Here's everything you need to know about the world of television for Thursday, January 18th, 2024.
WHAT THE TV AND STREAMING INDUSTRY PRESS CAN LEARN FROM PITCHFORK
Whether you are creating TV, working at a streamer or somehow involved in the television and streaming business, one of the most significant problems on a day-to-day basis is content discovery. What are the best ways to get your title in front of potential audiences? How do you cut through the clutter of hundreds of choices and highlight a show that doesn't have natural news pegs such as a big star in one of the lead roles?
In a lot of ways, TV industry journalism isn't that different than music journalism. A lot of industry power is now concentrated in just a few companies. And as the industry consolidation was happening, there was consolidation on the journalism side. Fewer outlets owned by an ever-smaller group of companies meant that music labels and music journalism outlets were able to come to an agreement of sorts. The labels funneled millions in ad revenue to friendly outlets, who mostly focused on the acts that were the current priority of the labels.
But the losers in this scenario were the readers and music fans. Independent acts didn't have the juice to get coverage in Spin or Rolling Stone or Billboard. So unless they were picked up by a major label, most music fans never knew they existed.
Pitchfork, the news and reviews site that for a time was among the most powerful tastemakers in music, stepped into that gap. It became a dominant voice in the music industry because they didn't give a crap about expensive industry junkets or any of the pricey swag that comes your way when the music labels believe you're on their side. They cared about the music and there was a time when Pitchfork had the ability to break a small band nationally simply by covering them a couple of times. Because readers began to realize the site couldn't be bought. And even if you didn't agree with every word, you knew it all came from a brutal honesty and love of the music.
Pitchfork was founded in 1996 by record store employee Ryan Schrieber, and as Casey Newton noted in today's Platformer, it was a force of nature in the industry and shaped the musical tastes of a generation of fans in the early 2000s:
In the early days I remember laughing out loud at Pitchfork’s reviews, which often ran into the thousands of words and at times seemed to have little to do with the music itself. Over time, though, I came to appreciate the vast musical knowledge possessed by even the most occasional freelancer for the site. Open a review of a band you had never heard of and you could be certain the piece would place their new record in the context of everything else they had ever recorded, the genre in which they operated, and possibly the entire history of recorded music.
And beyond being knowledgeable, Pitchfork was deeply opinionated. At a time when Rolling Stone and other music magazines were rubber-stamping nearly every review with a milquetoast three-star rating, Pitchfork went out of its way to pick fights, famously slagging Liz Phair, the Dismemberment Plans’ Travis Morrison, and others during its early reign of terror.
And now after a decade or more of financial struggles, a much-diminished Pitchfork is being rolled into the GQ brand, to be combined with that outlet's GQ Music content.
I won't get into the reasons why that happened - you can read plenty of detailed breakdowns elsewhere. But I bring all of this up because the role Pitchfork played in the music industry. And how that is a role that is desperately needed in coverage of the TV and streaming industry.
The Penske Media-owned sites have done some very good journalism (and some not-so-good journalism) and their size gives them both the ability to nab a lot of ad revenue while also taking advantage of their close relationships with studios and industry insiders to get access. But they do a uniformly terrible job at surfacing smaller titles you might not have heard of before. They're the place to go for reviews of the latest Walking Dead spin-off. But they're not so useful for discovering some smaller Netflix title or a South Korean series you might enjoy.
And to be kind, most of the smaller independent sites covering the industry are light on original journalism. Some do a decent job with reviews. But there is entirely too much lazy aggregation or building an SEO-friendly headline around some random tweet or comment on a podcast. Most of what I see isn't new or useful. It's just search engine chum or clumsy efforts to hype whatever project they happen to be a fan of at the time.
Or, as Israel Daramola wrote today in Defector:
Meanwhile, throughout the industry, features and reporting and music reviews have taken a backseat as companies push for more social media and video content. What has filled the vacuum left behind by actual music criticism is a loose collection of YouTubers and influencers who feed slop to their younger audiences, and fan communities that engage with music solely through their obsession with a particular pop act. This has all helped produce a mass of music fans who don't understand the value of criticism and outright detest being told the things they like might suck. Even worse, it has helped destroy what scant opportunities remain for obscure or up-and-coming musicians to find an audience.
I'm spending time on this because I wanted to point out that there are a few independent media industry sites and newsletters doing great, inventive and thoughtful work. And with the steady waves of job cutbacks and advertising challenges, they could use your help. If someone is doing journalism you find worthwhile, share it other people. Thanks to changes at Google and the collapse of Twitter, just getting the word out there can be nearly impossible.
And if you're able to, support the web site or newsletter in other ways. Send some positive feedback, and if you're in the industry, consider giving them a bit of the access you'd normally share with the big guys.
