Paramount settles on a name, more Dean Cain nonsense, and a case that TV should be TV
So, the full name isn’t Paramount. And it isn’t Paramount-Skydance either. Instead…
Paramount, a Skydance Corporation. It has all the panache, say, ‘Solo: A Star Wars Story’ or ‘Mr Burns Casino.’ Ah, it’s fine - I’m just snarky.
The Paramount-Skydance merger has officially closed. Executive pay has been revealed, and the media release has gone out. This is what caught my attention:
“This integration will elevate the consumer experience across our services—enhancing our recommendation engine, accelerating delivery speed and quality, while also giving us the opportunity to position Pluto TV as the ‘top of the funnel’ to attract new customers to Paramount Plus,” Ellison said.
It makes sense to use free service Pluto TV to lure potential customers to the paid service Paramount+. As I watch this merger finalise, I’m doing it very much from an Australian perspective where I’m also curious about the impact of the newly-merged company on local broadcaster Network 10 (owned by Paramount, a Skydance Corporation).
In Australia, Pluto TV is buried in the 10 app (previously known as 10play). With the increased value of Pluto TV in the Paramount, a Skydance Corporation ecosystem, does that mean that we’ll see a local Pluto TV app launch? Possibly replacing the 10 app? Or does a 10 app serve the same function, itself possibly being moved to the new Paramount+ tech stack?
(Of course, all of this is considered with the idea that Paramount keeps the ownership of 10…).
As a matter of interest, the plan is for Paramount HQ to move to Los Angeles, positioned on the Paramount lot. From an optics position, that’s great news. I feel for the New York staffers who will be impacted by this.
John Wells is always a must-read
As a big fan of John Wells (I may not always vibe with what he’s doing, but he’s delivered a lot of TV as a produc er that is aligned with where my TV interests are), I am always interested to hear what he has to say.
As the producer of one of my favourite shows of the year, The Pitt, I was interested in this THR interview where he’s talking at length about the series.
Some of the more interesting parts to pull out of the interview…
Here he is talking about the unique TV challenge/benefit of The Pitt as a TV show with a ‘day in the life of’ structure:
One of the advantages is we are not able to play medical melodrama in the sense of long-term relationship issues. You’re dropping in on people at a specific day and time, so you may discover that somebody’s been having a relationship. And it may be a crisis point in that relationship on that particular day. Having written or been involved in the writing or writing 70-ish episodes of China Beach, 332 episodes of ER and another 170 episodes of Third Watch, we’ve written a lot of medical melodrama. Part of my first conversation with Scott and Noah was that we don’t really want to tell those stories anymore. This is not where you’re going to get your romantic Dr. Ross and Nurse Hathaway story, and it’s a bit liberating.
The idea that TV should be TV and have seasons come out every year:
How am I supposed to keep a fandom with something when I can’t even remember what happened two and a half years later? We’re essentially returning the exact same day that we premiered. It will be the eighth of January — 365 days later. And with all due respect to all of my friends who make TV, there is no reason these shows can’t be on every year. These delays are becoming even more conspicuous now that the series load is diminishing. It was so crowded that you could almost use that as an excuse.
That line above about how I don’t vibe with some of his work? Well, there was that season he took over The West Wing when Aaron Sorkin flamed out.
That was not what I was planning to do that year. (Laughs.) Professionally, as a writer, that was the hardest thing. It’s not like we didn’t still have a great staff in place, but at that point it was widely considered to be the best show on television — though there’s certainly people who’d argue for The Sopranos. And I might argue that for some of the episodes, for sure. But it was pressure. We went back in the writers room, looked at each other, and I said, “Aaron doesn’t have any idea about where the story goes, so we’re just going to do the best that we can and hope that the audience would come along.” And they did. I would never argue that I wrote an episode as good as Aaron or rose to those same heights, but I was proud that we maintained that show.
Dean Cain needs to make his nut
All the good work from that career rehab Dean Cain profile article from last week was for nought, with the former Superman (Superman no more, I say) announcing that he is joining ICE.
He revealed this on his Instagram. You don’t have to click the link.
Amusingly, the announcement happened just after a savage South Park episode which focused on guidance counsellor Mr Mackey being forced to join ICE for financial reasons (“to make his nut” was the phrase used repeatedly throughout the episode).
The South Park episode has a truly weak Cartman B-plot which never pays off, but the A-plot involving Mackey is incredible. It takes viewers through ICE raids at a Dora The Explorer live show (if you don’t know Dora, she is latino and speaks a lot of Spanish on the show) and then to heaven because Homeland Security chief Kristi Noem learns there are a lot of ‘brown people’ up there too. The episode leans heavily into a reference in Noem’s autobiography about shooting her pet dog. There’s also a great Fantasy Island/Mar-a-Lago parody that was wittily conceived.
So, ignore Dean Cain, but watch South Park is my message for the day.
News Desk
Goosebumps has been cancelled by Disney+ after 2 seasons - Sony plans to shop the series (and the IP around). Read: Variety
RIP Superstore actor Jon Miyahara. He passed at the age of 83. Read: Colton Dunn’s Instagram
Take-Two are not prepared yet to reveal how much the eagerly anticipated Grand Theft Auto VI will cost, but with a production cost of a reported billion dollars, don’t expect the game to be cheap. I, for one, will pay whatever it costs. Read: Variety
Disney and Lucasfilm have settled a lawsuit from Mando actress Gina Carano. Read: Dark Horizons
August 7 marked 20 years since Weeds debuted on TV. EW has a look back at the many unexpected guest stars who turned up on the show. Meanwhile, I’m wondering if the show is worth a revisit. I’ve never quite felt the urge.
Amanda Cosgrove says a script for an iCarly movie to wrap it up is being written. Read: EW
A female BBC presenter was the subject of a complaint after allegedly showing a junior colleague an unwanted intimate image of an unknown man. Read: Deadline
Australian streamer BINGE has canned FBoy Island Australia. Read: Mediaweek
Trailer Park
The Office US spin-off The Paper debuts September 4 on Peacock with four episodes, then drops two episodes a week. It looks promising. Oh, and in Australia, it streams on BINGE.
In Toledo, Ohio, a documentary crew focuses its efforts on The Truth Teller, a historic but declining Midwestern newspaper trying to resurrect itself with volunteer reporters.
The Runarounds debuts Sept 1 on Prime Video.
A high school band graduates and attempts to achieve fame and success in the music industry.
007: Road To a Million returns for season 2 on Prime Video August 22.
The Whimsical World of Dr. Seuss debuts Sept 8 on Netflix.
The Thursday Murder Club debuts on Netflix August 28.
A group of senior sleuths passionate about solving cold cases get plunged into a real-life murder mystery in this comic crime caper based on the novel.
That’s the Always Be Watching, a Dan Barrett Newsletter for today.
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