Here's everything you need to know about the world of television for Tuesday, May 5th 2025:
IT'S NOT *THE* DUMBEST IDEA I'VE HEARD. BUT IT'S CLOSE
If there has been one consistent theme over the past three months, it has been the struggle for journalists and political observers to parse some of the more...imaginative ideas coming from President Trump. He continues to suggest Canada should become the 51st state and at some point, otherwise rational journalists find themselves cranking out think pieces trying to explain how the addition of Canada to the United States would affect the electoral college.
And that level of journalistic scrambling has been in view all day on Monday, as the various trade outlets try and treat Trump's proposal to impose a 100% tariff on foreign movie productions as an idea that should be taken seriously.
First of all, even if he wanted to do something like that, it's simply not possible. Your local movie theater isn't importing a copy of the latest hot movie for screenings that begin next week. Films are essentially a service industry and even if you believe American studios should be given some sort of leg up, the reality is that most of the "foreign" movie productions are actually produced at least in part by American studios. To say nothing of the complications of co-productions and movie licensing and all sorts of other issues. There is simply no way to impose "tariffs" on foreign produced films.
But rather than just writing that and being done with it, various outlets are cranking out hot takes looking at each individual aspect of this impossible idea and dissecting it as if it was a real thing. But personal favorite was this piece in The Wrap, which was built around a Citigroup analyst who estimated that under a "worst case scenario," the proposed tariffs could add an additional $3 billion to the streamer's original content costs. He apparently came to this conclusion by applying the 100 percent tariff cost to any movie Netflix produces outside the United States. Which - to be clear - is not how any of this stuff works.
There are things the Trump Administration could do that would actually help Hollywood, including rolling out national production rebates and tax breaks. But neither of those suggestions are tariffs. Because short of just imposing a flat tariff on any streamer that has a presence outside the United States, there is no way the American government can impose a tariff on foreign-produced films.
UNIVERSAL TELEVISION TESTS NEW DEAL STRUCTURE FOR WRITERS
One thing I want to do more of in the next year is attend various television festivals. It's a challenging thing for an independent journalist to navigate, but I also know I miss out on a lot by not attending. For instance, I seriously considered attending the just-wrapped SeriesFest in Denver.
The Ankler's Elaine Low was there and among other things, she moderated a keynote conversation with Universal Television president Erin Underhill, who has spent the last 27 years at NBCUniversal. They discussed the best approach writers can use to pitch their ideas to Universal. They also discussed Universal's new mini first-look deals:
Traditionally, first-look deals are structured by timeline — a two-year or three-year deal, etc. This new model is built on a per-project basis instead, in theory offering writers a possibly shorter-term period during which to test out and build a relationship with the studio.
“This is literally . . . we want X number of projects that we buy from you,” says Underhill. “It might even be like, ‘Oh, we have something that we bring to you. And if you spark to it, great, that’s one of the two or three projects that is under this first look.’ If within the first six months, there are two ideas and we spark to them, we're like, ‘Great, let’s do it. Sold. Let’s develop these.’ Then it’s like the deal evaporates and it's over. Because it's just about getting into business with those people and making Universal their first stop.”
No one - including NBCUniversal executives - know if this idea will ultimately be viable. But it's clear the current dealmaking approach isn't working. And it's a positive move that studios are examining other options.
TWEET OF THE DAY
THE LOCAL AIMS TO REINVENT LOCAL TV NEWS IN FOUR STATES, WITH MORE TO COME
I believe in the importance of local news and in fact, my last "normal" journalism job was working for the hyper-local Patch. So I am interested in any idea that improves the viability of local news - especially video-based local news in the streaming age.
Nieman Lab has a piece on The Local, a new start-up that plans to roll out new one-hour local newscasts in four states, with more to come. Hopefully:
The founders and team imagine a nightly newscast in each state that could run up to an hour long and would be heavy on public service journalism, with multiple deeply reported stories. They have plans to launch in Colorado and then roll out in California, Georgia, and Kansas over the course of a year or sooner.
Without commercial breaks or a top-of-the-hour time crunch, segments on The Local could be several minutes or longer to provide necessary nuance and context. Regional stories would follow, then more local and hyperlocal segments targeted by a viewer’s ZIP code.
