Here's everything you need to know about the world of television for Tuesday, December 10th, 2024:
VOTING CONTINUES IN THE GLOBAL TELEVISION AWARDS
I'm sorry, but I'll be mentioning this every day this week. I wasn't sure what the response would be the awards and when people asked me how many responses I expected to receive, I was estimating 40,000 or a bit more. Based on what I've seen so far, it's likely to surpass 60,000, which illustrates how many people really enjoy global TV in America.
As a reminder, voting is limited to free and paid Too Much TV subscribers and you can only vote once. Vote in as many or as few categories as you like, odds are there are a lot of titles you haven't seen yet. And that's just fine.
The voting ends at 11:59 pm CT on Sunday, December 15th. The winners will be announced Monday, December 30th.
Here is the link for voting for your favorites: https://tinyurl.com/globaltvawards.
YES, JEWISH REPRESENTATION ON AMERICAN TELEVISION IS AS BAD AS YOU THINK
The USC Annenberg Norman Lear Center’s Media Impact Project has a new study out that was done with the Jewish Institute for Television and Cinema Hollywood Bureau. Jews On Screen takes an in-depth look at Jewish representation on television and the big takeaway is that Hollywood is as bad when it comes to accurately representing Jews as it is accurately representing any other non-white or non-Christian group:
We analyzed 108 Jewish characters in 49 episodes from 15 scripted TV series that aired between 2021 and 2022. These were the 15 series that contained the most mentions of 30 keywords related to Jews or Judaism. Among these 108 characters:
* Thirty percent of Jewish characters were portrayed as wealthy (including upper-middle class). Of those whose occupation was evident, 50% held elite or powerful jobs, including jobs in media or entertainment.
* We found some evidence of Jewish parents being depicted as overbearing, with 44% of fathers shown “meddling” in their adult children’s lives and 33% of mothers commenting on their adult child’s relationship status.
This is a really fascinating study and it also includes a number of sensible recommendations. Such as getting away from some of the familiar TV tropes concerning Orthodox Jews, such as their mysterious affiliations with crime families or their proclivity for hiding sordid sexual desires behind their public behavior and appearance.
Read the entire study here.
IN A RELATED STORY
The fabulous Substack Jewish TV Club has a hilarious, but also kinda sad Hallmark Hanukkah movie drinking game:
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Drink every time a Jewish mom is reminding her daughter to eat or being otherwise overbearing
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Drink every time a bubbe says “oy” or another Yiddish word in an unconvincing way
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Drink every time Christmas gets mentioned
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Drink every time there’s a dreidel competition (are adult dreidel competitions really a thing??)
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Drink every time a Jewish grandparent meddles
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Drink every time you feel completely unconvinced that this movie takes place in New York/Chicago/any place other than Winnipeg, Canada where it was clearly shot
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Drink every time someone tries to matchmake the heroine with someone’s relative who is a lawyer or doctor
There's more and honestly, you should be a subscriber to the Jewish TV Club, which provides a sly and often undercovered take on Hollywood.
ONE PIECE OF MAX NEWS YOU MIGHT NOT HAVE SEEN TODAY
While everyone has been focused on the new carriage deal between Warner Bros. Discovery and Sky, WBD has been busy cutting deals with platforms globally.
An example of that is comes from Titan OS, a Barcelona-based technology, entertainment and advertising company, which has announced a partnership with Warner Bros Discovery for the launch of Max on Titan OS. As a result, the Max app is now accessible on Philips devices powered by Titan OS across Europe, with expansion plans to include JVC. Titan OS also runs on Sony TVs in Europe, but that doesn't seem to be part of the agreement. At least, not initially.
Titan bills itself as "Europe's Independent OS for connected TV," and while its not clear how many new subscribers this will bring to Max, based on the vague info available from company, it appears to be potentially several million.
Separately, Warner Bros Discovery will introduce Max to the Turkish market early next year. It will take the place of BluTV, which Discovery had held 35% since 2021, taking full control last year.
TWEET OF THE DAY
ODDS AND SODS
* The PBS series VOCES has acquired U.S. broadcast and streaming rights to Slumlord Millionaire, the David vs. Goliath story of people fighting back against the skyrocketing cost of rent in New York City.
* Liza Treyger’s first hour-long stand-up special Night Owl will premiere globally on Netflix on January 28th.
* The Shondaland comedic murder-mystery Netflix drama series The Residence is set to premiere Thursday, March 20th.
* Lifetime has announced the docuseries The 6000 lb. Diaries with Dr. Now, which "follows ten morbidly obese individuals, who have collectively reached a combined weight of 6,000 pounds, and are fighting to lose it and transform their lives." It will premiere Monday, January 6th.
* HGTV will premiere White House Christmas 2024 on Sunday, December 15th. Hosts Brian and Mika Kleinschmidt (100 Day Dream Home) will tour the White House's extensive holiday decorations.
* Michael Cole, who starred as Pete Cochran on Mod Squad and later played Harlan Barrett on General Hospital during a 50-year acting career, has died. He was 84.
WHAT'S NEW TONIGHT AND TOMORROW
TUESDAY, DECEMBER 10TH:
* Jamie Foxx: What Happened Was....(Netflix)
* Lego Masters: Celebrity Holiday Bricktacular (Fox)
* Nature Of The Crime (HBO)
* Polo (Netflix)
* Richard Ramirez: The Night Stalker Tapes (Peacock)
* Rugged Rugby: Conquer Or Die Series Premiere (Netflix)
* Secret Level Series Premiere (Prime Video)
WEDNESDAY, DECEMBER 11TH:
* A Motown Christmas (NBC)
* Dream Productions (Disney+)
* Makayla's Voice: A Letter To The World (Netflix)
* Maria (Netflix) - [first look video]
* One Hundred Years Of Solitude (Netflix)
* Queer Eye Season Premiere (Netflix)
* Shetland Season Premiere (Britbox)
* The Kings Of Tupelo: A Southern Crime Saga (Netflix) - [first look video]
* This Is Not Hollywood Series Premiere (Hulu)
SEE YOU ON WEDNESDAY!