Here's everything you need to know about the world of television for Monday, January 26th, 2026:
PRODUCTION NOTES
After a pretty intense week, I needed a mental palate cleanse on Saturday. So my wife and I went to the Minnesota Historical Society to attend a book signing by the multi-talented Stephanie Hansen. She has a newsletter, a TV show that is syndicated in 90 or so markets (Taste Buds With Stephanie) and a podcast. Honestly, I feel a bit lazy in comparison.
Her new book is called True North Cabin Cookbook: Recipes and Stories from a North Woods Table, and she was there being interviewed by her longtime work partner Stephanie March. It was a great time and one of the things that stuck with me was her describing the challenges of navigating work with everything else going on in Minneapolis. She told the audience that she didn't care who any of them voted for. She wasn't interested in politics, she was interested in people.
That resonated with me and I think it describes what I try and do here. I don't care who you voted for, but I do care about people and what's right. It's impossible to write about the media and not touch on political issues. But I try and ground my work on the people, not the politics.
Afterwards, we went to see the exhibit "Julia Child: A Recipe For Life," which runs through the end of May. It was fun and informative in a subtle way. It was also a great reminder of how long and varied her career was over the decades. I highly recommend it.
CALIFORNIA POST LAUNCHES...WHAT DOES THIS MEAN FOR PENSKE TRADE OUTLETS AND THE LA TIMES?
Since the moment The NY Post announced it was launching a California edition of the newspaper, there has been a lot of speculation about what the move means for the two rivals most likely to feel the pressure from a new competitor: The Los Angeles Times and the Penske Media-owned Hollywood trades (The Hollywood Reporter/Variety/Deadline).
In fact, the California Post lured away former Variety's Executive Editor Film & Media Tatiana Siegel and her first piece is the very on message for the NY Post cover story "The teenage sex scene that sparked infamous rift between edgy director brothers behind Hollywood’s hottest movies."
The California Post officially launched today as a subdomain of the NY Post and the story mix is what you would expect to see from the NY Post people: multiple stories on the cost of housing and homelessness. A couple of shots at Gov. Gavin Newsom and some stories like one about flying taxis that read more like a press release than the "exclusive" it is billed in the outlet. And a tone-deaf editorial that somehow manages to argue both that ICE agents should be pulled from Minneapolis, but not because they or anyone in the Trump Administration have done anything wrong.
Speaking of exclusives, one of the show business "exclusives" is an interview with Bill Maher, who will talk to just about anyone who is willing to put up with his annoying mix of "the world is too woke" and "I was right all along" commentary.
So far, I didn't see much that would make the California Post a regular destination, and the weirdly awkward mission post from editor-in-chief Nick Papas didn't exactly persuade me, given that he described the outlet as "Alexander Hamilton in a pair of Wayfarers." It's also worth noting that the post contained five images. Two of them featuring Papas, and two images of iconic California scenes that were taken by.....Getty Images. I don't know, were all the California Post photographers too busy to take their own photo of Rodeo Drive?
I'll keep checking in and I am sure I will see people linking to some of the stories. But at least at the debut, the California Post feels more like an idea in search of an audience than a real competitor for the area's existing outlets.
I LIVE IN MINNESOTA AND THIS WRONG ON SO MANY LEVELS
ODDS AND SODS
* According to a memo that just went out to CBS News employees, Bari Weiss will hold an all-hands meeting to discuss the future of the news division tomorrow. I'd love to hear from anyone who attends. You can reach me confidentially at
* A Senate committee will examine the proposed Netflix acquisition of Warner Bros. at a hearing scheduled for Tuesday, February 3rd. Netflix co-CEO Ted Sarandos is scheduled to testify.
* There are a number of screenings of the upcoming Prime Video documentary Melania happening later this week and there have been reports that Minneapolis might be one of the sites. I wouldn't mind seeing it, given that Amazon is not sending out advance screeners of the $40 million project. But FWIW, Amazon PR is now saying there isn't a screening here, so...[shrug].
* The Testaments will premiere Wednesday, April 8th on Hulu. Here is the official logline: "An evolution of The Handmaid’s Tale, The Testaments is based on Margaret Atwood’s novel of the same name and is a dramatic coming-of-age story set in Gilead. The series follows young teens Agnes, dutiful and pious, and Daisy, a new arrival and convert from beyond Gilead’s borders. As they navigate the gilded halls of Aunt Lydia’s elite preparatory school for future wives, a place where obedience is instilled brutally and always with divine justification, their bond becomes the catalyst that will upend their past, their present, and their future."
* You might have seen some online chatter about the fact that 60 Minutes ran a repeat episode last night. There was no politics behind the decision, the plan has always been to air a rerun, as 60 Minutes does regularly throughout the season.
