Hello.
This newsletter can follow one of two paths. What the author is most excited about is expressing her delight at the premiere of a comedy special by Ali Wong on Netflix this week. It’s not exactly the role of this space, but this is a little window made of choices, and with so many series and programs on the waiting list to watch first (Irreversible, of RTP1), during (Homicides at Home) or after (Kaosfrom Netflix) of its premiere, a semi-professional viewer also has their preferences. And when something like Single Lady stands out in the list of weeks in which there are new creations by Armando Iannuci, in which we spoke with Sam Mendes or the boys from And your mother too (2001), perhaps deserves this paragraph.
It’s done, let’s proceed. Let’s move on to statements from two important names in the audiovisual sector, from two different generations and “teams” in the media, who this week postulated the same thing: the streaming It’s not a good deal for companies. Let’s just leave these well-informed opinions here.
On the one hand, veteran John Malone, powerful in his position as a significant shareholder in Warner Bros Discovery (owner of Max) and at the age of 83, summarized the business of the s in a conversation with the analysis company Moffett-Nathanson.treaming as “terrible” (like “very bad” or “no gains in sight”, decode). For him, the streaming as technology “solved the problem of ease of access à la carte“, but the series, films, documentaries and their producers chose to “go directly to the consumer, turning their backs on wholesalers”, a saving of “two or three dollars” per head by not having their intermediaries in the incumbent groups and channels, and “they ended up damaging, if not destroying, what was a very strong industry.”
He also states the obvious, or one of the biggest fears of the sector (and who knows the world?). “Big technology companies [Big Tech] they will end up eating everything — our industry and all others — simply because they have an immense scale, an immense economic power. It’s going to be very difficult to keep them out of anything they want to get into because they can buy their way in.”
Word to Evan Shapiro, who worked for NBCUniversal and Participant Media as a business manager but was also a field producer. He went to Madrid to Iberseries & Platino Industria to create clickbait (consciously) saying that the so-called great technologies are the “Death Stars”, in an always welcome allusion to the space stations that destroy Star Warsand then focus on a point that may be of interest to a country like Portugal where advertising is calmly entering the mainstream streaming.
His criticisms were directed at Netflix, which, by introducing advertising through a new type of subscription (instead of what, for example, Prime Video did, which tells the consumer that have to pay more to avoid seeing the ads that will inevitably appear) created a model followed by the competition that will be its undoing — says Shapiro. “All the horsemen of the apocalypse of streaming they followed it without really analyzing what would happen if they followed the model of going directly to the consumer”, he argued.
In short, these two men believe that Netflix started a business and a model that put entertainment companies dealing directly with the consumer, individually, daily, monthly, instead of using ideas that still prevail today in the Portuguese panorama, which are the multi-channel/platform packages. The proliferation of platforms is like dropping a puzzle while trying to put the pieces together, says Evan Shapiro, for whom, deep down, the streaming It’s a “shitty” business. There you have it, nothing like using words to create an effect. Who knows this very well? Ali Wong.
What are you seeing
Sam Mendes, director and executive producer of the new Max series The Franchise
“The other day I saw the latest film by The Quiet Placea sequela [que é uma prequela, Um Lugar Silencioso: Dia Um]. I thought it was a very good film. It’s very well done, the characters are appropriate. It’s a very good thriller, it’s not lazy, it’s not sloppy, it’s not thoughtless.”
Netflix
Friday, October 4th
What’s Inside — “A group of friends get together for a pre-wedding party that turns into an existential nightmare when a person they’ve grown apart from shows up with a mysterious game that awakens long-hidden secrets, desires and grudges.” What a synopsis, what a feast. Well received at the Sundance and South by Southwest festivals, it is Greg Jardin’s first film.
Monday, October 7th
The Menendez Brothers — After the Netflix series that one of the Menendezes had criticized, via his wife via Twitter (ok, X), the Netflix documentary in which the brothers who killed their parents for the first time “reunite” — over the phone, in family calls respective prisons — to talk about the 1989 crime.
Tuesday, October 8th
Single Lady — Finally, more Ali Wong. The new and fourth show of stand up from comedian to Netflix debuts with her already divorced, mother and with many thoughts and observations to share. Her unmistakable style was captured in Los Angeles at The Wiltern and the show is performed by herself. After Don Wong, Hard Knock Wife e Baby Cobraand the series Beefplus Ali Wong, thank you.
Dinner Time Live With David Chang — Second season of the series chef David Chang, who believes and wants to prove that 99% of all cooking on television and social media is fake. Cook live in Los Angeles for your celebrity friends.
