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I have been sending out a reader’s survey to groups of you in order to make the responses a bit easier to manage on my end. So if you haven’t received one already, you will soon.
This was one of those things I knew I needed to do, but honestly, I wasn’t looking forward to the criticisms, even though that is an important part of the process.
However, I am glad I sent them out, because I have learned a lot about all of you. And aside from a few complaints, the responses were helpful.
I asked about what shows you wished I would cover more, and the CBS series Cupertino was by far the most suggested title. So I going to add some more coverage of that show - along with some other suggestions - to the mix.
I also received some suggestions about things you would like to see covered, including an update of the “build your own cheaper cable bundle” piece I did last year. So that will also be on the way - likely next week.
As always, please feel free to reach out to me via email at [email protected] anytime you have a suggestion, complaint or news tip.
The Holidays Need More Than Another Meet-Cute
I love a good rom-com. I love a heartwarming Christmas movie. But although there are approximately 200 Christmas movies airing and streaming this year, you would be hard-pressed to find one that moves even slightly outside the well-settled in tropes of the genre.
Someone is lonely but works too hard. They are forced to go back home because someone is sick or the company they work for is planning on building a pollutant-spewing factory on the land owned by the kind but ailing Rancher Joe. And by the end of the fil, the town is saved, the local Christmas tree lot is once again financially stable. And the movie’s leads have managed to find the love they were searching for, even though it was standing right in front of them all the time.
But it wasn’t always this way. Consider this logline from the 2001 film A Town Without Christmas:
Chris, a young boy in the Pacific Northwest town of Seacliff, Washington, goes missing. Before he disappears, he writes a letter to Santa Claus, wishing that he would no longer exist in order to not trouble his divorcing parents.
Concerned that Chris is in danger of taking his own life, locals set out to find the missing child. Among them are struggling writer David Reynolds (Rick Roberts), jaded big-city reporter M.J. Jensen (Patricia Heaton), and Max (Peter Falk), a kind yet mysterious elderly man (who is actually an angel in disguise; the character is featured in two later movies).
The movie had Christmas, it was set in a small town. It even had some romance. But what it also had was heart. It told a deeper story than one that was just a Christmas-themed meet cute. It had substance and meaning, without hitting the audience over the head with the storyline.
We have apparently forgotten how to make that kind of film.
Because it is so cheap to hire a couple of good-looking actors and stick them in a town covered in fake snow, networks have taken the easiest possible approach to cranking out holiday movies. And while there is nothing wrong with that, it’s possible to also produce a movie or two with a small cast and simple sets. But one that tells a story about community, and kindness and “the real meaning of Christmas."
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‘The Institute’ Season 2 Gets Bigger, Stranger and Occasionally More Complicated
It's always a little risky when a TV series decides to continue a story that already had a pretty satisfying ending. That's the challenge facing The Institute, MGM+'s adaptation of Stephen King's novel. The first season wrapped up the central story of a group of children held captive in a mysterious facility, leaving viewers with the feeling that the worst was finally behind them. As it turns out, not so much.
Season two picks up several months after the events of the first, with Luke Ellis (Joe Freeman), Kalisha (Simone Miller) and their fellow survivors discovering that escaping the Institute doesn't necessarily mean escaping the people behind it. The organization is much bigger than they realized, and its plans for exploiting children with extraordinary psychic abilities are far from finished.
In other words, there's still plenty of trouble to go around.
The decision to expand the story beyond the original novel gives the series some interesting new territory to explore. We're introduced to a larger conspiracy and more powerful players, while the organization's ambitions become increasingly disturbing. Alfie Allen joins the cast as Nolan Reeves, a wealthy technology entrepreneur with an interest in the Institute's work. Jeff Fahey also brings an appropriately unsettling presence to the proceedings as the organization's director.
The expanded story gives the series an opportunity to explore some timely ideas involving technology and the dangers of people convinced they're doing terrible things for the greater good. It's an interesting direction, although the additional mythology occasionally makes things more complicated than they need to be.
That's especially true in the early episodes, which spend considerable time introducing new characters and explaining just how much bigger the Institute really is. The original season benefited from its claustrophobic atmosphere and the simple, horrifying premise of children being held against their will. It's harder to recreate that tension when the story starts spreading out in several directions.
Fortunately, the cast remains a big reason to stick around.
Freeman continues to make Luke an appealing central character, while Miller gets more opportunities to shine as Kalisha. The relationships among the young survivors remain the emotional center of the show, and their determination to protect one another gives the story something to hold onto when the conspiracy threatens to take over.
Mary-Louise Parker also returns as the wonderfully unsettling Ms. Sigsby, while Ben Barnes' Tim provides a welcome connection to the outside world. There's still something fascinating about the adults in this story, particularly those who have convinced themselves that the ends justify the means.
That's where season two gets interesting. The series begins asking bigger questions about the people running the Institute and what happens when the pursuit of a supposedly noble cause becomes an excuse for just about anything.
Is it as effective as the first season? Not quite. Some of the storytelling feels stretched, and the show occasionally gets so caught up in expanding its mythology that it loses sight of what made the original story work.
Still, there's enough here to make a return visit worthwhile. The Institute remains an entertaining science-fiction horror series, with a good cast and some genuinely unsettling ideas.
