Star Trek: Starfleet Academy

Good post-mortem on how we got here. Full timeline account and the decisions made.

the streaming stuff is fascinating because its a complete disconnect from the old network TV model. Network TV needed to sell ads every day so they needed sports and new shows to pump ads. Reality TV worked really well so during the final years of network TV it was almost all reality TV, which is still true now - dancing with the stars and NFL football draw much bigger numbers than whatever remaining sitcoms air (Abbott Elementary, etc). Those latter things only get views when they finally get licensed out to Netflix and people can binge 3-6 seasons of something they didn't see.

Streaming however doesn't really depend on new shows. A lot of people pay for streaming to watch old shit. Friends, Seinfeld, South Park, Simpsons, on and on its comfort TV while eating comfort food in a stressful world. While some new stuff gets in there it tends to be CSI type of stuff you can watch with your brain off and on the phone. Plot heavy, complex shows are pretty much relegated now to Apple TV+ and a little bit on HBO, and I wonder how much of that will disappear when HBO/Paramount merge.

If people only pay for HBO, Paramount, Disney, etc to watch older stuff and big movies that eventually find their home on streaming, it makes little sense to pay for expensive new shows that do nothing to build sub count numbers. In the last 2 years we've seen Disney, Netflix, and Paramount realize that new expensive TV shows are doing absolutely nothing for their bottom line.

spronk said:

the streaming stuff is fascinating because its a complete disconnect from the old network TV model. Network TV needed to sell ads every day so they needed sports and new shows to pump ads. Reality TV worked really well so during the final years of network TV it was almost all reality TV, which is still true now - dancing with the stars and NFL football draw much bigger numbers than whatever remaining sitcoms air (Abbott Elementary, etc). Those latter things only get views when they finally get licensed out to Netflix and people can binge 3-6 seasons of something they didn't see.

Streaming however doesn't really depend on new shows. A lot of people pay for streaming to watch old shit. Friends, Seinfeld, South Park, Simpsons, on and on its comfort TV while eating comfort food in a stressful world. While some new stuff gets in there it tends to be CSI type of stuff you can watch with your brain off and on the phone. Plot heavy, complex shows are pretty much relegated now to Apple TV+ and a little bit on HBO, and I wonder how much of that will disappear when HBO/Paramount merge.

If people only pay for HBO, Paramount, Disney, etc to watch older stuff and big movies that eventually find their home on streaming, it makes little sense to pay for expensive new shows that do nothing to build sub count numbers. In the last 2 years we've seen Disney, Netflix, and Paramount realize that new expensive TV shows are doing absolutely nothing for their bottom line.

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This is 100% true. I have one friend that watches nothing except Andy Griffith and Matlock.