Here's everything you need to know about the world of television for Thursday, December 18th, 2025:
WHY ISN'T NETFLIX FOCUSING ON ORIGINAL STREAMING TV-ORIENTED PODCASTS?
For what it's worth, I think Netflix's decision to license select video podcasts for its streaming service is smart. Many of the podcasts come with a built-in audience, which will make promotion easier. And given that some of the biggest growth for YouTube on smart TVs centers around longform video podcasts, competing for that audience in a relatively low cost way makes sense.
But given the challenges Netflix (and to be fair, every streamer) has with content discovery, I am somewhat surprised they haven't decided to commission a couple of original video podcast projects. I think a "New On Netflix" podcast with featured clips, interviews and information on this week's premieres would do very well. I would also do one that is focused on non-English language programming, since much of that can get lost on Netflix.
It would also make sense to do some one-off video podcasts built around shows Netflix has just licensed. As an example, some of the older AMC shows Netflix has been licensing are really strong. But they struggled to find an audience when they premiered on AMC and just dumping them onto Netflix without additional context is relying a bit too much on the effectiveness of the Algorithm Gods.
SPEAKING OF GLOBAL TELEVISION
If you were a reader of this newsletter this time last year, you might remember that I quietly launched the Too Much TV Global Television Awards, which attempted to elevate television that wasn't originally produced in the English language. It was a bit of a last-minute effort, but it turned out to resonate with a lot of people. More than 60,000 people voted and they did a great job of highlighting shows that might not have gotten the attention they deserved when they premiered here in the U.S.
The year, I am building out the awards. There will be a stand-alone web site launching on January 1st, with two weeks of voting before the winners are announced on Thursday, January 22nd. This year, the nominee list will also include a lot of information about each title, including photo, video, links to reviews, etc.
I don't have a dedicated sales staff and unlike the Penske/Borg empire, I am not looking for deals that tie advertising to editorial coverage. But if you have worked on a show that might be up for a nomination and would like to talk to me about it, I'd love to speak with you. Or if you are a publicist for a streamer and want to help coordinate an interview or pass along photos, etc., that would be great. Reply directly to this newsletter or email me at
As an FYI, to be nominated, a title has to have been originally released in a language other than English. It has to have premiered in the U.S. in 2025 and premiered in its native country in 2024 or 2025 (since some global TV takes time to make its way here).
I look forward to hearing from you.
WHAT I HAVE BEEN WATCHING
Here are a couple of shows that likely aren't on your radar, but I have enjoyed for very different reasons:
City Of Shadows (Netflix)
In theory, this Spanish series is about the hunt for a killer who is targeting high-profile Barcelona businessmen, then killing them with fire in very public places.
But at its core the show is about trauma and how it warps everything around it. Everyone in the series is struggling with trauma - the loss of a family member, of a dream, of a marriage. And that trauma impacts the murder investigation in a myriad of ways and it eventually becomes clear trauma is also the central reason for the murders themselves.
For a variety of reasons, American television has a very limited lens on how it deals with income inequality. We Americans love shows about the wealthy and the unhappiness their wealth might bring them. But we are much less inclined to tackle that that wealth means to the rest of the country and how excessive power can slowly corrode a democracy.
One of the central storylines of City Of Shadows is how the redevelopment of Barcelona in anticipation of the Olympics displaced and eventually destroyed the lives of many of it city's most vulnerable residents. It's a backstory I can't imagine being part of an American series. And that in itself is a tragedy.
Designing The Hebrides (Prime Video)
I suspect my perfect job in media would be programming a FAST channel focused on heartwarming yet strangely odd reality and unscripted shows. Cheap Irish Homes is my Succession. I enjoy all types of television, but the attraction of these shows for me is that it allows me just to watch something and enjoy it in an uncomplicated way. When times get tough, watching a mental palate cleanser is a lifeline I really appreciate.
This six-episode series stars interior designer Banjo Beale, who won the BBC1 series Interior Design Masters in 2022. An Australian based on the Isle of Mull, Scotland, Beale is likeably odd. One of those people you see and think, "this would be a great guy to have a beer or six with some night." And the series focuses on his efforts to renovate places in or near the Isle of Mull - the Isle of Mull Rugby Club, a local cheese farm - places and locations that are just as distinctively unpredictable as he is. Half the time, he seems to barely know what he's doing, but part of the charm of the show is watching him work through it and deliver a renovation that is both unexpected and true to the spirit of the business makes the show a delight to watch.
IS IT POSSIBLE TO BE TOO FRIENDLY IN AN INTERVIEW?
I think it's fair to say that most of Hollywood creatives don't especially enjoy being interviewed. They may tolerate it, they may understand that it's part of the process. But an interview is a bit like a first date. The ones you tend to remember are the ones that are awkward or just plain annoying. And it's even worse because in the age of Zoom, subjecting actors, writers, directors and showrunners to an entire day of back-to-back five-minute junket interviews has become the norm. And since a five-minute timeslot doesn't allow for much exploration, the questions are typically very similar, interspersed with some journalist asking provocative questions in hopes of making news.
That's why you see so many press-shy celebrities navigating their PR efforts towards longer-form podcasts. The questions tend to be less intrusive, more fan-friendly and less likely to be confrontational. Because as an interviewer, you are always looking at booking your next guest. And you don't want to have a reputation for being difficult.
