Here's everything you need to know about the world of television for Monday, July 8th, 2024:
I HAVE A LOVE/HATE RELATIONSHIP WITH MSNBC
I don't watch a ton of cable TV news. When I'm working during the day, I'll sometimes flip it on to see breaking news and discover how the network's pundits are spinning the news of the day. But I am a pretty regular viewer of All In With Chris Hayes, in large part because his show doesn't revolve around paid network commentators. He has increased his use of them in recent months - I'm assuming due to network guidance. But his show doesn't rely on them and that provides an intellectual clarity you won't find in most of cable TV news.
Because if you watch enough cable TV news, you'll learn that most of the network's paid commentators have developed a keen sense of which way the wind is blowing politically and precisely where they need to be in order to keep collecting a paycheck. So inevitably, some news event will take place and you'll hear a first round of fresh reactions unencumbered by conventional wisdom or pressure from peers and political allies. But within a day or so, you'll see them fall into line and you get to the point where you can tune into the network at any time of the day and hear some version of the same political story.
It has been especially amusing in recent days to see the commentariat shift post-Presidential debate from "Wow, that was rough, I don't know how Biden survives this" to parroting the White House talking points. Today I flipped on MSNBC and saw former RNC head Michael Steele mock efforts to push the President out, which is pretty funny coming from a guy who early on was openly pondering what would happen after Biden withdrew from the race.
And that's my biggest problem with paid network contributors. When you're doing 6, 8 or more network hits a day you don't have the opportunity to flesh out your own take. You almost inevitably end up sounding like a mash-up of everyone else that is on the air that day. And I find that approach to be intellectually dishonest.
Granted, there is a lot of pressure right now for every Dem to fall in line. Late Friday, I wrote a piece about President Biden's ABC News interview and described it as a "worst case scenario for Democrats." And let's just say that it was not appreciated by many of the Biden supporters who read AllYourScreens.com. There were a lot of complaints about "the media," and I'll just note that if you are including me in the media industrial complex, your definition of the term is very, very loose.
On Sunday, I wrote a piece that defended the media against charges that somehow all of this talk about Biden's health was driven by the incessant press coverage:
Democrats also love to shrug off complaints by highlighting some other strength of the party. I am seeing a lot of party pundits on cable TV news and in political news outlets arguing that Biden's weaknesses can be overcome by the party's ground game. Which is a bit like arguing that your band's terrible new single will be successful because the group has a really great sound system.
There are also a lot of comments from party pundits along the lines of "look at everything Biden has done so far." And I agree, those accomplishments deserve to be highlighted. But this competence question isn't about what he's done so far. It reflects concerns some voters have about what he can accomplish in the future. Including whether he can win in November.
The reader response has been mixed, which I expected. But it reminded me that whether it's on a news site or on cable TV news, there is a real lack of contrarian political voices. Which is too bad, because sometimes they are the most interesting to hear.
WHAT WILL THE 'NEW' PARAMOUNT GLOBAL LOOK LIKE? (INSERT BIG, WEARY SHRUG)
David Ellison spoke to reporters Monday, joined by Jeff Shell, who will be president of the new Paramount, as well as Gerry Cardinale, the founder of RedBird Capital, which helped fund the merger offer.
The trio said a lot of things, although the big takeaway is that they have somehow identified $2 billion in "inefficiencies" they can strip out of the company. In other words, less spent on content, and a bunch of layoffs.
I did want to highlight a couple of passages, which I found interesting:
“I would just add that creators, like everybody else, want to be at a place that’s stable, right?” Shell adds. “And so I think all the financial things that we’re doing with the company, injection of cash, de-levering and everything, while they don’t directly affect the creative process that David was just talking about, they make somebody much more comfortable that this is going to be a stable place, that this is going to be a winner going forward, and people like to be part of a winner.
“If you look at David and my text stream and email stream over the past, you know, kind of couple months, it feels like just about everybody’s reached out to us,” Shell continues. “Some people are hungry for Paramount to be a place that’s creator-friendly again.”
