TV Things That Make You Go Hmmm (August 2023)

I’m taking an August break from thinking too much or writing any deep analyses or television show reviews. Here are just some random thoughts that popped into my head as I was watching TV this month.  Things that make you go hmmm…

But first, I want to say that without the great and incredibly talented television writers and actors, my 40-year career of analyzing, writing about, and commenting on TV shows and the television industry at large would not have been a thing.  I support the WGA and SAG-AFTRA, and will be donating 100% of ad revenue from The Sternberg Report until the strikes are over.

Now, things that make you go hmmm…

• It’s fascinating to watch the Fox Weather channel report on record heat and flooding across the country, and the impact of Canadian wildfires, while assiduously avoiding the phrase “climate change.” They talk a lot about the effects of extreme heat, but never seem to ask any meteorologists or other experts why any of this is happening (except for the occasional comment about a “ridge of high pressure” causing “above average temperatures”).

• If I was an ESPN advertiser, I would not be happy with their on-screen ticker counting down to when the program will return.  Viewers like me know we have more than four minutes to switch away from the commercials or leave the room without missing anything. I watch NFL Live a few times a week, but seldom see any commercials. 

• None of the networks (broadcast or cable) seem to have any understanding of what polls mean or how they are conducted.

• A poll that only surveys 1,000 or so people cannot possibly be projected to the total U.S. with any degree of accuracy.

• If a poll shows candidate X ahead of candidate Y by 4 percentage points and the margin of error is +-4%, it does not signify a dead heat because it’s within the margin of error. It means candidate X is actually ahead by anywhere from 0-8%.

• CNN and MSNBC seem bewildered that 70% of Republicans still support former President Trump. They seem to think this represents a large proportion of American voters.  But we never hear them say that just 25% of voters identify as Republicans, so 70% of them is only 15% of registered or likely voters nationwide.  And since his base is roughly 30-40% of Republicans, that only represents 7-10% of the country – but they are the heaviest primary voters.

• I thought no one ever wanted to be referred to a “Brand X.” Although I might be dating myself – I know some 24-year-olds who never heard that phrase before.

• Great TV shows get shorter seasons and end too soon on streamers. Three seasons produce just 24-30 episodes.  Streamers seem more concerned about attracting new subscribers than retaining current ones (or building their own libraries) – a good strategy in years 1-3, but not so much in years 5+.  ‘

• The three current live-action Star Trek series on Paramount+ (Discovery, Picard, and Strange New Worlds), for example, have a combined nine seasons and 105 episodes. In the late 1980s-early 1990s, Star Trek: The Next Generation had 73 more episodes in two fewer seasons (78 episodes in seven seasons).  The original 1960s series had 79 episodes in just three seasons.

• Why aren’t all the broadcast networks scheduling more streaming shows from their corporate siblings to air this fall during the writers’ and actors’ strikes. At the very least, CBS can air all the Star Treks, The Good Fight, and even Tulsa King.  Wouldn’t it be cool for ABC to air the first seasons of Daredevil and Jessica Jones, as well as shows like Loki and WandaVision, in addition to Marvel?  How about NBC airing Poker Face?  Not only good content for the broadcast networks, but also great promotion for their streaming platforms.

• Cable news is more biased than ever.

• CNN refers to well-known Trump haters, including people he has fired, or he and Fox News have publicly attacked, as “political analysts, legal or law enforcement experts,” etc., and then asks them about the latest thing concerning Trump or his allies, as though they are objective and credible.  They do this in other situations as well, but presenting someone like a former FBI Deputy Director, who President Trump fired a few days before he was eligible for his pension, as an objective analyst commenting on Trump’s legal issues (without mentioning any of their antagonistic history), is just shoddy journalism.  They also bring on well-known “never-Trumpers” and present them simply as “conservative lawyers,” etc., as if that makes CNN seem like they’re being unbiased by saying the word, “conservative.”

• CNN seems to think that every topic has two sides. They invite people on to lie to their faces, and often just say “thanks for that perspective.”  I almost expect them to have someone on to say the Earth is flat, and then tell the viewer, “there’s no evidence of that, but we thought we’d hear his perspective and let you decide for yourself.”

• MSNBC anchors do not even pretend it’s a real news network anymore. I recently saw one of them, in a so-called news hour (6-7pm), referring to Florida Governor and Presidential candidate Ron DeSantis, gleefully telling a guest she coined the phrase “dudsantis.”

• Fox News anchors look more and more uncomfortable these days because they are no longer completely confident they know their guests are going to agree with their narrative. And they don’t know how to act when one of their regular guests (or a Republican politician) disagrees with them.

• The Emmys.

• Barry and The Bear in same category as Abbott Elementary?  Why steal nominations from real comedies like The Great, Reservation Dogs, and Ghosts?    Anyone who watches Barry's final season and thinks "comedy" has their own issues.

• Why was Poker Face not nominated for best something? Why not make a new category called “dramedy.”  You’d still get some strange competition, but I’d rather see The Bear, Poker Face and the snubbed Bad Sisters compete with one another than against Abbott Elementary.  This would be giving several great series more of a chance to be nominated.

• How are Sarah Snook (Succession) and Melanie Lynskey (Yellowjackets), both great performances, but neither the lead, get nominated for best actress, but Rhea Seehorn (Better Call Saul), who is clearly the lead actress gets nominated for supporting actress?

• With all the post-George Floyd talk about how cop shows were going to change, very little has actually been done. The major difference I’ve noticed is that when a cop is about to mistreat or beat up a suspect, his partner (usually female) will either say “we can’t do that anymore, you might lose your job,” or “we can’t do that today, anyone can be recording us.”  The only cop show that seemed to be really trying to portray cops differently, East New York, one of the best new shows of the year (with a Black female lead), was canceled after just one season.