What are you watching in 2025?

[Jay Bee]

Just finished watching the Night Agent season 3 on Netflix.

Sounds like p0rn.

[mu_hilltopper]

Just finished watching the Night Agent season 3 on Netflix.

And? 

I liked season 1, but made only made it about two episodes into Season 2 because it was galactically dumb.

[reinko]

Paradise on Hulu is so out there with the premise - but executed at a pretty high level.  Season 2 dropped a 3 episode premiere this week and the first two have been rock solid.

[jesmu84]

Paradise on Hulu is so out there with the premise - but executed at a pretty high level.  Season 2 dropped a 3 episode premiere this week and the first two have been rock solid.

They need to end it before it gets into Lost territory

[reinko]

They need to end it before it gets into Lost territory

I've read they are doing 3 seasons and that's it.

[CreightonWarrior]

And? 

I liked season 1, but made only made it about two episodes into Season 2 because it was galactically dumb.

I also watched season 1 but heard many different places the same thing you just said so didn't even bother watching season 2.

[MU82]

We've watched the first three episodes of Night Agent S3, and we think it's definitely better than S2 - so far, anyway.

[Pakuni]

I'm going to miss HBO.

[MU82]

I'm going to miss HBO.

CNN is more likely to disappear.

[Pakuni]

CNN is more likely to disappear.

Oh, I don't think HBO is going away. But if the the nepo baby runs it the way he runs Paramount, quality will take a nosedive.

[JWags85]

Oh, I don't think HBO is going away. But if the the nepo baby runs it the way he runs Paramount, quality will take a nosedive.

Not trying to go to battle for David Ellison, but what has he done in the 7 months since taking over that would say scripted quality would take a nosedive?  I don't think the CBS News move translates to "everything else will be terrible".  Skydance Media wasn't in the business of prestige films, but they certainly weren't a joke.

[Hards Alumni]

Not trying to go to battle for David Ellison, but what has he done in the 7 months since taking over that would say scripted quality would take a nosedive?  I don't think the CBS News move translates to "everything else will be terrible".  Skydance Media wasn't in the business of prestige films, but they certainly weren't a joke.

People openly mock what CBS news has become.  And they should.

[Pakuni]

Not trying to go to battle for David Ellison, but what has he done in the 7 months since taking over that would say scripted quality would take a nosedive?  I don't think the CBS News move translates to "everything else will be terrible".  Skydance Media wasn't in the business of prestige films, but they certainly weren't a joke.

Ellison's first move after the merger was to announce plans to reduce 2,000 jobs companywide - about 10% of the workforce. That on top of a 3.5% workforce reduction a few months earlier.
Paramount entertainment's most valuable asset was Taylor Sheridan, who last fall announced he's leaving the company. And made it clear on his way out that it wasn't because of his personal compensation, but because of creative friction with Skydance and the company's insistence on him slashing production costs.

My suspicion is if they're going to try to impose production cost reductions on their most valuable assets, they won't hesitate to do it on their newly acquired properties as well. And whether there's an economic argument to be made for the layoffs last fall, it's hard to argue that cutting a tenth of your workforce won't affect quality.

My other thought is that Paramount is clearly overpaying for WBD and the only way for them to recover from that is through cost-savings measures. Will they find some bloat and redundancies that can be eliminated without it affecting quality? Sure, probably lots. But probably not enough to make this deal financially viable.
Either way, this has the potential to be another AOL-Time Warner.

[jesmu84]

What happened to anti-trust?

[JWags85]

Ellison's first move after the merger was to announce plans to reduce 2,000 jobs companywide - about 10% of the workforce. That on top of a 3.5% workforce reduction a few months earlier.
Paramount entertainment's most valuable asset was Taylor Sheridan, who last fall announced he's leaving the company. And made it clear on his way out that it wasn't because of his personal compensation, but because of creative friction with Skydance and the company's insistence on him slashing production costs.

My suspicion is if they're going to try to impose production cost reductions on their most valuable assets, they won't hesitate to do it on their newly acquired properties as well. And whether there's an economic argument to be made for the layoffs last fall, it's hard to argue that cutting a tenth of your workforce won't affect quality.

My other thought is that Paramount is clearly overpaying for WBD and the only way for them to recover from that is through cost-savings measures. Will they find some bloat and redundancies that can be eliminated without it affecting quality? Sure, probably lots. But probably not enough to make this deal financially viable.
Either way, this has the potential to be another AOL-Time Warner.

That's fair.  Regardless of politics, you don't seem like the type to be that baseline of "Trump ally bad, so his business will be bad", so was curious the reason.

I don't necessarily automatically connect workforce slashing to a quick decline in quality, especially when its large mergers, but running a major media conglomerate is much different than being a movie producer and media production house, so the burden of proof of competency is certainly on him. I will say I saw a lot of people bemoaning the slashing of MTV properties domestically and abroad, but that actually made a lot of sense cause MTV has been nothing but a reality TV vehicle for almost 20 years.

The Taylor Sheridan thing is interesting cause that first deal was a MASSIVE success for Paramount, I think they paid $200-300MM for his contract and I saw something like $800MM they made on his properties.  But his deal with NBC/Universal is supposedly $1B so I find it hard to believe that money wasn't a significant component.  Especially since he doesn't know how to do low budget and his deal with NBC includes movies as well as series.

People openly mock what CBS news has become.  And they should.

Sure, but people mock ESPN and have a point, but that doesn't mean I assume all Disney programming quality will stink as well.

[MU82]

Soul Power on Amazon Prime is an interesting look back at the old ABA. Lots of great footage and interviews.

I was a teenage basketball fanatic when Dr. J was with the Nets, and he was like a god on the court. So episodes 2 and 3, especially, resonated with me.

[muwarrior69]

Soul Power on Amazon Prime is an interesting look back at the old ABA. Lots of great footage and interviews.

I was a teenage basketball fanatic when Dr. J was with the Nets, and he was like a god on the court. So episodes 2 and 3, especially, resonated with me.

When he played for 76ers I got to see him play in person quite often as my boss had season tickets through the company. He was an incredible athlete to watch especially in person.

[lostpassword]

Soul Power on Amazon Prime is an interesting look back at the old ABA. Lots of great footage and interviews.

I was a teenage basketball fanatic when Dr. J was with the Nets, and he was like a god on the court. So episodes 2 and 3, especially, resonated with me.

I enjoyed this as well.  I was previously unaware of the KY Colonels unique story and intrigued about their being left out of the merger.