"Suits" still #1 / WGA responds to AMPTP deal / TCLtv+ launches / "Nancy Drew" EP slams CW

Plus the weekend calendar, "Moving" is Disney+'s top Korean series, Keanu Reeves' "Brawn," "Henry Sugar" release date, and more

Inside Streaming For August 25, 2023

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Happy Friday! "Suits" fever is FINALLY starting to slow this week. It's the first time in over a month that the USA comedy-drama series didn't best its own all-time streaming record for any licensed program. The show has now overtaken Netflix's much-touted "Wednesday" in terms of overall popularity. In context, only a small handful of streaming shows -- the "Tiger King" and "Stranger Things"-level juggernauts -- have EVER enjoyed more popularity than "Suits" this summer. Coupled with the studios' ongoing hesitance to show anyone the real streaming numbers, including their own colleagues in the WGA and SAG-AFTRA, it's tempting to conclude that the vast majority of streaming shows and films aren't really doing that impressively, relative to the "Suits" of the world. It seems clear now that the lion's share of viewership goes to the highest-profile shows and films on every streaming service, while everything else -- the deep libraries of content on which studios and streamers are dropping billions of dollars annually -- is largely sitting around gathering proverbial dust. So perhaps streamers don't want to be fully transparent about viewership so they don't have to pay excessive residuals to writers, actors, and other members of the creative team. But it seems more likely at this point that they're hiding the data from investors on Wall Street, who would probably balk at the epic price tags for under-seen series like Amazon's "Wheel of Time" and "Citadel," and Apple's "Foundation." Lon p/lon-harris

1 "Suits" remained the most popular streaming show in the US between July 24-30, drawing 3.6 billion viewing minutes across Netflix and Peacock. "Suits" Mania does seem to be slowing down somewhat; this was the first time in four weeks that the show did not best its own weekly viewership record for any licensed or acquired series. More: "Suits" has been viewed for more than 20 billion minutes in the six weeks since it debuted on Nielsen's Top 10 list. It's now the second most-viewed streaming series over any six week period, knocking Netflix's "Wednesday" down the list; only "Stranger Things" Season 4 received more views in its first six weeks. Hulu's "Futurama" revival was viewed for 506 million minutes during this week, making its first appearance on Nielsen's list of most-viewed streaming originals.

2 In a message to members this week, the Writers Guild of America (WGA) described the latest offer from the studios and streamers as "neither nothing, nor nearly enough." WGA negotiators vowed to continue advocating "for proposals that fully address our issues," referring to the AMPTP's offer as "half measures." More: The latest studio offer includes the provision that AI can not be identified as a "writer" or a "professional writer," and thus its output can't be considered "literary material." The studios have declined to fully regulate the training of AI software to compose film and TV scripts; on the subject of AI, the WGA leadership said that they had seen "real discussions" and "movement" from the studios, but added "we are not yet where we need to be." The AMPTP also offered to allow showrunners to select at least two writers to staff a writers room; the WGA feels that this offer does not go far enough. The studios and streamers' offer around viewership transparency was apparently even more limited; six WGA staffers would be invited to study "limited streaming viewership data," but no actual writers would be informed about how their shows were doing, nor would they receive view-based residuals. The WGA Strike is now in its 116th day.