I'll be rude and mention that I recall back when then-Discovery head David Zaslav was describing himself as as creator-friendly as he moved his company towards its merger with Warner Media.
The problem Zaslav ran into is the same one that will face Shell and company. It's hard to be "creator-friendly" while at the same time you're slashing spending in everything from production to marketing. And it's clear that cutting back is on the top of the minds of executives at Paramount Global:
“I think if there’s going to be a change for CBS, it’s going to be that we’re going to probably manage it a bit more aggressively for cash flow, meaning making some harder decisions on time periods and things like that going forward, which you have to when you have a declining business,” Shell says. “But there’s really no change in the overall vision for the asset, other than we believe in it, it’s going to be actively part of all of our plans going forward.”
Which is disingenuous at best, since cutting spending and withdrawing scripted programming from some timeslots is the definition of "real change in the overall vision."
I hope this works out for everyone at Paramount Global. But I have yet to see a vision articulated for the company that doesn't involve a lot of layoffs and a bit more content licensing. Which isn't exactly an inspirational message to either employees or consumers.
ODDS AND SODS
* The animated series Primos premieres Sunday, July 28th on Disney. The series "follows an ambitious, quirky 10-year-old named Tater whose plan to make her big dreams a reality in a single summer is tested when her mom invites her 12 cousins to come to visit."
* The HBO original documentary Wild Wild Space premieres Wednesday, July 17th. The documentary "chronicles the modern-day, celestial land grab happening above our heads. It’s a fast paced, high-stakes race of epic proportions in which companies compete to blast satellite-carrying rockets into low earth orbit. From exhilarating triumphs to gut-wrenching setbacks, we witness the fierce competition to tackle humanity’s next great frontier. However, beneath the shiny veneer of progress is the dark side of capitalism’s insatiable appetite for profit and the far-reaching reverberations of a world controlled from the skies."
* Season two of Big Freedia Means Business premieres October 2nd on Fuse.
* Court TV will air the Alex Baldwin manslaughter trial live as it happens and the network's cameras will be providing pool feed coverage for all media outlets.
* The Atlantic's Sophie Gilbert wrote about why The Bear is so hard to watch (gift link)
WHAT'S NEW TONIGHT AND TOMORROW
MONDAY, JULY 8TH:
* All-American: Homecoming Season Premiere (The CW)
* BBQ Brawl Season Premiere (Food)
* Big Shark Energy (Discovery)
* Bodies In The Water (Investigation Discovery)
* Great White Serial Killer: Sea Of Blood (Discovery)
* Kinnikuman Perfect Origin Arc (Netflix)
* POV: Is There Anybody Out There? (PBS)
* Shark Fenzy: Mating Games (Discovery)
* The Bachelorette Season Premiere (ABC)
TUESDAY, JULY 9TH:
* Bobby's Triple Threat Season Premiere (Food)
* Celebrity Family Feud Season Premiere (ABC)
* Deadliest Bite (Discovery)
* Family Feud: Decade Of Laughs (ABC)
* Hannah Berner: We Ride At Dawn (Netflix)
* Last Call: When A Serial Killer Stalked Queer New York (HBO)
* Melissa Etheridge: I'm Not Broken (Paramount+)
* Monster Hammerheads: Species X (Discovery)
* My Big Fat Fabulous Life Season Premiere (TLC)
* Sam Morril: You've Changed (Prime Video)
* Sasha Reid & The Midnight Order Series Premiere (Freeform)
* 6000lb Shark (Discovery)
* The Boyfriend Series Premiere (Netflix)
* The Magical Girl And The Evil Lieutenant Used To Be Archenemies Series Premiere (Crunchyroll)
* The Top Ten Revealed: 200 Of The Greatest Songs Of The 70s (AXS tv)
* Voces: From Here/From There (De Aquí/De Allá) (PBS)
SEE YOU ON TUESDAY!