Here’s everything you need to know about the world of television for Wednesday, April 8th, 2026:
PRODUCTION NOTES
A couple of updates/changes to Too Much TV that I wanted to put on your radar.
I’ve struggled recently with fitting actual full-blown reviews into the newsletter, because there is so much going on otherwise. Moving forward, I’ll post full reviews on AllYourScreens and then excerpt a small piece here and point to the full review. Expect to see 1-2 per day, beginning next Monday.
I’m also rolling out a weekly TooMuchTV Book Club feature which I will handle the same way - a mention here pointing to the full piece. If that coverage gets any traction from readers, I’ll also make them available in a separate, stand-alone newsletter. More on that soon.
Also, I have previously written about my mixed feelings about Substack, but also why I felt it was in my best interests to stay here. But I am not happy with some of their decisions, ranging from trying to force readers to use the Substack app to not allowing me to turn off the Apple Pay option for paid subscriptions (which costs me 30% off the top in a fee to Apple).
So I have created a Beehiiv version of TooMuchTV, which will go out at the same time as the Substack version. It doesn’t officially launch until Monday, but you can sign up there if you are interested. The paid subscriber option won’t be available at launch, but if you would like to support the newsletter without giving Substack a cut, if you buy me $40 worth of coffee, I’ll give you a year’s paid subscription.
This Substack version won’t go away, but I wanted to offer more options to people who wanted it.
FANDOMS, NOT RANDOMS
I had a long call this morning with someone who is the head of North American publicity for a large SVOD. This person reached out because several co-workers had sent along a piece I had written a few weeks ago about the challenges of being a TV critic in 2026. In the piece, I made the case that critics are uniquely positioned to tell readers why they should (or shouldn’t watch) a show. In contrast to influencers, who tend to be the most effective when it comes to branding a new show.
One point this person made to me really resonated and it is something I have been struggling with over the past couple of years. Is it possible for a TV critic to become an influencer without it impacting the core role of writing seriously about television and the entertainment industry in general?
Even though I probably write much more about the media business than I do about individual shows, I still consider myself a TV critic at heart. I believe it’s a noble profession and having journalists capable of discerning good from not good is an important component of the overall entertainment industry.
But for a number of mostly unconnected reasons, TV critics as a rule aren’t especially great when it comes to building an individual brand. That’s not to say that many of us don’t have healthy egos. And yes, I am including myself in that category. But the TV critic industry has never had the equivalent of a Lester Bangs or even a Siskel and Ebert. Some critics are well known and respected inside the industry. However, if you asked a “normie” to name their favorite television critic, I suspect the question would prompt a lot of blank stares.
That’s an issue at a time when journalists now work in an attention economy. And while streamers and networks appreciate thoughtful criticism, they are also facing their own challenges with resources and bandwidth. So they are looking for TV critics who can not only cover their new show, but bring their audience along with them in the same way that a beauty influencer is able to convince their followers to buy a $100 lip gloss sight unseen.
In Puck, Julia Alexander has a piece on the far-left political commentator Hasan Piker, and this passage seems very appropriate for our conversation:
As the distinctively Gen X publishing philosopher Brian Morrissey noted the other day in his newsletter, The Rebooting, media executives are increasingly thinking about “fandoms, not randoms” as the defining ethos of the post-scale, engagement-centric era. Part of the reason respectable Democrats like Gavin Newsom, Rahm Emanuel, and Ro Khanna have expressed their willingness to appear on Piker’s livestream despite his occasionally radioactive reputation is because they believe a 30-minute Zoom into his home office will be more impactful than yet another cable news hit, where perhaps only a tenth of the audience is in the 18-54 demo—and because they’d be reaching a swath of the electorate that wouldn’t be caught dead watching Anderson or Lawrence O’Donnell.
There’s also a parasocial dimension: According to Pew research, about 70 percent of adults under the age of 30 who consume news primarily through influencers say that those creators are better than traditional media at helping them understand news events and civic issues. Last week, the Reuters Institute’s Digital News Report noted that “the past decade has seen a broad shift across digital platforms toward greater personalization,” adding that “young people are therefore increasingly accustomed to media environments tailored to their individual preferences.” That personalization is now inextricably linked with authenticity—a hallmark of this era of the industry.
All of this is a problem in an industry where critics often feel self-conscious about self-promotion. And where the overriding editorial philosophy is still “I let my work speak for itself.”
Because I have been doing a newsletter longer than most TV critics, I have been receiving a lot of questions from fellow writers looking for suggestions on how to build their audience.
My stock answer is that cranking out a newsletter full of reviews and news tidbits is not going to cut it. There are 50 or 100 other journalists out there doing the same thing. And even the most talented TV critic with the biggest profile faces limits on growth.
It wasn’t necessarily a conscious choice in the beginning, but I have made an effort to create a newsletter that has a distinctive point of view. Like it or not, once you’ve read a week’s worth of TooMuchTV, you pretty much know what you’re getting. And that clarity of vision means that readers are more likely to listen when I suggest something.
I have had a few examples lately in which I have recommended a show or newsletter and it has driven attention to the projects. It’s not a sure thing, but in the end, that’s what the PR person I spoke with is looking for when deciding whether to arrange extended interviews or other feature opportunities. Do you have an engaged audience or are you just another random critic?
This might sound very insider-ish and it is to a certain extent. But like it or not, this is the way forward for many TV critics, as uncomfortable as it makes us. It’s not just enough anymore to write a thoughtful review. Do you have the following that will listen to you and move the dial for the network or streamer?
