You are listening to the reality. Steve podcast with your host reality. Steve, he’s got all the latest info and behind the scenes juice on Jen’s upcoming season of the bachelorette and interviewing some of your favorite reality stars now here’s reality. Steve. What’s
up everybody. Welcome to podcast number three 91. I’m your host reality. Steve. Thank you all for tuning in. Good Thursday interview for you. We’re talking with Kristen Baldwin, the TV critic from EW. com, yet again, a lot of stuff happening in the TV world this week. It was up front. So we talk about that. We talk about the Golden Bachelorette.
It was recorded before Joan was announced, but just kind of the thought process on changing the date, changing the time of Golden Bachelorette coming up in the fall. Television in general. We obviously talked some Cobra Kai. Great talk today with Kristen Baldwin. So that’ll be coming up momentarily.
Before we get to that, a lot to talk about from the daily roundup, just to give you a few heads up on what to expect from the daily roundup. It was posted a couple hours ago, a lot of talk there. We do talk about, I do talk about Joan and being the golden bachelorette. And she said something yesterday that I thought was very interesting in an interview that she did with CNN.
And she actually laid out one thing that she absolutely will not do for whoever she chooses to be on her season. And I think it is good that she’s doing this. I just don’t know how it’s going to lead to possibly a successful relationship out of this. It very well could. I just think it’s going to be tough, just like any relationship on the show is going to be tough.
But when you’re dealing with an older demographic like this, and Joan is basically putting out there, I’m not moving, which is fine. She has every right not to move. She wants to be close to her family. That’s fine. But how many people, assuming she picks a guy in his fifties or sixties, how many of them are going to want to pack up and move?
What if they’re close with their family? And can you be a married couple from the show? Can you eventually get married? Which I think is what Joan wants. Can you be a married couple from the show that lives in two different states? I mean, aren’t you just kind of dating at that point? I don’t know.
Obviously, we’re very early. We don’t even know the cast list of guys. She hasn’t started filming her season yet. They’re not even done filming Jen’s season yet. So, we’ve got a lot of time to go over this, but I think this is going to be not a major issue, but it’s certainly going to be an issue. Going forward on this show.
So we talk about that on the daily roundup. Also talk a little bit more about the Lala and Katie Maloney feud from Vanderpump rules, because Katie Maloney came out, I believe it was yesterday. It might’ve been the day before and put it on her Instagram stories. Her response is to what Lala said at the end of that reunion show, and I’ve got thoughts on both what Lala said, what Katie has said, and how things are kind of playing out with the both of them, and it’s kind of similar to what plays out in Bachelor Nation when somebody speaks out against somebody that is beloved in the franchise, and let’s just face it, Ariana Maddox is about one of the most beloved Reality TV people out there right now, and anything negative said against her, that person, whoever says it, however true it may be, is going to get daggers thrown at them by Ariana’s massive fans.
And it’s not that Ariana can do anything about it. There’s nothing she can do. I mean, she could say, put some statement out, but that’s not going to stop anybody who really loves Ariana and wants to protect her. And doesn’t even know anything about her other than what they see on TV, but they think they know her through a parasocial relationship.
So they just lash out at other people and call the people names and send them death threats and call. And just so the Lala Katie feud kind of plays into that. And I, and I talk about that. I also talk unfortunately about Harrison Butker, the place kicker for the Kansas City Chiefs who spoke at a commencement speech at Benedictine College this past Saturday and really put his foot in his mouth.
And like I said, here in debate, I mean, I, there’s a lot of people out there that absolutely disagree with what he said. I’m sure there are people that follow his religion that are part of his religion that absolutely loved what he said, but I think there’s a time and place for that and a commencement speech to a bunch of.
Perspective and young and impressionable women graduating on their graduation date. They probably don’t want to be lectured about how you’re probably not going to succeed in life. And you might want to just get used to being a wife and a mother. I mean, that’s essentially what he said, not to mention when after the LGBTQ community.
And I kind of tie it all into the fact that this guy is Travis Kelsey’s. Teammate and Travis Kelsey is dating Taylor Swift in case you didn’t know that. And Taylor Swift is about as big of an ally to the LGBTQ community as there is out there. And Travis has always been supportive of everything that Taylor has done.
