Here's everything you need to know about the world of television for Monday, December 22nd, 2025:
PRODUCTION NOTES
This will be the final regularly-scheduled Too Much TV newsletter until Friday, January 2nd. I have a couple of year-end or looking forward pieces written that will post over the next couple of weeks. And I'll be back with a special edition if the breaking news warrants it. But it's going to be dead in media circles until after the holidays. And to be honest, I think we can all use a few days off.
So have a Merry Christmas and a Happy Holiday. I'll see you soon.
DEI DOESN'T MEAN WHAT YOU LIKELY THINK IT DOES
Last week, another one of those viral pieces was circulating online that was essentially a writer complaining that he hasn't been able to find work because he's white and his diversity-obsessed industry refuses to hire anyone who is white - no matter how talented they might be.
As you might imagine, the piece was quite the topic among TV's struggling writers, many of whom have struggled to find work over the past several years even if they have a great deal of experience. I heard from a few writers making that complaint who wanted me to write about it. And I opted not to, in part because it's impossible to determine from the outside if their complaints are true. But I suspected that much of this has to do with the contraction of the industry and the need to point to someone or something as being the cause of your unemployment.
But I received a note from someone who is also currently employed. But who is a person of color with more than a decade's experience in the industry and who has worked on a number of shows. This person had a perspective I thought was worth sharing. And here it is, with only some light edits for clarity or to remove personally identifiable details:
"First of all, diversity programs or DEI or whatever you want to call it aren't about making sure whites don't get hired. It's about acknowledging the industry would be stronger with more non-white voices. That doesn't mean automatically hiring a Black, Hispanic or Asian writer instead of a white one. It means recognizing there are a lot of very talented writers who are looking for work. And diversity means that when you are looking at someone's qualifications, and two people are equal, you consider hiring the non-white writer. Not because they aren't white, but because they are as good or better than the person you would normally hire who happens to be white."
"I understand the anger and questions. My last room ended nearly a year ago. And despite having worked on some really successful shows, I'm struggling. But it's obviously not diversity that has kept me from getting work. The business sucks right now and there are a dozen people just as qualified as you looking for the same job."
"Part of the problem has also been that agents and showrunners use the 'diversity hire' excuse as a way to dodge the reasons why you didn't get the job. Maybe you work isn't good enough, maybe it isn't a fit for the show. Maybe you're just like three other people they've already hired. Or maybe you're just an ass and when the showrunner asked around, no one wants to work with you. It's more likely that it's just bad luck and they picked someone equally qualified as you because there aren't enough jobs for everyone."
"As an industry, we have done a terrible job at doing this in the least disruptive way. We impose diversity hires that often more disruptive than helpful. We still rely way too much on relationships when it comes to hiring a room. Which is why so many rooms end up with a mostly white group of writers who have all worked together before. This is the reason why you'll see a POC showrunner hire a room of primarily non-white writers. It's not they just discovered there were talented POC writers available. It's that they are using their position to elevate writers who wouldn't normally get the chance. With the hope this will help them get into their next room."
"I'm not at all surprised to see how quickly the various studios and networks dropped their DEI initiatives, even before being asked. It was always a bit of a performance for them, something they felt as if they had to do in order to look progressive. And yet, everything from the executive suites to the actors being cast haven't gotten all that much more diverse over the past decade or two. We're still a raisin in the rice pudding, there to provide a little something different without having the ability to really make change."
I am interested in hearing more from other people in the industry about this subject. I think it's an important issue that the major entertainment trades aren't covering right now. You can email me confidentially at 
'COULD YOU MAKE THE PEOPLE BEING TORTURED SOUND MORE LIKE THEY DESERVED IT?"
Two hours before a segment on the infamous CECOT prison in El Salvador was scheduled to air on 60 Minutes, the segment was replaced, without an initial explanation.
Immediately after the decision was announced, trailers from the episode were deleted from official CBS News accounts.
This was the official logline of the episode: "Earlier this year, the Trump administration deported hundreds of Venezuelan migrants to El Salvador, a country most had no ties to, claiming they were terrorists. This move sparked an ongoing legal battle, and nine months later the U.S. government still has not released the names of all those deported and placed in CECOT, one of El Salvador’s harshest prisons."
