Discovery+

Stories

Discovery+ is (sometimes) minus clothes

In the mega-billion-dollar world of streaming networks, people still have basic questions:
What is Discovery+, anyway? How did it become important? And what does it have that’s special?
One partial answer to that last question is … well, nudity.
At a virtual session with the Television Critics Association, programming executive Lisa Holme discussed “putting the + in Discovery+.” The session focused on six shows; by coincidence, perhaps, half of them had something to do with nudity: Read more…

By Mike Hughes / August 17, 2021
Stories

Mega-Magnolia emerges from amiable Texans

It’s an imposing task, one that might suggest Oprah, God or Disney: Create an entire network, built around one force.
That’s what the Magnolia Network is trying. On July 15, it becomes a streaming network inside Discovery+, fashioned around the design and renovation sensibilities of Chip and Joanna Gaines; a half-year later, it will also be cable channel, replacing DIY.
Such mega-projects have been tried before – the Oprah Winfrey Network, the Disney Channel, the Christian Broadcast Network – but they demand a lot. “It feels like an unquenchable amount of content, that you have to provide that machine,” Chip told the Television Critics Association. Read more…

By Mike Hughes / July 11, 2021
Stories

After Earth Day, films continue

Earth Day is gone now, but its impact lingers on our TV sets and computer screens.
There’s PBS’ Greta Thunberg film (see separate story), which now reruns on three Wednesdays. And a surge of films on the streaming channels, including the splendid “Secrets of the Whales” (see separate story) and the fun “The Year the Earth Changed.”
And on April 23, there’s the back half of a two-day rerun marathon. Let’s start there: Read more…

By Mike Hughes / April 16, 2021