Netflix ad tier struggles / "Rings of Power" S2 update / "1923" breaks records / Emmy category switch-up

Plus today's calendar, "Criminal Minds" lawsuit, Netflix scraps "Ember," "Justified" revival details, and more

Inside.com Part of   Network December 20, 2022

New data from the analytics firm Antenna indicates that Netflix's new low-cost ad-supported tier is its least-popular option for new subscribers. Just 9% of new Netflix subscribers have opted for the "Netflix Basic with Ads" tier over the last month. More: Apparently, over half of ad plan sign-ups were people re-upping expired subscriptions or joining Netflix for the first time. Another 43% of sign-ups were subscribers downgrading their more costly accounts to ad-supported plans. The $9.99/month "Basic" subscription tier remains Netflix's most popular in the US. Netflix will release its Q4 earnings report on January 19, when the company is expected to provide more internal data about the ad tier rollout. Due to pre-existing licensing deals, several popular shows on Netflix become inaccessible once you downgrade to an ad-supported plan, including "The Last Kingdom" and "Peaky Blinders." Antenna provided select data to both Gizmodo and The Wall Street Journal. GIZMODO

Amazon Studios' head of Global TV, Vernon Sanders, chatted with Deadline about the success of "The Rings of Power" Season 1 and the company's plans for the franchise. Sanders told Deadline that the big risk on a "Lord of the Rings" series -- which reportedly cost $465 million for just one season -- has already "more than paid off." More: According to Amazon's internal data, "Rings of Power" broke several Prime Video viewership records, including most international viewers (25 million), most overall viewers (over 100 million), most minutes streamed (24 billion), and most signups during its launch window. Sanders also claims that the series boosted sales of author J.R.R. Tolkien's "Lord of the Rings" books on Amazon.com. Sanders promised that Season 2 will "ramp up the pace" of the storytelling and involve even larger-scale battle scenes. He also indicates that a Season 3 renewal is likely to happen in the early part of 2023. When asked about the decision to recast the character of Adar, replacing actor Joseph Malwe with Sam Hazeldine, Sanders remained vague, offering only "it didn't work out." Sanders also confirmed that the animated superhero comedy-drama series "Invincible" will return with new episodes in 2023. DEADLINE

DAILY CALENDAR TUESDAY, DECEMBER 20 MARIAH CAREY: MERRY CHRISTMAS TO ALL! Two-hour concert special, filmed at New York's Madison Square Garden arena, and featuring the iconic singer-songwriter performing a repertoire of holiday hits, including her seasonal favorite, "All I Want for Christmas Is You." The show airs Tuesday night on CBS and streams on Paramount+; it will also air on the MTV cable network throughout the weekend. [Paramount+] FEAR THE WALKING DEAD: Season 7 of AMC's "Walking Dead" spinoff finds a group of survivors, led by Morgan Jones (Lennie James), attempting to survive nuclear fallout in post-apocalyptic zombie-filled Texas. Alycia Debnam-Carey, Colman Domingo, Danay García, Austin Amelio, Keith Carradine, Jenna Elfman, Rubén Blades, and Mo Collins co-star. [Hulu] WHEN HOPE CALLS CHRISTMAS: Hallmark's "When Calls the Heart" and "When Hope Calls" series -- both based on the "Canadian West" books by Janette Oke -- returned in 2021 with this two-part holiday special, also known as "A Country Christmas." [Amazon] THE SEVEN DEADLY SINS: GRUDGE OF EDINBURGH: Two-part movie spun off from the anime series, in which Tristan, the son of "Seven Deadly Sins" protagonists Meliodas and Elizabeth, heads to Edinburgh Castle to protect his family and unlock his true powers. [Netflix] A NOT SO MERRY CHRISTMAS (REVIVIENDO LA NAVIDAD): Spanish-language holiday comedy feature from Mexico starring Mauricio Ochmann as a grinch named Chuy who's cursed by a fairy. For the rest of his life, though he lives through full calendar years, he only experiences and remembers Christmas Day. [Netflix]

