Here's everything you need to know about the world of television for Monday, September 14th, 2025:THIS WAS PROBABLY THE EMMYS WE DESERVEDIt's not easy producing an awards show in 2025 under the best of circumstances. The TV audience gets smaller nearly every year and despite all of the hype, award shows from The Oscars on down just seem to have minimal impact on the country's cultural zeitgeist. The Emmys are a bit like The Tonys in that they feel more insular and industry-driven than some other award shows. And they're generally culturally safer in most cases. It's easier for producers to make the case that participants should focus on the art and not engage in politics. And that is certainly what happened this year. CBS was very clear that it hoped to have a politics-free show and in pre-show interviews, host Nate Bargatze said that he wanted to stay away from political jokes and just focus on having fun.Aside from some of the winners, few people seemed to be having a good time on Sunday's show. In part due to an ill-advised running bit in which Bargatze announced he was donating $100,000 to the Boys & Girls Clubs of America, but if the winners’ speeches lasted more than 45 seconds, then money would be depleted from the pot. The bit was dumb when it was introduced and even worse, they kept coming back to it throughout the show. Until the end, when it was announced that in fact CBS was donating $350,000 to the organization. It was just an astoundingly dumb idea and no one seems to have noticed the flaws in the premise during rehearsals.But the plan to keep the show politics-free worked, for the most part. There were a couple of mentions of Palestine during the show and on the Red Carpet. However, I was stuck by the fact that no one even mentioned President Trump in passing. I can't remember the last Emmys I saw in which no one uttered the current president's name. It's as if they were afraid that mentioning him - even in passing - would unlock retribution from the hellhounds of social media.In the end, there were a few unexpected wins and some nice acceptance speeches. But overall, everyone just felt beaten down in a way. There were a lot of celebrities there who didn't seem to be having a lot of fun. Although to be honest, that matches the mood many of us have right now.Here is the complete list of winners:Drama SeriesThe PittComedy SeriesThe StudioLimited Or Anthology SeriesAdolescenceLead Actor In A Drama SeriesNoah Wylie, The PittLead Actor In A Comedy SeriesSeth Rogen, The StudioLead Actor In A Limited Or Anthology SeriesStephen Graham, AdolescenceLead Actress In A Drama SeriesBritt Lower, SeveranceLead Actress In A Comedy SeriesJean Smart, HacksLead Actress In A Limited Or Anthology SeriesCristin Milioti, The PenguinSupporting Actor In A Comedy SeriesTramell Tillman, SeveranceSupporting Actor In A Comedy SeriesJeff Hiller, Somebody SomewhereSupporting Actor In Limited Or Anthology SeriesOwen Cooper, AdolescenceSupporting Actress In A Drama SeriesKatherine LaNasa, The PittSupporting Actress In A Comedy SeriesHannah Einbinder, HacksSupporting Actress In A Limited Or Anthology SeriesErin Doherty, AdolescenceReality Competition ProgramThe TraitorsScripted Variety SeriesLast Week Tonight With John OliverOutstanding Talk SeriesThe Late Show With Stephen ColbertVariety Special (Live)SNL50: The Anniversary SpecialDirecting For A Drama SeriesAdam Randall, Slow Horses, episode "Hello Goodbye"Directing For A Comedy SeriesEvan Goldberg, The Studio, episode "The Oner"Directing For A Limited Or Anthology Series Or MoviePhillip Barantini, AdolescenceWriting For A Limited Or Anthology SeriesStephen Graham, AdolescenceWriting For A Comedy SeriesEven Goldberg, Peter Huyck, Alex Gregory, Frida PerezWriting For A Drama SeriesDan Gilroy, Andor, episode "Welcome To The Rebellion"Writing For A Variety SeriesLast Night Tonight With John OliverDaniel O’Brien, Senior WriterOwen Parsons, Senior WriterCharlie Redd, Senior WriterJoanna Rothkopf, Senior WriterSeena Vali, Senior WriterJohnathan Appel, WriterAli Barthwell, WriterTim Carvell, WriterLiz Hynes, WriterRyan Ken, WriterSofía Manfredi, WriterJohn Oliver, WriterTaylor Kay Phillips, WriterChrissy Shackelford, WriterPENSKE MEDIA CORPORATION SUES GOOGLE OVER AI ANSWERSLate Friday, Penske Media Corporation (PMC) filed a landmark antitrust lawsuit against Google. It seems to be the first antitrust suit against Google tying its AI-driven products to its adjudicated search monopoly.The lawsuit claims that Google is using its search monopoly to force publications to hand over content. Not just for search engine results, but in order for Google to scrape the content for its AI, and then substitute those answers in place of traditional search engine results.
