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Post by Cybermortis on Dec 26, 2019 0:18:23 GMT
The CBS/Paramount merger passed on 4th December. Now it is reported that the new ViacomCBS board is being taken to court for selling out investors. Given that the only people who were against the merger were the now former execs at CBS, including Mooves, this to me smacks of sour grapes by the people who got kicked out of CBS. www.latimes.com/business/story/2019-12-23/viacom-board-is-accused-of-selling-out-investors-in-cbs-mergerThe principle shareholder of the ViacomCBS company is Sheri Redstone with the CEO being the former CEO of Paramount Pictures. Redstone is known to have despised Mooves in general and his handling of Star Trek in particular. It is also known that CBS All Access, Mooves pet project, was something Redstone was very much against from the start; Something I think time has shown she was right about. The new CEO was the one who, when pitched an idea for a Discovery based film, told Kurtzman exactly where he could shove said idea. Neither seems to be in favor of the Bad Robot Trek deal. Discovery moving, or at least being made available on AFN could imply that ViacomCBS has plans for AA that don't involve keeping it around; most likely rolling it into Showtime at least in part. This in turn would probably spell the end of the bad Robot Trek series, as I doubt they would survive on network TV nor would I expect Klutzman, or the former execs, to want those series to end up on a platform where the viewer figures would become public. The rush towards Picard, Below Decks and Discovery Season 3 is most likely trying to make sure that the series are too far in production for ViacomCBS to cancel them.
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Post by Cybermortis on Jan 23, 2020 17:57:38 GMT
Well Star Trek Picard is (almost) on us as of writing. A LOT of places are reporting, and indeed have been reporting that it is a disaster. There is also additional news and rumors being reported. Most of these I'm taking half-seriously as they are, well rumors. And while these are being reported by several people and are consistent it is unclear if they have the same origin or coming from different sources. ViacomCBS and Amazon are deeply concerned for Picard and the lack of interest in the series; There is some decent evidence of this from the London Premier. They had expected 500 people to show up, around 150 actually did 20 of whom were paid to document the event with the remainder being a 50/50 split between invited guests and paying customers. (Lack of interest can be confirmed simply from the press photos which show few people there). They were further concerned by the fact that while a number of people who did turn up were in Trek outfits, not one of them was in a Discovery or Alternative license costume. In both cases Picard was meant to promote streaming services, Amazon Prime and CBS AA and the total lack of interest has them deeply concerned. This comes on the heels of rumors of the test screenings being an outright disaster with both Trek and none Trek fans alike. The concern for ViacomCBS is that Picard is going to destroy what is left of the franchise by destroying TNG. The last major card they had to play. Picard was made under the alternate license, making it part of the Discovery timeline and the JJ film's. As such it has the same tone and visuals as Discovery (This is confirmed by a review I'll post at the end). A tone and style that licensees outright rejected twice as simply not selling. This was why Kurtzman was initially fired as the Showrunner, and his replacement being ordered to add in elements from TNG such as the Enterprise D. Owning to the terms of the Secret Hideout license this meant such elements had to be licensed from CBS. Kurtzman apparently had a fit over this, and used his position as head of SH to go back and remove those elements from the series to save money for Discovery season 3. (Which would, if true, speak volumes about the real 'success' of Discovery) The Section 31 series is, as has been reported/rumored for quite sometime, never going to be produced. ViacomCBS isn't going to give it a cent and one rumor indicates that Michelle Yeoh has walked away. Deeply unhappy at CBS and SH in part due to having her name attached simply to try and drum up interest, but also because she was lied to; She was told that her 'Prime' universe Character would be in Section 31 not the 'Mirror' version. Kurtzman will be out by June at the latest and/or be fired unless Picard manages to perform at a level no one at Amazon or CBS expects it to. There may be something in this as the merger has seen practically all of the Mooves Loyalists remaining at CBS being fired, including the head of programming who was Kurtzman's last major ally. The Franchise may end up being sold, with the most likely buyer being NBC. Given the debt ViacomCBS has and the lack of success of Trek this might, from a business prospective, make sense. On the other hand Sheri Redstone views Trek as a Family Heirloom and may be unwilling to support the idea of letting it go. On the other hand NBCUniversal has just got Seth MacFarlane, who is known as a huge Trek Fan and of course is responsible for the Orville which in turn was made by a hell of a lot of Trek Alumina. This may mean that Redstone might be more inclined to agree to a sale to NBC as long as MacFarlane is involved. Possibly viewing this as putting Trek in good hands. Indeed one has to wonder if one reason NBC was willing to offer MacFarlane so much money was in the hope that this would make any offers they make more tempting, or at least get less objections from Redstone. Here is a review of Star Trek Picard, its...not exactly positive getting a C rating for the first three episodes; for those who may not want to read the review and possibly get spoilers; link
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Post by GTCGreg on Jan 24, 2020 4:45:23 GMT
So I have this great new TV show. Problem is, 90% of the TV viewing public can't watch it. And I wonder why there is little interest in the show?
