Here's everything you need to know about the world of television for Thursday, November 6th, 2025:
ARE WE IN THE 'USER-CENTRIC' ERA?
If you are writing about the media industry, it's important to be aware of theories you might not entirely agree with. Because while you might not buy into the entire argument, there are always pieces of it that will resonate with you and help you refine your own take on the changes happening in Hollywood and across the globe.
That's how I feel about Evan Shapiro, who is currently spending a lot of time traveling across the globe attending conferences and laying out this theory the media industry is now living in the "Affinity Economy." Based on the number of attendees to his talks, it's an idea that is compelling to a lot of people. I don't agree with his entire premise, and in fact, I'd argue he is misguided in some fundamental ways. But he has a message you should pay attention to, and this YouTube video of a recent 50-minute presentation is a good place to start.
One example of where we differ is on the idea of whether YouTube is TV. Here's something Shapiro posted in a recent edition of his newsletter:
For much of the last two years, I have been fighting with people online over whether or not YouTube is TV. My stance is simple: Those who work in TV don’t get to say what TV is or is not - only the audience makes that choice. When audiences choose to lean back and watch something on television, then they see that thing as television, regardless of what the programmer or ad buyer thinks about it.
This debate may seem cosmetic or irrelevant. After all, who cares what it’s called as long as someone watches it! Right? In theory, sure. But in practice, the distribution and monetization of television content on YouTube - and other social video platforms - matters. It matters A LOT.
My argument has been that too many people tend to think of YouTube as primarily a delivery platform for creator content and repurposed TV shows and movies from legacy media companies.
But the truth is we have no idea what people are watching on YouTube. I've seen a few vague estimates of very broad categories, but nothing specific enough to provide a sense of what is growing its TV viewing share. And that is an important distinction, because a great deal of YouTube viewing is devoted to content which doesn't fall into the categories of creator content or legacy media programming.
There are thousands of TV shows that you can't legally stream because the studios are unable to clear the rights. Yet, nearly all of them are there on YouTube, because the company has developed a way to get around traditional copyright issues. And when a studio does file a complaint, YouTube offers to cut them in on the advertising revenue if they drop the complaint.
And then there are all of the subcategories of content that exist on YouTube but aren't really what anyone would consider to be replicatable titles for any other platform. One example of this content are the hundreds of "Black Screen/White Noise" videos that exist on YouTube to be "watched" while someone sleeps. Or the videos of anime figures, backed with soothing music to relax you. My son sleeps to those every night. But I'm not sure I'd recommend those videos as the next project for Netflix.
We live in a strange time and the media industry is going through some massive disruptions. You are going to hear a lot of theories about where we are headed. Most of them are likely to be at least partially wrong. But if you look at enough theories from across the industry, you can begin to get a sense of where this is all headed.
THIS IS ONE REASON WHY POLITICAL COVERAGE CAN BE SO FRUSTRATING
Ken Klippenstein uses the retirement announcement of Nancy Pelosi to talk about gerontocracy in the House and Senate. And how writing about the struggles of legislators clearly too feeble to effectively can bring on threats from staffers that you and your outlet will lose access in the future:
Feinstein’s staffers had devised an elaborate system to prevent her from walking the halls of Congress alone, I knew, an open secret on the Hill that was only later reported. I found this grotesque not just for the country but for Feinstein herself, who clearly wasn’t all there. The idea that her elite-educated staffers who surely had other job prospects were “serving” their country with this charade was obscene to me.
The backlash against me was swift. In my decade or so of being a reporter, it was the first time I ever thought I might lose my job. Democratic as well as Republican congressional staffers closed ranks to condemn me, with several contacting my employer in attempts to extract a public apology or get me fired. Some were even brazen enough to make their threats public, suggesting they would cut off access to the news website at which I worked.
In another show of bipartisan unity, major media outlets across the political spectrum circled the wagons around me. Fox News called my post “deranged” while The New York Times assured readers that I had been widely condemned by both sides of the aisle. Privately, of course, it was a very different story, with lots of people thanking me for being willing to stick my neck out, including other congressional staffers and Washington types who said they couldn’t do so themselves.
Klippenstein also notes that while several elderly legislators are retiring, there are others still in office who seem to be incapable of performing their duties:
Then and now, Nichols serves as director of communications for DC’s 88-year-old congressional delegate, Eleanor Holmes Norton, once an impassioned civil rights leader and now the face of the gerontocracy. Holmes Norton can hardly put two words together and is a doddering shell of her former self. After having been scammed out of a few thousand dollars by conmen allegedly posing as housecleaners, the police report said she was suffering from dementia.
