Here's everything you need to know about the world of television for Monday, August 4th, 2025:
PRODUCTION NOTES
I just passed the 130,000 free subscriber mark for this newsletter and it felt like a good time to shift a few things around to hopefully make things a bit easier for everyone.
This week's newsletters will go out Monday - Friday evening as planned. But beginning next week, I'll be shifting to a Sunday - Thursday schedule. There are a couple of reasons for this. Partly, it's a reflection of the fact that these newsletters are typically going out 3-4 hours later than they used. But additionally, I've been digging through analytics for the newsletter and most of the people aren't reading the Friday newsletter until Monday morning. So sending it out Sunday evening will allow everyone to have a fresher newsletter at the beginning of the week. Especially the 25% or so of the readers who are located outside North America.
Aside from this main TooMuchTV newsletter, I also have a few other newsletters, some that are available for everyone and some that are paid subscriber-only. Because I was adding these on the fly as I was growing, some of the settings were incorrect. So some people who should have been receiving the emails weren't and some people didn't want the extra stuff. Some newsletters just make everything opt-out, so you'll receive everything unless you choose otherwise. But that doesn't seem very subscriber-friendly. So when you get a chance, go to this account page and select whatever other emails you'd like to receive. If for some reason you are still having a problem, let me know.
THIS FEELS WRONG ON SO MANY LEVELS
Yesterday I had a bit of fun mocking Minnesota legislator Walter Hudson online for posting an video in which he "interviewed" an AI recreation of Frederick Douglass, who assured him that modern-day Republicans are definitely not racist. Hudson also described him as "speaking from beyond the grave." But this was a soulless AI prompt, not a seance.
Today former CNN reporter and anchor Jim Acosta conducted an "interview" with an AI recreation of a victim of the Parkland school shooting:
While I wouldn't do it, if his parents find some comfort creating an AI prompt to interact with, that's their choice. Everyone has to find peace in their own way. And while Joaquin's parents apparently asked Acosta to do this interview, he should have declined the offer. Aside from feeling ghoulish, this is not some accurate recreation of the slain boy's personality. It's just a collection of videos, writings and other material reassembled to "answer" Acosta's questions.
As viewers, I think we need to start drawing some red lines about what we will and won't accept.
A GUIDE TO UNDERSTANDING THE KOREAN FOLK SYMBOLS USED IN KPOP DEMON HUNTERS'
The Netflix animated project KPop Demon Hunters has become not just a hit with Netflix subscribers, but it's also crossed that magical line where it has also become a hit in America's cultural zeitgeist. Songs from the film have reached the top levels of the Billboard charts and I am ready beginning to see handmade t-shirts pop up on high-school girls, which is generally a sign that a film has broken through.
While the movie is plenty entertaining even if you don't know anything about Korean culture, there are plenty of Korean folk symbols and beliefs on display in the film. And if you'd like to know more, this piece in KoreaJoongAng Daily has a really fascination rundown:
Though it may not seem so, the film falls under the occult genre as HUNTR/X’s primary mission is to vanquish evil spirits. And how they defeat these demons closely resembles traditional Korean shamanism rituals, also called gut in Korean.
In a gut, shamans sing and dance — often holding a sword, bell or fan — to connect with the divine and fight off evil spirits. This characteristic of the ritual inspired director Kang to blend K-pop with shamanism, saying in an interview that she thought, in a way, the gut could be seen as “the early version of a concert.”
As the members of HUNTR/X battle demons, they each wield their own unique weapon infused with elements of Korean shamanism and historical tradition.
Rumi’s long sword is based on saingeom, which literally means “sword of four tigers” in Chinese characters. The sword is believed to possess the power to ward off ghosts and slay evil spirits through the fierce courage of tigers. It was often used in traditional shaman rituals, thoroughly reflecting Rumi’s job.
Mira wields a traditional gokdo, a curved sword, inspired by a weapon from the Gaya Confederacy (42-562). Zoey holds a comparatively shorter weapon that she wields by throwing them. Her weapon reflects the ritual knife used by shamans during spiritual ceremonies.
Reading the piece highlighted for me the care the film's producers took to update familiar Korean beliefs while also staying true to the essence of the original meaning.
WHICH PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE WOULD YOUR FAVORITE FICTIONAL CHARACTER HAVE VOTED FOR IN 2024?