On a strictly commercial note, if you're able to provide some direct financial support, that is incredibly helpful. Join the web site's Patreon, upgrade to a paid newsletter subscription. And if you're not able to do that right now, just click on an ad every so often.
There is so much incredible work being released in the next few months. And as both a journalist and as a fan, I'm concerned that many of the shows won't receive the attention they deserve.
ODDS AND SODS
* CNN will premiere the six-part series United States of Scandal with Jake Tapper on February 18th. Sadly, none of the scandals will include former CNN anchors.
* NewsNation is entering the Sunday morning talk show battle. The Hill Sunday with Chris Stirewalt will debut at 10 a.m. ET on March 31st.
* E! has renewed reality competition series House of Villains for a second season with Joel McHale returning as host. Production will begin in February with premiere slated for later this year. It's amazing to see McHale turn into the guy he used to mock earlier in his career.
* Apple TV+ has canceled the musical-comedy series Schmigadoon! after two seasons. Series co-creator Cinco Paul shared the news on Instagram Thursday.
* Max has decided not to order a third season of Issa Rae’s comedy series Rap Sh!t. Despite a lot of positive buzz, the decision isn't a huge surprise. The WGA strike pushed the season two premiere from August to November and the show seemed to fade off of viewers radar.
* Mission Impossible: Dead Reckoning premieres Thursday, January 25th on Paramount+
* Married home renovators Tristyn and Kamohai Kalama will transform the most dilapidated properties on the island of Oʻahu into beautiful family homes in the new series Renovation Aloha. It premieres Tuesday, February 20th on HGTV.
* Based on the popular children’s book series of the same name by Laurence Yep, the film The Tiger's Apprentice premieres Friday, February 2nd on Paramount+
* The new series Perimeter premieres on BET+ Thursday, February 29th. Written and directed by Armani Ortiz (Maxine’s Baby), here is the logline from the network:
"Perimeter takes viewers back to Atlanta in the 1990’s and follows a complex web of personal stories. The series stars Ava Mone’t, Tatyana Ali, Donovan Christie Jr., Malcolm Xavier, Wes Montez, and more. Paige Dawn (Monet) is a promising Spelman sophomore that veers off her path to success when she falls for a bad boy just before the pivotal Freaknik event. Adulthood disrupts their lives, pulling Paige, her long-term boyfriend Malcolm (Xavier), and newcomer Romeo (Montez) into a series of challenges. Amidst Atlanta's global Olympic spotlight, eventual mayor Robert Dawn’s (Christie Jr.) rise to power comes at the price of personal sacrifices and moral dilemmas. The interconnected stories set off a transformative chain reaction in the city."
* The old David Letterman talk show bit "Stupid Pet Tricks" is now going to be a series, hosted by Sarah Silverman. It debuts February 11th on TBS. And idea which makes me cringe on all sorts of levels.
TWEET OF THE DAY
I'm assuming this has something to do with some stupid Super Bowl commercial.
WHAT'S NEW TONIGHT AND TOMORROW
THURSDAY, JANUARY 18TH, 2024:
* A Party To Die For (LMN)
* Botched Season Premiere (Netflix)
* Double Cross Season Premiere (ALLBLK)
* Eric Andre Live Near Broadway (Adult Swim)
* From The Ashes (Netflix)
* Kubra (Netflix) - [first video look]
* Law & Order Season Premiere (NBC)
* Law & Order: Organized Crime Season Premiere (NBC)
* Law & Order: SVU Season Premiere (NBC)
* On The Roam With Jason Momoa Series Premiere (Max)
* Rachid Badouri: Les fleurs du tapis (Netflix)
* Sort Of Season Premiere (Max)
FRIDAY, JANUARY 19TH:
* Caged Wings (Netflix)
* Chad Season Two Premiere (The Roku Channel)
* Cristóbal Balenciaga Series Premiere (Disney+)
* Dance Life Series Premiere (Prime Video)
* Hazbin Hotel Series Premiere (Prime Video)
* Hustlers Gamblers Crooks Series Premiere (Discovery)
* LOL: Last One Laughing Ireland Series Premiere (Prime Video)
* Love On The Spectrum US Season Two Premiere (Netflix)
* My Loneliness Has Wings (Mi soledad tiene alas) (Netflix)
* Real Time With Bill Maher Season Twenty Tour Premiere (HBO)
* Relighting Candles: The Tim Sullivan Story (Hulu)
* Sixty Minutes (Netflix)
* The Bequeathed Series Premiere (Netflix)
* The Kitchen (Netflix)
* Who's Talking to Chris Wallace? Season Premiere (Max)
* Zorro Series Premiere (Prime Video)
SEE YOU FRIDAY!