The guy travels to different countries to go see her perform in concert. How is he going to handle a teammate basically shitting all over everything that Taylor believes in? Do I think they’re going to get in a fight? No. Is he going to throw blows with them? Probably not, but I do think this is going to be an issue.
And Travis has a weekly podcast that he does with his brother. I wonder if he’s going to bring it up there. I can’t imagine he’s just going to be like, Hey man, he’s a kicker. He just said some stupid stuff. I, I can’t imagine he’s going to brush it off like that. You know why? Because Taylor’s fans will come after Travis and say, How can you be supportive of Taylor, but not go after this guy and not condemn him for what he said, like it’s going to be an issue.
I’m just curious to see more. I mean, I thought it was ignorant and tone deaf. What Harrison said, he has every right to say it. Free speech. You can say whatever he wants actions and free speech do have consequences. And I think there’s going to be consequences from this, what they are. I don’t know yet. I don’t think he’s not going to get suspended from the team or the league.
I don’t think, but I think this could cause a rift within the locker room for sure. So I’m interested to see how Travis handles this. And then also talked about survivor, the penultimate episode last night. Next week, we got our finale. It’s down to five and really. If we’re being honest with ourselves, I think only two people can win this thing.
It’s either Charlie or Maria. I just don’t see I’ve been in Liz have no chance. Maybe Kenzie, if she’s sitting next to, I guess if she’s sitting next to Ben or Liz or Ben and Liz, because I don’t think Kenzie in a final three with only Charlie or only Maria, I don’t think she beats either one of them. So this is.
This is a two person race, I think, for next week’s finale. Ben and Liz are gonna get One of them is making, I would think, is gonna make the final three just because I think Maria or Charlie or Kenzie wants to bring them there because they know they can beat them. This is a Charlie or Maria win, I think.
And I talk about the fact that I actually have an indirect connection. Holy shit, I’ve never really had any indirect connections to any contestant ever in the history of reality television. Not just Bachelor or Bachelorette franchise until this year when my niece is roommates with Daisy’s sister and best friends with her.
I have another indirect connection to somebody on Survivor and I just figured it out or realized it last night. And I’ll tell you all about that in today’s Daily Roundup. So, There’s that that we can go over, but a lot of stuff to go over today in the daily roundup that was posted two hours ago.
If you want to check that out, it’s podcast brought to you by pro lawn, pro lawn. Is a prolon life is people are learning about the benefits of fasting right now. It’s kind of a big thing, weight loss, mental and physical performance, gut health, but the one thing that worries people about fasting is the whole, well, I got it.
I want to eat. What about this whole not eating part? I can’t, I can’t get with that. Well, that’s exactly why prolon was created. It’s a revolutionary plant based nutrition program that nourishes the body while still making the cells believe that they are fasting. And this all starts with their five day program, snacks, soups, beverages.
They’re all designed to keep your body in a fasting state. I mean, this isn’t, it’s fasting, but it’s with food, which is really weird to hear, but that’s what Prolon does. It’s unlike anything that you’ve ever experienced. It’s no wonder why thousands of doctors now recommend Prolon to support healthy blood sugar and cardiovascular health, something right up my alley right now, as you know, diagnosed with type two diabetes a couple months ago.
And right now I’m just in a state where I’m never hungry anymore. And I feel like I want to eat something. Like my body’s telling me, Hey, it’s morning time. Eat some breakfast. It’s lunchtime. Eat some lunch, dinner time. And I just get to these points. I’m like, I can do without it. I don’t need it. But this is where Prolon comes in because I can still get that benefit of eating, but it’s telling my cells that you’re fasting.
So right now, Prolon is offering Reality Steve podcast listeners 10 percent off their five day nutrition program. Go to Prolonlife. com slash Reality Steve. That’s Prolonlife. com, P R O L O N life. com slash Reality Steve for this special offer. That’s Prolonlife. com slash Reality Steve. And yes. You’re going to get sick of me talking about it, but I am going to talk about Whey again, because Whey’s got new anti frizz cream.
It’s a lightweight cream, provides immediate frizz control that lasts for up to 72 hours. Ladies, you got to take this. How can you not? Every single one of my female friends that I’ve sent this to absolutely loves it. Makes their getting ready quicker. However, whether they want to do it on TikTok or not.
