Here's everything you need to know about the world of television for Friday, January 24th, 2025:
A PERSONAL NOTE
Thanks to everyone for the anniversary well wishes. Last night's dinner was amazing.
I arranged a chef table experience at James Beard Award winner Gavin Kaysen's Mara at the Four Seasons in Downtown Minneapolis. It was spectacular.
In theory, it's a five-course sampling menu. But in reality, it's maybe 10-12 different samplings, spread across more than two hours. Every dish was one of the best things I've ever eaten. American Wagu steak, lobster, caviar, sea urchin, pheasant sausage...just an astounding range of dishes.
The Chef delivered each dish to our table and talked to us about the ingredients and what we should expect when we tasted them. It turned out to be the perfect way to celebrate 25 years of marriage. Wow.
THE SENTENCE I NEVER THOUGHT I'D TYPE
This morning's video was about CNN's attempts to shift into more digital content. And I expressed my concern that for all of CEO Mark Thompson's talk about digital news and trying new things, the ideas he's talked about left me with the impression that he still hasn't grasped that he needs to think of digital as a frame of mind, not the platform the news is delivered on.
Even fairly successful digital operations like that have blind spots when it comes to digital news and the latest example of that comes from former NY Times columnist Paul Krugman. Who, much to my surprise, makes some good points about legacy media's inability or unwillingness to think outside of their normal workflow:
Krugman agreed that he could have stayed at the paper. But in an interview, he said the circumstances of his job changed so sharply in 2024 that he decided he had to quit. He had been writing two columns and a newsletter every week, until September, when, Krugman said, Healy told him the newsletter was being killed.
“That was my Network moment,” Krugman said. “‘I’m mad as hell and I’m not gonna take it anymore’”—a quote from the Howard Beale character in Paddy Chayefsky’s 1976 film.
Kingsbury said it was “patently untrue” that Krugman’s newsletter had been killed, although it stopped appearing last October. She emailed him on September 30 to urge him to stay at the paper, and offered to let him keep the newsletter, but without guaranteeing its weekly frequency. She told him he could “use it to weigh in when you and your editor agree that it’s necessary.” And there was a condition: if he wanted to keep the newsletter, the frequency of his column would have to be cut in half, to once a week.
To be honest, the last thing I want to read is *more* Paul Krugman. If he's willing to continue to write more - and at the same salary - then saying no just seems like journalism malpractice.
WHAT I'D LIKE TO SEE IN MY DIGITAL NEWS FROM CNN
I know I'm writing a lot about CNN this week, but this just feels like an important conversation, because it touches not just on the future of that network and CNN, but the challenges the various digital news operations face in expanding their audience and their approach to the news.
Someone I frequently point to a lot when I'm asked about the longform news content I like are the videos from the progressive non-profit news media organization More Perfect Union. As you might expect, their videos take a more activist and populist approach to news, but they also do an excellent job with hard news, having one a Sidney Award for its coverage of the Frito-Lay strike.
I recently watched the 22-minute video It’s Not Just Wayfair: Why Does ALL Of Your Furniture Fall Apart? It's a topic that I've heard discussed by many people I know and while I knew in the abstract that the proliferation of cheap drop-shipped furniture from Ikea and China had something to do with this, I didn't know many of the details.
According to the video, the American furniture business began to collapse after the Clinton Administration lifted furniture tariffs, particularly the ones against Chinese companies. At the time, he argued it would allow American manufacturers to expand into new markets and lead to more jobs. But not surprisingly, the newly freed Chinese companies streamed into the U.S. market and when American manufacturers moved factories to Asia, it wasn't long before workers in those markets learned the American techniques and began putting the American companies out of business.
It's an incredibly interesting story, especially when someone with a sledgehammer takes a whack at both a side table from Wayfair and one made in the 1980s. This is the type of content CNN's new digital news division should be making. It's relatively cheap and easy to cross-promote on the linear network.
ODDS AND SODS
* Season Four of Power Book III: Raising Kanan, will premiere Friday, March 7th on Starz.
* American Cinema Editors has set a new date for its postponed ACE Eddie Awards. The 75th anniversary ceremony will be Friday, March 14th, at UCLA’s Royce Hall. The show was postponed from its original January 18th date due to the Los Angeles wildfires.
* Paramount has renewed Bar Rescue for a tenth season. Which is amazing, given the show is essentially the same episode each week, just in a new location.
WHAT'S NEW TONIGHT AND THIS WEEKEND
FRIDAY, JANUARY 24TH, 2025:
Carrie Underwood: Reflection (Hulu)
Don't Mess With Grandma (fka Sunset Superman) (Tubi)
Grafted (Shudder)
Harpoon Hunters Series Premiere (Discovery)
Masters Of Illusion Season Premiere (The CW)
My Family's Killer Affairs (LMN)
Penn & Teller: Fool Us Season Premiere (The CW)
Shafted Series Premiere (Netflix) - (first look video)
Shared Custody Series Premiere (Disney+)
Star Trek: Section 31 (Paramount+) - (SDCC 2024 trailer) - (CCXP Brazil Trailer)
The Best Heart Attack Of My Life Series Premiere (Hulu) - (first look video)
The Sand Castle (Netflix) - (photo gallery)
The Trauma Code: Heroes On Call Series Premiere (Netflix)
The Is The Tom Green Documentary (Prime Video)
Trey Kennedy: Grow Up (Hulu)
Toya & Reginae Season Premiere (WE tv) - (first look video) - (photo gallery)
SATURDAY, JANUARY 25TH, 2025:
Asia Series Premiere (BBC America)
Kobe: The Making Of A Legend (CNN)
Mary J. Blige's Family Affair (Lifetime)
Perfect Match Series Premiere (Netflix)
Prosecuting Evil With Kelly Siegler Season Premiere (Oxygen)
The Perfect Setting (Hallmark)
Who Saw The Peacock Dance In The Jungle? (Netflix)
SUNDAY, JANUARY 26TH, 2025:
Devil's Diner (Netflix)
Playing With Fire (Lifetime)
Watson Series Premiere (CBS)
SEE YOU ON MONDAY!