Here's everything you need to know about the world of television for Friday, September 12th, 2025:
SOMETIMES TV SHOWS RESONATE IN WAYS THAT NO ONE COULD HAVE FORSEEN
The production window for any television can stretch across months and even multiple years. That's why I'm always skeptical of reviews that argue a show's creator and writers were reacting directly to real life events that are taking place when the series eventually premieres. It's certainly possible to look at the trajectory of a society and have a suspicion where it may be headed. But more often than not, if something in a drama series feels as if it were ripped from the headlines, that's more a reflection of an educated guess than anything else.
All of that being said, given the recent shooting of Charlie Kirk, viewers are likely to gasp hard when they watch the opening scenes of the South Korean series Tempest, which premiered its first three episodes this week. A South Korean politician is shot in the neck and killed early on, and the scene is graphic enough that it will resonate deeply when viewers unexpectedly watch the death.
But don't let that scene stop you from watching the series, which has a number of plot points that will hit very close to home for American viewers. South Korea has undergone an immense amount of political turmoil in recent years, and the country's oligarchs have a stranglehold on the nation's politics. There is income inequality and a sense among many South Koreans that for all of the country's strongpoints, the society has somehow lost its way.
While the storyline is very specific to South Korea, it's easy to see America's problems reflected in the series. The American president is a dangerous buffoon, who argues that sometimes war is necessary to make "everything beautiful." The political landscape is filled with graft and self-serving partisanship. And the split between the country's two major parties seems as wide as the Grand Canyon.
I've only seen three episodes of the series, which is what premiered on Hulu on Wednesday. But based on what I've seen, this is a high-powered political thriller you are not going to want to miss. Especially given the cast includes the remarkable John Cho. If you'd like to know more, watch the trailer here.
I'LL ADMIT IT, I'M VERY JEALOUS ABOUT THIS INTERVIEW
I have been a fan of David Letterman since the first time I saw him at the Comedy Store on Hollywood Blvd back in the dinosaur days. He had a beard and was wearing jeans and a flannel shirt. I didn't know anything him, and to be honest, his prepared set was hit-and-miss. But a woman started heckling him, and after he gave her a couple of chances to be quiet, he proceeded to gut her like a fish. He never used any of the predictable heckler lines, it was just a master class in humiliation. I talked to him a bit afterwards and found out that like me, he was from Indiana.
Even then, Letterman had a reputation for being unforgiving when he felt someone had wronged him. This was at the time the TV series Mork & Mindy was at the height of his popularity. The Comedy Store had barred Robin Williams from watching people's sets, because he had this habit of just popping out someone's joke as he riffed live on the show. Most comics believed it wasn't malicious, just the way his mind worked. But whatever the reason, once Williams did the joke on TV, the public would see it as his.
I heard a story about how Letterman managed to get a couple of guest spots on the show and I never knew if it was the truth or just some apocryphal show business story. What I do know is that Williams had used one of Letterman's lines on the show. And according to the story, Letterman cornered Williams in the club and threatened him. In the end, the story goes, Letterman got a couple of guest spots and they eventually became friendly.
So I have always wanted to interview Letterman, because I feel as if there are a lot of questions I could ask him that he wouldn't get from anyone else. But all that being said, I am happy to see this Vulture interview with him done by Joe Adalian, who does a wonderful job massaging some interesting comments out of the often reluctant star:
You mentioned Jay Leno just now. Do you speak to him at all these days? A lot of time has passed since you were competing against each other for ratings.
The last time I spoke to Jay — or maybe we just texted — he said his face had caught fire or something, and it sounded hideous. I mean, of things that might catch fire, perhaps the last thing you’d want to would be your face. So it was alarming. I think we exchanged sentiments about “Good luck, and be careful.” Something like that. But I haven’t spoken to him in a long time.
For anybody who went to California in the same period that I was there, Jay, without question was the gold standard; he was the North Star. There was nobody funnier than Jay. And people who see him now … I talked to a friend of mine who saw him do an hour, maybe a two-hour show, some kind of corporate gig. Just tremendous, just hilarious, just nonstop as funny as you’re ever going to get. So that’s the good thing about Jay.