This is almost an existential question for TV critics, given how many critics have either lost their jobs or had their outlets suddenly disappear under them. To survive and to grow, we need to become influential tastemakers. If we manage that, than the audience will travel with us instead of evaporating when our job disappears.
ODDS AND SODS
* Netflix has launched Netflix Playground, a new app for kids under the age of 8 that includes a number of mobile games which feature familiar Netflix characters. And besides being free of advertising, the games can also be played offline.
* The comedy Not Suitable For Work premieres Tuesday, June 2nd on Hulu. Here is the official logline: “From comedy hitmaker Mindy Kaling, Not Suitable for Work centers around five work-obsessed twenty-somethings striving for professional success and, if they have time, personal happiness in Manhattan’s most glamorous neighborhood, Murray Hill.”
* Season two of Dark Matter premieres Friday, August 28th on Apple TV.
* Fuse Media is launching Fluffy TV, a FAST channel devoted to comedian Gabriel “Fluffy” Iglesias.
* Paramount+ has renewed Canada Shore for a second season.
* The 33rd Annual Actor Awards Presented by SAG-AFTRA will stream live on Netflix on Sunday, February 28th, 2027. The Actor Awards also revealed that The 34th Annual Actor Awards Presented by SAG-AFTRA will take place on Sunday, February 20th, 2028.
* The new Judd Apatow-directed documentary, Paralyzed by Hope: The Maria Bamford Story, is premiering tonight at the MSP International Film Festival. MSP Magazine has an interview with Bamford that is worth reading.
* Season nine of Rick And Morty premieres Sunday, May 24th on Adult Swim.
* The Summer House spinoff In The City premieres Tuesday, May 19th on Bravo.
* In the category of “I am pretty sure I am otherwise busy that night,” Faith & Forgiveness: A Duck Dynasty Love Story” premieres Saturday, May 16th on Lifetime.
* The Lifetime movie Where The Heart Lands premieres Saturday, May 30th. It stars Jana Kramer and Tyler Johnson, and it “follows a driven Los Angeles real estate agent whose life takes an unexpected turn to Kentucky and leads him to a love he never saw coming.” Haylie Duff directs, produces and serves as co-writer.
* The Sky Original series Prisoner premieres Thursday, April 30th on Sky Atlantic and the streaming service NOW. Here is a first look at the series and this is the official logline: “Prisoner follows Amber (Izuka Hoyle), a principled young prison transport officer tasked with escorting Tibor (Tahar Rahim), a trained killer and high-value inmate, to court to testify against his elite crime syndicate. When their convoy is brutally ambushed, she’s forced to put her life in his hands. As the sole survivors, handcuffed and on the run, they must race to reach their destination alive and on time. Along the way, their uneasy alliance is tested as the syndicate closes in. Trust becomes a weapon and their shackled survival a moral dilemma, forcing Amber to confront how far she’ll go to protect what matters most.”
I AM SURE THIS WILL END WELL
There has been a lot of reporting that CBS News head Bari Weiss intends on making some changes at the long-running newsmagazine 60 Minutes when the current season wraps. Oliver Darcy at Status has a look at what might be in store and matches a lot of what I’ve heard from people working there:
One aspect of the show that Weiss has privately questioned, Status has learned, is its three-story-per-episode formula, with each piece running approximately 13 minutes. Weiss, I’m told, has wondered why the show can’t break from that formula and run stories of varying lengths, even floating the possibility of airing pieces from her opinion outlet The Free Press—an idea that, unsurprisingly, raised eyebrows.
It’s unclear how serious Weiss was when making the comments, though CBS News has been integrating The Free Press into its operations since Ellison purchased it last year and named Weiss editor in chief. Weiss often hosts freewheeling discussions as brainstorming efforts and does not necessarily plan to implement the ideas, or for them to leak. A spokesperson for CBS News declined to comment for this story. But a person familiar with leadership’s thinking said she had not suggested having “60 Minutes” run pieces from The Free Press, but that the show could simply look to stories from the anti-woke outlet for inspiration for longer pieces.
Regardless, the notion that she wants to meddle in the venerable program is not sitting well with the “60 Minutes” staff, who do not believe she has the television experience, investigative reporting skills, or even a basic understanding of the program’s mechanics to overhaul it.
WHAT’S COMING TONIGHT AND TOMORROW
WEDNESDAY, APRIL 8TH:
* Gals Can’t Be Kind To Otaku!? Series Premiere (Crunchyroll)
* Love & Hip-Hop: Miami Season Premiere (BET)
* Re:ZERO -Starting Life In Another World Series Premiere (Crunchyroll)
* Rent-A-Girlfriend (Crunchyroll)
* The Boys Season Five Premiere (Prime Video)
* The Floor Season Five Premiere (Fox)
* The Testaments Series Premiere (Hulu)
* The Trial Of Christine Keeler (BritBox)
* Trust Me: The False Prophet (Netflix)
THURSDAY, APRIL 9TH:
* A Hundred Scenes Of AWAJIMA Series Premiere (Crunchyroll)
* Bandi Series Premiere (Netflix)
* Big Mistakes Series Premiere (Netflix)
* Dangerous Truth Series Premiere (Viaplay)
* Kujima: Why Sing, When You Can Warble? Series Premiere (Crunchyroll)
* 18th Rose (Netflix)
* Hacks Season Five Premiere (HBO Max)
* Original Gangsters With Sean Bean Series Premiere (AMC+/Sundance Now)
* The Miniature Wife Series Premiere (Peacock)
* The Warrior Princess And The Barbaric King Series Premiere (Crunchyroll)
SEE YOU THURSDAY!