Threats of a loss of access can be scary, whether you are writing about politics or television.
READER FEEDBACK
Here is a bit of the feedback I've received from readers yesterday:
"Re: Death by Lightning, I’ve been looking forward to it for months.
Not sure whether you’ve seen it all, but I am most interested in seeing whether they address the whole germ theory “controversy” of the time. Garfield’s doctor was staunchly anti-germ theory and submerged his uncovered arm all the way into Garfield to find the bullet. If he were a germ theory advocate and had taken basic precautions, Garfield may well have survived the assassination attempt. You don’t mention it at all in your short writeup, which is why I’m curious whether they will address it. If they don’t, it’s a huge swing and miss on their part."
--Chuck H.
"Congratulations on becoming KING of the Dumbasses, according to that one commenter. Most of us have to settle for serfdom."
--Decarceration
"Just wanted to say that James Garfield is not well known because he was shot just 4 months after assuming office. Americans will never know what a blow his death was to us. I don’t know how he’s depicted in the series, but he would have been a wonderful president; a war hero who had progressive views about post Civil War society. Perhaps we could have avoided some of the post-reconstruction trauma had he lived. "
--Ted L.
SOME QUICK TAKE REVIEWS
Here are a couple more less-than-mainstream suggestions to help fill up your weekend streaming plans.
They Call Him OG (Netflix)
There are times when I will just randomly decide to watch an unfamiliar title, because for every disappointment, there is the promise of perhaps discovering something new and worth promoting.
While I was familiar with the work of Teluga star Pawan Kalyan, this film was completely off my radar. And the fact that it's on Netflix with English subtitles but no English audio dub is a pretty good indication that the streamer doesn't expect much of an American audience for this action film. And yet, it's the perfect weekend dumb action movie, with plot points taken from everything from The Good, The Bad & The Ugly to John Wick. And that's okay. While the first few minutes of the film set up the threadbare plot, much of the rest of the movie features former Samurai OG (Kaylan) killing his way through crowd after crowd of villains in a mission of retribution over the murder of his wife. There's nothing sophisticated here, but it's fun to see a traditional over-the-top killing spree movie centered in India.
Wind River (Netflix)
While you might not be familiar with this 2017 film, the fact that it is written and directed by Taylor Sheridan and co-stars Jeremy Renner and Elizabeth Olsen might be enough to tempt you into checking it out. Renner plays a tracker who is enlisted by an out-of-her-element FBI agent (Olsen) to help her solve a teenager's murder deep in rural Wyoming. Sheridan has said that he wrote the film to raise awareness of the issue of the high number of Indigenous women who are raped and murdered, both on and off reservations. And he makes that point here while not sacrificing the entertainment value of the film, which was a hit when it was released.
ODDS AND SODS
* Bonnie Tyler's iconic hit "Total Eclipse Of The Heart" has been used (okay, overused) in a number of TV commercials. But it's never been used more effectively than in this 2025 Christmas commercial for the UK homelessness charity Shelter, which shows the devastating conditions and frustration felt by families while living in temporary accommodations. The ending of this ad is just gutting.
* LateNighter is reporting that Jimmy Kimmel Live! unexpectedly canceled its planned Thursday night taping. The episode - which was set to feature David Duchovny, Joe Keery, and musical guest Madison Beer - was pulled from the schedule and replaced by a rerun.
* Season two of Dance Moms: A New Era premieres Monday, December 8th on Hulu.
* Season three of Prehistoric Planet: Ice Age premieres Wednesday, November 26th on Apple TV. Here is a first video look at the season. And here is the official logline: "The new season takes viewers into the Pleistocene era, millions of years after the extinction of the dinosaurs, as it has never been seen before. It features strange cycles of hot and cold that create shifting landscapes and a wide variety of mammals with complex behaviors, many resembling animals alive today, fighting to survive. Fans get their first look at clashes between woolly rhinos and saber-toothed cats, based on scientific knowledge gained from fur, soft tissues, and stomach contents preserved in permafrost and only recently discovered. Alongside the era’s most iconic animals, like woolly mammoths and Dire wolves, viewers will explore five new astonishing habitats to encounter many incredible creatures that adapted to this strange new world, including: the Columbian mammoth, a warm-weather relative of the woolly mammoth with curved tusks over 16 feet wide and sparse hair (Mammuthus columbi); 14-foot-tall bears, the largest to ever exist (Arctotherium angustidens); armadillos bigger than cars (Doedicurus clavicaudatus); and tiny elephant relatives (Stegodon sumbaensis) preyed upon by enormous giant storks (Leptoptilos robustus). "
* Reasonable Doubt has been renewed for a fourth season by Hulu.