It makes it go quicker, provides immediate frizz control that lasts for up to 72 hours, plus heat protection up to 450 degrees. It helps reduce and repair split ends while quenching dry hair with intense hydration. Also, according to a consumer perception study, 90 percent of participants agreed their hair looks less frizzy.
Who doesn’t want that? It’s an anti frizz cream. We’re getting to summertime and in summertime your hair is going to get frizzy. I don’t care where you live. Well, unless you live in a cold weather, but come on, it’s summertime frizz free up your schedule with way go to the way. com that’s T H E O U A I.
com and enter promo code reality Steve for 15 percent off any product. That’s the way. com T H E O U A I. com promo code reality Steve for 15 percent off any product. All right, let’s get going. Podcast number three 91. Okay, let’s bring her in. She is a TV critic at entertainmentweekly. com, multi time guest on the show.
It is Kristen Baldwin. Kristen, thanks for joining again.
Happy to do it. How are you doing?
I’m good. This is a busy week for you. Is this crazy for you with, with upfronts happening with the networks? Is this something you have to attend like all of them or certain ones or how does it work for you?
It’s so interesting back in the day you know, certainly when I started at EW and over, over those early first years, yeah, we, it was huge busy week because, yeah, we would go to all the events in New York City and they’re essentially these, you know, big productions at like Radio City or Carnegie Hall where they, you know, trot out all their stars and show trailers and all of that.
But over time and with the rise of streaming and just the general fractioning of the audience you know, they’ve gotten kind of smaller and smaller and smaller that said, Now, you know, Netflix will do them, Amazon does them, you know, streamers do their own, but this is a long way of saying, I no longer have to attend, a lot of them are live streamed and, you know, often you can just sort of, with the broadcast shows which are really have been the driver of the upfront process over the years, they release like fewer and fewer full trailers You know, when they announce their schedule.
So it’s not even, there’s not even as much to see. It just kind of depends on the network.
Yeah. I was going to say, cause back in the day that would have been, when I say back in the day, I probably want to say 10 years ago, maybe even 15. This was like the biggest thing. Now, mainly it’s for the advertisers because I have to get hyped about what shows they want to spend money on.
And, you know, these networks would come out and be like, Oh, we love this new cop show that we have, and it’s starring so and so and so and so and. And then it, you know, it lasts six episodes or it gets one season canceled, but it’s just so funny when they were pitching it, it was like the greatest show ever.
And it’s just, you know, it’s hard to appeal to America. Everyone’s got different tastes of what they like. And it seems like there’s a lot of repeats, especially on network television. I know on Tuesday nights. My father is addicted to the the FBI shows. And it’s like on CBS on Tuesday nights, I didn’t even know this until recently.
Cause I don’t watch anything on CBS since I’m not of their 70 year old demographic. But even though I’m getting there they have FBI for an hour. And then FBI, some other city for an hour and then FBI international. It’s three FBI shows in a row on Tuesday nights. I didn’t even know that was a thing.
Yes, and I mean, they’re all doing exactly, you know, what they need to do for CBS and, you know, you think about NBC and their Chicago shows or their Law and Order, you know, those are the kinds of things that still are A slam dunk for the most part for broadcast networks, but you know often now like for example I listened or watched part of foxes up front yesterday, but they were also, you know, hyping up to be which is their You know streaming free streaming with ads network.
They and they you know often the the networks will Talk about their streaming Platforms and their other, you know, affiliated networks in these upfronts now to try to woo advertisers to say, you know, you’ll get all these different platforms with your buy, et cetera. I think, you know, it is still, it is still a thing.
It is still a tradition and, and certainly, you know, the upfront sales, advertising sales are still you know, very important to the TV industry. But like you said, it’s not something that’s as. You know, monumental as it was even five, 10 years ago.
And it’s because of streaming so many more shows are watched on streaming now because back before there was streaming, the only way to watch your favorite shows was on ABC, CBS, NBC, or Fox for the most part, CW as well.
And then they had the the WB, but This is just a changing of the times when it comes to television shows. I can’t even think of outside of reality shows. I don’t think I watched too many scripted shows on the streaming services. And I know I’m one of probably. A dying breed. I still watch mostly network television.