According to the New York Times, Sharyn Alfonsi, the veteran 60 Minutes correspondent who reported the segment, rejected that criticism in a private note to CBS colleagues on Sunday, in which she accused CBS News of pulling the segment for “political” reasons:
“Our story was screened five times and cleared by both CBS attorneys and Standards and Practices,” Ms. Alfonsi wrote in the note, a copy of which was obtained by The New York Times. “It is factually correct. In my view, pulling it now, after every rigorous internal check has been met, is not an editorial decision, it is a political one.”
Ms. Weiss said in a statement late Sunday: “My job is to make sure that all stories we publish are the best they can be. Holding stories that aren’t ready for whatever reason — that they lack sufficient context, say, or that they are missing critical voices — happens every day in every newsroom. I look forward to airing this important piece when it’s ready.”
And what was the "sufficient context" that reportedly concerned Weiss? Well, it's pretty much what you would expect:
One of Ms. Weiss’s suggestions was to include a fresh interview with Stephen Miller, a White House deputy chief of staff and the architect of Mr. Trump’s immigration crackdown, or a similarly high-ranking Trump administration official, two of the people said. Ms. Weiss provided contact information for Mr. Miller to the “60 Minutes” staff.
Ms. Weiss also questioned the use of the term “migrants” to describe the Venezuelan men who were deported, noting that they were in the United States illegally, two of the people said.
In her note, Ms. Alfonsi said that her team had requested comment from the White House, the State Department, and the Department of Homeland Security. “If the administration’s refusal to participate becomes a valid reason to spike a story, we have effectively handed them a ‘kill switch’ for any reporting they find inconvenient,” Ms. Alfonsi wrote.
“We have been promoting this story on social media for days,” Ms. Alfonsi added. “Our viewers are expecting it. When it fails to air without a credible explanation, the public will correctly identify this as corporate censorship. We are trading 50 years of ‘gold standard’ reputation for a single week of political quiet.”
“I care too much about this broadcast to watch it be dismantled without a fight,” she wrote.
Brian Stelter's Reliable Sources newsletter just reported on this morning's CBS News call, which apparently did not go well.
On this morning's 9 a.m. editorial call, Weiss seemed frustrated about the leaking. "The only newsroom I'm interested in running is one in which we are able to have contentious disagreements about the thorniest editorial matters with respect, and, crucially, where we assume the best intent of our colleagues. Anything else is absolutely unacceptable," she said, according to CBS.
"I held a 60 Minutes story because it was not ready," she continued. "While the story presented powerful testimony of torture at CECOT, it did not advance the ball — the Times and other outlets have previously done similar work. The public knows that Venezuelans have been subjected to horrific treatment at this prison. To run a story on this subject two months later, we need to do more. And this is '60 Minutes.' We need to be able to get the principals on the record and on camera."
One thing Weiss hasn't addressed is that she reportedly screened the segment late Thursday and signed off on it on Friday before coming back over the weekend with more questions. I'd love to see her respond to a question asking if she had any conversations with the segment with people in the Trump Administration after her initial screening.
If you want an idea of what you might have seen on the 60 Minutes segment, this Frontline episode entitled Surviving CECOT primarily focuses on the struggles of one family, it is a stellar example of what journalism can do.
ODDS AND SODS:
* A heads-up from Mr. Classic TV himself, Zach Wilson: "Classic TV streaming update: It's obscurity season as Plex has added single season 70's variety show Van Dyke & Company as well as the single season sitcom The Redd Foxx Show from 1986 and 2 seasons of the HBO talk show Dennis Miller Live.
* Paramount Skydance has amended its all-cash offer for Warner Bros. Discovery.
* Writer/producer Tom Fontana just posted an original Christmas story, narrated by actor Kyle Secor. God Saw The Light is a short story about a successful businessman facing the permanent loss of his sight, as Christmas nears.
* Season five of The Ms. Pat Show will premiere Wednesday, January 7th on BET+.
* You know the customer experience on X sucks when even professional conservative troll Christopher Rufo is complaining about it.
* PBS icon Rick Steves bought a neighborhood hygiene center for $2 million so it wouldn't be shut down and replaced.
