Here's everything you need to know about the world of television for Wednesday, January 21st, 2026:
I LOOK FORWARD TO ALL INFORMATION ABOUT WARNER BROTHERS THEATRICAL RELEASES COMING FROM TUDUM
I am frequently asked by other journalists to explain what I see as the mission for this newsletter and it comes down to two, very different approaches. First is the industry-centric, journalism-heavy coverage that you won't find on the big Hollywood trades or even in the digital upstarts such as The Ankler or Puck. Pieces such as yesterday's deep dive into the tax ramifications of the Netflix/WBD deal or my exclusive coverage of Bari Weiss and CBS News.
But just as important is my my second mission, which centers around content discovery. Everyone complains that it is difficult to know what to watch or even when something is premiering. There is plenty of coverage of the high-profile streaming titles such as Stranger Things, but almost no coverage of the smaller titles from the major streamers or much of anything from the smaller ones.
And I try hard to fill that gap as much as I can. As you can see from today's newsletter, I cram in as much raw data as I can, along with highlighting reviewing lesser-covered titles worth watching. I think it is a mission that is especially helpful, because there are fewer entertainment outlets out there. And the ones that remain are all chasing the same audience, cranking out endless coverage of the same few titles that every other outlet is covering.
Kasey Moore runs the essential website What's On Netflix and yesterday highlighted this factoid from the Netflix quarterly investor presentation from yesterday:
Tudum, which reached a record 23.4M visits in December and 232M total visits in 2025 (up 18% from the prior year).
More than *23 MILLION* visits in December to a wholly-owned Netflix website and nearly all of that traffic came out of the hides of other entertainment news sites. And while the larger industry web sites can offset some of that lost revenue with industry events and special FYC advertising, smaller independent publications have nowhere to hide from the revenue loss.
Which is why you have seen so many independent web sites cut staff or shut down entirely in the past several years. Changes in the Google Search results have decimated traffic and cut revenue drastically across the industry. And when you add on top of that competition from a site that is owned by the world's largest TV and movie streamer and which is fed a steady stream of insider info and exclusive interviews...well, I loathe the existence of Tudum at a level that I can't fully express without prompting a visit from authorities.
Why should you care? Because the existence of Tudum directly impacts the programming coverage you read (or can't read) on a daily basis.
The first impact is on coverage of Netflix programming specifically.
It is disheartening to receive Netflix PR emails highlighting new shows or upcoming seasons that are filled with quotes from Tudum-exclusive interviews or other information the streamer has withheld from the rest of the industry press. Leaving entertainment journalists with two options: be reduced to being an independent stenographer for Netflix or just ignoring the information entirely.
And those Tudum exclusives might be tolerable if their existence didn't impact the already dicey relationship the streamer has with journalists. To be clear, I have a great relationship with many Netflix PR people, who are working under their own guidelines they may or may not agree with. I have been covering Netflix since it was just a DVD warehouse in the Bay Area and have a number of executives there I have been speaking with for years. I like a lot of what the company does strategically.
But it's also true that as a culture, Netflix does not believe TV critics and industry journalists have a big impact on their business or the success of their programming. They like the press coverage of release dates, casting info and the like because it is earned media that might be the project on people's radar. And they believe reviews are helpful in that it makes their creative partners happy ("See! We got you reviews!"). But there is a reason why so many reviews are embargoed by Netflix until the day of the project's premiere. Because it doesn't believe any individual review matters - positive or negative. What matters is that suddenly readers see 20 different reviews pop up on the same day, which Netflix believes drives engagement.
The problem with that is because Netflix releases so many titles, those projects that aren't a company priority often fall through the cracks. How many times have you stumbled across a great Netflix original series from 3-4 years ago that you've never heard of? And then, after watching it, been disappointed because it was canceled due to a lack of interest from viewers who didn't know it existed?
The second impact this philosophy towards entertainment journalism has is that it pushes rival streamers in the same direction. Every rival streamer is feeling the impact of reduced PR and marketing staff and smaller promotional budgets. So it becomes easy to copy Netflix's approach to entertainment journalism. More quick junket interviews, fewer feature opportunities and more emphasis on just promoting the premiere date and other simple facts. And if anyone from the creative side complains, these streaming PR people can blame the reduced budgets and point to the fact they are just copying the industry leader.
I compare all of this to what happened in the music radio industry in the 80s and early 90s. Back then, every town had independent stations that programmed both music that was nationally popular was well as tunes that became regional hits. And that led to a diversity of sound and the emergence of unlikely hits that had been championed by some lone DJ who fell in love with the track. Believe me, no American music label would have chosen a tune like "Rock Me Amadeus" as a song that was worth championing.
That loss of diversity eventually had an impact on the music business. And the consolidation in radio formats and station groups ironically didn't make the hit-making machine any less expensive. It just meant that more and more resources were spent on a smaller number of safe, commercial hits.
And the SVOD business runs that same risks. It is all well and good to focus on shows that are likely to be mainstream hits. But the industry also needs coverage of the smaller titles. Not just in order to keep the business wide-ranging and healthy. But because those marginal titles can sometimes become unexpected hits when someone passionately champions its worth.
I have nothing against influencers and they are fine if you just want to highlight a title via a bunch of Instagram photos of young, good-looking people holding Bridgerton-branded martini glasses at a swanky pop-up event. But those influencers don't care about the other 90% of your catalog. And the only people that might - veteran entertainment journalists - are being run out of the business.