The kids may have escaped the Institute, but the nightmare clearly isn't over. And while season two doesn't quite have the same bite as the first, it's an entertaining reminder that Stephen King's imagination can make just about anything feel terrifying.
Odds & Sods
The special Salish’s 12 Games Of Christmas premieres on Saturday, November 28th. Here is a first look at the trailer. And here is the official logline: “Salish Matter and seven of her closest friends compete in 12 epic holiday challenges for a mountain of Christmas presents, hosted by her dad, Jordan. But there's a twist: a Christmas imposter is hiding among them, out to sabotage the games and swipe the gifts. Can they unwrap the culprit before it’s too late?”
Melania: The Series, the two-part follow-up to its feature-length documentary on the first lady, will premiere Friday, November 20th.
The documentary An Open Field premieres Tuesday, December 1st on Netflix. Here is a first look at the trailer. And here is the official logline: “In March 2019, a Boeing 737 MAX airplane crashed just six minutes after taking off from Addis Ababa, Ethiopia. All 157 people on board died, including Max Thabiso Edkins, the director’s younger brother. So, he and his father decided to travel together to the crash site “to seek something tangible in their grief.”
Season two of Ethos premieres Thursday, November 12th on Netflix. Here is a first look at the trailer.
Apple TV has renewed Knife Edge: Chasing Michelin Stars for another season.
ABC Announces Its Mid-Season Premieres
In case you didn’t see this on Friday, ABC announced it mid-season premieres for early next year. All times are ET/PT:
TUESDAY, JANUARY 5TH:
8/7c Will Trent Season 5 premiere
9 pm High Potential Season 3 premiere
10 pm Surviving a Scandal series premiere
WEDNESDAY, JANUARY 6TH:
8 pm Shifting Gears Season 3 premiere
9 pm The Rookie Season 9 premiere
10 pm The Rookie North series premiere
THURSDAY, JANUARY 7TH:
8 pm 9-1-1 midseason premiere
9 pm 9-1-1: Nashville midseason premiere
10 pm Grey’s Anatomy midseason premiere
WEDNESDAY, JANUARY 13TH:
8:30 pm Abbott Elementary midseason premiere
FRIDAY, JANUARY 29TH:
8 pm Celebrity Jeopardy! Season 5 premiere
MONDAY, FEBRUARY 1ST:
8 pm American Idol at 25 (two-hour anniversary special)
SUNDAY, FEBRUARY 7TH:
7 pm ET/4 pm The Grammy Awards
MONDAY, FEBRUARY 8TH:
8 pm American Idol Season 25 premiere
SUNDAY, FEBRUARY 14TH:
6:30 pm ET/3:30 pm PT Super Bowl LXI
~10:15 pm High Potential
SUNDAY, MARCH 14TH:
7 pm ET/4 pm PT The Oscars
SUNDAY, MARCH 21ST:
7 pm America’s Funniest Home Videos
8 pm The Bachelor Season 30 premiere
10 pm What Would You Do? Season 18 premiere
This Is The Creepiest Thumbnail Image On Tubi
ICYMI: Just Posted On TooMuchTV And Forbes
The global appetite for television and film productions in languages other than English continues to grow, but streaming platforms may still be missing significant opportunities to expand their international libraries. That's the central finding of new research from Ampere Analysis, which suggests that while major streaming services have increasingly embraced international programming, a substantial amount of potentially popular content remains confined to its country of origin.
At the center of this gloriously peculiar enterprise is Nora Lum, better known to the world as Awkwafina, a woman whose relationship with cooking appears to involve approximately the same degree of confidence one might expect from a raccoon confronted with an industrial deep fryer. But beneath the comedy of culinary incompetence lies something considerably more interesting: a woman attempting to reconnect with a family history that has been simmering, largely unattended, for generations.
Netflix's wonderfully eccentric Arctic sitcom North Of North returns with another season of infectious humor, colorful characters and surprisingly powerful storytelling. I’m speaking with the showrunners on Tuesday and will probably have that for Wednesday’s newsletter.
TheWrap and Valnet have settled a high-profile defamation lawsuit stemming from a series of investigative reports examining the business practices of one of the internet's largest digital entertainment publishers. The settlement, announced Friday by TheWrap CEO and Editor-in-Chief Sharon Waxman, brings an end to a legal dispute that began in April 2025 when Montreal-based Valnet sued the entertainment news organization and reporter Umberto Gonzalez, seeking at least $64.5 million in damages. The terms of the settlement have not been disclosed, and neither party has publicly acknowledged any admission of wrongdoing.
What’s Coming Tonight And Tomorrow
SUNDAY, NOVEMBER 8TH:
An Ozark Mountain Christmas (Great American Family)
A Season Of Promises (Hallmark)
City Of God: The Fight Rages On Season Two Premiere (HBO)
The Institute Season Premiere (MGM+)
The Road Back To Us (Lifetime)
Tournament Of Champions: All-Star Christmas Season Two Premiere (Food Network)
MONDAY, NOVEMBER 9TH:
Charmed By A Southern Monster Microdrama Series Premiere (Peacock Mobile)
Doozie’s Doghouse Series Premiere (Netflix)
The Good Lawyer (Netflix)
The Invisible Horse (Disney+)
The Madame Blanc Mysteries Season Premiere (Acorn TV)