Here's everything you need to know about the world of television for Thursday, January 8th, 2026:
PRODUCTION NOTES
My apologies if you didn't receive a newsletter yesterday. It appears that maybe 25% of the Substack subscribers received it, which I didn't realize until this morning.
I think I have figured out the problem (thanks in part to the Substack help desk) and so while today's newsletter is late, hopefully the problems are fixed.
A TOUGH DAY IN MINNEAPOLIS
It has been a difficult 24 hours here in the Twin Cities, for obvious reasons. And while this isn't a political newsletter, as I have written many times before, it is increasingly more difficult to write about media and the entertainment without touching on politics. In part because art and politics are closely intertwined even in the best of times, because art is often fueled by the artist's personal experience and political beliefs. And right now, it seems impossible to report about the job the news media is doing without touching on the politics of the coverage and of the government's response.
Along those lines, the best presentation I've seen of Wednesday's shooting is this video from The NY Times, which combines a number of videos taken at the scene into a coherent and helpful best guess at what might have happened.
The CBS Evening News With Tony Dokoupil will originate from Minneapolis tonight, and other networks are surging resources to cover the events in the city. And throughout the day, protestors have been clashing with DHS agents at a local facility which is serving as the headquarters for the ongoing ICE crackdown as several government officials are being quoted in local media that it might require "door-to-door" checks to effectively root out people who are in the United States illegally.
These are very dark times.
SPEAKING OF TONY DOKOUPIL
Fairly or not, new CBS Evening News anchor Tony Dokoupil continues to face a lot of criticism from people who see his appointment to the job as an extension of what they see as new CBS News head Bari Weiss's efforts to make the new organization more friendly to the Trump Administration.
I don't know what her motivations were for elevating Dokoupil, but I can examine the work he is doing and judge him based on that non-political criteria.
And so far, it's a bit of a mixed bag. In his extended interviews, he hasn't been afraid to ask a tough question. But he also seems unwilling or unable to ask the follow-up questions that are needed. Or to push back when the person he is interviewing says something that is just not accurate.
Dokoupil was in Dallas on Wednesday as part of "Touring The Nation" promo event and he did an extended interview with White House Border Czar Tom Homan. The flashiest segments were excerpted into last night's edition of The CBS Evening News, but the entire 24-minute interview was also posted on Paramount+. And before I go any further, let me say that I appreciate CBS News posting the entire unedited interview and this is a move towards transparency that I can agree with wholeheartedly.
The interview was fascinating to watch because Dokoupil did push hard at points, asking very specific questions that seemed to both annoy and anger Homan. But it also felt as is Dokoupil was sticking to the questions in had in front of him and didn't ask the follow-ups that seemed like natural progressions in the interview.
Dokoupil asked about the efforts by ICE to deport people who had often been in the country for decades. Yes, they came here illegally. But they have also been productive, law-abiding citizens. So where is the heart in that policy?
That is a great question. But then he allows Homan to talk about how they were here illegally and if they wanted to stay here, why didn't they go through the process legally like so many other had done before them?
The logical follow-up question would have been to ask Homan, "Well, if going through the process legally is the point, then why has DHS been arresting hundreds if not thousands of people who show up for the scheduled check-ins or immigration hearings. If doing it legally is the point, then why arrest people who are supposedly "doing it the right way?"
Dokoupil also didn't ask about the people that DHS has admitted have been mistakenly deported even though they are U.S. citizens. How did that happen? Are they being allowed to reenter the United States? And what about the app that DHS agents are using to identify whether people are here legally? It is reportedly regularly labeling people who are here legally as being eligible for deportation. So how is the agency responding to those problems?
I appreciate the efforts Dokoupil is making in his interviews, although I wish he'd dial back on the number of times he starts a question with some variation of "I was out in the country speaking to the average person and this is their concern."
But I wish he would ask follow-up questions. I wish I felt as if he was trying to get to the truth, rather than just asking questions designed to make his seem tough on those in power, even if he doesn't quite mean to be.
THE ANTI-WOKE POP CULTURE WARRIORS ARE COMING FOR 'STAR TREK: STARFLEET ACADEMY'
The new Paramount+ series Star Trek: Starfleet Academy is set to premiere a week from today. And while none of the people criticizing the show have actually seen any of the episodes, there has been a concerted effort in recent days to frame the series as being "woke" and "non-canon."
To recap, this the the official logline of the series: "Star Trek: Starfleet Academy introduces viewers to a young group of cadets who come together to pursue a common dream of hope and optimism. Under the watchful and demanding eyes of their instructors, they discover what it takes to become Starfleet officers as they navigate blossoming friendships, explosive rivalries, first loves and a new enemy that threatens both the Academy and the Federation itself."
And yet, between that and the trailer, a number of Pop Culture warrior YouTubers have begun cranking out videos, accusing the show of being "Girl Boss Central" and an effort to "bring Woke to the Star Trek universe."