We rubbed each other the wrong way. I don’t know. I don’t have any regrets about our relationship, and I don’t think he has any regrets about me, either. But God, he’s just really, even at this point in his career, probably still the best.
Just an absolutely fascinating interview. But that doesn't mean I am going to take an interview with Dave off of my bucket list.
THE POLITICAL CONSEQUENCES OF A PARAMOUNT/WBD MERGER
Oliver Darcy's Status tonight has a smart take on what the media world might look like if the rumored merger is approved:
But perhaps one brand stands to lose more than any other should a merger occur: CNN. From a business perspective, a merger with CBS News would almost certainly trigger more painful layoffs and cost-cutting, further reducing CNN’s size. From an editorial perspective, the picture is even worse. Ellison has already moved CBS News in a direction that delights Donald Trump and his allies, recruiting Bari Weiss for a top editorial role and appointing Kenneth Weinstein, a conservative think tank chief and Trump supporter, as an ombudsman who will review complaints alleging bias.
If CNN is folded into that structure, the network long reviled by Trump would find itself overseen by leadership broadly sympathetic to him. For Trump, who has spent a decade lambasting CNN as “fake news” and worse, the thought of the network being reshaped by Ellison and Weiss would be a huge victory. For that reason alone, it is difficult to imagine his administration standing in the way of a deal. The transaction would not require the torturous FCC approval process of the Paramount-Skydance deal, and politically it aligns with Trump’s interests. CNN, once the network he loathed most, could suddenly become something of an ally.
The consequences for the broader ecosystem would be profound. Nearly all the major media and technology assets in the country would fall under the control of Trump allies or those willing to bend the knee to him. Fox Corporation and News Corporation remain in Murdoch hands, and because of a family settlement unveiled this week, will not change editorial direction when Rupert ultimately passes. Elon Musk controls what was once Twitter and has transformed it into a MAGA fever swamp. Mark Zuckerberg has made a number of changes at Meta to appease Trump. Jeff Bezos, who controls Amazon and The Washington Post, has softened his stance considerably. Tim Cook and Sundar Pichai don’t own the respective companies they lead, but both have shown a willingness to stroke Trump’s ego. Add the Ellisons to the mix and nearly all of America’s major media properties would be run by billionaires broadly sympathetic to the president.
Of course, a deal between Paramount and WBD is not guaranteed. But when the world’s richest family sets its sights on a company, it’s fair to say that the odds are in their favor. And if that happens, it’s difficult to overstate how much it could shape the public’s understanding of the world through the control of just a handful of gatekeepers.
I have been highlighting independent media all this month - including this newsletter - and this is just another reminder that we are not far from a time when nearly every major media outlet is owned and/or controlled by either a MAGA-friendly billionaire or someone who is more than eager to bend both knees if it means the easy money keeps flowing in.
PUCK TO ACQUIRE AIR MAIL
Puck & Air Mail have just sent out a joint statement announcing their new deal:
“Puck has entered into an exclusive agreement to acquire Air Mail. This will unite Air Mail's distinctive journalism, stable of luxury advertisers, and sophisticated commerce platforms with Puck's portfolio of venerated journalists, scale, and proven subscriber engagement model."
INFOGRAPHIC OF THE DAY
Digital i just released a report on how users in the U.S. access and watch YouTube and this graphic jumped out at me:
A PARAMOUNT-WBD MERGER WOULD CREATE A SPORTS SUPERPOWER
Front Office Sports has a nice look at what this proposed merger would look like for the sports leagues and their fans:
Paramount and CBS have rights to the NFL, The Masters, PGA Championship, PGA Tour, Big Ten football and basketball, Champions League, and, as of next year, every UFC event. TNT has MLB rights that include two full playoff rounds, half of national NHL games (split with ESPN), some Big 12 football and basketball (sublicensed from ESPN), and College Football Playoff games (also sublicensed from ESPN, with an expansion happening next year). It also has packages in NASCAR, Unrivaled, the French Open, Big East basketball, and AEW.
Significantly, Paramount and WBD also share the full rights to the men’s basketball NCAA tournament.
The combined entities would have distribution on broadcast (via CBS), cable, and streaming (via HBO Max and Paramount+). They would essentially control or at least have their hands in all relevant American sports besides the NBA and SEC.
