Too Much TV: Your TV Talking Points For Friday, December 1st, 2023

The myth of the canceled comedian

Here's everything you need to know about the world of television for Friday, December 1st, 2023. 

THE MYTH OF CANCELED COMEDIANS
I've mentioned Seth Simon's Humorism Substack before and he is one of the best people to follow if you're interested in the world of comedy. In the latest edition of his newsletter, he has an interview with showbiz historian Kliph Nesteroff. In his new book, Outrageous: A History of Showbiz and the Culture Wars, Nesteroff sets out to dismantle the popular wisdom that you can’t say anything anymore. As it turns out, this wisdom has been popular for the better part of the last 200 years:

It also depends on what you consider a protest. When this guy rushed the stage at the Hollywood Bowl during a Chappelle gig, Howie Mandel said it was the death of comedy. It always annoys me when comedians themselves make that argument, because they should know better. Anybody who's done standup in a comedy club for generations should know better. When I did standup, it was before Facebook, before Twitter, before podcasts, the word podcast did not exist. And I can recall five different instances where I was assaulted. Two different times, I had a pitcher of beer doused over me, once in Toronto, once in Vancouver. Two completely different incidences. Two other times I had somebody rush the stage and throttle me, and a fifth time, which I think was my own fault, I went out into the audience and was doing a shtick in the audience and somebody clocked me in the head. So this is before the internet. When you're dealing with drunks, you're often dealing with people who object to what you're doing on stage.

The book is a must-read and it provides a fresh perspective on a lot of classic TV stories we think we know:

I have an example in the book from the early 50s with the Amos 'n' Andy TV show. The show got canceled after NAACP pressure, but it wasn't canceled because somebody had a revelation and was like, "Oh, it's racist, let's cancel it." It was canceled because there was a boycott campaign going on. And as a result for years afterwards, the networks just didn't hire any Black actors. They didn't think, "Oh, we'll hire Black actors and have them do realistic portrayals.” [They thought,] “We just won't hire any black actors at all because that'll prevent any further controversy. We won't get controversy from Black civil rights organizations who feel that we're portraying stereotypes, and we won't get any protests from white bigots in the south. That way we'll protect the profit margin.”

It's definitely a must-read book.

ICYMI
I posted quite a few pieces on AllYourScreens today and here are some of the highlights:

* I had some thoughts about the Wall Street Journal story that reported Apple and Paramount have apparently reportedly held some discussions looking into the idea of bundling their streaming services. And as I noted, the billing details are likely to be one of the more challenging things to figure out:

Still, while bundling the two services into some sort of a "soft" bundle might make sense at first glance, I'll be interested to see how the two companies navigate the complex details. A discounted price means a reduced ARPU (average revenue per user) for both services. Neither Apple TV+ or Paramount+ report their ARPU, although during its Q3 earnings call Paramount CFO Naveen Chopra Chopra the company expects Paramount+ ARPU to spike by 20% in 2024. Although it's not clear how that will happen.

Disney is able to easily bundle Disney+ and Hulu because they share the same billing infrastructure and neither service has to give up control of user data.

That wouldn't be the case with Apple TV+ and Paramount+ and given Apple's desire to keep users inside the Apple ecosystem, it's likely Apple would be the one handling billing and controlling user data.

I am not at all surprised that Paramount is interested in this bundle. They have pretty aggressive about making deals with a variety of partners globally. But this is a bit of a strategic shift for Apple and and I am curious to see if this is an indication the company is reconsidering some of its streaming business strategy.

* The Australian government is moving closer to imposing regulations on streamers that would require some level of spending on productions produced in Australia. This is a similar plan to the one that is in place in the EU and several other countries:

Under the proposal, streamers would have the obligation to invest a percentage of their Australian revenue in local content, either through commissions, co-productions or acquisitions.

The proposal seeks to accomplish two goals: to encourage international streamers to produce more Australian content and also to provide more homegrown content to local over-the-air broadcasters. Currently, Australian free-to-air networks are required to have a 55% quota of Australian content on their airwaves, with additional sub-quotas for Australian kids, documentary and drama content.

The proposal would also require SVOD and AVOD services to “make Australian content discoverable to Australian audiences” and report to the Australian Communications and Media Authority (ACMA) each year on performance against those expectations.

* Julianna Margulies said in a podcast interview that Black, LGBTQ supporters of Palestine have been 'brainwashed.'

ODDS AND SODS
* The documentary Jill, Uncredited takes a look at the career of Jill Goldston, who is billed as the "world's most prolific extra." The documentary is streaming on Mubi, but this feature in the Guardian has a lot of fun factoids, including the story of her experience on a Tom Cruise movie, where she was instructed not to look the star in the eyes.

TWEET OF THE DAY

WHAT'S NEW TODAY AND TOMORROW:

FRIDAY, DECEMBER 1ST:
* Candy Cane Lane (Prime Video)
* Fisk (Netflix)
* Frog & Toad: Christmas Eve (Apple TV+)
* Life After Lockup Season Premiere (WE tv)
* May December (Netflix)
* My Norwegian Holiday (Hallmark)
* Power Book III: Raising Kanan Season Premiere (Starz)
* Sexiest Splash Pads (HGTV)
* Shape Island: The Winter Blues (Apple TV+)
* Spirited Sing-Along (Apple TV+)
* Sweet Home Season Two Premiere (Netflix)
* The Shepard (Disney+)
* The Snoopy Show: Happiness Is Holiday Traditions (Apple TV+)
* Timeless Heroes: Indiana Jones & Harrison Ford (Disney+)
* The UnBelievable With Dan Aykroyd Series Premiere (History)
* The World According To Football (Showtime)

SATURDAY, DECEMBER 2ND:
* A Christmas Serenade (OWN)
* A Not So Royal Christmas (Hallmark)
* Christmas On Windmill Way (Great American Family)
* Dr. Who: Wild Blue Yonder (Disney+)
* Fatal Family Feuds Series Premiere (Oxygen)
* Home For The Holidays: A Christmas Homecoming (UPtv)
* Ladies Of The 80s: A Divas Christmas (Lifetime)
* The Sister Wife Murder (Investigation Discovery)
* Thriller 40 (Showtime)
* Welcome To Samdal-ri Series Premiere (Netflix)

SUNDAY, DECEMBER 3RD:
* Chowchilla (CNN)
* Christmas With A Kiss (Hallmark)
* Holiday Party With Andrew And Zoë (Magnolia)
* Mistletoe Match (Lifetime)
* The Jinglebell Jubilee (Great American Family/Hulu)
* Yuletide The Knot (UP tv)

MONDAY, DECEMBER 4TH:
* Blake Shelton's Holiday Bartacular Featuring Ice T (NBC)
* Dew Drop Diaries (Netflix)
* Midsomer Murders (Acorn TV)
* Murder In Boston: Roots, Rampage, And Reckoning (HBO)

Click Here to see the list of all of the upcoming premiere dates for the next few months.

SEE YOU MONDAY!

If you have any feedback, send it along to Rick@AllYourScreens.com and follow me on Twitter @aysrick.