I do, I do watch streaming service stuff, you know, Cobra Kai and whatnot, which we’ll get to later, but I don’t have a ton that I watch. And I know a lot of people do. And probably, you know, they talk about the cord cutters. Probably most people watch most of their shows on streaming now and don’t watch network television.
It’s just dying.
Right. And even, you know, for example, I watch Abbott Elementary on ABC, but often I will watch it on Hulu the next day because, you know, what’s certainly true is very few people watch, you know, live unless it’s a big event like the Oscars, like the Super Bowl, you know, that’s why sports are so important, certainly for networks because, you know, That’s the one thing you have to kind of tune in and watch live.
You know, the Olympics obviously this summer will be a huge deal, but for the most part, and certainly for a, you know, younger generation, you know, a TV schedule doesn’t even, that’s not even a thing they think about, you know, they just watch it when they want to watch it. So that’s why it’s important for, to have, you know, their, their sister streamer or whatever to make sure they’re still making money on these shows that air on broadcast.
Well, the biggest news in bachelor world happened today at ABC’s upfronts. They announced that the golden bachelorette. Announced for this fall. We knew there was going to be a golden bachelorette after bachelorette airs, but they announced it’s going to be on Wednesday nights and it’s going to be 90 minutes.
Those, those that don’t remember it was on last year on Thursday nights, golden bachelor was, and it was only an hour and it led into two hours of paradise. Well, there is no paradise this summer and they are going to do 90 minute episodes, which leads into Abbott elementary, which I didn’t even realize this.
Is ABC’s lone comedy on their schedule. I am probably the most popular show. I know you watch it. Yeah, it is their most popular show now, isn’t it?
I mean, I, in terms of ratings, I’m sure Monday Night Football is higher, but it is certainly their most is their biggest hit in terms of critical and, you know, just pop culture appeal.
Although now they also have 9 1 1, which was a big, you know, it’s. for Fox and whatever, for whatever reason, moved over to ABC. But yeah, Abbott Elementary is really their only comedy for the fall. And I, you know, I’m surprised they’re going to be able to do 90 minute episodes for Golden Bachelorette.
I think part of the reason they did 60 minute was in part, you know, they, they made, they tried to make the filming process. for Gary and all of his contestants, you know, a little more a little less strenuous, you know, and so they, their days weren’t as long, you know, they didn’t need, they weren’t trying to get footage for two hours.
It was for 60 minutes, you know, they weren’t doing as much travel, but you know, a half hour, I’m sure they can still follow a relatively sort of accommodating schedule. schedule for this demographic and still get an extra, you know, 20 minutes out of it. Cause when you think of, you know, a half hour and broadcast TV, there’s also ads.
So 22 minutes for that half hour.
Yeah. You know, it is kind of amazing when you think about it, because ABC with one comedy on their schedule, I mean, this is, And maybe it does speak to the times that we’re in and it’s just what you can get away with now and what’s considered appropriate for network television because back in the day when you had NBC’s must see TV on Thursday nights, it was friends followed by, you know, Frazier and all that and it was four straight comedies from like the eight to 10 hour block and you just, you just don’t get that anymore.
There’s just not a lot of comedies on television if I’m not mistaken. Yeah. Jerry Seinfeld just did a whole bit on this when he either went on Stern or he did it and interviewed when he was promoting Unfrosted where he’s just like we you can’t do Seinfeld, you know today in today’s world He said yeah, no way to be able to do it.
But just the fact that there’s very Few comedies on television. When I was growing up, it was all comedies and serialized dramas were few and far between. And it’s just, yeah. Oh, serialized
for sure. And you know, certainly most of the dramas that are super successful at this point are episodic, like your FBI’s or your law and orders, you know, even something like nine one, one that has you know, some ongoing storylines.
It’s still mostly episodic. And those are. You know, very valuable to the networks and the studios because they can sell them into syndication. And I think comedy is just less and less a profitable you know, area for them. NBC does have a new comedy coming with Reba McEntire called Happy’s Place and a mockumentary comedy with Wendy McClendon Covey and David Alan Greer.