* Season three of the anime JuJuTsu Kaisen will premiere Thursday, January 8th on Crunchyroll. Here is a first video look at the season and here is the official logline: "Yuji Itadori is a boy with tremendous physical strength, though he lives a completely ordinary high school life. One day, to save a classmate who has been attacked by curses, he eats the finger of Ryomen Sukuna, taking the curse into his own soul. From then on, he shares one body with Ryomen Sukuna. Guided by the most powerful of sorcerers, Satoru Gojo, Itadori is admitted to Tokyo Jujutsu High School, an organization that fights the curses... and thus begins the heroic tale of a boy who became a curse to exorcise a curse, a life from which he could never turn back."
* The documentary Thoughts & Prayers premieres Tuesday, November 18th on HBO. Here is a first video look at the project and here is the official logline: "This arresting yet sobering feature documentary captures the current landscape of safety rituals in schools and communities across America, where classrooms double as tactical training grounds, bullet-proof backpacks become armor, and conferences showcase the latest survival gadgets for a nation where mass shootings have become a part of everyday life. Equal parts absurd and unsettlingly real, the film traces the $3 billion active shooter preparedness industry and its effect on students and educators, raising important questions about the unintended consequences of these intense preparations. In the absence of meaningful prevention efforts and gun reform, how far will Americans go to prepare for active shooters?"
TWEET OF THE DAY
WHAT'S COMING TODAY AND TOMORROW
FRIDAY, NOVEMBER 7TH:
* As You Stood By Series Premiere (Netflix)
* Baramulla (Netflix)
* Fire And Water: Making The Avatar Films (Disney+)
* Frankenstein (Netflix)
* Gold Rush Season Premiere (Discovery)
* Groom & Two Brides (Netflix)
* Happy's Place Season Two Premiere (NBC)
* Jay Jurden: Yes Ma'am (Hulu)
* Mango (Netflix)
* Maxton Hall - The World Between Us (Prime Video)
* Mistletoe Murders Season Premiere (Hallmark)
* My Lottery Dream Home Season Premiere (HGTV)
* Pluribus (Apple TV+)
* Power Book IV: Force Season Premiere (Starz)
* Ready To Love Season Premiere (OWN)
* Relative Danger (LMN)
* Seventeen: Our Chapter (Disney+)
* Stumble Series Premiere (NBC)
* Super Animals (NatGeo Wild)
* Tatsuki Fujimoto 17-26 (Prime Video)
* The UnBelievable With Dan Aykroyd Season Premiere (History)
* The Worst Trip Around The World Series Premiere (Disney+)
* Vantara: Sanctuary Stories Series Premiere (Animal Planet)
SATURDAY, NOVEMBER 8TH:
* Christmas Above The Clouds (Hallmark)
* Jiaoying Summers: What Species Are You? (Hulu)
* Love At Kringle Lake (Great American Family)
* Rock ‘n’ Roll Hall of Fame Induction Ceremony (Disney+)
* Terry McMillan Presents: Preach, Pray, Love (Lifetime)
SUNDAY, NOVEMBER 9TH:
* A Keller Christmas Vacation (Hallmark)
* Christmas Of Giving (Great American Family)
* Killer Grannies (Oxygen)
* Killer Relationship With Faith Jenkins Season Premiere (Oxygen)
* My Husband's Other Wife (Lifetime)
* Snapped: Behind Bars Season Premiere (Oxygen)
* Sweet Empire Series Premiere (Food Network)
* The Great Christmas Snow-In (Up tv)
MONDAY, NOVEMBER 10TH:
* Bat-Fam Series Premiere (Prime Video)
* Caroline Flack: Search for the Truth (Hulu)
* Honest Renovations: A Holiday Home Makeover (The Roku Channel)
* Marines Series Premiere (Netflix)
* Sesame Street Season Fifty-Seven Premiere (Netflix)
* The Warfighters: Battle Stories (History)
SEE YOU EARLY MONDAY MORNING!