Network TV
Also called “broadcast TV” and “live TV,” Network TV refers to the traditional TV networks (ABC, CBS, FOX, NBC, PBS, etc.) that broadcast over the air without charge. The signals are picked up with an antenna, which today is considerably smaller than the roof antennas of years past. Network TV channels are also carried by cable companies and streaming services. Network TV does not include premium channels such as HBO, Starz, Cinemax and Showtime, all of which require subscriptions.
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Network TV – Most Watched Networks
Yes, linear TV still exists, and it’s still watched by millions of viewers. But 2020 was another tipping point for traditional television, and it’s not just because of the pandemic. What has been steady viewership erosion for broadcast and cable went into overdrive this year, despite a pandemic that should have increased or at least stabilized viewership.
Network TV – Leading Cable News Networks
Leading Cable News Networks in Q4 2020, by Number of Primetime Viewers
As of the final quarter of 2020, Fox News was the most-watched cable news network in the United States and continues to do well in terms of its primetime audience, with around 3.78 million primetime viewers in that period. News consumption was high among U.S. audiences as viewers turned to their preferred networks for updates on the coronavirus pandemic and the death of George Floyd. Fox News viewers in the 25-54 demographic reached 725 thousand, whilst MSNBC had just 444 thousand. When looking at Fox News viewers compared to CNN, the two networks had a similar audience in the 25-54 demographic but the overall average was notably different. CNN has been losing viewers in recent years, although since the coronavirus outbreak has been pulling in a far larger audience than usual.
PREMIUM CABLE – HBO
HBO, which stands for “Home Box Office”, is a premium cable and satellite television network. Headquartered in New York City, the company was launched in 1972 and is owned by the multinational media conglomerate Time Warner. As of 2016, HBO had 134 million subscribers worldwide; about 49 percent of all HBO subscribers were located in the United States. HBO generated about five billion U.S. dollars from subscription revenue in 2016, a slightly increase from the 2015 figure, when the company reported 4.75 billion U.S. dollars in revenues.
Number of HBO and HBO Max Subscribers U.S. 2020
As of the third quarter of 2020, HBO and HBO Max had a combined 38 million subscribers in the United States, and 57 million globally.
HBO not only offers premium cable, but also has a wide range of services. HBO Now, for instance, is the over-the-top subscription video on the demand service offered. The service was launched by the television network in April 2015, and aims to compete with streaming providers such as Netflix and Hulu, once HBO Now is not associated with a television subscription, and is offered as a separate service. The number of HBO Now subscribers increased from 800 thousand in December 2015, a couple of months after its release, to five million in February 2018.
Along with HBO Now, the network also has another streaming platform. HBO Go is a streaming service, but requires a HBO channel subscription and the service is therefore targeted to existing customers. The network also offers HBO on Demand, a VoD service, and HBO HD, which broadcasts HBO’s content in high definition.
HBO Programming
In terms of programming, HBO is known for motion pictures, original television series, sports events, such as boxing matches, documentaries, among others.
HBO finished with four Golden Globe Award wins from its 15 nominations, topping all cable networks and streaming services (the broadcast networks were shut out of this year’s nominations). Amazon Prime Video and Hulu were the only other distributors to win multiple awards with two each during NBC’s live awards telecast.
Succession and Chernobyl each took home a pair of statuettes, receiving top series honors (for TV drama and limited series, respectively), along with nods for actors Stellan Skarsgård and Brian Cox.
SHOWTIME SERIES TO BINGE
The Reagans on Showtime
A four-part documentary series that explores the many surprisingly unexamined aspects of the Reagan White House, and how Nancy Reagan’s paper-doll image was at odds with the power she ultimately wielded throughout her husband’s presidency.
Part 1 – The Hollywood Myth Machine
The rise of Ronald Reagan from liberal movie star to an unlikely conservative politician who shocked the nation by capturing the governorship of the largest state. Series premiere.
Part 2 – The Right Turn
A closer look at Reagan’s record on race – and a re-examination of his history as a law-and-order candidate who effectively used racialist codes as a strategy to win elections. Nancy starts to come into her own as a political force.
Part 3 – The Great Undoing
The triumph of both Reagans is explored as Ronald sets about undoing the New Deal and Great Society, setting off a political chain reaction that reverberates to this day. Nancy struggles with her image, as does Ronald.
Part 4 – In the Stars
The Reagans’ second term – and near-collapse of the administration in light of the Iran-Contra scandal – is examined. Nancy’s behind-the-scenes machinations to shape the Reagan legacy reveal her true power. Series finale.