According to Paramount+, the "Yellowstone" prequel series "1923" had the most-watched premiere in the streaming platform's history. Paramount claims "1923" surpassed the previous record-holder's initial views by around 80% in its first few days online. More: "1923" easily beat out previous Paramount+ debuts such as "Halo," "Mayor of Kingstown," "Tulsa King," and the prior "Yellowstone" prequel series, "1883." Overall, the new Western drama's pilot drew 7.4 million total viewers across Paramount+ and cable TV broadcasts; Paramount Global did not break down the views individually by platform. The series stars Harrison Ford and Helen Mirren, and centers on members of the Dutton ranching family in the titular year. DEADLINE

John Oliver The Television Academy updated the rules around the "Variety Talk" and "Variety Sketch" Emmy categories. Those two awards will be replaced by two new categories: "Talk Series" and "Scripted Variety Series." More: HBO's "Last Week Tonight with John Oliver" has won the Variety Talk Emmy for the last seven years; it will now compete against "Saturday Night Live" as a Scripted Variety series. Until 2014, all of these shows were compiled under a single category, "Variety Series." As late night talk shows had become overwhelmingly dominant, in 2015, the TV Academy split the award into Variety Talk and Variety Sketch. Last year, the Variety Sketch Series category had only two nominees: "Saturday Night Live" and "A Black Lady Sketch Show." DEADLINE

ABC Signature plans to pay $3 million to settle a sexual harassment and retailiation suit relating to the series "Criminal Minds." The suit, filed in May 2020, alleges that cineamtographer Greg St. Johns harassed numerous male crew members on the series, both physically and via unwelcome and threatening comments. More: The suit further claimed that ABC, other production companies, and "individual producers" ignored the initial harassment and fired crew members who complained. "Criminal Minds" aired on CBS from 2005 to 2020; a revival series, subtitled "Evolution," is currently streaming on Paramount+. The harassment apparently violated the Fair Employment and Housing Act, the Ralph Civil Rights Act, and other provisions of the Civil Code; the lawsuit was brought by the California Civil Rights Department. VARIETY

Netflix canceled development of the hand-drawn animated film "Ember," from "Klaus" director Sergio Pablos. The filmmaker -- who also helped develop concepts for the animated films "Despicable Me" and "Smallfoot" -- retains the rights to the project and plans to shop the film around elsewhere. More: "Ember" is one of several animated projects that have been recently terminated by Netflix, also including "Wings of Fire" from producer Ava DuVernay, the educational series "Antiracist Baby," and "With Kind Regards from Kindergarten." "Ember" is an "epic adventure tale" about a prehistoric girl who travels to a distant volcano to retrieve a precious spark of fire and save her tribe. VARIETY

QUICK HITS No more waiting weeks to find a therapist. Sign up with BetterHelp and you can get matched with a therapist in less than 48 hours.* Showrunners Dave Andron and Michael Dinner previewed their plans for the "Justified" revival series, subtitled "City Primeval," which hits FX and Hulu next year. The French-English co-production "Liaison" -- a six-episode spy thriller starring Vincent Cassel and Eva Green -- hits Apple TV+ around the globe on February 24. Paramount+ dropped some early images from the upcoming "Grease" prequel series "Rise of the Pink Ladies" and the "Fatal Attraction" series adaptation starring Lizzy Caplan and Joshua Jackson. Cinedigm grabbed the North American rights to the four-part docuseries "RoboDoc: The Creation of RoboCop"; it will launch on the Screambox horror-focused service next year. *This is sponsored content

Lon Harris is the writer and editor of Inside Streaming and was the very first person to ever write an Inside newsletter. He lives in Los Angeles, California, and also writes about TV and film for Fandom, Screen Junkies, Rotten Tomatoes, Gamma Ray and others. Plus he has a Game of Thrones podcast called "Casterly Talk" and competes on The Movie Trivia Schmoedown as "The Professor." Editor Eduardo Garcia is a writer and editor based in New York. He is the author of "Things You Can Do," an illustrated book about climate action. Bylines in The New York Times, The Guardian, Slate, Scientific American, and others. In one of his previous lives, Eduardo worked as a Reuters correspondent in Latin America for nearly a decade.

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