Wednesday, October 9th
Starting 5 — New series of ten episodes going behind the scenes of the 2023-2024 NBA season from the eyes of five players with varying degrees of relevance: Jimmy Butler (Miami Heat), Anthony Edwards (Minnesota Timberwolves), LeBron James (Los Angeles Lakers) ), Domantas Sabonis (Sacramento Kings) and Jayson Tatum (Boston Celtics). “An unfiltered portrait of the lives of professional basketball’s elite,” says Netflix. See if that’s the case.
Thursday, October 10th
Tomb Raider: The Legend of Lara Croft — Lara Croft, the video game heroine who was a cinema heroine, is now an animation heroine. The story picks up where the trilogy of games left off Tomb Raider: Definitive Survivor. Voiced by Hayley Atwell, Croft is alone in the world when she has to return home because a dangerous Chinese artifact is stolen from her. Eight episodes.
Breaking the Silence: The Maria Soledad Case — Film that marks the 30th anniversary of the death of María Soledad, murdered and whose death was the first to be recognized as a case of femicide in Argentina.
Outer Banks — Season 4 of the series, but which goes back in time and the discovery of gold by the Pogues.
of the movie
Thursday, October 10th
Just the Two of Us — Film by Valerie Donzelli with Virginie Efira and Melvil Poupaud as the protagonists of the story of Blanche, a woman trapped in a toxic relationship.
Kiddo — Dramatic comedy by Zara Dwinger that films a mother and daughter escape without the drama it might imply, paying homage to the great myths of cinema.
R U There — Film by David Verbeek about two people who meet in a video game, Second Life, and in real life, in Taipei, but live in great loneliness.
The Lost Childhood — Horror and fantastic in a film about the childhood traumas of ten-year-old Audrey, her sister and her two brothers prepare to spend the holidays in an isolated house in the forest. Their father disappears and the forest stops them from leaving. The key is in Audrey’s dreams.
Amazon Prime Video
Friday, October 4th
Citadel Diana — Continuation of the Citadel universe, the global spy agency, this time set in 2030 and in Milan, eight years after being dismantled by its enemies. Citadel’s undercover Manticore syndicate agent Diana Cavalieri finally sees a way out.
Globoplay
Saturday, October 5th
Country Sound — Documentary series about the last decade of country music in Brazil. Five episodes, with different themes and artists in each one.
Tuesday, October 8th
Brazil Viewed from Above at Night — Documentary series based on flights between sunset and dawn.
Apple TV+
Friday, October 4th
A Family Curse — Second season of the DreamWorks Animation series executive produced by John Krasinski and which has as timing Halloween. This family’s curse has been overcome but Alex, returned to the family, is not looking well. There are more mysteries at Briarstone Manor.
Max
Friday, October 4th
Angel of Death – Fourth season of the series that investigates the motives of the killers.
Monday, October 7th
The Franchise — New John Brown series (Succession) executive produced by Armando Ianucci (Veep) and Sam Mendes, who also directs the first episode. Basically it’s a big joke at the expense of Marvel and the senseless exhaustion of superhero filmmaking, already far from its peak of quality and creative concern.
Disney+
Wednesday, October 9th
The Machine — Gael García Bernal and Diego Luna back together. Esteban “The Machine” Osuna (Gael García Bernal) is a boxer who suffers a brutal defeat and his manager and best friend Andy Lujan (Diego Luna) wants to make him win again. Boxing, however, is surrounded by crime and risks for the families of athletes.
Lost not streaming
This comedy special stand-up (and not a special of comedy stand-up) already dated 2022, but Stand Out — An LGBTQ+ Celebration It’s always a sight to see. Suzy Eddie Izzard, Sandra Bernhard, Margaret Cho provide essential testimonies to understand not only the importance of representation in comedy stand-upas in so many areas of public exhibition, but also how comedy on stage itself has changed. First there were stories, or loose jokes, or one-liners e punchlinesbut LGBTQ+ comedians perfectly exemplify (and in some ways even pave the way) how identity-based this type of comedy is now. It is very interesting to see how Tig Notaro or Hannah Gadbsy, for example, analyze the even self-deprecating way in which they spoke about their homosexuality in their shows and changed their approach; or see a (very superficial) version of Izzard’s journey, the way he impacted his younger colleagues.
Read to see
PUBLIC: John Amos (1939-2024), a legendary father in television and film
PUBLIC: Fromthe city you can’t leave
Observer: Nobody Wants This: the series in which everything is right, except for what is wrong
The Guardian: ‘I fell asleep driving around London’: TV workers on fear, danger and fatalities in an industry in crisis
The New York Times: ‘Freaks and Geeks,’ TV’s Least Likely to Succeed, Won by Losing
The Country: How to sell a series in 15 minutes
Until the Next Episode.