* Love Story: John F. Kennedy Jr. & Carolyn Bessette will premiere Thursday, February 12th on FX. Here is the official logline: "It was a love story that captured the attention of the nation: John F. Kennedy Jr. (Paul Anthony Kelly) was the closest thing to American royalty. The country watched him grow from a boy to a beloved bachelor and media sensation. Carolyn Bessette (Sarah Pidgeon) was a star in her own right. Fiercely independent and with a singular style, she rose from being a sales assistant to an executive at Calvin Klein, and became a trusted confidante of its eponymous founder. John and Carolyn’s connection was immediate, electric and undeniable. As their love story unfolded on a national stage, the intense fame and media attention that came along with it threatened to rip them apart. Featuring Grace Gummer (Caroline Kennedy), Naomi Watts (Jackie Kennedy Onassis), Alessandro Nivola (Calvin Klein), Leila George (Kelly Klein), Sydney Lemmon (Lauren Bessette) and Constance Zimmer (Ann Marie Messina), Love Story: John F. Kennedy Jr. & Carolyn Bessette charts the complex and heartbreaking journey of a couple whose private love became a national obsession."
* Reality Check: Inside America's Next Top Model will premiere Monday, February 16th on Netflix.
* If you are in L.A. this Saturday, a bunch of actors and other creatives are doing a stage reading of two classic episodes of The Twilight Zone in an event to raise money for Hello Neighbor, "a non-profit serving refugees and immigrants through resettlement, legal services, education, employment pathways, and wellness programs." Performers scheduled to include Gates McFadden, Sean Gunn, Khary Payton, Steve Agee, Michael Trucco, Rekha Sharma, Todd Stashwick,Yetide Badaki, Manish Dayal, Kevin Avery, Tiffany Smith, Dani Fernandez, Kirsten Vangsness, Oliver Stark, Melissa Navia, and Eugene Byrd.
* Semafor is reporting that as the winter storm approached Saturday night, the Weather Channel ran taped segments starting around 6 pm ET. Other cable news channels and Fox Weather stayed live on the storm.
* Sky has greenlit a documentary series exploring the era-defining entertainment series, The X Factor. The docu-series will speak to those closest to The X Factor story, both in front of and behind the camera, including Simon Cowell.
THE CASE FOR DISNEY EMBRACING AD-SUPPORTED YOUTUBE
Evan Shapiro makes a strong case that Disney is missing out on hundreds of millions of dollars in potential ad-revenue by not making any of its titles available for free (with ads) on YouTube:
For example, Willow, Cinderella, and Ruthless People are all currently available for free on YouTube, with awful quality video, posted by random third parties. Willow has been watched 3.2 million times. Recently, Disney made a deal with OpenAI to allow its characters to be used in UGC on Sora or ChatGPT. Together, these datapoints betray an absence of strategy at Disney regarding its IP in the digital realm.
Conservatively, Disney is losing between $20-$100 million per year by NOT distributing their films for free with ads on YouTube.
Without overly aggressive projections, with a cohesive YouTube strategy, Disney has a visible path to billions in revenue over the next decade - likely more, in light of both TikTok and Instagram coming to TVs by the end of this year.
I have continued to argue that the big legacy media companies still don't have a clear sense of what they want to do with their digital assets. And more often that not, promising ideas get pushed aside because they aren't projected to be massive revenue drivers in the early years. You would be astounded how many ideas are sidelined by the "but it will only make us $50 million the first year" argument. Big media companies are too often fixated on the ideas that are potential home runs. Instead of realizing that it's also important to go for a bunch of singles and doubles.
Along these lines, why hasn't Disney rolled out FAST channels dedicated to some of their older programming? A Wonderful World Of Disney FAST channel would be incredibly attractive to viewers. Along with a Disney Afternoon FAST channel that streamed old episodes of Goof Troop, Darkwing Duck, TaleSpin, Duck Tales and Chip 'n Dale: Rescue Rangers.
TWEET OF THE DAY
WHAT'S COMING TODAY AND TOMORROW
MONDAY, JANUARY, 26TH:
American Idol Season Twenty-Four Premiere (ABC)
Below Deck Med Season Ten Finale (Bravo)
Extracted Season Two Premiere (Fox)
Fatal Attraction: I'd Kill To Be You Series Premiere (TV One)
History's Deadliest With Ving Rhames Series Premiere (History)
Memory Of A Killer Series Premiere (Fox)
Wild Cards Season Three Premiere (The CW)
TUESDAY, JANUARY 27TH:
American Masters — Elie Wiesel: Soul On Fire (PBS)
Mike Epps: Delusional (Netflix)
Moonshiners: Master Distiller Season Premiere (Discovery)
Take That (Netflix)
33 Photos From The Ghetto (HBO)
Wonder Man Series Premiere (Disney+)
SEE YOU THIS TUESDAY!