Penguins, Connections, and Starship Troopers
Penguins, Connections, and Starship Troopers
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Let’s dive right into some TV news today, shall we? There’s quite a bit going on.
But, before we get to that, I want to just give a quick heads-up to listeners of the Screen Watching podcast I co-host with Simon Foster. As of this week, we are scaling that review-focused podcast down from the epic hour-long listen it is now to a way more tight 10 minute weekly show which will be more of a viewing guide, with some informed mini-reviews/opinions thrown in.
In addition, we are launching a new podcast focused on the movies of 1987. The podcast “1987: Best movie year?” will debut early next week. I’ll have more details for you soon.
Another ‘famous’ name to add to your internal rolodex is Ironmouse - the Twitch streamer is the biggest on that platform with 312,000 subscribers. She set the new record on day 30 of a subscriber drive which had her streaming for over 30 days straight, raising money for the Immune Deficiency Foundation. Read: Polygon
Disney+ in the US today launches four FAST channel-like themed streams of content. I’m surprised this doesn’t seem to be happening globally. Read: The Streamable
Casper Van Dien returns as Johnny Rico in Sony VR game Starship Troopers: Continuum. Read: Variety
Viewership for The Penguin was up 17% for it’s second episode on HBO. Some may bemoan HBO now producing and programming all of the Warner Bros DC, Harry Potter, and general IP-led programming, but audiences do seem very happy with the product. I’m waiting for the inevitable HBO Police Academy series… Read: Deadline
July 25-29 saw Netflix churn increase 2.8%. What happened? Reed Hastings endorsed Kamala Harris. Read: Bloomberg
Ryan Murphy is producing an FX series based on Image comic book The Beauty, which is about a conspiracy related to a (very popular) STD that has the side effect of making people more attractive. Great premise, pretty average comic series. Hopefully the show is better. Read: THR
Australian SVOD spend on sports is higher than it is internationally. In 2023, Australian-based SVODs spent 21% of their overall content spend on live sports. In the UK it was 2.6%, Canada 1.5, and in the US 4.3%. Read: World Screen
US-based DirecTV (with 11 million subscribers) has reached an agreement to acquire Dish TV, Sling TV, and the rest of Dish parent company EchoStar’s wider TV business (roughly around 8 million subs altogether). Expect layoffs. Read: CNBC
Apparently Ian Somerhalder (Lost, The Vampire Diaries) has retired from acting. Read: Dark Horizons
Connections TV shenanigans
I was amused by yesterday’s New York Times Connections game. Often throughout the week you will find quiet jokes peppered through the game board. Four names jumped out at me in yesterday’s game. And no, the four combined were not a winning answer. After all, Blanch is not how one spells the name of the southern belle.
I also note the inclusion of the name Charlie in the game. While not seen on screen alongside those sassy golden girls, Charlie was the name of Rose’s deceased husband. I don’t know if that’s an intentional inclusion.
Today’s Strands game is also very TV friendly with the theme of “channel surfing.”
No Good Deed debuts Dec 12 on Netflix. It stars Lisa Kudrow and Ray Romano.
Like a Dragon: Yakuza debuts Oct 24 on Prime Video.
That’s the newsletter for today.
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