While it's an interesting idea, I am less convinced of their business model. Which seems to center around using a deal from a major streaming service to finance the reporting. And that seems like an extremely challenging lift:
“At the same time, streaming platforms are spending billions on content but have no scalable source for original, high-quality local news,” reads part of an N2 Media pitch deck.
To mitigate that, The Local would do something that — so far — no one has either tried to do or has succeeded in doing: putting local news on the TV screens of a subscription-video-on-demand service that the platform itself paid to produce. If that happens, viewers could eventually find the latest news from their state capitol or city council next to episodes of Black Mirror or Severance.
Money from a content production contract with just one streaming service, the company believes, could fund an entire 50-state network with a newscast each day and still cost a streaming platform less than it might pay for a single 10-episode historical drama or true crime documentary. Because it’s local content, the streamer could sell local advertising against it — money they are likely currently leaving on the table.
This is one of those financing ideas that sounds great when it's part of a pitch deck. But there are real reasons why previous similar efforts haven't worked. I wish the good folks at The Local well. I'm just not optimistic about their chances.
ODDS AND SODS
* I have always been a huge fan of Garth Brooks. But I found myself less than impressed with his new PBS special 10th Annual Austin City Limits Hall Of Fame Honoring Garth Brooks. Which is disappointing, because I know that if Garth Brooks could get out of his own way, he could still build a modern-day younger audience from the millions of under thirtysomethings that look back on the 1990s with pop culture nostalgia.
* NBC has renewed the One Chicago cinematic universe shows - Chicago Fire for Season 14, Chicago Med for Season 11 and Chicago PD for Season 13. However, I'm hearing that while the shows have been renewed, the new seasons might be shorter than the 22-episode recent norms.
* Denzel Washington is starring in the new Spike Lee film Highest 2 Lowest, which will premiere in theaters August 22nd and on Apple TV+ September 5th. Here is the official logline: "When a titan music mogul (Denzel Washington), widely known as having the "best ears in the business," is targeted with a ransom plot, he is jammed up in a life-or-death moral dilemma. Denzel Washington and Spike Lee reunite for the fifth time in their long working relationship for a reinterpretation of the great filmmaker Akira Kurosawa's crime thriller High And Low, now played out on the mean streets of modern day New York City." Here is a look at the trailer.
* Oliver Darcy's Status is reporting tonight The Ankler's Janice Min told staffers Monday that David Lidsky, executive editor of The Ankler, is exiting the outlet after a little more than a year “to rejoin Mansueto Ventures overseeing editorial strategy for both of Mansueto's business publications, Inc. and Fast Company. His last day is May 16th.
* The new dating series Kings Court premieres Sunday, July 13th on Bravo. Hosted by Hollywood power couple Holly Robinson Peete and Rodney Peete, the logline sounds as if was genetically designed to be the show I am least interested in watching, at least based on the description: "Finding love comes with its challenges and if you’re a celebrity with fame and fortune, the stakes are even higher. “Kings Court” is a new dating series with three celebrity kings — supermodel Tyson Beckford, NBA All-Star Carlos Boozer and WWE legend Thaddeus “Titus O’Neil” Bullard — searching for their queen among 21 smart, accomplished and beautiful single ladies ready to risk it all for the one. In each episode, the kings take the women on fun, adventurous dates to discover which of them tug at their heartstrings. The ladies pull out all the stops to make a lasting impression, but it comes to a head at the elimination dinner party where the men choose who gets another chance at love and who goes home. After navigating a roller coaster of emotional highs, dramatic lows and tough eliminations, the kings must ultimately decide which of these fabulous ladies is their queen."
WHAT'S NEW TONIGHT AND TOMORROW
MONDAY, MAY 5TH:
Basketball Wives Season Twelve Premiere (VH1)
Britain And The Blitz (Netflix)
Harry Wild Season Premiere (Acorn TV)
Mighty Monsterwheelies Season Premiere (Netflix)
NCIS Season Finale (CBS)
The Motherhood Series Premiere (Hallmark)
The Playboy Murders Season Premiere (Investigation Discovery)
Toxic Series Premiere (Investigation Discovery)
TUESDAY, MAY 6TH:
Bollywed (Fuse)
David Spade: Dandelion (Prime Video)
Frontline: Antidote (PBS)
Murder Has Two Faces (Hulu)
Parent Wars Series Premiere (A&E)
The Devil's Plan Season Two Premiere (Netflix)
Untold: Shooting Guards (Netflix)
SEE YOU ON TUESDAY!