Julia has some advice for David Zaslav as he takes the reins of Warner Bros. Discovery--mostly about the fates of CNN+ and the Harry Potter franchise. Plus, the rise of streaming sports.
Apple TV+ wins Best Picture, "Our Flag Means Death" is... a hit?, why being the fan of a baseball team is going to bring you pain, "Obi-Wan" takes on "Stranger Things" directly, and Jason subscribed to CNN+... for science!
Is Wall Street souring on the streaming wars? Is Netflix coming for your shared passwords? Both issues are way more complicated than they might seem. We also discuss TikTok marketing, Discovery+ and HBO Max getting folded together, and Netflix's cancellation of "The Babysitters' Club."
Disney inevitably embraces advertising, NBC inevitably takes its ball and goes home, and The Batman inevitably forces a discussion about the future of theatrical releases.
ViacomCBS changes its name, Peacock weathers the Super Bowl storm, the Disney brand continues to evolve, the culture of binge-dropping begins to fade away, Netflix is Doing Just Fine, and your letters!
The future of CNN+ is called into question, the Oscars recognize streaming services of all kinds, and did Peacock finally get the Olympics right?
Netflix's latest quarterly report makes us wonder: Is it a tech company or an entertainment company? Julia experiences live sports streaming success--and failure. HBO Max takes a victory lap. And why does Showtime still exist? Plus, your letters!
It's a new year! Disney has moved another Pixar movie out of theaters and onto Disney+. Why "Don't Look Up" was the perfect movie for Netflix. "Yellowstone" is a legitimate hit and yet nobody is truly happy about it. And we've got a Spider-Man box office check-in, HBO Max is doing all right by us, and we've got letters from listeners!
Jason and Julia are off for the holiday, but before they left, they took time to record this special episode featuring answers to listener letters! (Only two-thirds of the letters are from people named David.) We discuss ways that streaming interfaces could be more delightful and serendipitous, explain why the end of 22-episode TV seasons might be…
We dig into why CNN+ has to exist, even though it doesn't make a lot of sense. Also, the strange divisions between what's on HBO and what's on HBO Max, we talk a surprising amount about The CW (again), and Netflix has... a blog?