Couples Therapy on Showtime
Documentary deep dive chronicling four real-life couples’ counseling.
Couples Therapy unlocks a hidden world: other people’s relationships. Far from reality-show caricatures, this is true documentary filmmaking that brings viewers into the authentic and visceral experience of weekly therapy with four couples.
Couples Therapy is a documentary series following four couples as they seek the help of psychoanalyst Dr. Orna Guralnik with their troubled relationships.
Coming off their previous success with the award-winning documentary “Weiner”, executive producers Josh Kriegman and Elyse Steinberg are collaborating on the unscripted series that will feature real couples from New York City and its surrounding areas.
The show strives to present the participants and the therapy process with empathy and not sensationalism as viewers track the couples’ progress with Dr. Guralnik through each episode.
Buried on Showtime
Buried
BURIED follows the gripping story of Eileen Franklin who, while playing with her young daughter, suddenly had a memory of witnessing the rape and murder of her childhood best friend, 8-year-old Susan Nason, which led to a re-opening of a case that had gone unsolved for nearly 20 years.
And in a shocking twist, when Eileen came forward with her memory, she told the police that she remembered the murderer was her own father, George Franklin.
In 1989, Eileen Franklin suddenly remembered what until then was a repressed memory, of her father George raping and then bludgeoning to death her best friend, Susan Nason, in 1969.
At the time, both Eileen and Susan were 8 years old. Franklin’s recall of that memory led to the arrest and trial of George Franklin for a brutal murder that went unsolved for 20 years.
In the four-part docuseries Buried, written and directed by Yotam Guendelman and Ari Pines, the first-of-its-kind case is recalled, including the aftermath where Franklin’s testimony was called into question by members of her own family.
Your Honor on Showtime
Your Homor
A respected judge’s son is involved in a hit-and-run that leads to a high-stakes game of lies, deceit and impossible choices.
Bryan Cranston stars as a judge confronting his deepest convictions when his son is involved in a hit and run that embroils an organized crime family. He faces a series of impossible choices and discovers how far a father will go to save his son’s life.
When the teenaged son of a prominent New Orleans judge accidentally kills another teen in a hit-and-run, the judge urges him to turn himself in to the police, but changes his mind when he learns the victim was the son of a local mafia kingpin. T
The judge’s attempts to dispose of the evidence leads to tragic consequences for another teen.
City on a Hill on Showtime
City on a Hill
The series is set in Boston in the early 1990s when the city was rife with violent criminals, emboldened by local law enforcement agencies in which corruption, tribalism, and “taking it to the street” were the norm—until it all suddenly changed.
This is a fictional account of what was called the “Boston Miracle”. The change agent is District Attorney Decourcy Ward (Aldis Hodge), who comes from Brooklyn and forms an unlikely alliance with Jackie Rohr (Kevin Bacon), a corrupt yet venerated FBI veteran who is deeply invested in maintaining the status quo.
Together they take on a family of armored car robbers from Charlestown (Jonathan Tucker, Mark O’Brien, and Jimmy Cummings) in a case that grows to encompass Boston’s citywide criminal justice system.
HBOmax SERIES TO BINGE
The Outsider on HBO
The Outsider
Based on Stephen King’s best-selling novel, The Outsider begins by following a seemingly straightforward investigation into the gruesome murder of a young boy.
But when an insidious supernatural force edges its way into the case, it leads a seasoned cop and an unorthodox investigator to question everything they believe in.
McMillions on HBO
McMillions
A detailed account of the McDonald’s Monopoly game scam during the 1990s as told by the participants in the case, including the prizewinners and the FBI agents involved.
A detailed account of the McDonald’s Monopoly game scam during the 1990s as told by the participants in the case, including the prizewinners and the FBI agents involved.
An HBO Original Mare of Easton
Mare of Easton
A detective in a small Pennsylvania town investigates a local murder while trying to keep her life from falling apart.
As her life crumbles around her, a small-town Pennsylvania detective Mare Sheehan (Kate Winslet) investigates a local murder.
The series explores the dark side of a close community and provides an authentic examination of how family and past tragedies can define our present.
Mare Sheehan (Kate Winslet) is infamous in Easttown, Pennsylvania, for having made a winning shot in a basketball game years ago (not unlike “Pistol” Pete from Parks & Recreation), and in the present day, she serves her town as a detective investigating a brutal murder that rocks the Easttown community.
