mom, Your Dad Series Premiere (HBO Max)
Next Influencer Season Premiere (Paramount+)
Peacemaker Series Premiere (HBO Max)
Photocopier (Netflix)
Taking The Stand Series Premiere (A&E)
The Journalist (Netflix)
Titans: The Rise Of Wall Street Series Premiere (CuriosityStream)
Walker (The CW)
Wolf Like Me Series Premiere (Peacock)

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.