Too Much TV: Your TV Talking Points For Wednesday, September 8th, 2021

What a day.....

Here's everything you need to know about the world of television for Wednesday, September 8th, 2021. I'm writing this from the Twin Cities suburbs, where AllYourScreens HQ is powered by Dr. Pepper and some sort of sweet breakfast scones provided by Fox.

My apologies for the lateness of today's newsletters. It was back to school day at my teenage son's high school.

FOX DAY AT THE TCAS
Today Fox was making its presentations at the virtual summer gathering of television critics known as the TCA. The network highlighted three new shows: The Big Leap, Our Kind Of People and Alter Ego.

Overall, I appreciate Fox swinging for the fences a bit with some of their new shows. I have serious doubts about some the show's chances to find an audience, but I'm glad to see Fox trying. 

Here are some of the other announcements that came out of the sessions:

* Fox Announces Series Regular Cast For 'Krapopolis,' The New Animated Comedy From Emmy Award-Winning Creator Dan Harmon, Scheduled To Premiere In 2022

* Multi-Platinum Country Music Star Trace Adkins Joins Cast In Leading Role In Fox's Midseason Drama Series 'Monarch'

* Tubi Unveils Original Movie Event 'Corrective Measures,' Starring Bruce Willis And Michael Rooker

* Mamie Coleman To Head Fox Entertainment Music (FEM) As Executive Vice President, Creative Music

* Fox Invites Fans To Experience 'FoxTV Fanhub," An All-New, Free Interactive Event Live! On Wednesday, September 15th At FoxTVFanHub.com

BROADCAST TELEVISION AND SOCIAL MEDIA
I am especially excited by the new Fox "show-within-a-show" drama The Big Leap, which is one of those shows that is a lot more worthwhile than you might expect based just on the logline. But it's also one of those shows - like the 2016 Fox series Pitch - that needs some extra help to convince audiences to tune in and embrace it. And in 2021, that means being all in on social media of all types.

The series premieres on Monday, September 20th and Fox is doing all of the traditional marketing and PR things that you expect to see from a modern-day broadcast networks. Fox is making the first two episodes of the show available for free on Hulu, the TV everywhere app Fox Now and on a variety of on-demand platforms. And of course, the network has created social media account for the show on Twitter, Instagram and Facebook. Which is also the barebones minimum for a broadcast TV show in 2021.

As I wrote this, we are less than two weeks out from the premiere of The Big Leap and we are just now seeing the big PR rollout for the show. The show will get some press from today's TCA presentation and while there have been some scattered press pieces before this week, the majority of the coverage will come in the next ten days. Traditional placement and mentions in places like EW, TV Guide and some of the general interest magazines, rounds of cast interviews with local TV morning shows, etc.

But even as an older guy, I'm struck by how pedestrian the social media accounts are for The Big Leap. All three accounts cross-promote the same over-produced "behind-the-scenes" videos and other very corporate PR packages. There's not much there to attract viewers and even worse, there isn't a show Tik Tok account or any other less traditional methods of social media outreach. And the result is that 12 days out from the series premiere, the show's Facebook page has an anemic 2,653 followers, the show's Instagram account has 2,594 followers and the show's official Twitter account currently boasts 489 followers. 

I'm not going to take up a lot of space here laying out everything that is wrong about this low level of engagement. But I don't think you have to be a web-savvy 16-year-old to realize that Fox should be able to do better.

'DANCING WITH THE STARS' CONTESTANTS ANNOUNCED
The celebrities and professional dancers heading to the Dancing With The Stars ballroom are as follows (in alphabetical order): 

Celebrities:
- Country singer Jimmie Allen
- Spice Girl Melanie C
- Christine Chiu ("Bling Empire")
- Brian Austin Green ("Beverly Hills, 90210")
- Melora Hardin ("The Office")
- Social media star Olivia Jade 
- Matt James ("The Bachelor")
- Amanda Kloots ("The Talk")  
- Martin Kove ("Cobra Kai") 
- Gold medal Olympian Suni Lee 
- WWE Superstar Mike "The Miz" Mizanin 
- Kenya Moore ("The Real Housewives of Atlanta") 
- Peloton star instructor Cody Rigsby
- NBA star Iman Shumpert 
- Popstar JoJo Siwa 

Professional dancers:
- Brandon Armstrong
- Lindsay Arnold
- Alan Bersten
- Sharna Burgess
- Cheryl Burke
- Witney Carson
- Artem Chigvintsev
- Val Chmerkovskiy
- Sasha Farber
- Jenna Johnson
- Daniella Karagach
- Pasha Pashkov
- Gleb Savchenko
- Emma Slater
- Britt Stewart

I don't have a lot to say about this list, other than the fact that of course the controversial Olivia Jade gets her shot to use ABC and Dancing With The Stars to "redeem" herself and rebuild her social media career.

AND NOW, I FEEL SEEN

Here is the entire thread, which is quite good. And, to be honest, a pretty good representation of how I feel about the "Metaverse."

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I CARE ABOUT 9/11...9/11 SHOWS, NOT SO MUCH
This weekend brings a slew of 9/11-related television specials and to be honest, I'm not watching any of them. In fact, I've passed on the opportunity to review any of them. I care a lot bout the events of 9/11, I casually knew a people killed in the World Trade Center. But I know all I need to know about the events of the day. These "new" specials can't teach me anything I haven't heard and maybe it's just the pandemic experience in me talking, but I'm not searching out more reasons to be sad. And while it's not scientific, I've heard similar stories from other people. So I'll be interested to see what kind of ratings these 9/11 specials get.

ODDS AND SODS
* BET+ has ordered season three of First Wives Club.

* The new season of The Great British Baking Show arrives in the U.S. September 24th on Netflix with new episodes weekly every Friday.

* Lucy Barrett Joins Charmed As New Co-Lead Alongside Melonie Diaz & Sarah Jeffery

* Shameless alum Steve Howey to star in True Lies pilot at CBS.

* ESPN has reached a multi-year, multi-platform rights agreement with Horizon League, which will add at least 500 events to ESPN+.

* Tomorrow is CBS's turn in front of the TCA. More on that in tomorrow's newsletter. 

SEE YOU THURSDAY

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