While it's not mentioned in the article, another consequence is that it lessens the number of outlets willing and/or able to bid aggressively for future media rights, which will likely lead to a softening of prices. But given that many of these rights deals have recently been renewed for multi-year terms, this impact would take a few years to play out in the marketplace.
THE RECISSION BUDGET CUTS TO PUBLIC MEDIA CLAIM THEIR FIRST VICTIM
According to reporting by Central Pennsylvania's WPSU, Penn State has decided to "wind down" the NPR/PBS outlet next June, after a Penn State board of trustees committee voted unanimously Thursday against a proposal to transfer ownership of WPSU to WHYY:
Whether NPR and PBS programming will continue in WPSU's listening and viewing area was not immediately clear. WPSU-TV reaches 515,000 households in 24 counties of central Pennsylvania, and WPSU-FM serves more than 450,000 listeners in 13 counties in central and northern Pennsylvania.
Penn State had been providing WPSU with about $3.4 million a year.
“Continued long-term subsidy from tuition to support WPSU is no longer feasible, especially since the federal funding WPSU received of $1.8 million last year and the $1.3 million we expected this year was unfortunately reduced to zero from federal funding cuts for public broadcasting,” Thorndike said.
Unfortunately, I expect to see more of these announcements.
ODDS AND SODS
* If you would like some keen insight on what a possible Paramount/Warner Bros. Discovery merger would mean for the movie business, veteran movie industry journalist David Poland has a really informed and insightful take on what he thinks is likely to happen in his daily video podcast. Spoiler: it isn't pretty.
* The German drama Berlin ER has been renewed for a second eight episode season by Apple TV+.
* The Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR) said today that Jerry Seinfeld’s recent claim that the racist Ku Klux Klan (KKK) is somehow “better than” the growing worldwide campaign for a “Free Palestine” is part of the efforts of those supporting Israel’s genocide to dehumanize the Palestinian people.
* On her show Thursday, Newsmax host Greta Van Susteren asked Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to address “the internet rumors that somehow Israel is behind" the killing of Charlie Kirk. I just.....need a vacation.
SUPPORT THE BACK INDIE MEDIA DRIVE
As I mentioned in an earlier email, Too Much TV is part of a September Back Indie Drive, in which 30+ independent publications are taking part. Each one is run by a creator-model journalist who’s building something sustainable, bold, and deeply needed in today’s fractured media environment.
Every day this month I am going to quickly highlight a publication from the campaign list and I hope you'll check them out. Supporting independent media has never been more important and there are truly some talented journalists on the list:
Subscribe for free here. And click here to financially support this publication.
WHAT'S COMING TOMORROW
FRIDAY, SEPTEMBER 12TH:
* Andrew Santino: White Noise (Hulu)
* Beauty And The Bester (Netflix)
* Danger In The Countryside (LMN)
* Every Minute Counts (Prime Video)
* Foundation Season Three Finale (Apple TV)
* Larry the Cable Guy: It’s A Gift (Prime Video)
* Lost In The Jungle (NatGeo)
* Magic City: An American Fantasy Finale (Starz)
* Maledictions (Netflix)
* Ratu Ratu Queens: The Series Series Premiere (Netflix)
* The Wrong Paris (Netflix)
* Vampirina, Teenage Vampire Series Premiere (Disney Channel)
* Wizards Beyond Waverly Place Season Two Premiere (Disney Channel)
* You And Everything Else (Netflix)
SATURDAY, SEPTEMBER 13TH:
* A Historic Concert From Vatican City (Disney+, Hulu)
* A Husband To Die For (Lifetime)
* Canelo Álvarez vs. Terence Crawford (Netflix)
* Cold Justice Season Eight Premiere (Oxygen)
* Death Row Confidential: Secrets Of A Serial Killer Series Premiere (Oxygen)
SUNDAY, SEPTEMBER 14TH:
* Doc Season Two Premiere (Fox)
* Kings Court Season One Finale (Bravo)
* Murder At The Hotel (Lifetime)
* Ride With Norman Reedus Season Seven Premiere (AMC)
* 77th Emmy Awards (CBS)
* The Great Food Truck Race Season Eighteen Finale (Food Network)
* The Great North Season Five Finale (Fox)
SEE YOU EARLY MONDAY MORNING!