I love him. Called Saint Dennis Medical that’s coming this fall. So, and, you know, CBS. Sorry, I just had to take a deep breath. The Young Sheldon spinoff, George and Mandy’s first marriage. So it’s not totally gone, you know, just as ABC has had some success with Abbott. CBS has had some, you know, certainly success with Big Bang, then Young Sheldon and now Ghosts and presumably this Young Sheldon spinoff.
But you’re right. It’s not. Nearly the the chunk of their schedule or what they’re looking to do every year that it used to be.
I did not realize that they were spinning off Young Sheldon. Oh, yeah. Is this a prequel to the Young Sheldon or is it a, it was, it’s, this is, takes place between Young Sheldon and Big Bang Theory?
Presumably the latter. And it’s the characters of Georgie and Mandy. And getting married and whatever. I I will be honest. I have seen about three quarters of one episode of young child and it was not, so I can’t quite tell you what this is, but it’s, you know, it’s the characters his I believe his brother and sister, you know, soon to be sister in law.
That’s,
and that’s three quarters more, that’s three quarters more than I’ve seen of young child. I just know, I just know about it. Cause I see the commercials during football on Sundays, certainly in the day. I’m aware of it being a spinoff of Big Bang Theory and he, the kid is a young Sheldon played by Jim Parsons.
Like, I know the characters, but I’ve never, and another thing, like, I know that this was a huge show back in the day, but I never saw two minutes of Big Bang Theory. It just wasn’t my thing. And but people seem to love that franchise if they’re going to spin it off again with a third one. And you know, I was thinking about this the other day, I didn’t bring it up on a podcast cause I totally forgot to, but I was going to.
And clearly there’s a lot of dramas out there, whether it is on streaming or network television that are people that people actually, that, that people love. And they’re just like, love this show. But, and maybe it’s because of all the different ways you can watch shows now. And there’s so many different shows than it was back in the early two thousands.
But like. Why can’t someone develop a show that has the buzz and the writing of something like a Lost? Because when Lost, even before it hit the air, we just all knew because you were hearing reports about it It was it cost two million dollars to make the premiere episode and then it just like it was a TV event Every week to watch Lost and I just don’t feel like we’ve had a show Since then, there are good shows that people watch, but there’s nothing like a lost where it’s, you know, it’s big, but it’s also contained with a bunch of small stories and, you know, you got the theories online that I, I, I feel like we missed those days and I just don’t know where they’ve gone or what, what.
Why nobody can write another show like that doesn’t have to be like lost, but
I’m sure they can. It’s just that nobody’s going to make it. And I think part of it, you know, remember with loss, that was one of the first shows in, you know, years to bring back serialized television that wasn’t like straight up primetime soap, you know, most serialized, you know, quote unquote puzzle box shows, you know, were not a thing at that time and lost really spawned a whole new wave of those for many years to the point where, you know, everybody was trying to do them and mostly doing them badly.
But it was, the other thing is that as the audience splinters and as, you know, networks and streamers and studios are fighting for smaller and smaller pieces of the pie, their tolerance for risk gets smaller. And that’s why you see so many, That’s why you see revamps of old IP, you know, for example, the Mr and Mrs Smith on Amazon.
Actually, I really liked that. That was one of the very few sort of reboots, reimaginings that I think has been done well. But it’s either, you know, they’re taking, you know, fewer chances and so they’re going for existing IP or reboots they’re going for, you know, extending a franchise so you get Big Bang to Young Sheldon to Georgie in What’s Her Face’s first marriage.
There, everything is to mitigate risk and that’s especially true this year and probably for the next year just as, you know, We’re still, the studios and networks and the whole town is still dealing with the The aftermath of the strike, you know, which the strikes plural the, the, the fact that, you know, they lost so much money, things were pushed, things were scrapped.
And so, you know, cost cutting is going to continue. And in that mode, when, when any business is in a, you know, cost cutting or cost saving mode. They’re not going to take a lot of risks. So that is sort of where we are. I’m not saying it’s never going to, you know, swing back the other way and we’ll have another, you know, boom or a peak TV golden era.
But for right now, I’m not surprised that we’re not seeing a ton of risks being taken.
Yeah, it’s just, I guess a timing thing where it’s just like, okay, if we’re going to launch a brand new show that doesn’t have any ties to any previous show, you have to pray that the audience is like, okay, I’ll give this five, six, seven episodes.
