Latest news with #PeakTV
RTÉ News
7 days ago
- Entertainment
- RTÉ News
From 30 Rock to Deadwood: 6 US TV classics to binge on RTÉ player
Just when you think you've watched everything, it might be time to go back and discover (or rediscover) some classic U.S. telly via RTÉ Player - but where to begin? Here are five of our favourites, currently available to binge in their entirety... 30 Rock Liz Lemon, head writer of the sketch-comedy show TGS with Tracy Jordan, must deal with an arrogant boss and a crazy star while trying to run a successful television show without losing her mind... Tina Fey's whipsmart classic is often ranked among the greatest (and most eminently quotable) US sitcoms of all times, and rightfully so; her banter with co-star Alec Baldwin is for the ages - watch all seven seasons here. Deadwood People flee to Deadwood, South Dakota, with the dream of getting rich. However, not everyone can survive the chaos and lawlessness of the town... One of the cornerstones of the modern age of Peak TV, David Milch's western epic boasts one of the greatest anti-heroes of them all, Ian McShane's despicable (and eminently quoatable) Al Swearengen - watch all three seasons here. The West Wing Martin Sheen stars as U.S. President Jed Bartlett in Aaron Sorkin's seminal political drama, documenting the triumphs and travails of White House senior staff - 25 years on, it's a snapshot of a radically different era in U.S. politics, anchored by one of the great ensemble casts - watch all seven seasons here The Good Fight First came The Good Wife, then came this spin-off starring theincomparable Christine as Good Wife scene-stealer Diane Lockhart, a high-flying lawyer scammed out of her life savings and forced to start afresh... It's a choice legal drama, one unafraid to tackle the madness of modern American politics, with a knockout lineup of guest stars (including Matthew Perry's last great performance - watch all six seasons here Frasier One of the few TV spin-offs that holds its own against the original, Dr. Frasier Crane (Kelsey Grammer) leaves the bar at Cheers and moves back to his hometown of Seattle, where he lives with his father (the late, great John Mahoney), works as a radio psychiatrist and blunders his way through an endless number of sublimely farcial scenarios - for a masterclass in comedy, watch all 11 seasons here Mad Men In 1960s New York City, an ad agency mixes cutthroat business and social ambition with glamorous allure... Often found vying for the top spot in lists of the Greatest TV Show Of All Time, this gives us another unforgettable anti-hero, Jon Hamm's inscrutable Don Draper, and totally lands the ending, to boot - watch all seven seasons here
Miami Herald
20-05-2025
- Entertainment
- Miami Herald
‘Sesame Street,' facing crisis, signs new deal with Netflix
After many difficult months, 'Sesame Street' has a moment to celebrate. 'Sesame Street,' the 56-year-old institution of children's television, has signed a new distribution deal with Netflix, as well as a separate deal with PBS, the show announced Monday. That means new episodes of 'Sesame Street' will now be available to the more than 300 million subscribers of Netflix, giving the program significantly more reach than in the past. New episodes will also be available on PBS the day they are released on Netflix, the first time in roughly a decade that the public broadcaster will have access to brand-new 'Sesame Street' content. The new agreements will go into effect later this year. The deal is a much-needed shot in the arm for Sesame Workshop, the nonprofit that produces 'Sesame Street' and has been in the throes of a financial crisis. Sesame Workshop laid off about 20% of its staff this year after several grants dried up, and, more significantly, it confronted a significant loss in revenue with the expiration of its current distribution deal, a lucrative contract with HBO. Since 2015, HBO has paid Sesame Workshop $30 million to $35 million a year for new episodes of 'Sesame Street,' The New York Times reported. But Warner Bros. Discovery, HBO's parent company, let that deal expire as it turns away from children's content and faces financial challenges of its own. It was not immediately clear how much Netflix paid to distribute the show. But Sesame Workshop executives have warned employees for months that any new distribution agreements would bring in less revenue than the old HBO deal. In a note to staff, Sherrie Westin, CEO of Sesame Workshop, said it was 'certainly worth celebrating' that the show would be available in many more households. But, she added, 'the economics of these agreements are vastly different than those of the past, given the drastic market and media landscape shifts in recent years.' The Netflix and PBS pact ends an extended odyssey. About a year ago, Sesame Workshop executives had anticipated finding a new distribution partner within a few months, and they entered discussions with all of the biggest players, including Netflix, YouTube, Disney, Amazon and NBCUniversal. But it quickly became apparent that a deal would be much harder to come by. A big part of the problem was the sudden death of 'Peak TV,' when media companies drastically increased their spending on programming to draw streaming subscribers. Many media companies have now reduced their investments in producing or licensing new shows as they try to wring out profits from their streaming services. Warner Bros. Discovery dropped the $30 million to $35 million deal that it made with Sesame Workshop at the height of Peak TV and instead signed a $6 million-a-year deal for back library episodes of the show last year. Between the reduced revenue and the Trump administration's abrupt cancellation of some grants, Sesame Workshop found itself in a deep financial crisis. As the organization made cuts, its administrative staff successfully unionized. 