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| It's "Best of the Year" list time again, and as always, I'll publish my favorite streaming films and TV shows from 2023 in the week between Christmas and New Year's. It's been a strong year with a lot to recommend, so I'm looking forward to sharing my own personal lists. One show that probably WON'T make the cut is HBO's "The Gilded Age," which wrapped up its second season last night. As drama series go, it's pretty solidly entertaining, with a strong cast, but also extremely ridiculous. The whole enterprise has a perfunctory feeling, like we all saw "Downton Abbey" and roughly know what to expect, and we're just kind of going through the motions now. All the same kinds of plotlines are here: lonely people finding and losing love, kind servants getting a look at the world beyond their humble stations, fortunes found and lost. But it all feels so abrupt and rushed, passing by at such breakneck speed, it's impossible to really invest! This season alone, a character met a new man, fell in love, got married, discovered he was sick, lost him to cancer, and then inherited a surprise fortune from him... all in just eight episodes! And as one subplot in a much larger tapestry of storytelling. That's BANANAS. You need to let drama breathe a little bit. I don't even know how long Season 2 was meant to have lasted... a few weeks? Months? Anyway, can't say it's among my top recommendations, though I never strongly considered giving up on it entirely. I just like period drama series, what can I say? Lon
p/lon-harris | |
| 1 | | According to Deadline, the Motion Picture Association (MPA) will ask Congress for new anti-piracy legislation. Specifically, the MPA seeks what's known as "court-mandated site blocking," which would allow content companies to pursue legal orders mandating that internet service providers shut down copyright-infringing websites. More: - In prepared remarks to a House subcommittee, MPA global general counsel Karyn A. Temple referred to court-mandated blocking as "one proven way to combat digital piracy."
- Studios pushed for a similar mandate over a decade ago, as part of legislation known as the "Stop Online Piracy Act," or SOPA; though initially supported by lawmakers from both parties, those bills were eventually shut down after an extensive protest campaign by Google and other major internet companies and websites.
- The MPA now believes that the warnings against SOPA -- which Google and others insisted would "break the internet" -- were overblown, and intends to try again.
- Similar laws are already on the books in a number of countries, including the UK, Australia, Singapore, and France.
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| 2 | | According to Lucas Shaw of Bloomberg, Netflix and other streamers are greenlighting more spinoffs, entering what he calls their "franchise era." The report indicates that Netflix is developing a number of spinoffs built off of its most popular shows, including a "Wednesday" series focused on Fred Armisen's character Uncle Fester, and multiple series inspired by the period UK crime drama "Peaky Blinders." More: - One "Peaky Blinders" spinoff will apparently be set in mid-20th Century Boston, while another would follow the character of Polly after the events of the main series.
- Netflix is also reportedly working on an action series set in the world of its "Extraction" films.
- Paramount's Showtime has already staked its future on new variations of its most popular series, including "Weeds," "Dexter," "Billions," and "Ray Donovan."
- Disney is meanwhile working on a new take on "The X-Files," from "Black Panther" filmmaker Ryan Coogler.
- Netflix has seen considerable success from franchising its most popular reality shows; the streamer produces multiple international versions of hits like "Love is Blind" and "Too Hot to Handle."
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| 3 | | DAILY CALENDAR MONDAY, DECEMBER 18 GOOD COP, BAD COP: True-crime docuseries produced for Investigation Discovery, highlighting murder cases in which the prime suspect was a law enforcement officer. Season 1 debuted earlier this month on cable and comes to Max today. [Max] WORLD'S FIRST BATTLEFIELD: Documentary special produced for Science Channel, chronicling archaeological explorations of an ancient battlefield strewn with a variety of bones, weapons, and other artifacts. Evidence gleaned from the site could reshape humanity's understanding of the ancient world and the history of warfare. [Max] GWYNETH VS. TERRY: THE SKI CRASH TRIAL: Documentary produced for Discovery+ looking back at the 2023 civil trial between actor Gwyneth Paltrow and retired optometrist Terry Sanders, relating to their collision on a Utah ski slope in 2016. The film comes from Optomen, the same producers as Discovery's "Kim vs. Kanye: The Divorce." [Max] YELLOWSTONE WARDENS: The Animal Planet reality series features conservation officers protecting America's national parks and resources in Montana. Season 3 premiered in October on cable and hits Max today. [Max] FRIENDS & FAMILY CHRISTMAS: Holiday romantic comedy from Hallmark, starring Humberly González and Ali Liebert as two women who pretend to date one another throughout the Christmas season, for the benefit of their overbearing families, then start developing real feelings. [Peacock] | | | |
| 4 | | Jon Hamm signed on to executive produce and star in a new Apple TV+ drama series, "Your Friends and Neighbors." Novelist and "Banshee" vet Jonathan Tropper created the series and will serve as showrunner. More: - This will be Hamm's first lead role in a live-action TV series since his star-making turn on AMC's "Mad Men."
