Here's a look at the Top 5 TV news stories of the week!
There were two big stories this week involving streamers and you'd have to have been living under a rock if you haven't been hearing about Netflix this week. For years, Netflix was the pinnacle of streaming success. The king at the top of the hill that all the other streamers were chasing. That is still the case but Netflix showed the first major signs of trouble this week when they announced on Tuesday that they had lost subscribers for the first time in a decade and as a result, their stock plunged 35% on top of already declining stock numbers. There's a zillion think pieces on what's going on at Netflix from reasonable (raising prices, not enough "must see" content, streaming competition, economic anxieties) to ridiculous (Netflix being too "woke"). The streaming giant will probably be fine in the long term but they might have to right size their situation and pump out a little less original content. Perhaps they need to curate a little bit more. I'm not sure they can keep being a dumping ground for all kinds of shows. Streamers like HBO Max are still rising not only because of strong library titles but also must-see originals. Netflix may also add an ad-supported tier, which it has long resisted, but would be consistent with several other streamers. It was only a matter of time before Netflix got punched down a little bit, we'll see what the ramifications are for it and all of streaming in the coming weeks and months.
The other big streaming news of the week came from the bottom end of the streaming mountain where it was announced CNN+ will be shutting down at the end of the month. The news service was launched just three weeks ago but it came at the worst possible time as WarnerMedia was acquired by Discovery to become Warner Bros. Discovery. The new leadership was not too high on CNN+ to begin with and then it did quite poorly with subscribers upon its launch. Of course this is a high profile failure, even more-so than Quibi. It means a lot of people could be out of jobs and high profile talent like recent addition Chris Wallace are left in limbo. But, like Quibi, this also could be seen coming from a mile away. In an age where there's a crazy number of streamers at all different prices, people were not going to shell out $5.99 a month to get additional CNN content. Perhaps if it included CNN Proper for cord cutters the situation would have been different.
This is not really a news story but more a few thoughts on the end of a series I've watched since it premiered. Black-ish went off the air this week after eight seasons and 175 episodes on ABC. The show was initially the first big hit to take advantage of the Modern Family lead-in and also was one of the last broadcast shows to get Emmy attention (hopefully that will change with Abbott Elementary this year!). Over the years, it spawned still-running spinoff Grown-ish on Freeform as well as prequel Mixed-ish for two years on ABC. It was notable for talking about hot-button issues to black culture. Sometimes it hit the exact right tone (the episode involving the "n word" was my top episode of 2015) but other times it veered into a treacly "very special episode" territory. The cast was always strong, especially Anthony Anderson and the show, while inconsistent, was a nice show to have in my weekly rotation. It didn't overstay its welcome like Modern Family and the show I discuss below in #4, but it was time for it to say goodbye.
#4 - "THE GOLDBERGS" RENEWED
ABC announced that The Goldbergs was renewed for a tenth season putting the family comedy in a rare club of live action comedies that have run for double digit seasons. This comes after a year of tumult that included the death of George Segal and the firing of Jeff Garlin. It really seemed like it was time to put The Goldbergs out to pasture, but it will continue on for a tenth season and I'll probably continue to keep watching out of obligation. It has become like Modern Family for me, a show that I once loved that now I just try to get through because I want to see it to the end.
#5 - SCRIPTED PREMIERES THIS WEEK
Here's a look at this week's scripted premieres, another week with a lot of big titles!
Sunday: In a big night for premieres, HBO has the long awaited return of Barry. The series last aired way back in May 2019 so this is another long delayed return like Atlanta and Russian Doll recently. HBO is also premiering horror comedy The Baby. Starz has the premiere of Watergate drama Gaslit, the first of two Watergate-themed shows coming this year. Showtime has the premiere of sci-fi drama The Man Who Fell to Earth, based on the novel and film. Epix premieres historical drama Billy the Kid.
Monday: HBO has the premiere of limited series We Own This City, which comes from David Simon and seems like a spiritual successor to The Wire.
Thursday: Paramount+ has the premiere of The Offer, a limited series about the making of The Godfather. FX (through Hulu) has the premiere of the Andrew Garfield limited series Under the Banner of Heaven, which could be a sleeper awards player. HBO Max has the second season premiere of Made For Love.
My pick for the week: Lots to choose from but I am going to go with Barry. I watched the first two seasons a couple months ago so it hasn't been very delayed for me, but I'm excited to see what Season Three brings. I am also quite interested in Gaslit and have moderate to above average interest in other limited series The Offer, Under the Banner of Heaven and We Own This City (in that order).
Check back next week for a new week of blog posts!
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