Here's everything you need to know about the world of television for Monday, November 20th, 2023.
SLING TV'S KINDA, SORTA ANSWER TO SPOTIFY WRAPPED
Last month I wrote a piece arguing that a streamer like Netflix should launch its own equivalent of Spotify Wrapped. That popular (and very viral) feature presents a personalized year-end wrap-up to subscribers recounting how much they listened to Spotify over the year so far, as well as most popular songs, musicians, genres, etc.
Sling TV is now offering what it refers to its subscriber "Rewind," and while it's not nearly as comprehensive as Spotify Wrapped, it more comprehensive than anything anyone else in the streamer or vMVPD has attempted:
Not only can Sling Subscribers see their most-watched shows (and discover which states are watching what content), but each user has their own customizable page that will assign them a special ‘badge’ and ‘character’ related to their favorite genre. You can check out the 25 different options below, plus what it means about your TV viewing. What’s more, we’ve curated personalized recommendations of shows you should watch in 2024 based on your viewing habits from this past year.
I still think it's strange how slow SVODs and vMVPDs have been to fully build-out features utilizing the massive amounts of behavioral data they collect from subscribers.
Maybe six years ago an engineer at Philo gave me a rundown of an integrated social sharing tool they were experimenting with in-house. You could share programming suggestions with friends, connect with people who shared your love of a show and create viewing lists you could share publicly or privately. The plan was eventually to offer networks the opportunity to send direct messages about shows to viewers who opted in. According to the engineer, the features had been very popular internally. But it hadn't been rolled out to the public, because it required a large subscriber base in order to scale correctly.
"Social" is a very mushy term, but in the content of SVODs, it really is about sharing your viewing experiences. Sometimes the sharing is direct - think the various experimentations with watch parties. But the very nature of the way a SVOD works (and various content restrictions) makes those types of sharing difficult to bring to scale. But there are ways of creating a social experience that don't require actual direct social interaction.
And that social interaction is a honeypot for the subscribers who are some of the hardest for any of the services to retain - young, digitally engaged viewers who spend a lions share of their screen time on everything but a streaming TV service.
STREAMING ENTERS ITS FRANCHISE ERA
Sometimes I see some little TV tidbit take off and I'm a bit startled, in large part because it was info I thought was already pretty well known.
I've seen a lot of fans of The X-Files passing around this tiny nugget from yesterday Bloomberg Screentime newsletter from Lucas Shaw:
Disney, which birthed the idea of “cinematic universes,” is developing a new version of X-Files that would be produced by Ryan Coogler, the director of Black Panther and Creed.
As I said, I thought this was pretty common knowledge. When I spoke with Carter for a few minutes at PhileFest in September, he confirmed Coogler was working on what he described as a "more diverse" reboot, although Carter said Fox had asked him not to talk about it. He said he had nothing to do with the reboot's development, but had given his unofficial okay to the idea.
Carter also told me he had been pushing Disney to make Millennium available for streaming, but that the company was "too fucking cheap" to work out the music rights issue that have held up the release.
WHICH SHOW HAS SLIPPED UNDER THE RADAR THIS YEAR?
Even in a year heavily impacted by two major strikes, there were a lot of new shows that were both great and woefully underappreciated by audiences and the press.
I have a piece posting on Wednesday (which I'll share in Wednesday's newsletter) recommending a few great shows to catch up on over the slower holiday break. But which show do you think everyone slept on in 2023? Let me know and I'll add as many of your choices as I can to the piece.
Simply respond directly to this newsletter or email me at
And if you need a reminder of what premiered this year, check out this comprehensive list of every 2023 TV and streaming TV premiere.
ODDS AND SODS
* The animated Prime Video series The Second Best Hospital In The Galaxy (previously announced as The Hospital), will premiere on Friday, February 23rd. Stephanie Hsu (Everything Everywhere All at Once) has joined the cast as series regular, Dr. Sleech, alongside previously announced cast members Maya Rudolph, Natasha Lyonne, Keke Palmer, Kieran Culkin, and Sam Smith.
* Max has canceled the action series Warrior after its first season as a Max original and third overall. But the shows three seasons will move over to Netflix on a non-exclusive basis beginning in February.
* The Sundance Now original series Sanctuary: A Witch’s Tale, written and created by Debbie Horsfield and adapted from the novel by V.V. James, debuts on Thursday, January 4th.
* MGM+ has picked up the second season of the science-fiction mystery thriller Beacon 23, based on the best-selling book by Hugh Howey. If you have been sleeping on this show, the holiday break is a good time to catch up.
WHAT'S NEW TODAY AND TOMORROW:
MONDAY, DECEMBER 18TH, 2023:
* Gwyneth Vs Terry: The Ski Crash Trial (Max)
* Hello Ghost (Netflix)
* LEGO Masters: Celebrity Holiday Bricktacular (Fox)
* Merry Christmas Magic (Lifetime)
* The Rope Curse 3 (Netflix)
TUESDAY, DECEMBER 19TH, 2023:
* America At A Crossroads With Judy Woodruff (PBS)
* Christmas Wars (A&E)
* Trevor Noah: Where Was I (Netflix)
Click Here to see the list of all of the upcoming premiere dates for the next few months.
SEE YOU TUESDAY!
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