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3 WEEKEND CALENDAR FRIDAY, AUGUST 25 THE FLASH: 2023 superhero action film starring Ezra Miller as speedster Barry Allen aka The Flash. When Barry races back in time in an attempt to save his mother (Maribel Verdú), he accidentally rearranges the multiverse, and must work together with an alternate reality Batman (Michael Keaton) and Supergirl (Sasha Calle) to set things right. Micheal Shannon, Ron Livingston, Kiersey Clemons, and Ben Affleck co-star; Andy Muschietti ("It") directs. [Max] TRACKED: Debut reality competition series from New Zealand, in which international contestants with survival experience are dropped into the wilderness and must manually navigate to a remote extraction point, without being caught by experienced military trackers. Winners receive $100,000 in prize money. Vinnie Jones hosts. [Max] CINDERELLA: Newly-restored 4K version of the 1950 Walt Disney animated classic, produced over the course of several years by Disney's Restoration and Preservation Team based on the Library of Congress' original nitrate negative. The release commemorates "World Princess Week" as well as the Disney100 anniversary celebration. [Disney+] EXPLORER: LOST IN THE ARCTIC: Documentary feature from National Geographic, in which explorer Mark Synnott and filmmaker Renan Ozturk retrace Sir John Franklin's ill-fated 1845 Arctic expedition in search of a "Northwest Passage" between the Atlantic and Pacific Oceans. In 1847, Franklin and his entire crew of 128 men disappeared without a trace. The film debuted Thursday night on cable and streams today on both Disney+ and Hulu. [Disney+ and Hulu] VACATION FRIENDS 2: In this sequel to the 2021 20th Century Studios comedy, Marcus and Emily (Lil Rel Howery and Yvonne Orji) bring their new besties Ron and Kyla (John Cena and Meredith Hagner) along on an all-expenses-paid trip to the Caribbean. The unexpected arrival of Kyla's ex-convict father (Steve Buscemi) upends everyone's plans for a fun getaway. Clay Tarver returns as director. [Hulu] YOU ARE SO NOT INVITED TO MY BAT MITZVAH: Comedy drama feature, based on the 2005 YA novel by Fiona Rosenbloom, and co-starring Adam Sandler, his wife Jackie, and their two daughters. The story centers around the falling out between two high school best friends (Sunny Sandler and Samantha Lorraine) on the eve of their long-awaited, epic bat mitzvah celebrations. Idina Menzel and Sarah Sherman co-star; Sammi Cohen ("Crush") directed. [Netflix] KILLER BOOK CLUB (EL CLUB DE LOS LECTORES CRIMINALES): Thriller feature from Spain about a group of young friends who are being threatened by an anonymous novel writer, who somehow knows about the dark secret they all share. Veki Velilla, Iván Pellicer, Álvaro Mel, and Daniel Grao co-star; Carlos Alonso Ojea ("Los Inocentes") directed. [Netflix] MONICA: 2023 indie drama feature starring Trace Lysette as a trans woman who returns to her family after a prolonged estrangement, to care for her dying mother. Patricia Clarkson, Emily Browning, Adriana Barraza, and Joshua Close co-star; Andrea Pallaoro ("Hannah") co-wrote the screenplay and directed. "Monica" premiered at the 2022 Venice Film Festival. [AMC+] WAYNE SHORTER: ZERO GRAVITY: Three-part documentary profile of the legendary late saxophonist, commemorating his 90th birthday and focusing on his outsized influence on modern jazz. The film features interviews with Herbie Hancock, Joni Mitchell, Neil deGrasse Tyson, Marcus Miller, Esperanza Spalding, and others. Carlos Santana and Brad Pitt executive produced. [Amazon] DUNGEONS & DRAGONS: HONOR AMONG THIEVES: 2023 fantasy-comedy feature, inspired by the iconic tabletop role-playing game, about a team of adventurers who face off against an evil wizard in order to rescue their leader's kidnapped daughter. Chris Pine, Michelle Rodriguez, Hugh Grant, Justice Smith, Regé-Jean Page, and Sophia Lillis co-star; "Game Night" vets Jonathan Goldstein and John Francis Daley co-wrote and directed. [Amazon] THE COMEBACK: 2023 romantic comedy feature, starring Taye Diggs and Apryl Jones as a couple who moves their family back to their hometown of Atlanta, only to revisit all of the problems and issues they thought they'd left behind for good. Cedrick Cooper, Cj Sykes, Dréy Wigfall, and Judi Johnson co-star. [Peacock] SUNDAY, AUGUST 27 NAPA EVER AFTER: Romantic comedy-drama from Hallmark, about a lawyer who inherits a winery in Napa Valley, then gets to work renovating the property with the help of a handsome local. Denise Boutté and Colin Lawrence co-star. [Peacock]

4 Smart TV makers TCL introduced a new free streaming platform, TCLtv+, exclusively for set owners. TCLtv+ is built on top of Google TV, and boasts nearly 200 free live channels, along with around 1,500 on-demand movies and TV episodes. More: At some point, TCL hopes to open up the service to Roku and Fire TV users as well. TCLtv+ replaces the current "TCL Channel" on the companies smart TV sets. TCLtv+ is now available in the US and Canada. New TCL Smart TVs also come with a voucher for $200 off NFL Sunday Ticket.