While the data was originally posted last November, for some reason this YouGov poll that tracks which fictional character would likely vote for their chosen Presidential candidate is getting a lot of social media attention today. And it just reinforces how many people fundamentally don't understand the characters they claim to love:
THIS IS THE WAY INTERVIEWS SHOULD LOOK
One of the failings of modern journalism is that we treat editorial space online as if we were still working in the era of print magazines. It's rare to see raw or lightly edited interviews in their entirety. Reporters - even at places such as the NY Times - will interview a subject for 30 or even 60 minutes and maybe only use a couple of quotes.
But as I've argued on a regular basis, the reason why so many interview subjects prefer longer podcast interviews is that they perceive the conversation as being less structured and less built around "gotcha" questions. When the reality is that a reporter is much more likely to get something unexpected in a long interview. In part because the length tends to relax everyone. But also because the interview subject knows they have the ability to explain previous comments and that explanation won't be lost in the editing.
One of the people I enjoy watching is Sam Fragoso's Talk Easy. It's a fitting name, because Fragoso's interviewing style is the epitome of lean-back and relaxed. But that approach also allows him to lull people into conversations they didn't want to have. And that is best illustrated in this interview with David Mamet. Mamet is a difficult person to interview in the best of circumstances. But he walked off the set of his recent Talk Easy interview after being questioned on his stance on the Columbia protests vs J6 insurrectionists.
While a lot of the "traditional streamers need to be more like YouTube" talk is frankly just ill-informed bullshit, I think there is a place on a traditional SVOD for these types of interview shows. Whether they're licensed out or produced in-house, this is a low-hanging fruit for increasing subscriber engagement.
TWEET OF THE DAY
READER FEEDBACK
Second sentence, paragraph one:
The phrase "should have went out" is a common one that you'll hear in conversation, but it's not considered correct in formal English.
The correct way to say it is: "should have gone out"
--Farrell M.
Honestly, I'm happy I didn't misspell anything in that sentence. That's more on-brand for me.
ODDS AND SODS
* MSNBC has officially added a couple of more journalists to the network ahead of its split from NBC News. Senior national and political correspondent Jacob Soboroff will be joining the network from NBC News and senior investigative correspondent Carol Leonnig joins after working at the Washington Post for more than 25 years.
* As a Food and Home FAST channel fan, I was disappointed to discover that the BBC Food and BBC Home FAST channels have disappeared from Pluto TV. They are available on Roku's live channels, although I find their live channel user interface to be a bit less intuitive than Pluto TV's.
* Here is a really good column from The Chicago Tribune's Nina Metz on what the winding down of the Corporation For Public Broadcasting means for public radio and TV.
* In what seems like a never-ending procession of bad news in the entertainment journalism business, IGN laid off eight people today, including Rob Manuel (Gaming Editorial Events Manager), Matt Kim (Senior Features Editor), and Erik Adams.
* A federal judge dismissed a defamation lawsuit by Devin Nunes, the former California congressman and now chief executive of Trump Media and Technology Group against NBCUniversal over a comment by Rachel Maddow about his dealings with a suspected Russian agent.
* NBC has renewed American Ninja Warrior for an eighteenth season, which will begin filming this fall in Las Vegas. Hosts Matt Iseman, Akbar Gbajabiamila and Zuri Hall are all also returning.
* Hope in High Water: A People’s Recovery Twenty Years After Hurricane Katrina, a new documentary from Pulitzer Prize- and Emmy-winning journalist Trymaine Lee, will premiere Friday, August 22nd on Peacock.
WHAT'S NEW TOMORROW
TUESDAY, AUGUST 5TH:
* Capturing Their Killer: The Girls On The High Bridge (Hulu)
* Hard Knocks Season Twenty Premiere (HBO)
* Las Culturistas Culture Awards (Bravo)
* Murder 360 Series Premiere (Paramount+)
* SEC Football: Any Given Saturday Series Premiere (Netflix)
* Supermarket Stakeout Season Six Finale (Food Network)
* United Gangs of America Season Two Finale (Vice)
WEDNESDAY, AUGUST 6TH:
* Eyes Of Wakanda Series Premiere (Disney+)
* Forged In Fire Season Eleven Premiere (History)
* Jersey Shore: Family Vacation Season Premiere (Paramount+)
* Mysteries Of The Abandoned: Hidden America Season Four Finale (Discovery Channel)
* Platonic Season Two Premiere (Apple TV+)
* The Buccaneers Season Two Finale (Apple TV+)
* The Proud Family: Louder and Prouder Season Three Premiere (Disney+)
* The Pickup (Prime Video)
* Wanted: Dead or Alive Season One Finale (Fox Nation)
* Wednesday Season Two Premiere (Netflix)
SEE YOU ON TUESDAY!