The lawsuit goes on to claim Google’s behavior is unlawful reciprocal dealing - forcing a tie between services to reinforce its monopoly. In other words, "let us use your content to train our AI or we'll demote you in our search results."PMC outlines three forms of coerced content usage: (1) Republishing in snippets (2) Training LLMs (3) Repurposing for RAG. All of them tied to access to search traffic - which Google monopolizes. The lawsuit argues this bundling strategy is illegal under antitrust law.
The lawsuit goes on to argue that PMC can not make up this loss of traffic from other methods, because Google's search monopoly essentially makes it a "gateway to the World Wide Web."
The Penske lawsuit runs around 100 pages and it provides a deep and nuanced look at Google's business model and utilizes some of what was learned in the recently settled Google search lawsuit as the jumping off point for this lawsuit.I am no lawyer, but this seems like a very smart approach and while I don't usually root for PMC, this is one time I hope they win. Well, as long as their win affects every content provider, not just their outlets.TWEET OF THE DAY
ODDS AND SODS* Believers: Boston Red Sox will premiere on September 26th on the ESPN App for subscribers to an ESPN Unlimited plan. Here is the official logline: "The three-part series tells the story of how, for 86 years, the Red Sox broke the spirits of generations of their most devoted followers, falling short of a championship in heartbreaking and unforgettable fashion, time and time again. Yet through every collapse, every missed chance, and every season of disappointment, Boston fans held on to an unshakable belief that redemption would come."* Polygon's Isaac Rouse has a profile of the Jackie Chan Adventures, which he describes as "one of the best Kids WB shows of all time."SUPPORT THE BACK INDIE MEDIA DRIVEAs I mentioned in an earlier email, Too Much TV is part of a September Back Indie Drive, in which 30+ independent publications are taking part. Each one is run by a creator-model journalist who’s building something sustainable, bold, and deeply needed in today’s fractured media environment.Every day this month I am going to quickly highlight a publication from the campaign list and I hope you'll check them out. Supporting independent media has never been more important and there are truly some talented journalists on the list:
Subscribe for free here. And click here to financially support this publication.WHAT'S COMING TOMORROWMONDAY, SEPTEMBER 15TH:* Antiques Roadshow Season Twenty-Nine Season Premiere (PBS)* Below Deck Season Twelve Finale (Bravo)* Celebrations With Lacey Chabert Season Two Premiere (Hallmark Channel)* Celebrity Name That Tune Series Premiere (Fox)* Celebrity Weakest Link Series Premiere (Fox)* Futurama Season Thirteen Premiere (Hulu)* Halloween Baking Championship Season Eleven Premiere (Food Network)* POV: Black Snow (PBS)* The Bold & The Beautiful Season Thirty-Nine Premiere (CBS)TUESDAY, SEPTEMBER 16TH:* Dancing With The Stars Season Thirty-Four Premiere (ABC)* High Potential Season Two Premiere (ABC)* 100 Day Dream Home Season Seven Premiere (HGTV)* Rebel Royals: An Unlikely Love Story (Netflix)* The Chrisleys: Back to Reality Season One Finale (Lifetime)* The Real Housewives of Salt Lake City Season Sixteen Premiere (Bravo)* Top Guns: The Next Generation Series Premiere (NatGeo)SEE YOU EARLY TUESDAY MORNING!