* Jimmy Kimmel has been booked by Channel 4 to deliver the UK network’s annual Alternative Christmas Message, which broadcasts on Christmas Day. He is respected say that 2025 was "a great year for fascism."
* Late Nighter highlights that an SNL gag that digitally inserted Colin Jost into archival footage of Donald Trump and Jeffrey Epstein has turned up in real-world Epstein files coverage—thanks to a widely circulated news story in Mediaite that initially ran with the screen grab as its featured image.
* Apple TV has canceled The Last Frontier after one season.
* The Nova special Can Dogs Talk? will premiere Wednesday, February 4th on PBS. Here is the official logline: "The film explores the viral phenomenon of “button dogs” who appear to use recorded sound buttons to communicate and follows scientists as they conduct the largest animal communications study in history, to try to answer the question of whether "talking" dogs are actually communicating their thoughts and desires with us.
It features Stella, a Catahoula–Blue Heeler mix who became the first viral “button dog," and her owner, speech therapist Christina Hunger, whose success teaching her dog to “talk” drew the attention of researchers. Are dogs like Stella truly understanding what we’re saying — and talking back? Are they really thinking creatively and applying words in new contexts, or is this just clever conditioning?"
THE RETURN OF THE WEIRDO
Ted Goia at The Honest Broker wonders if 2026 might finally be the "year of the weirdo." As he notes, you could drop an 18-year-old from 2025 into a high school ten years ago and in most cases, they would fit right in. And that trend of embracing the bland and the unchanging has made its way across our society:
Never before in history have more people blown a gasket over so little. Is there any room for weirdness in this conformist world?
Even as the word diversity is said over and over, the opposite is apparent in almost every sphere of social life. I don’t think it’s coincidence that diversity is proclaimed most often by some of the most conformist corporations on the planet.
That’s the nature of newspeak in our time. Words come to take on an opposite meaning from what they apparently say. I call this the gentleman’s club phenomena—it’s the last place you would go in order to find a gentleman. The name is designed to hide the obvious.
That’s why the same corporations extolling creativity, diversity, and innovation work so hard to kill them. The words are, at best substitutes for reality, and at worst a smokescreen for hiding what’s actually going down.
This makes me wonder if I should start selling "Embrace The Weird" swag.
TWEET OF THE DAY
WHAT'S COMING TODAY AND THIS WEEK
MONDAY, DECEMBER 22ND:
* Christina Aguilera: Christmas In Paris (CBS)
* Elway (Netflix)
* Everybody Loves Raymond: 30th Anniversary Reunion Pt. 2 (CBS)
* I Do I Series Premiere (Netflix)
* Miss Sophie: Same Procedure As Every Year Series Premiere (Prime Video)
* Sicily Express Series Premiere (Netflix)
* The Wonderful World Of Gumball (Hulu)
TUESDAY, DECEMBER 23RD:
* Kennedy Center Honors (CBS)
* King Of Collectibles: The Goldin Touch Season Premiere (Netflix)
WEDNESDAY, DECEMBER 24TH:
* Goodbye June (Netflix)
* Made In Korea Series Premiere (Hulu)
* Royal Carols: Together At Christmas (BritBox)
* Tom Segura: Teacher (Netflix)
THURSDAY, DECEMBER 25TH:
* A Soulful Christmas (BET+)
* Music Box: Happy And You Know It (HBO)
* Sanctuary: A Witch's Tale (Sundance Now)
* Stranger Things (Netflix)
FRIDAY, DECEMBER 26TH:
* A Grammy Celebration Of Latin Music (CBS)
* Cashero Series Premiere (Netflix)
* Cover Up (Netflix)
* Junk Or Jackpot? Series Premiere (HGTV)
* Nightsleeper Series Premiere (HGTV)
* Popstar! Best Of 2025 (The CW)
SATURDAY, DECEMBER 27TH:
* Stolen Girl (Lifetime)
* The Copenhagen Test Series Premiere (Peacock)
SUNDAY, DECEMBER 28TH:
* A Grammy Celebration Of Latin Music (CBS)
* Animal Control Season Premiere (Fox)
* Celebrity IOU Season Premiere (HGTV)
* The Nurse Who Know Too Much (Lifetime)
SEE YOU SOON!