Geniuses at work.
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Post by Cybermortis on Jan 24, 2020 14:16:15 GMT
I've seen three different reviews on Youtube; Doomcock, who hated it. ClownfishTV who only watched it because of Picard and who's summery was 'It's...OK' and Egotasticalfuntime, who had been looking forward to the series with cautious optimism, who seemed to be disappointed. Not exactly ringing endorsements after one episode, especially when the review I posted above was for the first three.
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Post by the light works on Jan 24, 2020 14:42:10 GMT
I've seen three different reviews on Youtube; Doomcock, who hated it. ClownfishTV who only watched it because of Picard and who's summery was 'It's...OK' and Egotasticalfuntime, who had been looking forward to the series with cautious optimism, who seemed to be disappointed. Not exactly ringing endorsements after one episode, especially when the review I posted above was for the first three. I would expect doomcock to hate it. I've heard that professional reviewers were neutral to positive. Mrs TLW has been asking about getting CBS all access to watch it - I pointed out we still have the download limit. plus I have the expectation that being in the CBS-Verse, it won't be worth it.
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Post by GTCGreg on Jan 24, 2020 16:24:24 GMT
I talk to my son this morning. He watched Picard last night. He said overall he thought it was pretty good. He was especially impressed by the directing and cinematography. One thing he mentioned was that if you’re not a TNG fan, you probably would have trouble following the storyline. At least for the first episode. When I get a chance, I’ll have to check it out.
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Post by GTCGreg on Jan 25, 2020 0:36:18 GMT
OK, I disregarded all the reviews. I threw out all the opinions and with a completely open mind, I watched the first episode of Picard.
All I can say is WOW, Fantastic. I just hope the rest of the series can keep up with what they did in episode 1. Looking forward to episode 2.
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Post by Cybermortis on Jan 25, 2020 3:14:51 GMT
The rumor is that the first three episodes are actually OK, but it goes full STD from episode 4.
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Post by GTCGreg on Jan 25, 2020 3:24:40 GMT
The rumor is that the first three episodes are actually OK, but it goes full STD from episode 4. Sorry to hear that. Guess I'll find out in about a month. Still better than STD. That went south in the first 10 minutes of episode 1.
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Post by Cybermortis on Jan 25, 2020 4:07:57 GMT
One thing that might lend some credence to this rumor is that the reviewers seem to have seen the first three episodes. I'm even wondering now if the negative review from Entertainment Weekly, which was the link in a prior post, is actually based on later episodes or what they have discovered about them. If so this may be their way of not looking as foolish as other outlets when or if the series falls apart.
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Post by GTCGreg on Jan 25, 2020 6:41:40 GMT
One thing that might lend some credence to this rumor is that the reviewers seem to have seen the first three episodes. I'm even wondering now if the negative review from Entertainment Weekly, which was the link in a prior post, is actually based on later episodes or what they have discovered about them. If so this may be their way of not looking as foolish as other outlets when or if the series falls apart. That at least gives me a little hope. From past experience, if the reviewers didn't like something, I usually do. I'll just have to wait and see. BTW, have you seen the first episode and if so, what did you think?
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Post by Cybermortis on Jan 25, 2020 15:25:04 GMT
I don't have Amazon Prime so no; I was only able to catch a little of Discovery due to having NetFlix at the time. Nor do I have any intention of watching it. I have no interest in JJ and Kurtzman's Star Dreck the Next Defecation and didn't even when it was announced - This is a last ditch effort to keep the 'Prime' universe going using nostalgia in the form of TNG to attempt to provide it legitimacy with what is left of the fans. That is what I saw it as when it was announced, and that is what I see it as now.
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Post by mrfatso on Jan 25, 2020 17:05:37 GMT
OK, I disregarded all the reviews. I threw out all the opinions and with a completely open mind, I watched the first episode of Picard. All I can say is WOW, Fantastic. I just hope the rest of the series can keep up with what they did in episode 1. Looking forward to episode 2. I agree it was a good episode if the rest of the series is like this then I will enjoy it.
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Post by Cybermortis on Jan 25, 2020 21:43:19 GMT
I find it interesting that there even is a bad review like this from part of the 'Access Media' in the first place. Up until now they have all been following the same narrative, all complaints come from 'toxic fans', when it comes to Trek and Wars. Here we are seeing a crack in the media's attitude, which as I noted at some point elsewhere would happen as soon as the franchise(s) were no longer viewed as worth supporting. Considering that the media tends to know far more than what they report on what is going on behind the scenes, this says a great deal as to how bad things must be at ViacomCBS.
I'll note that this is somewhat different situation to how they reacted to Episode IX; There the media seems to have Kristian Harlof syndrome. Meaning they threw a hissy-fit after they 'worked hard' to support Last Jedi and accuse anyone who said it wasn't cinematic genius of being an 'ist'. Only for EP IX to undo that film as much as possible and in doing so showed many to be either 'shills' or at least badly out of touch. Even those outside the mainstream media who are critical of the film, to say the least, tend on the whole to think the critic reviews are overall lower than the film actually deserves. That said the fact that Collider decided to report on the Obi-Wan production being put on hold is a sign that they at least no longer consider the franchise worth mindlessly supporting. Entertainment Weekly seems to have the same view of Trek.