In the music world, one of the biggest podcasts is Apple Music's Zane Lowe. Sure, being part of Apple Music ensures top-level artists are going to feel obligated to make an appearance. But Lowe is also popular because he is known as being relentlessly optimistic and performer friendly.
Atlantic Magazine has a really fascinating profile of Lowe (gift link) and while he isn't in the world of television, his approach to interviewing is the same one you'll find in a lot of the most popular TV and media podcasts:
This approach clashed with other people’s ideals about the profession. The rock critic Lester Bangs once warned Crowe against becoming friends with the musicians he covers. “These are people who want you to write sanctimonious stories about the genius of rock stars,” he said, according to The Uncool. “And they will ruin rock and roll and strangle everything we love about it, right?” He later added, “You should make your reputation on being honest, and unmerciful.” Bangs’s advice, repeated in Almost Famous, is a touchstone for music journalists—a reminder that being too gentle or generous can destroy the very thing you’re covering.
But Lowe has followed Crowe’s philosophy, not Bangs’s. He thanked Crowe for allowing “people like myself to be more comfortable in the fact that I don’t really have a particularly strong critical muscle.” Later, in his office, Lowe told me that although critique is important, it’s not the role he was “born to inhabit.” At base, he wants his interviews to be “a document for fans to cherish and watch over and over and over again.”
That goal neatly aligns with the record industry’s shifting prerogatives. Music consumption has largely cleaved into two patterns: the passive, casual streamer who lets the algorithm serve up good-enough background listening, and the ultra-invested “stan,” who builds a fiercely rooted group identity around their favorite artists. The new playbook for success isn’t trying to appeal broadly—it’s monetizing and remonetizing the attention of diehards.
That approach is increasingly a core part of the television and streaming business. Much of your audience is going to be a lean-back and let it wash over you type of viewer. And those can be difficult to reach with traditional content discovery methods. But the fans - whether of a specific actor or a familiar piece of intellectual property - are not just easier to connect with. They are much more likely to stick around and consume the entire project.
This is why you see so many reboots, so many limited series starring familiar actors. It's much easier to promote a comfortable series starring Julie Roberts than it is one with a lesser-known cast and an unfamiliar premise.
I have cut back substantially on the number of interviews I do, which is a sad situation given that I really enjoy a good conversation. But having five or seven minutes to interview someone doesn't allow me to really get the free-flowing back-and-forth that I believe is both more enjoyable for the reader or listener but also best serves the needs of the person I am interviewing.
ODDS AND SODS:
* Coldwater is a British psychological thriller starring Andrew Lincoln that premieres Friday, January 9th on Paramount+. Here is a first video look at the show. Here is the official logline: "Stay-at-home dad John moves his family up from London to the rural Scottish town of Coldwater after his failure to intervene in a violent confrontation at a playground brings his identity crisis to a head. On arrival, John is quickly befriended by next-door neighbor Tommy, a charming, confident pillar of the community. But it’s only after a series of unsettling incidents start to occur that John starts to wonder who the real Tommy actually is."
* CNN has renewed Have I Got News For You for a fourth season?
* The Guy Ritchie series Young Sherlock will premiere Wednesday, March 4th on Prime Video. Here is the official logline: "In Young Sherlock, Holmes is a disgraced young man – raw and unfiltered – when he finds himself wrapped up in a murder case that threatens his liberty. His first ever case unravels a globe-trotting conspiracy that changes his life forever. Unfolding in 1870s Oxford and venturing abroad, the series will expose the early antics of the anarchic adolescent who is yet to evolve into Baker Street’s most renowned resident."
* CNN Gulf War correspondent Peter Arnett has died at age 91.
* CBS News and The Free Press are teaming for a series of town halls and debates in the new year and for all the talk of this being an attempt to make the network "non-partisan," the lineup certainly seems to have a distinctive point of view. Things That Matter will include town halls with Vice President JD Vance, OpenAI’s Sam Altman and Maryland Governor Wes Moore.
There will also be some "debates," including one featuring Isabel Brown and Harry Sisson focused on the question “Should Gen Z Believe in the American Dream?”; Ross Douhat and Steven Pinker on the question, “Does America Need God?”; and Liz Plank and Allie Beth Stuckey will discuss, “Has Feminism Failed Women?”
I am sure this will all end well.
TWEET OF THE DAY
WHAT'S COMING TODAY AND TOMORROW
THURSDAY, DECEMBER 18TH:
* Blue Lights Season Three Finale (BritBox)
* Emily In Paris Season Premiere (Netflix)
* Music Box: Counting Crows: Have You Seen Me Lately? (HBO)
* 10Dance (Netflix)
* Vera's Holiday Flop (BET+)
* Where Pretty Girls Die (LMN)
FRIDAY, DECEMBER 19TH:
* Adult Swim's The Elephant (Adult Swim)
* A Time For Bravery (Lifetime)
* Born To Be Wild (Apple TV)
* Breakdown: 1975 (Netflix)
* Dora (Paramount+)
* How To Ruin Love: The Lobola Series Premiere (Netflix)
* Kumail Nanjiani: Night Thoughts (Hulu)
* Mo' Waffles Series Premiere (Tubi)
* My Lottery Dream Home: David's Happy Ending (HGTV)
* Raat Akeli Hai: The Bansal Murders (Netflix)
* Sweet Holiday Romance (Lifetime)
* The Great Flood (Netflix)
SEE YOU EARLY FRIDAY MORNING!