- He'll play a recently divorced former hedge fund manager who keeps his lavish lifestyle afloat by stealing from his neighbors.
- Hamm currently co-stars on the Apple TV+ drama "The Morning Show," as well as the current season of FX's "Fargo."
- He also joined the cast of Amazon's "Good Omens" for its second season this year, and will appear in the upcoming Fox animated series "Grimsburg."
- In 2022, Hamm starred in an ad for Apple TV+ making light of the fact that he had yet to feature in a show or film for the streamer.
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| 5 | | Just days after updating its content policy to allow "artistic nudity," Amazon's livestreaming platform Twitch reversed course. Once more, any depictions of "real or fictional nudity" are banned from Twitch streams. More: - Mature-rated video games are still permitted by the platform and unimpacted by the rule change.
- The initial rule change was announced on Wednesday; Twitch would now permit some sexually-themed content, including some forms of "body writing" and "erotic dances," so long as it was tagged with an appropriate Content Classification Level.
- According to a new update, the change was met with "community concern," particularly as AI tools now make it more difficult "to distinguish between digital art and photography."
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| 6 | | Netflix and Wit Studio are developing a new anime series based on Eiichiro Oda's classic manga "One Piece." The manga previously inspired a beloved, long-running anime series and a Netflix live-action adventure series. More: - Wit Studio's credits include the iconic global anime hit "Attack on Titan" and Netflix's Viking-inspired "Vinland Saga."
- The new series -- titled "The One Piece" -- will restart the saga from the beginning, following wannabe pirate Monkey D. Luffy and his Straw Hat crew as they set sail for adventure in the East Blue.
- The new take is apparently now in production; no release date has been announced.
- Netflix renewed the live-action "One Piece" series for a second season back in September.
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| 7 | | According to a new report from The Hindu, Netflix's Indian film collection streams around the world with government-mandated cuts. While Netflix has always edited its Indian streaming content based on demands made by the government's Central Board of Film Certification (CBFC), these same censored versions now stream to audiences around the world. More: - According to The Hindu, the cuts include not just political references but criticisms of certain public and business personalities.
- Censored films streaming currently on Netflix include the Tamil hit "Leo," starring Vijay; "OMG 2," which removed scenes featuring actor Akshay Kumar as the deity Shiva; and "Japan," which was scrubbed of references to billionaires Mukesh Ambani and Gautam Adani.
- Some streamers have faced socio-political pressure from the Indian government to censor their content; Amazon Prime executive Aparna Purohit was investigated by police and ultimately issued a formal apology for the 2021 political series "Tandav."
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- Max canceled the period martial arts drama "Warrior" after three seasons; through a new licensing deal, the full run of the series will begin streaming on Netflix as well as Max in the US in February.
- MGM+ announced that the sci-fi drama series "Beacon 23" will return for a second season; the show, which stars Stephan James and Lena Headey, apparently shot two seasons back-to-back.
- Hulu ordered additional true crime documentaries from ABC News Studios, its third collection since the unit's 2022 launch; ABC News Studios docs to date have included "Killing Country," "Betrayal: The Perfect Husband," and the ongoing series "Wild Crime."
- According to "Homicide: Life on the Street" producer David Simon, NBCUniversal is attempting to secure streaming rights to the classic crime drama series, which have been complicated by some of the background music; Andre Braugher, who starred on "Homicide" as Detective Frank Pembleton, died earlier this month from lung cancer at age 61.
- Once popular family YouTuber Ruby Franke -- who has been charged with multiple accounts of aggravated child abuse -- plans to plead guilty, according to her attorney LaMar Winward.
- Netflix dropped a trailer for the British sci-fi drama feature "The Kitchen," set in a dystopian future London; Daniel Kaluuya co-directed with first-time filmmaker Kibwe Tavares.
- Max's "Sesame Street" was named the best preschool series at the second Children's and Family Emmy Awards, which were given out Sunday night; Disney+'s "The Muppets Mayhem," which the streamer canceled after a single season, was named best Children's or Family Series.
- Disney dropped a new trailer for the Marvel Cinematic Universe (MCU) spinoff series "Echo"; the violent, adult-oriented series debuts on both Disney+ and Hulu at 9 pm ET/6 pm PT on Tuesday, January 9.
- Variety spoke with the team from Aardman Animation about the various obstacles the "Chicken Run" sequel -- "Dawn of the Nugget" -- faced during production, including a 2005 electrical fire at the company's warehouse, leaks in its facilities, and a shortage of the clay used to design and form its animated characters.
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 | 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 Lon Harris | |
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