Mare is played by Kate Winslet, and additional cast members include Sosie Bacon as Carrie Layden, Evan Peters as Detective Colin Zabel, David Denman as Frank Sheehan, and more.
The seven-episode limited series was created and written by Brad Ingelsby, and directed by The Leftovers director Craig Zobel.
The Undoing on HBO
The Undoing
A modern twist to a classical “whodunnit” tale, when the life of a wealthy New York therapist turns upside down after she and her family get involved with a murder case
From writer David E. Kelley and director Susanne Bier, the limited series focuses on Nicole Kidman’s Grace Fraser, a successful therapist, and her devoted husband, Jonathan (Hugh Grant), and their young son who attends an elite private school in New York City. A chasm opens in Grace’s seemingly perfect life: a violent death, a missing spouse, and a chain of terrible revelations.
Based on Jean Hanff Korelitz’s bestselling novel “You Should Have Known” and created by David E. Kelley, “The Undoing” stars Kidman as Grace Fraser, a New York City psychotherapist whose life unravels when her pediatric oncologist husband Jonathan [Grant] is accused of a gruesome murder. Noah Jupe co-stars as their son and Donald Sutherland plays Grace’s wealthy father.
True Detective on HBO
True Detective
You may experience an intense amount of season-to-season whiplash while watching True Detective, but the show’s highs far outweigh its lows.
Season 1 is a MUST WATCH which is not only one of the best seasons of television ever made, but also helped kick off the trend of feature film directors coming in to helm an entire season’s worth of TV.
Season 1 – Matthew McConaughey and Woody Harrelson
Season 1 of this extremely loosely connected anthology is still its high point, as the creative push and pull between writer Nic Pizzolatto and director Cary Fukunaga resulted in an evocative, engrossing, and spooky season-long detective story. Each season has a new central mystery, new lead detectives, and a new setting.
Season 2 – Colin Farrell, Rachel McAdams, Vince Vaughn, and Taylor Kitch
The season’s story takes place in California and follows the interweaving stories of officers from three cooperating police departments; when California Highway Patrol officer and war veteran Paul Woodrugh (Kitsch) discovers the body of corrupt city manager Ben Caspere on the side of a highway, Vinci Police Department detective Raymond “Ray” Velcoro (Farrell) and Ventura County Sheriff’s Office Criminal Investigation Division Sergeant Antigone “Ani” Bezzerides (McAdams) are called to assist in the following investigation.
Career criminal Francis “Frank” Semyon (Vaughn) attempts to legitimize his business with his wife Jordan (Reilly) by investing in a rail project overseen by Caspere, but loses his money when Caspere is killed, prompting him to start his own investigation.
Season 3 – Mahershala Ali, Stephen Dorff, and Carmen Ejogo
Season 3 of “True Detective” plays out in three separate time periods, telling the story of the 1980 disappearance of a young Arkansas boy and his sister, and a mystery that deepens over decades. Oscar winner Mahershala Ali stars as state police detective Wayne Hays, who recalls the days and weeks immediately following the crime, as well as developments in 1990, when he and his former partner, Roland West, were subpoenaed after a major break in the case. What started as a routine investigation becomes a long journey to dissect and make sense of the crime.
The Newsroom on HBO
The Newsroom
Aaron Sorkin’s The Newsroom in 2012 signaled a strong return to television after a few years spent riding the post-West Wing high of success with The Social Network and Moneyball.
Led by talented thesp Jeff Daniels, who turns in a career-best performance as noted and notorious journalist Will McAvoy, and Emily Mortimer as his ex-fiancée and current producer MacKenzie McHale, The Newsroom follows Will and his team as they revive an ailing nightly news show while also tracking the interpersonal relationship dramas between the team members.
The Newsroom sings when it re-dramatizes major events of the period, like the Deepwater Horizon oil spill in April 2010, while also proving to once again be fertile (and intriguing) ground for Sorkin’s rat-a-tat dialogue and pacing.
In Treatment on HBO
In Treatment
There’s a wonderfully stripped-down quality to this HBO half-hour drama series. Every episode is a therapy session, and the way that it aired would be the first four episodes of the week would be Dr. Paul Weston (Gabriel Byrne) in private practice with different patience. At the end of the week, he would sit down for his own therapy session with his doctor and mentor, Dr. Gina Toll (Dianne Wiest).
When you’re watching an episode of In Treatment, you’re largely just watching two actors own the space. It’s all character and acting streamlined into a conversation where preconceived notions are challenged and you get really rich turns from not only Byrne and Wiest but the whole cast including Mia Wasikowska, Blair Underwood, Hope Davis, Alison Pill, Irrfan Khan, John Mahoney, and more.