'Sesame Street' also confronts a more competitive children's television landscape than when it reached the HBO deal. According to an internal Sesame Workshop study reviewed by the Times, 'Sesame Street' ranks below many other children's shows in overall engagement, including 'Bluey,' 'PAW Patrol,' 'Peppa Pig,' 'Baby Shark,' 'Cocomelon' and 'Blippi.' YouTube is also awash in children's content, including 'Ms. Rachel,' a hit show that Netflix began licensing last year. 'Ms. Rachel' has become a standout series on Netflix in just a matter of months. Given all of the competition, 'Sesame Street' will unveil a revamped show later this year, with fewer segments and more animation. The new deal will give 'Sesame Street' greater reach than it had under the HBO deal. Netflix has more than 300 million subscribers, while Max, soon to be renamed HBO Max, has about 122 million. Netflix will get access to new episodes of the reimagined 56th season, which is in production, as well as 90 hours of library episodes. The company also said it would be able to develop games for 'Sesame Street.' Netflix is doubling down on children's content, which the company has said accounts for 15% of viewing on the service. On Monday, the streaming company announced the release of a new game dedicated to 'Peppa Pig.' A separate deal with PBS will give the public broadcaster and its digital channels access to episodes the day they are released on Netflix. Under the HBO deal for the past decade, PBS could release new episodes only many months after they first appeared on cable or streaming. 'I want to most sincerely thank every Sesame team member who worked tirelessly for so long to finalize these agreements,' Westin told staff members Monday. She added: 'It wasn't easy.' This article originally appeared in The New York Times. Copyright 2025
Yahoo
02-05-2025
- Entertainment
- Yahoo
Production Assistants, Seeing Work Dwindle, View a Union as Their Future
On a scale of 'highly valued' to 'thankless,' the roles that production assistants play on film and television sets can swing towards the latter. Delivering lunch, escorting cast members, managing background actors, maintaining radio equipment — it's all in production assistants' repertoires, with the general expectation being that, as entry-level workers in a cutthroat creative industry, they are eager to please as they work lengthy hours for around minimum wage. But one group believes longstanding norms around these roles can and should change. For a bit less than a year, Production Assistants United has been taking steps to unionize these workers nationwide with the backing of Burbank-based LiUNA Local 724, which represents electricians, plumbers and carpenters on Hollywood productions. Organizers are aiming to increase wages, enshrine turnaround times and provide access to union health benefits — in other words, to give these workers some of the same benefits as their union colleagues on set. More from The Hollywood Reporter Writers Guild West Staff Union Voluntarily Recognized Cinematographers Guild Elects John Lindley Its National President SAG-AFTRA Launches Influencer Committee Amid Further Push Into Creator Economy It's a bold move at a time when U.S. production is lagging and set jobs are harder to come by than they were during the Peak TV boom times. Union organizing always involves a level of risk, which early-career workers might be less eager to undertake when times are tough. That hasn't deterred Production Assistants United and LiUNA Local 724, which are pushing ahead and making a bid for further visibility with a rally on Sunday at IATSE Local 80's Burbank headquarters. Clio Byrne-Gudding, one of the group's L.A.-based organizers, says they want Sunday's event to send the message that 'this isn't just an ambitious and kind of underdog movement, but is actually legitimate. It's real.' Echoes Alex Aguilar, LiUNA Local 724's business manager, 'We're here and we're not going away.' Still, the effort faces an upward climb. Starting as a grassroots group spurred to action by the 2023 writers' and actors strikes, the next year Production Assistants United set out publicly to unionize all types of production assistants, assistants and production secretaries for narrative film and television across the U.S., a group they currently estimate numbers more than 10,000 people. Their bid to represent this sprawling group only got more difficult once it became clear over the course of 2024 and into 2025 that production wasn't going to be roaring back in the U.S. post-strikes. According to the latest report from L.A.'s film office, production days on location decreased more than 22 percent in the first quarter of 2025 compared with an already meek period in 2024. 'This is definitely the biggest challenge I've ever faced,' admits Aguilar, who says that effort has received backing from Local 724's Washington, D.C.-based umbrella union, which has devoted financial, organizational, training and education resources. 