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Believe me, TV critics are not always the perfect panel moderator. But generally, when you have someone in the industry moderate, you can be sure you’ll get at least a professional presentation.
There is a growing trend in Hollywood of using other actors to moderate these panels and while those results tend to be bland and self-referential, you won’t find yourself cringing during the event.
But then there are ones like a recent FYC panel for The Pitt, which according to witnesses and video posted on Reddit, was just a trainwreck.
The awful moderator was Jon Lovett, former Obama speechwriter and current Pod Save America bro. i am baffled by that choice lol, out of so many qualified television journalists they could've picked for this gig and they picked a guy whose closest association to television is getting voted off of Survivor on episode 1?
Patrick Ball's spoken openly about being in recovery, and has had great things to say about Langdon's addiction and recovery arc in pretty much every single interview he's given for season 2 of this show. one Google and you'd see that, it's really an over familiar "joke" at a professional event.
Shabana sticking up for herself, with Noah backing her up was great. Javadi's valley girl gen z accent is fantastic and much better than Whitaker's whole thing (no offense to Gerran Howell who is a great actor, but he is doing this kind of voice that feels very dated and flat. kind of a worse version of Tom Holland's American accent).
The actors and the show deserved much better than this.
Building The Perfect YouTube App
YouTube is rightfully pitching itself as a competitor to traditional television. The service has a growing number of long form original shows, both from creators and from linear television stars.
Like on any platform, YouTube has its problems with content discovery and using algorithms to suggest things to watch. Although it’s results are still much better than you’ll find on any SVOD platform.
But I have been thinking about what my ideal way to view long-form YouTube content on a smart TV would look like. Something that would give me the things I want to watch without anything else. Not only would I watch much more YouTube content this way, the UI would be simple and clean enough to essentially make it a personalized AVOD using YouTube videos as the backend.
I don’t have great Photoshop skills, but the image above is that it would look like. In an ideal world, I would add video channels I want to watch by saving them into this super YouTube TV app. It would include many of the features you expect to find in a SVOD app: the ability to start watching a video at the point you previously stopped it, having new episodes appear in your que when they are released. The ability to watch titles you have paid for inside the app. And a search function that would allow you to search all of YouTube with triggering any algorithmic recommendations inside the app.
This would be an absolute killer app. Parents could create their own kid-friendly app, Fans of rare music could fill the app with videos they could play on a loop. Think of what someone could build by just including rare TV shows that are on YouTube despite the copyright issues?
Is There A YouTube Revolution In Hollywood?
When it comes to parsing television viewing data, no one is better than Ted Linhart, who spent a couple of decades doing various research, analysis and strategy jobs at NBC Universal. He frequently highlights interesting and nuanced takes on viewing data, but he also isn’t afraid to provide a hot take. Such as today’s “No, There Is Not A YouTube Revolution In Hollywood.”
He does a great job of dispelling some of the industry conventional wisdom about the recent theatrical success of films such as Obsession and Backrooms. But he does make one point that I would like to push back on a bit:
Claim: YouTube creates unprecedented connections between new IP and its audience. Truth: Practically every successful film based on a book, TV show, comic book, play/musical, or video game has been driven by a dynamic connection between the source and the consumer. Ask any reader of Harry Potter or 50 Shades or James Bond, or Reacher. And this includes Gen Z — look at Book Tok. YouTube is just a new/different way for audiences to engage with IP, not a “better” one.
My interpretation of why so many people are misunderstanding the dynamics at play is twofold. 1) People really want to get noticed on LinkedIn and other social media platforms, and one way to do this is to be the first person to observe a major change in the industry. On the other hand, pointing out that an event is similar to other events in history doesn’t inspire virility. 2) Most people who comment on the entertainment industry are chronocentrists. They are not students of its history and think that if it is happening now, it must be more important than whatever happened before. Eventually, another movie will come around and break the records that Obsession and Backrooms are setting now, and a new wave of hyperbolic posts will spread.
There have been movies and TV shows based on the popularity of YouTube stars that have failed, such as Ryan’s World, and there will be more failures and successes to come. YouTube can be film school for anyone with the instinct, ingenuity, and innovation to harness its capabilities. And the barrier to entry is quite low. Hollywood has mined film schools for decades, and it always adapts to where the talent blossoms. YouTube is a democratic proving ground, but the proof that old school Hollywood glory is still the ultimate prize is in the way so many people have misconstrued the box-office results.
I don’t entirely disagree with this take. It’s true that a lot of the hype around these misunderstands the relationship between the film’s creators and its audience.
But I do want to push back a bit. The difference between these films and earlier theatrical projects from Ryan’s World or the Dude Perfect guys is that these films weren’t just a branding exercise. The films were developed very transparently, with input from the audience. Which meant those followers were invested in seeing the film and knew enough about the project to be willing to purchase a ticket. And to strengthen that bond even more, fans were asked to pre-purchase tickets. Which allowed the producers of both films to push their way into more theaters for their opening weekends.