For instance, here is how one video is framed in its description:
"On the Star Tree Hill: Starfleet Academy red carpet, we got a rare moment of honesty. A writer/producer Tawny Newsome said the quiet part out loud, admitting that they know that fans will "dissect everything that they hate", calling it a rite of passage as a Star Trek fan. Well at least she didn't attack the audience, admitting that fans are allowed to attack their garbage as fans. But why not try writing write good Star Trek so fans don't have to trash it?"
To be clear, this person hasn't seen the episodes. They are judging this by what they saw on the red carpet and in a couple of brief interviews. And yet, there are already dozens of similar YouTube anti-woke screeds claiming the show is going to do things that it is very much not going to do.
I have no idea if the people making these arguments really believe it, or if this is all just a cynical play to monetize rage. But either way, they are just 100 percent wrong in their allegations.
I have seen the first six episodes of the show and yesterday, members of the TCA did a virtual press conference with some of the show's producers and cast. And I am sorry for your monetization hopes, but it is not a "woke" show, at least not by the criteria used by many of these clueless chuckleheads. If women are involved in the production of the series, it has to be woke. A diverse cast? Woke. Which is especially ironic, given that any Star Trek series inevitably involves a cast that is not just multi-gender, but multi-species.
"Ever want to see a TV show for men, made for women by people completely disconnected from their audience? My rant."
That is the entire point of a series such as Star Trek: Starfleet Academy. To expand the audience for the show. To tell stories where the Kirk character never makes an appearance. Where Star Trek fans who are not white men find some stories that resonate with them. That's not being "woke," whatever that means. That is storytelling and speaking to the audience who isn't you.
A WARNING ABOUT USING APPLE PAY FOR SUBSTACK NEWSLETTERS
The newsletter Asian Century Stocks has announced it is moving from Substack from Ghost. And one of the complaints they list resonates with me:
On 18 August 2025, Substack announced that it had enabled payments within its app. Readers on the Substack app can now subscribe to any publication within it. Since the payments are made via the iOS App Store, the total fee is now 40%. With a price of US$350/year, Asian Century Stocks would therefore have to raise its price to US$460 to break even.
Or to put it another way, if you decide to upgrade to a paid Too Much TV subscription, Substack will take 10 percent off the top and Apple will take an additional 30 percent. So not only am I going to make 40% less than you think I will, it will take Apple weeks to get that remaining 60 percent to me.
And because the billing goes through Apple, I have no access to your billing account. So if you have any problem whatsoever, you have to contact Apple. Even worse from my perspective, if I would ever decide to move Too Much TV to another platform, I can't move your paid subscription automatically. I can't even cancel it for you. Everything has to be done through Apple and by the person who owns the payment method used.
I will offer a bit of defense for Substack. While they didn't have to agree to bring Apple into their payment options, once they did, they were obligated to make it mandatory for all newsletters, because that is what Apple demands in these types of situations.|
ODDS AND SODS:
* The animated kids series Phoebe & Jay premieres Monday, February 2nd on PBS. I'll have a review of it closer to airdate. But it's worth noting the series is the network’s last original show to have been funded by the Ready To Learn grant, which was terminated prematurely by the U.S. Department of Education in May. I am going to try and get an interview with someone at PBS Kids, to hear how these finding cuts are impacting that organization.
* Uproxx has deleted 16 years of its archive without warning, wiping out thousands of TV and pop culture reviews and features. If you are in charge of making a decision like this, contact me. I'm more than willing to take those archives off your hands and keep them available for everyone.
* Here is a very good rundown on Telly-Visions of all the British programming that will be streaming in the U.S. this month.
* The Wrap is reporting that Javier Guzman, a senior broadcast producer for CBS Evening News, was dismissed from his position following Wednesday’s broadcast
TWEET OF THE DAY
SIGH
Thanks for the suggestion, Netflix PR. But no, I am not sending my readers to your company-owned entertainment news website
WHAT'S COMING TODAY AND TOMORROW
THURSDAY, JANUARY 8TH, 2026:
Anyway, I'm Falling in Love With You (Crunchyroll)
Girl Taken Series Premiere (Paramount+)
Golden Eye (CBS)
Grey's Anatomy Spring Premiere (ABC)
Heartland Season Premiere (UP tv)
His & Hers Series Premiere (Netflix)
Jujutsu Kaisen (Crunchyroll)
Law & Order Spring Premiere (NBC)
Law & Order: SVU Spring Premiere (NBC)
Love Is Blind: Germany Season Premiere (Netflix)
9-1-1 Spring Premiere (ABC)
9-1-1 Nashville Spring Premiere (ABC)
Roll Over And Die (Crunchyroll)
Sport Vs. Money With Simon Jordan (Viaplay)
The Game Series Premiere (BritBox)
The Holy Grail Of Eris (Crunchyroll)
The Hunting Party Season Two Premiere (NBC)
The Invisible Man And His Soon-To-Be Wife Series Premiere (Crunchyroll)
The Pitt Season Two Premiere (HBO Max)
The Tale Of Silyan (NatGeo)
The Traitors Season Four Premiere (Peacock)
The Valley: Persian Style Series Premiere (Bravo)
SEE YOU FRIDAY MORNING!