The Morning Show Producers Feel Early Reviews Were an 'Attack on Apple'

Julia Alexander, writing for The Verge:

Early reviews for The Morning Show weren’t exactly positive, and executive producers Kerry Ehrin and Mimi Leder believe a lot of the feedback was an “attack on Apple.”

Both Leder and Ehrin felt like critics were reviewing Apple TV Plus as a service, and looping in The Morning Show with those critiques.

The Apple TV+ service launched with much hype and marketing around four shows — The Morning Show, For All Mankind, See, and Dickinson. I haven’t yet seen See or For All Mankind, but Dickinson and The Morning Show both look fabulous. I personally like watching The Morning Show, but that’s largely due to the star cast it has and the cinematography/direction, not because of its writing. I can see why the reviews were bad.

But to say that the reviews were an attack on Apple? Ha!

November 20, 2019 ✚ Permalink

My Next Guest Needs No Introduction With David Letterman

Oh. My. God!

Netflix and David Letterman are teaming up for a new show titled My Next Guest Needs No Introduction With David Letterman

TV legend David Letterman teams up with fascinating global figures for in-depth interviews and curiosity-fueled excursions in this monthly talk show.

This isn’t a super-early reveal either — the first episode is right around the corner, available online on January 12th.

January 6, 2018 ✚ Permalink

Hotstar Introduces Premium Subscription; HBO Original Shows Available for Streaming

hotstar-premium

Hotstar — Star India’s video streaming service that debuted in early 2015 has now introduced paid subscriptions on the service for watching “Premium” content. Called Hotstar Premium and available for ₹199 per month, it gets you access to a host of new “premium” movies and TV shows, including a bunch of HBO Originals such as Game of Thrones, Silicon Valley, Veep & True Detective as well as movies such as X-Men: Days of the Future Past and Kingsman: The Secret Service.

The subscription gives you access to not just the premium content available today, but also the new content that Hotstar will add in the future. You can access this either via the website or via the Android and iOS app. Non-Premium content on Hotstar will continue to be available for Free. The Premium service is only available in India right now and you can only sign up using your Credit Card. There’s a 30-Day trial to get your started, and the company puts a ₹5 authorization charge to verify your card details, which it says will be refunded to you. Hotstar does not currently offer support for Chromecast or AirPlay, so you can’t actually watch any content on your big screen TV. Video quality is decent and you can manually select up to 720p.

Let’s face it, the only real reason you’d consider signing up for Hotstar Premium is because you get access to Game of Thrones and other HBO shows. Not only can you start watching the episode as soon as it airs in the US, but you also get to watch is completely uncensored. That’s right, you get to watch Game of Thrones exactly how David Benioff & D. B. Weiss want you to watch it. Most other content is either already available on other streaming services or is old enough that you’ve seen it already.

I just finished watching the latest episodes of the Game of Thrones and Silicon Valley on the service and am fairly content with the experience. Am I going to continue my subscription beyond the trial? I’m not sure yet.

April 25, 2016 ✚ Permalink

Why Netflix Does Not Release Any Show Ratings

The New York Times has a great piece on Netflix titled, “Netflix’s Opaque Disruption Annoys Rivals on TV”. The article talks about how Netflix, which has around 70 million subscribers around the globe, has never published its show ratings or has no plans to.

Ted Sarandos, the Chief Content Officer at Netflix says that he wants to avoid a “weekly arms race” and says,

Once we give a number for a show, then every show will be benchmarked off of that show even though they were built sometimes for very specific audiences,

and adds

There is a very natural inclination to say, ‘Relative to this show, this show is a failure.’ That puts a lot of creative pressure on the talent.

I signed up for Netflix after their global availability announcement at CES 2016 and have been a happy subscriber since then.

February 27, 2016 ✚ Permalink