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5 In a string of posts on X/Twitter, "Nancy Drew" producer Larry Teng criticized the way the show was canceled by executives at The CW. According to Teng, the "Nancy Drew" creative team only learned the show would not be picked up for additional episodes while scripting the Season 4 finale, which turned out to be the series finale. More: Teng claims that "Nancy Drew" producers learned about the cancellation after receiving a call from CBS Studios about an unrelated matter. Apparently, CW's new executive team felt that the series was "too expensive" to continue. Teng criticized CW for having "no consideration" about giving fans "a proper goodbye" or "closure" on the series, adding "they suck." The CW did not respond to requests for comment.

6 The superhero drama series "Moving" is the most-streamed Korean original on Disney+ globally and Hulu in the US. The series had Disney+'s biggest launch ever across the Asia Pacific region, including Korea. More: The series is based on an internet comic by Kang Full, and centers on a group of three teenagers who inherit unusual supernatural gifts from their parents. 20 total episodes of "Moving" have been produced; 11 of them are now available to stream on both Disney+ and Hulu in the US. The three-part series finale debuts on September 20. Disney+ has been expanding its Korean content library over the past year; other recent shows include "Big Bet," starring Choi Minsik; "The Zone: Survival Mission"; and "Soundtrack #1."

7 In the four-part UK docuseries "Brawn," actor Keanu Reeves looks back at the 2009 Formula 1 World Championship race. The series debuts this fall on Hulu in the US. More: In 2009, Brawn GP became the first team in F1 history to win the Constructors' Championship in their debut season. The team was then sold to Mercedes ahead of the 2010 season, making them the lone F1 team to win 100% of the championship races in which they competed. The docuseries features archival footage and interviews with a number of central figures in the story, including Brawn GP drivers Jenson Button and Ross Brawn.

8 QUICK HITS Toptal's no-risk trial offers flexible engagements with world-class talent, letting you confidently scale your teams.* Wes Anderson's 39-minute adaptation of Roald Dahl's "The Wonderful Story of Henry Sugar" hits Netflix on September 27, after premiering at the Venice Film Festival. Zack Snyder's two-part Netflix sci-fi epic "Rebel Moon" has around a 4-hour runtime, but a director's cut adding nearly an hour of additional content will also be available to stream. BBC greenlit "Hot Flush," a new six-part drama series from "Happy Valley" creator Sally Wainwright about a group of five adult women who form a punk rock band. A former member of the "Below Deck" production team has accused franchise regular Gary King of sexual misconduct. "The Saint of Second Chances," Netflix's upcoming documentary profile of baseball executive Mike Veeck, features dramatic re-enactments starring actor Charlie Day; the film debuts on September 19. The BBC announced that Ncuti Gatwa's debut as the Fifteenth Doctor on "Doctor Who" would arrive in Spring 2024, but then quickly deleted the post, leading to confusion and speculation among fans. "And Just Like That" showrunner Michael Patrick King spoke with Variety about Kim Cattrall's return to the franchise, Carrie's relationship with Aidan, and the crucial questions he wanted to answer in the recent Season 2 finale; Max has already renewed the show for a third season. Start your Babbel journey today and set the stage for an autumn filled with discovery, connection, and unforgettable memories. Get 55% off when you join.* *This is sponsored content

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Knowledge Hub Term of the Day Marketing automation: Marketing automation refers to software that exists with the goal of automating marketing actions in contexts such as emails or social media. Read More Question of the Week Do you share details about your salary with your coworkers? Join the conversation

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Lon Harris Writer 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." This newsletter was edited by Eduardo Garcia

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