As I said, I find this change in attitude interesting as it would imply a gradual move away from the 'SJW' pandering. If so this could have major implications for Disney and more specifically Marvel. If the media's (and audiences) attitude does change then the MCU may be in for a nasty shock should their Phase 4 films, as some are predicting, be aimed more at the 'SJW' crowd. If Marvel starts to fail, which is going to happen at some point, Disney is going to be in serious trouble.
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Post by GTCGreg on Jan 31, 2020 1:05:11 GMT
For those that don't have a subscription to CBS-AA, you can watch the first episode of Picard for free online. I don't know if there are any geo-restrictions. www.cbs.com/shows/star-trek-picard/
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Post by Cybermortis on Jan 31, 2020 1:58:01 GMT
It is region locked, not surprising as Amazon has the overseas streaming rights.
I wonder exactly why they are doing this, by which I wonder if the series has failed to drive any real increase in CBS AA's subscription numbers?
*Blinks*
You know I recall two rumors that have been floating around, one new(ish) and the other from a while back. The recent one was that ViacomCBS has set a minimum performance level for Picard, and if it doesn't match that figure Kurtzman is out the door. (Well, actually moved to a series called 'Clarese' (sp?), a Silence of the Lambs series minus Hannibal Lector, the rights for that character are owned by someone else). Apparently the figure they came to is one that no one expects the series to come close to matching. The second, much earlier, rumor was that Klutzman's contract required CBS (and now ViacomCBS) to give his Trek series every opportunity to 'succeed'.
I have to wonder if putting the first episode online for Free might not be part of this. By putting the episode online for free in the US they are 'promoting' it and giving it a chance so if, as they expect, it falls flat, they can cancel the series (and Klutzman) without any contract hassles. (Although actually getting Kurtzman out is a different matter and actual threats, if not physically throwing him out of the door, might be required based on his behavior to date.) Whatever standard ViacomCBS has set is clearly related to CBS AA, either in sustained viewer numbers or sustained Subscribers.
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Post by GTCGreg on Jan 31, 2020 2:32:38 GMT
It is region locked, not surprising as Amazon has the overseas streaming rights. I wonder exactly why they are doing this, by which I wonder if the series has failed to drive any real increase in CBS AA's subscription numbers? *Blinks* You know I recall two rumors that have been floating around, one new(ish) and the other from a while back. The recent one was that ViacomCBS has set a minimum performance level for Picard, and if it doesn't match that figure Kurtzman is out the door. (Well, actually moved to a series called 'Clarese' (sp?), a Silence of the Lambs series minus Hannibal Lector, the rights for that character are owned by someone else). Apparently the figure they came to is one that no one expects the series to come close to matching. The second, much earlier, rumor was that Klutzman's contract required CBS (and now ViacomCBS) to give his Trek series every opportunity to 'succeed'. I have to wonder if putting the first episode online for Free might not be part of this. By putting the episode online for free in the US they are 'promoting' it and giving it a chance so if, as they expect, it falls flat, they can cancel the series (and Klutzman) without any contract hassles. (Although actually getting Kurtzman out is a different matter and actual threats, if not physically throwing him out of the door, might be required based on his behavior to date.) Whatever standard ViacomCBS has set is clearly related to CBS AA, either in sustained viewer numbers or sustained Subscribers. I figure it's a smart move on their part. What do they have to lose? Anyone that was going to subscribe to AA just because of Picard has probably already done so. And as I said before, the first episode was really well done and they probably will pick up some subscribers. I'm kind of surprised that they didn't put the first episode on regular TV like they did Discovery, although Discovery was so bad from the begining that it probably drove many potential subscribers away.
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Post by Cybermortis on Jan 31, 2020 2:51:15 GMT
There was a lot of ill feeling resulting from the first episode of Discovery, or rather the first part of the first episode, being on TV when the rest of the series was on AA. VCBS probably didn't want to pour fuel on the fire in that regards. The other reason would be that the viewer figures for a TV show are public, where as those online are not (at least outside YouTube). So putting it on TV risked it getting low viewer figures they couldn't hide, and which would call the lie as to how successful the Trek Franchise has been in recent years; I doubt it would have got the same numbers as Discovery, which would be utterly humiliating for all concerned.
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Post by GTCGreg on Feb 1, 2020 15:42:00 GMT
Second episode of Picard. So far, so good.
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Post by mrfatso on Feb 2, 2020 8:07:08 GMT
Greg I would agree I enjoyed it. Seeing Picards regrets about what has happened and his failures is interesting but it feels like it’s set in the TNG universe even if the Federation is still coming to terms with the Unification day attack.
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