'But I'm up for it. And I think so is our organizing committee.' So far organizers have broken up their undertaking by region, with an early focus on the film hubs of Los Angeles, New York City, Chicago and Atlanta, including their surrounding areas, as well as Texas. They debuted union authorization cards — which labor groups use to demonstrate the level of support they enjoy within a particular workforce — in February. The group plans to target studios in the Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers individually once they decide they have majority support amongst that company's production assistants. That's been a moving target. Production assistants' top issues, in this particular political climate, have shifted from higher pay to having reliable work, says L.A.-based organizer Nalani Rodgers. The state of the business has also complicated matters. Sometimes when organizers make cold calls to production assistants, their effort is received like a service organization, says Byrne-Gudding. 'They're like, 'Oh, it's so great what you guys are doing,' when in fact the only way that this is going to happen is if they take action,' they say. 'Which is kind of a difficult thing to communicate to someone because times are so hopeless right now.' During this period of industry pessimism, the group has placed an emphasis on emboldening production assistants and teaching them more about labor organizing. As they're calling workers and visiting them on sets prior to call times, they're trying to instill the idea of 'these productions cannot be run without you,' says L.A.-based organizer Ethan Ravens. The group also made fiery speeches at Sen. Bernie Sanders' and U.S. Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez's 'Fighting Oligarchy' tour stop in Los Angeles on April 12, portraying production assistants as essential but downtrodden workers for some of the U.S.' biggest corporate players, including Apple and Amazon. 'We're organizing not just to fix one job but to transform the entire industry for future generations of workers,' Ravens said in his speech. Sunday's rally will likely tap into some of the same themes — of channeling the leverage that production assistants have on sets and building a brighter future for Hollywood workers — while also demonstrating that the movement has the support of other Hollywood labor organizations. So far, Teamsters Local 399 leader Lindsay Dougherty, Writers Guild of America West board member Adam Conover and SAG-AFTRA secretary-treasurer Joely Fisher have been announced as speakers. Will production assistants embrace the call to start making moves at such a challenging moment? The answer will become clearer over the next few months, with attendance at Sunday's event in L.A., and at satellite events in Chicago and New York City, serving as a key bellwether. Says Aguilar, 'It's never the perfect time to organize. You just have to organize.' Best of The Hollywood Reporter How the Warner Brothers Got Their Film Business Started Meet the World Builders: Hollywood's Top Physical Production Executives of 2023 Men in Blazers, Hollywood's Favorite Soccer Podcast, Aims for a Global Empire
Forbes
16-04-2025
- Entertainment
- Forbes
Post-Writers' Strike, The Number Of TV Writing Jobs Is Way Down
The number of TV writing jobs took a big hit during the 2023-'24 season, according to new statistics released by the Writers Guild of America (WGA). A combination of issues, including the 2023 writers' strike, led to the downturn. While strike-impacted jobs may come back, the union indicated others may not—which could point to a long-term slowdown. According to the WGA, TV writing jobs declined 42% from the 2022-'23 season to the 2023'24 season. The latter, of course, was impacted by the strike, which began in May 2023 and didn't resolve until fall, wiping out four months of work. A subsequent actors' strike that went into 2024 also affected jobs. However, other factors were also at play. The Guild noted in its report that the number of original scripted shows on cable has dropped, reflecting viewers' longstanding move away from traditional television to streaming platforms. As companies' ratings go down, so does their ad revenue and ability to demand higher deals from cable carriers, impacting the bottom line and the budget for new shows. There were simply fewer shows for writers to get jobs on. The WGA said there were 37% fewer WGA-covered episodic series during the 2023-'24 season, which again reflects the strike as well as the end of the so-called Peak TV era, when there was both a boom in the number and quality of TV shows reflecting new platform popularity. Additionally, streaming platforms seem to have rethought their early strategy of spending heavily on content to see what sticks. Many streamers are feeling pressure from Wall Street to reach profitability following years of losses. During earnings calls with investors, CEOs have been careful to outline new plans for profitability that were of less concern a few years ago, as platforms found their footing. While TV writers at every level felt the impact of job losses, it seems senior positions took the worst hit. The WGA said almost half of the lost jobs, 642, came in the showrunner and co-executive producer spots. Mid-level jobs, including supervising and consulting producers as well as co-producers, took the second-biggest hit, down 42%, while low-level jobs like staff writer, story editor and executive story editor had the least—though still a substantial number at 299. The report noted that there were fewer TV jobs than at the start of the COVID-19 pandemic during the 2019-2022 season, which resulted in delays and job losses. For example, that year there were 1,332 senior-level jobs, which fell to 952 for 2023-'24. Jobs did bounce back up across every category following that first COVID year, so there is hope that the strike was a blip that won't have a lasting effect.
