Too Much TV: Your TV Talking Points For Friday, March 8th, 2024

Here's everything you need to know about the world of television for Friday, March 8th, 2024.

PROGRAMMING NOTE:
It was not your imagination, there was not a newsletter on Thursday. I needed a day to rest and shake this vague thing I caught. I'm not back to 100 percent, but I'm definitely feeling much better.

On a completely unrelated note, someone reached out today to ask if I'd participate in a roundtable at an upcoming streaming media conference. I unfortunately had a scheduling conflict, but I wanted to remind any of you scheduling conferences in the future that I am always interested in getting in front of new audiences. And I definitely bring a fresh perspective to the event.

IN DEFENSE OF MINDLESS TELEVISION
As you might imagine, the list of TV shows I need to watch for business reasons is incredibly long. And that sucks, because oftentimes that includes shows I would normally watch just for the joy of watching television.

So over the years I've found a few shows which hit a certain sweet spot that allows me to watch them for fun, Just lean back and let the show wash over me like a warm summer breeze at the beach.

The show has to be unscripted, but it also needs to have some vague ongoing storyline so that I don't get completely bored. I've watched The History Channel's The Curse Of Oak Island since it began and kept watching it in recent years because it's that rare show my teenage son will watch with me. I don't enjoy Mystery At Blind Frog Ranch quite as much, but it's distracting enough for my purposes.

I lost interest in Discovery's Gold Rush at some point, I think primarily because the ongoing "Can Parker hit his goal of X million dollars in gold this season?" plotline bored me. Plus, I'd rather be pecked to death by rabid ducks than see anything more of Tony Beeks and his family. And while I really enjoyed Bering Sea Gold for the first few seasons, it has just evolved into this increasingly annoying, highly choreographed snooze fest.

Tonight brings the season premiere of one of ongoing favorites, Discovery's Gold Rush: White Water. It's a group of scrappy gold miners trying to claw gold of this crazy dangerous stretch of river, I have some real questions about how they've managed to stay in business given the small amount of gold they gather each season. But it's a predictably entertaining show for me and something I can just turn off my reviewing brain and enjoy.

So how about all of you? Is there a kinda dumb show that you watch when you just want to wind down? Reply directly to this email or share it in the comments section below.

OTOH, THIS DOESN'T REALLY HELP MY BLOOD PRESSURE
I have recently been considering how difficult it would be to publish a book. Because I really feel the need to write one entitled "Everything You Think You Know About The Streaming TV Business Is Probably Wrong." I was reminded of this idea this afternoon, when I read the latest newsletter from The Bulwork's Sunny Bunch, who always manages to take a position that seems rational until you examine it for more than ten seconds:

The larger point here is that this is yet more proof we’ve simply reinvented the wheel: we broke cable, shifted people to streaming, realized streaming wasn’t a good way to make money, and are now bringing back basic cable. Ads? They’re back! “This program has been edited for television”? It’s back! The interesting thing about Tubi is that it’s the first reinvention of cable that might actually be slightly superior to what we moved away from: Tubi has an enormous selection of films and TV shows—more than 50,000, according to their About page—many of which aren’t available anywhere else. It offers folks instant access to them, for free, and asks only that you deal with some annoying programmatic ads in exchange.

Sigh. Yes, AVOD channels are exactly like cable television. Except for the fact that they are free. And you're not forced to add twenty other AVOD apps you don't want to watch in order to watch the one you want. And you can watch the AVOD channel of your choice anywhere you want, in fifty different locations if you need to. And all for the same price of....free. Yep, we're totally reinventing cable television...

TWEET OF THE DAY



ODDS AND SODS
* If you're wondering about the behind-the-scenes workings of Saturday Night Love, the comedy trio Please Don't Destroy (Ben Marshall, John Higgins, and Martin Herlihy) share the details of the SNL pitch process on Mike Birbiglia’s Working It Out.

* Jean Allison, who appeared in guest roles on shows including Bonanza, Hawaiian Eye, The Rifleman, McCloud, Adam-12, The Waltons and Highway to Heaven, has died as age 84.

* Starz has greenlit Down In The Valley, a documentary series inspired by the vibrant world of P-Valley, set to air in 2024.

WHAT'S NEW TONIGHT AND THIS WEEKEND

FRIDAY, MARCH 8TH, 2024:
* Blown Away Season Premiere (Netflix)
* Boarders Series Premiere (Tubi)
* Damsel (Netflix)
* First Time Female Director (The Roku Channel)
* Gold Rush: White Water Season Premiere (Discovery)
* The Reluctant Traveler With Eugene Levy Season Two Premiere (Apple TV+)
* The Traitors UK Series Premiere (Peacock)

SATURDAY, MARCH 9TH, 2024:
* Hunting Housewives (Lifetime)
* Queen Of Tears Series Premiere (Netflix)

SUNDAY, MARCH 10TH, 2024:
* A Royal Wedding (UP tv)
* 96th Annual Academy Awards (ABC)
* To Kill A Tiger (Netflix)

MONDAY, MARCH 11TH, 2024:
* Carpe DM With Juanpa Series Premiere (The Roku Channel)
* Lakefront Empire Series Premiere (HGTV)
* The McBee Dynasty: Real American Cowboys Series Premiere (Peacock)
* Young Royals (Netflix)

SEE YOU ON MONDAY!