Here's a look at my Top 5 TV news stories of the week!
The Emmy Awards were held on Monday night and there was a lot of expected winners (I went 11/15 on my major category predictions that I posted on this blog and 19/25 overall). There was also a little bit more spreading out of the winners compared to sweeps seen by Schitt's Creek and The Crown in recent years. The series winners were largely predicted with Ted Lasso repeating in Comedy, Succession winning for a second time in Drama and The White Lotus taking home Limited/Anthology. Within the acting and directing/writing categories though, there were also wins for Hacks and Abbott Elementary in Comedy, Squid Game, Euphoria and Ozark in Drama and Dopesick and The Dropout in Limited/Anthology. In a year with a tremendous amount of breadth in worthy contenders, there could have been some more surprises or spreading of the wealth, but I agreed with quite a few of the winners (as seen in my Benjamonster Awards) and the ones I didn't agree with were not ones I was mad about. There was nothing egregious, just a few surprises. For example, I wanted Janelle James from Abbott Elementary to win Outstanding Supporting Actress in a Comedy, but her winning co-star Sheryl Lee Ralph was wonderful as well. Julia Garner wasn't my favorite in the Supporting Actress in a Drama category but she absolutely was the best thing about Ozark. So I was happy overall with the winners.
As happy as I was with the winners, I was not happy at all with the Emmy telecast. it started with a horribly awkward TV theme song tribute. The TV Land Awards did way better TV theme openings years ago. Kenan Thompson had an ok monologue but it was nothing special. There were so many stupid bits and a horrible announcing job by Sam Jay. And all these stupid bits added up to us not being able to hear as much from the winners who mostly gave pretty solid speeches. What a shame to cut off Jennifer Coolidge while devoting time to Homer Simpson at the bar in the room (though I will admit the Kel Mitchell cameo was a nice touch). And don't even get me started on Jimmy Kimmel, who took a decent bit way too far by upstaging Quinta Brunson's wonderful first Emmy win for Writing for Abbott Elementary. The entire ceremony also had really poor direction and camerawork. The Emmys shined in 2020 with their COVID ceremony and they did a nice job last year which was a step towards normalcy. Now they were pretty much fully back to normal and they whiffed big time.
In news that should not be surprising this week, it was announced that Paramount is considering shutting down the Showtime streaming service and folding it into Paramount+. They already recently offered a bundle deal and now it appears they may be one service going forward. It is unclear what that would mean for the linear Showtime channel which is a legacy brand for Premium TV alongside HBO. From a purely streaming perspective, it makes a lot of sense. Paramount+ is and has been the big dog in that company and they are still looking to build it up more. While Showtime was back in the conversation this awards season with Yellowjackets, they might be a little too niche to be their own service in an era with a plethora of options. Being a tab on Paramount+ would make sense. I would be happy about that!
#4 - HULU TO JOIN DISNEY+?
Along the same lines, Disney CEO Bob Chapek is dropping some hints that Hulu may eventually fold into Disney+. It can't happen right now because Comcast still owns a stake and Disney can't buy it out until 2024 unless a new agreement is reached. But it's clear that Chapek has long term visions of Hulu being under the Disney+ umbrella. I feel less excited about this because Hulu is a pretty strong standalone service and I wouldn't want to see it diluted but it seems pretty inevitable at this point.
#5 - SCRIPTED PREMIERES THIS WEEK
It's a busy week of premieres coming up as Broadcast TV rolls out its traditional Premiere Week, which is still a thing even with many less new shows that even the recent past. There's lots of returning shows to make it a busy week.
Today: The calm before the storm. Netflix releases the second season of Fate: The Winx Saga, last seen back in January 2021. It's been much longer for HBO's Los Espookys, which premieres its second season tonight. The show is one of the last on-going shows that hasn't been seen since pre-COVID. The first season wrapped up in July 2019.
Sunday: Paramount+ premieres the sixth season of SEAL Team, its second on Paramount+ after a four year run on CBS.
Monday: Premiere Week officially begins with one new scripted show. NBC premieres the reboot of Quantum Leap. This is one of the bigger swings for the fall from the network but has also been plagued by some turmoil behind the scenes (the original pilot will not air as the first episode). There's also a slew of returning shows. One of Broadcast TV's top draws, 9-1-1 returns for a sixth season and is paired with the second season of The Cleaning Lady, a drama that had a decent performance last winter. CBS rolls out its full lineup of The Neighborhood (Season 5), Bob Hearts Abishola (Season 4), NCIS (Season 20!) and NCIS: Hawaii (Season 2).
Tuesday: Hulu premieres meta-sitcom Reboot, which has been getting positive reviews and has a very clever premise. The CBS FBI lineup returns with the season premieres of FBI (Season 5), FBI: International (Season 2) and FBI: Most Wanted (Season 4). Two medical dramas return as well: Season Six of The Resident on FOX and the fifth and final season premiere of New Amsterdam on NBC.
Wednesday: Disney+ has the premiere of its newest Star Wars series Andor, which is a prequel to the 2016 movie Rogue One. The Star Wars shows seem to have diminishing returns for Disney+ but this one also seems to have some hype. ABC returns its breakout hit Abbott Elementary for a second season now as the cornerstone of the Wednesday lineup. It is surrounded by the returns of The Conners (Season 5, without Michael Fishman), The Goldbergs (Season 10, without Jeff Garlin) and Home Economics (Season 3). NBC has the return of its One Chicago lineup with Chicago Med (Season 8), Chicago Fire (Season 11) and Chicago PD (Season 10).
Thursday: NBC's Law & Order night returns with a three show crossover including Law & Order (Season 22 overall, Season 2 of its return), Law & Order: SVU (Season 24) and Law & Order: Organized Crime (Season 3). Netflix premieres the limited series Thai Cave Rescue.
My pick for the week:
Among new shows, I am interested in Quantum Leap and Reboot. Quantum Leap is probably my most anticipated new broadcast show, I'm a sucker for time travel shows. Reboot seems to be one of the freshest concepts for a new fall show. Among the many returning shows, I am most excited for Abbott Elementary and 9-1-1 though I am also curious to see how The Goldbergs handles killing off the Jeff Garlin character.
Check back Tuesday for a new week of blog posts!
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