Yahoo
28-03-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
The New Normal? California Entertainment Industry Work Sees Modest Growth as Production Levels Lag
Employment in the entertainment industry in California saw major gains last year, adding nearly 15,000 jobs as it rebounds from sharp contraction leading up to and during the 2023 strikes. But the latest Otis College Report on the Creative Economy, released on Thursday, shows that work in the sector remains far below pre-strike levels. Only a quarter of jobs lost after 2022, when Peak TV peaked, have come back to the state. Combined with data on production in Los Angeles, the study suggests that employment may not bounce back anytime soon. More from The Hollywood Reporter Film and TV Shows Shooting in California May Get 35 Percent Subsidy Under Changes to Bill Major Hollywood Crew Union Takes Over In Oklahoma After "Financial Malpractice" Claims Sunset Studios Pivots From Plan to Develop Major Soundstage Complex Outside U.S. At the forefront of questions brought by the findings: Whether the industry in California is settling into what the report calls a 'new normal' characterized by lower production levels and employment compared to the years preceding the strike. Data from film permitting office FilmLA suggests that the trend may continue as production in the region last year hit an all-time-low, with 23,480 shoot days. For comparison, the five years from 2017 to 2022 saw an average of 37,624 shoot days (these figures exclude 2020, when filming was halted amid the pandemic). The erosion of production in California can be attributed to a confluence of factors. Studios in 2022 slashed production budgets after a yearslong race to create original content for their streaming platforms. As penny-pinching became even more vital coming out of the strikes, productions are increasingly opting to shoot in regions with more generous subsidies for Hollywood. Lawmakers have taken notice of the flight of movies and TV shows out of California. The state's program that provides tax relief to the industry is now looking at a major revamp amid a tit-for-tat race to host Hollywood. The overhaul includes increasing the cap from $330 million to $750 million a year and vastly boosting the credit to 35 percent while expanding the category of productions that qualify to include shorter TV shows, animated titles and certain types of unscripted projects. It remains to be seen whether this will be enough to measurably restore production and work in the state, though there's skepticism considering the massive drop-off in Los Angeles shooting levels over the past two years. There's been a roughly 20 percent decline in film and TV employment in California versus 2022, when work in the sector hit a high point, according to census data. Still, California is by far the most powerful player in the entertainment industry in the United States. It accounts for 35 percent of all film, TV and sound employment and a quarter of all new media jobs, according to Thursday's report. It's also home to 37 percent of managers, independent artists and performers. Sectors that compromise the creative economy for the report include film, TV and sound; traditional media; new media; fine arts; managers, independent artists and performers; advertising; architecture; fashion; and design and manufacturing. Of these groups, traditional media posted the largest dip in jobs over five years (34,993), while new media posted the largest gain over the same period (22,505). The latter sector now accounts for 31 percent of all creative jobs in California, ahead of film, TV and sound, which accounts for 17 percent. In a bid to curb runaway production, local industry folk launched the 'Stay in L.A.' initiative, which calls for emergency measures to restore local filming. It also urges studios to pledge at least 10 percent more production in L.A. over the next three years. Best of The Hollywood Reporter How the Warner Brothers Got Their Film Business Started Meet the World Builders: Hollywood's Top Physical Production Executives of 2023 Men in Blazers, Hollywood's Favorite Soccer Podcast, Aims for a Global Empire