Network TV – Paramount +
Paramount Network is an American basic cable television channel owned by ViacomCBS. The network’s headquarters are located at the Paramount Pictures studio lot in Los Angeles.
ViacomCBS chose Paramount+ as the new name for the company’s CBS All Access streaming service in 2020.
The rebrand, which takes effect in early 2021, had been reported in recent weeks and executives have been talking about the revamp throughout this year. The official announcement of the shift didn’t offer many surprises apart from some notable original programming news on a series about the making of The Godfather and a spy show from Yellowstone co-creator Taylor Sheridan.
Showtime, the sister streaming service to CBS All Access, will continue to operate separately from Paramount+. Some form of bundling is likely down the line, though no plans have been set on that front. Most CBS All Access subscribers pay $6 a month for an ad-supported version, with others forking over $10 a month for an ad-free experience.
Together, the two services had 16.2 million subscribers as of the end of June. ViacomCBS has never broken out individual numbers for each but executives have said in recent years that they are similar in size. ViacomCBS also has a thriving free streaming service in Pluto TV, which has more than 26.5 million subscribers in the U.S. and several global territories.
Mayor of Kingstown on Paramount Plus
Mayor of Kingstown
Jeremy Renner plays a problem solver in a prison town in a new drama from Taylor Sheridan.
A crime drama about an important contemporary issue, America’s prison system, “Mayor of Kingstown” follows the McLusky family in Kingstown, Mich., where the business of incarceration is the only thriving industry.
The family of power brokers between police, criminals, inmates, prison guards and politicians tackle themes of systemic racism, corruption and inequality.
The crime thriller series provides a stark look at their attempt to bring order and justice to a town that has neither.
The cast includes Jeremy Renner, Dianne Wiest, Kyle Chandler and Derek Webster.
Yellowstone on Paramount
Yellowstone
Yellowstone season 4’s premiere is here.
The next chapter of the Dutton family saga has arrived, and fans are poring over all the latest trailers and promos for clues about the fates of Kevin Costner’s John Dutton and his children.
You can watch Yellowstone seasons 1-3 and catch up on all the wild, western action.
The drama stars Costner as John Dutton, the sixth-generation patriarch of the Dutton family, who controls the Yellowstone Dutton Ranch, the largest contiguous ranch in the United States.
This is still frontier country and the ranch is under constant attack by land developers, an Indian reservation, and the nearby national park.
John’s family includes son Kayce Dutton, a former Navy SEAL whose wife, Monica, is Native American.
There’s daughter Beth Dutton, a financier who has struggled with substance abuse problems.
Younger son Jamie Dutton is a lawyer and aspiring politician.
And Rip Wheeler is the ranch foreman with romantic ties to Beth.
Recap: A ranching family in Montana faces off against others encroaching on their land.
Oscar and Emmy winner Kevin Costner is the marquee attraction of the ensemble cast in this drama series, starring as the patriarch of a powerful, complicated family of ranchers.
He operates in a corrupt world where politicians are compromised by influential oil and lumber corporations and land grabs make developers billions.
Amid shifting alliances, unsolved murders, open wounds, and hard-earned respect, Dutton’s property is in constant conflict with those it borders — an expanding town, an Indian reservation, and America’s first national park.
Coyote on Paramount
Coyote
After 32 years as a border patrol agent, Ben Clemens is forced to work for the very people he spent his career trying to keep out of America, which ends up challenging his ideology and his loyalties.
Episode 1, Call of the Void
Forced into mandatory retirement, Ben goes to a small coastal town in Mexico to finish construction on his ex-partner’s fishing cabin, and, in the process, crosses paths with a young woman who needs his help.
Episode 2, Silver or Lead
Pursued by trackers, Ben and Maria Elena embark on a dangerous journey through the desert in order to reach the United States.
Episode 3, Sin of Origin
With limited options and his family’s lives at risk, Ben attempts a desperate exit strategy — one with potentially dire consequences.
Episode 4, Juan Doe
Ben must use his former Border Patrol connections when he’s forced to execute an audacious heist for the cartel so that his ex-wife and daughter won’t become victims of his own mistakes.
Episode 5, King Tide
While Ben deals with the repercussions of his previous job for the cartel, he must entertain unexpected visitors from both sides of the border.
Episode 6, Call of the Void
Ben must navigate danger within the Zamora cartel while searching for the truth about his former partner as a U.S. government investigation closes in.