Another difference between these films and previous failed attempts by YouTube creators is that the analytics are much better. The past year has seen the rise of outside companies who are able to look at a YouTube channel’s followers and determine which ones are most likely to be interested in the film and buy tickets. So marketing can be much more tightly targeted. Instead of just having the creator send out a general “Hey, I’m doing a movie, come see it” message to everyone who follows them.
I don’t think the rise of these movies is “changing Hollywood” entirely. But I suspect you’re going to see more of this, and it will begin to become more of a trend in the television space as well.
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Odds & Sods
In a move which isn’t at all a surprise, Apple TV has renewed Widow’s Bay for a second season. The season one finale premieres Wednesday, June 17th.
Season six of Slow Horses premieres Wednesday, September 16th on Apple TV.
The true crime special Celebrity Crime Scene: Marilyn Monroe premieres Sunday, June 21st on Fox. Here is the official logline: "For more than six decades, Marilyn Monroe’s death has remained one of history’s most enduring mysteries. Crime scene recreations have long been used to revisit the past, but never like this. Now, in a groundbreaking television event, a revolutionary virtual recreation rebuilds the scene of her death with unprecedented precision, allowing a team of crime scene investigators to step back into 1962 and reexamine the evidence as never before. What they uncover undermines the official story of probable suicide. It could be far more sinister. Retired cold case Investigator Paul Holes, Certified Senior Crime Scene Analyst Alina Burroughs and True Crime Reporter Kiki Monique serve as hosts."
The animated sing-along series Gracie’s Corner is coming to Disney+ in U.S. and “select international markets” on Monday, June 15th. The deal includes both global linear and streaming rights, bringing over 120 shorts and 18 themed compilations to Disney platforms. The deal includes an agreement to develop brand-new, original content together.
The film The Love Hypothesis premieres Wednesday, September 23rd on Prime Video. Here is the official logline: “Based on the book by Ali Hazelwood, the love story follows Olive Smith (Lili Reinhart), PhD candidate studying cancer and trying to find a cure as she devises a fake dating scheme with the gruff Dr. Adam Carlsen (Adam Bateman), whose reputation precedes him when it comes to being hard on students.”
Season twenty of The Real Housewives Of Orange County will premiere Thursday, July 9th on Bravo.
Comics Unleashed With Byron Allen has been submitted for Emmy consideration for the first time in its 20-year history.
Plex and ATX TV today announced a Friday Night Lights Roadshow, a five-city tour celebrating the series’ upcoming 20th anniversary. At each tour stop, Adrianne Palicki (“Tyra Collette”) will welcome different cast members to introduce a screening of a personally selected favorite episode, followed by a moderated conversation with fans. Sadly, the closest stop to me is in Kansas City. Which is 437 miles away.
It Turns Out The NY Knicks Are Not Named For The Pants, But For A Fictional Diedrich Knickerbocker
I am a huge fan of the newsletter Now I Know, which uncovers some amazing and often obscure facts about the world we live in.
You might think the New York Knicks are named for knickerbocker pants, which were a style of baggy, rolled up pants popular in the 1700s and momentarily popular in places such as New York.
But it turns out the team took the name from the fictional author Diedrich Knickerbocker, who was created by author Washington Irving:
In 1809, Irving published a novel titled “A History of New York: From the Beginning of the World to the End of the Dutch Dynasty,” a satire of the local politics of his time. But he didn’t sign it under his own name; he adopted a pseudonym and a fake identity — a historian named Diedrich Knickerbocker. To help promote the book, in the weeks before it came out, Irving contacted local New York City newspapers claiming that, in the words of Wikipedia, “well-known Dutch historian Diedrich Knickerbocker (pictured below) had disappeared from his hotel” and that if Knickerbocker wasn’t found, Irving would publish Knickerbocker’s last manuscript — the history book — in an effort to preserve his legacy. Many people were tricked by Irving’s stunt, and the book became an instant success.
Diedrich Knickerbocker became a New York City icon — and because he was a Dutchman through and through, his attire included, many aspects of his Dutch identity quickly became associated with New York itself. His style of trousers, for example, became known as “knickerbockers” or “knickers.” Broadway shows, hotels, and more adopted the “knickerbocker” label. And eventually, "Father Knickerbocker," emerged as a personification of New York City itself, much as Uncle Sam would later symbolize the United States.
Honestly, the world is a very weird place sometimes.
What’s Coming Tonight And Tomorrow
THURSDAY, JUNE 11TH:
Funny Thing About Love (ALLBLK)
Guy's Feast Club Series Premiere (Food)
Mark Vs. The Mountain Series Premiere (Great American Pure Flix)
Surviving Earth Series Premiere (NBC)
Sweet Magnolias Season Five Premiere (Netflix)
The Evil Lawyer Series Premiere (Netflix)
The Terror Season Three Finale (AMC+/Shudder)
Viral Hit Series Premiere (Netflix)
FRIDAY, JUNE 12TH:
Celebrity Wheel Of Fortune (Disney+/Hulu)
Deadly Destination Wedding (Lifetime)
Find Your Friends (Shudder)
I Am Frankelda (Netflix)
Maternal Instinct (Netflix)
Power Book III: Raising Kanan Season Premiere (Starz)
The Listeners (Starz App Only)
The Polygamist Series Premiere (Netflix)