James Poniewozik

Oh, thanks for having me.

Oh, thanks for having me.

Mid-TV. Yeah. It's not great. It's not terrible. It's just mid-TV. Explain what you mean by that. Mid-TV is okay TV of the present that kind of reminds you of great TV of the past. It's, you know, got a famous cast. It was shot in fancy locations. It's sleekly produced. It's tasteful, but it's just not especially memorable.

Mid-TV. Yeah. It's not great. It's not terrible. It's just mid-TV. Explain what you mean by that. Mid-TV is okay TV of the present that kind of reminds you of great TV of the past. It's, you know, got a famous cast. It was shot in fancy locations. It's sleekly produced. It's tasteful, but it's just not especially memorable.

It doesn't have the quirks and bumps and idiosyncrasies that mark a show that you are going to remember and will stick with you for a long time.

It doesn't have the quirks and bumps and idiosyncrasies that mark a show that you are going to remember and will stick with you for a long time.

Uh, Palme Royale on Apple TV. There are no doors on the back of the Palme Royale.

Uh, Palme Royale on Apple TV. There are no doors on the back of the Palme Royale.

Exactly. Who among us does? The cast was absolutely loaded. Kristen Wiig, Laura Dern, Carol Burnett. It looked fabulous. And if you watched the whole thing, you probably forgot that you'd seen it a week later.

Exactly. Who among us does? The cast was absolutely loaded. Kristen Wiig, Laura Dern, Carol Burnett. It looked fabulous. And if you watched the whole thing, you probably forgot that you'd seen it a week later.

So I think of the prestige television era as the era beginning around the turn of the 21st century, when you had the emergence of a lot of new cable outlets, ones like HBO. that in order to distinguish themselves in the marketplace, started taking big bets on unusual shows that they had freedom to produce that traditional broadcast TV didn't. And a classic example of this is The Sopranos.

So I think of the prestige television era as the era beginning around the turn of the 21st century, when you had the emergence of a lot of new cable outlets, ones like HBO. that in order to distinguish themselves in the marketplace, started taking big bets on unusual shows that they had freedom to produce that traditional broadcast TV didn't. And a classic example of this is The Sopranos.

Right. On NBC, ABC, you couldn't do a show about a kind of sympathetic mobster. On HBO, you can.

Right. On NBC, ABC, you couldn't do a show about a kind of sympathetic mobster. On HBO, you can.

We get The Wire. We get Breaking Bad. I am the one who knocks. People like Martin Scorsese start making TV series. Actors like Glenn Close start starring in cable TV series.

We get The Wire. We get Breaking Bad. I am the one who knocks. People like Martin Scorsese start making TV series. Actors like Glenn Close start starring in cable TV series.

TV was, you could argue, the premier popular art medium of its time. And also, it's now big business. Netflix, which used to be the company that you got DVDs from in the mail, starts making original TV programming. You look great. I mean, who knew you could rock orange? And then it ultimately is joined by Amazon. We don't need cops like you anymore, Bush. By Apple. Hey, how y'all doing?

TV was, you could argue, the premier popular art medium of its time. And also, it's now big business. Netflix, which used to be the company that you got DVDs from in the mail, starts making original TV programming. You look great. I mean, who knew you could rock orange? And then it ultimately is joined by Amazon. We don't need cops like you anymore, Bush. By Apple. Hey, how y'all doing?

I'm Ted Lasso. Disney. Guilty of being the god of mystery. Paramount.

I'm Ted Lasso. Disney. Guilty of being the god of mystery. Paramount.