And sometimes people, we all know the attention span of people now has obviously shortened in the last 20 years and people with so many other options just aren’t going to give a brand new show unless it just absolutely kills it with a pilot episode out of the block. It’s just like, okay. And
you look at the, the, the ones who can do it, you know, like an example, a show like Severance, which I think in a lot of ways could be sort of, likened to Lost in that there’s this very ongoing, you know, mystery and mythology and you know, we got some answers in the finale, but not enough.
And that, you know, that is a show that nobody would have taken a risk on except for Apple, because they have. So much money, they, you know, they’re spending so much money on vastly inferior shows that they got lucky with, with severance, they threw a bunch of money at a bunch of different ideas and severance was one that, you know, became a hit for them.
They’re also spending a lot of money on shows that are that are just like, they’re fine, you know, and they. Probably shouldn’t have been spending that money, but they had the money. So they have the cushion to take that risk. And whatever reason, nobody still really understands why they want to be in the TV business, but for whatever reason they do.
And so, you know, you might see risks taken there, but there has to be sort of a bottomless pit of money for a studio or a network to feel comfortable to do it.
The other thing that we’re getting. Seemingly from, and I need, I need to look this up cause I don’t want to I don’t want to screw up what I was saying here.
Let me pull it up cause I, okay. And that is for the longest time, the cord cutting thing happened and everyone’s like, oh, you got to buy, you got to get Disney plus, you got to get Hulu, you got to have Netflix or whatever. But Comcast announced today that they are going to bundle Netflix, Peacock and Apple plus, which comes on the heels of.
Disney plus Hulu and max bundling. So my question now is clearly if you’re going to bundle these three Netflix, so if, if I’m not mistaken, and I’m just spit balling here, if you go no ads on Netflix, Peacock and Apple plus, I want to say Netflix is about 24 99 a month now, like top package, Peacock is either like 11, like.
Let’s call it 1399 and Apple plus, I think maybe seven 99 a month. So you’re looking at a 45 to have those all three of them. If they’re, if they’re going to bundle them, they haven’t given out a price yet, but it definitely seems like it from their announcement today, they are going to do it, which I guess makes sense, but you have to do it at a, is 5, you know, those combined right now, but based on those numbers is roughly around 37 and eight, you know, 45 bucks.
You got to bundle that at 30 or 35, don’t you, to make it even worthwhile?
Yeah. And you know, you know what this sounds like? It sounds like cable and we’re, so we’re just, we’re just sort of veering back into the cable model where you, you know, you pick your premium channels. And I think that’s eventually where we’ll end up going because.
There are too many streamers, and they can’t all support themselves, and they all do have, you know, corporate owners that are looking at wanting to, you know, save money and figure out ways to make money from all this original programming. You know, so it’s, it’s very much like a course correction back to the original, you know, and it’ll, we’ll see.
I mean, we’ll see if people buy these bundles. But that I don’t know. I mean, I think the way people interact with these. With these streaming services, I’m not sure, I don’t know. I mean, I is, I can’t, I’m not a great test case because you know, I get screeners early and things like that, but the way people interact, I don’t think they’re necessarily like loyal to any particular streamer with the possible exception of Netflix.
And so they’re just going to want to know what shows can I get with these bundles. And I feel like that’s going to be key to making them successful.
No, it’s, it’s going to be a real interesting, you know, it’s almost funny. Because now you’re looking at it and Disney wants to, you know, bundle with Hulu and max and Netflix wants to bundle with Peacock and Apple plus.
And you’re just like, okay, so what took you guys so long? Did you guys make a mistake by all going independent for the longest time? Cause it sounds like you’re just like, Oh wait, we can’t sustain this. I mean,
I think, I think that is it. And I, you know, they’re not certainly going to admit that right now, but they’re trying to stave off the inevitable, I think, you know, which is eventually some of these streamers going away and getting absorbed into you know, the larger entities.
But for now. Let’s all just try to keep the dream alive by bundling them, but I don’t know, I mean, I’m not sure that I would, I don’t know what, it’s, it is about the price point, like you said, and they’re going to have to make it really worth people’s while, I think, to have them, to have people want to disrupt the already sort of laborious process of figuring out what to subscribe to.
