I was in a pitch meeting at Quibi last year. Of the dozen or so ideas we pitched, they thought only one idea had potential. It was the very last idea, the runt of the deck, one page that clearly didn’t have as much thought, curiosity or passion put into it as the other ideas did. So why the potential? Not because the people in the room on either side thought they’d actually like to watch the idea as a show. But because they probably thought it might play for some imagined audience. This week, as the three-month free trial period for Quibi ends for those who downloaded it at launch, a big story highlighted this disconnect. What happens when the people who make media don’t even like the media they make? In Benjamin Wallace’s highly recommended Quibi autopsy, founders Katzenberg and Whitman admit they don’t like or even watch the two mediums they were trying to compete with. Not only do they not like mobile video, which Quibi thought it was reinventing. But they also don’t like premium streaming television, which Quibi was actually competing against.
Short mobile videos like those on TikTok, Instagram, Snapchat and YouTube clearly didn’t interest the founders.“[Katzenberg] believed that, despite most shortform video sites’ reliance on user-generated content, every medium has room for a premium offering,” Wallace writes. Hence the inability to screenshot or share Quibi shows, key mobile video features. So Quibi, then, dismissing all the ways mobile video has succeeded so far, instead was really a premium content streamer like HBO or Netflix. But! “When I ask Whitman what TV shows she watches, she responds, ‘I’m not sure I’d classify myself as an entertainment enthusiast,’” Wallace says. He continues. “But any particular shows she likes? “Grant,” she offered. ‘On the History Channel. It’s about President Grant.’”Katzenberg’s TV inspirations, while building his own premium streaming service, weren’t any more relevant: “America’s Funniest Home Videos,” Siskel and Ebert, and Jane Fonda’s exercise tapes. The aversion to their own product, which is famously bad, extends much further down the ladder, too.
Yesterday, Quibi’s Twitter account posted a thread announcing three new shows that was so dry, half-assed and dejected that you can practically smell the social media manager’s two weeks notice. I don’t blame them. When the people who make media don’t like the media they make, it shows in the product. It makes the product hard to like, even if you’re paid to like it.
The shorter stuff
Zoom is becoming Twitch. (The Verge)
It should be illegal to watch or follow "eighteen-year-old Chase 'Lil Huddy' Hudson and 16-year-old Charli D’Amelio's TikTok drama" as an adult. (Vulture)
Skeptical about these new streaming ratings, which combine "Google search terms for a series or film, as well as Facebook likes, pirated downloads and Wikipedia traffic to determine its popularity." (NYT)
Forbes will print anything for the Kardashian clan, including Kanye's harebrained comedy bits verbatim. (Forbes)
🌀Special "New York Magazine's Good Issue" Section
Thandie Newton kind of admits that she only likes the first season of "Westworld" in this must-read interview. (Vulture)
I have not watched Micaela Coel's "I May Destroy You" yet but this piece made it inevitable that I will. (Vulture)
The next culture war battle and business media feeding frenzy will be when Kevin Mayer, TikTok's CEO, goes to Washington to fight for the most popular app among an entire generation of American teenagers. (CNN)
I am shocked that there was an unproductive Zoom meeting with advertisers! (NBC News)
Only question I have: will Michael Barbaro host this new Times docu-series from Disney's FX and Hulu? (Deadline)
Peacock's Comcast-only viewers actually had pretty good taste: E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial, Hitchcock films, “30 Rock,” “Frazier” and “Everybody Loves Raymond” all performed well in the pandemic pre-launch. (Variety)
A charismatic celebrity astrologer feels like a lock to be another hit documentary for Netflix, doesn't it? (CNN)
I feel like we've been hearing about this completely unnecessary Mulan reboot for five years and now it's talked about alongside my pet obsession Tenet as summer box office savior. (THR)
I had no idea that there are reboots of "MacGyver" and "Magnum P.I." on TV right now. Not a good way to find out, either. (NYT)
Inexplicably a big week for New England dudes Mark Wahlberg, Adam Sandler and Ben Affleck on Netflix's Top 10 row. (Image)