ODDS AND SODS:
* Season three of The Night Agent premieres Thursday, February 19th, on Netflix. Here is a first video look at the season and here is a photo gallery of images from season three. Here is the official logline: "Coming off the explosive events of Season Two, Night Agent Peter Sutherland is called in to track down a young Treasury Agent who fled to Istanbul with sensitive government intel after killing his boss. This kicks off a sequence of events where Peter investigates a dark money network while avoiding its paid assassins, while putting him on a collision course with a relentless journalist. Working together, they uncover buried secrets and old grudges that threaten to bring the government to its knees -- and get them both killed in the process."
* Season five of For All Mankind premieres Friday, March 27th on Apple TV. Here is a first video look at the season. And here is the official logline: "Season five of For All Mankind picks up in the years since the Goldilocks asteroid heist. Happy Valley has grown into a thriving colony with thousands of residents and a base for new missions that will take us even further into the solar system. But with the nations of Earth now demanding law and order on the Red Planet, friction continues to build between the people who live on Mars and their former home."
* The docuseries Being Gordon Ramsay premieres Wednesday, February 18th on Netflix. Here is a first video look at the season.
* Season four of The Secret Lives Of Mormon Wives premieres Thursday, March 12th on Hulu. Here is the official logline: "Up against unraveling marriages, personal demons and family secrets, they must choose to lean on each other or face their fates untethered and alone on the world’s stage. Will the women remain loyal to their sisterhood to save it? Or will MomTok shatter forever?”
* Season eight of Formula 1: Drive To Survive premieres Friday, February 27th on Netflix.
* Prue Leith is stepping down as Great British Baking Show judge after nine seasons.
* Season seven of Tournament Of Champions will premiere Sunday, March 1st on The Food Network. Here is the official logline: "Thirty-two of the nation’s best chefs including proven warriors and fierce new challengers are ready to battle, but nothing will prepare the chefs for the competition’s biggest surprise ever. This season, top-seeded chefs in every division will be food world icons, four of the most powerful opponents to ever compete on the series, but their identities will remain a secret until the moment they enter the arena. This season’s competing chefs include Adam Greenberg, Adam Sobel, Britt Rescigno, Bryan Voltaggio, Carlos Anthony, Claudette Zepeda, Dale Talde, David Viana, Jet Tila, Joe Sasto, Jonathon Sawyer, Kaleena Bliss, Karen Akunowicz, Kevin Lee, Lee Anne Wong, Marcel Vigneron, Nini Nguyen, Sara Bradley, Shirley Chung, and Tobias Dorzon. Plus
* In related news, Tournament of Champions: The Qualifiers, will return on Sun
* Season two of Dreaming Whilst Black premieres Friday, February 20th on Paramount+. Here is the official logline: Kwabena (Adjani Salmon) is on the hunt for his first directing gig. Having previously “sold out” his cousin during the making of his short film, he is determined to avoid repeating the same mistake. When the opportunity to direct the radical color-blind historical drama “Sin and Subterfuge” arises, Kwabena thinks his dreams have come true. However, things aren’t quite as they seem, and he realizes how difficult it is to create something with integrity as he peers behind the curtain of a “progressive” industry."
"In Season 2, Kwabena is finally on the brink of his first major directing opportunity when he’s offered the chance to helm a radical, “color-blind” historical drama. What initially feels like a dream come true quickly reveals itself to be far more complicated. As Kwabena peers behind the curtain of a so-called progressive industry, he’s forced to confront uncomfortable truths about power, authorship, representation, and the compromises required to succeed."
* The Polish-produced limited series Lead Children premieres Wednesday, February 11th on Netflix. Here is a first video look at the series. And here is the official logline: "The series tells the story of a young doctor, Jolanta Wadowska-Król, who notices that children living near the Szopienice Steelworks are massively falling ill with lead poisoning, a disease caused by heavy metal contamination. After her discovery, the protagonist attempts to save the sick children and confronts the oppressive communist state apparatus. The production will transport the audience to the industrial atmosphere of Upper Silesia in the 1970s. It is here, in the realities of the working-class region, that dangerous political influences and the social mission of Dr. Wadowska-Król will intertwine."
* Ladies Of London: The New Reign premieres Thursday, March 5th on Bravo. Here is the official logline: "A new wave of British blue bloods, ambitious American expats and glamorous international socialites – Lady Emma Thynn, Martha Sitwell, Mark-Francis Vandelli, Lottie Kane, Missè Beqiri, Kimi Murdoch, Myka Meier, and Margo Stilley– light up London’s elite social scene. As tradition collides with the fast-paced globalized world, these power players redefine what it means to belong to high society in one of the most iconic cities in the world. Here, connections are currency, and the crown isn’t the only thing up for grabs."
TWEET OF THE DAY
WHAT'S COMING TODAY AND TOMORROW
WEDNESDAY, JANUARY 21ST:
* Drops Of God Season Two Premiere (Apple TV)
* Kidnapped: Elizabeth Smart (Netflix)
* Police 24/7 (The CW)
* Queer Eye (Netflix)
* Steal Series Premiere (Apple TV)
* The Beauty Series Premiere (FX)
THURSDAY, JANUARY 22ND:
* Canada Shore Series Premiere (Paramount+)
* Cosmic Princess Kayuga! (Netflix)
* Disneyland Handcrafted (Disney+)
* Finding Her Edge Series Premiere (Netflix)
* Free Bert Series Premiere (Netflix)
* London's Gangsters Series Premiere (Sundance Now)
* Mel Brooks: The 99-Year-Old Man! (HBO)
* Scrabble (The CW)
* Team Mekbots (Peacock)
* The Curse (Viaplay)
* Trivial Pursuit (The CW)
* The Pendragon Cycle: Rise Of The Merlin Series Premiere (Daily Wire+)
SEE YOU THURSDAY MORNING!
Too Much TV: Netflix Wants To Push Your Favorite TV Journalists Into The Unemployment Line
- Details
- By Rick Ellis
