Better Call Saul (108), Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt (to 109), The Walking Dead (13-15), Going Clear
00:58 – Better Call Saul (108)
07:18 – Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt (to 109)
10:26 – The Walking Dead (13-15)
17:07 – Going Clear

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Is there enough in Vessel to win? Sling gets more complicated. The Fire TV gets hotel friendly.

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CordKillers: Ep. 64 – Cold Indifference
Recorded: March 30, 2015
Guest: None

Intro Video

• PBS NewsHour steals our bit

Primary Target

• Former Hulu CEO Jason Kilar’s Vessel Launches To The Public
  –Scam School is one of the launch programs 
  –Vessel launched to the public March 24
  – Exclusives at least 72 hours early.
  – Adding a total of 135 creators to its current 30 and offered a 12-month free subscription for anyone who signs up in first three days.
  – You can still get 30 days free then it’s $2.99 a month
  – Vessel creators could get CPMs of about $50 through the service, versus an average of $2.20 per thousand views on YouTube.
  – $7 a user bounty for converted subscribers

Signal Intelligence

• AMC, IFC, and other channels added to PlayStation Vue internet TV service
• Sling TV blocked from streaming some shows on A&E, Lifetime channels 
  –PlayStation Vue added AMC, IFC, Sundance and WETV
  – Sling TV added A&E and Lifetime but some LIVE programs are blacked out.
  – A&E blocks episodes of Criminal Minds and Lifetime blocks Intervention and some made for TV movies

Gear Up

• Amazon Fire TV Stick adds hotel-friendly Wi-Fi sign-in
  –Update to Fire TV Stick and Box
  – WiFi authentication systems
  – Hide access PIN from kids
  – Employ shortcuts to sleep and mirroring
  – Easily accessed Curated Prime music playlists
  –Fire TV Box Only
  – USB port enabled for storage drives
  – Bluetooth headphones

Front Lines

• Fan TV’s New App Is A Must-Have For Cord Cutters
  –FanTV app has a major update that lets you search and save TV shows and movies and get alerted when they have new episodes and arrive on your preferred services. They track 44 services. A Mobile Web version is coming for non-iOS users. Is this the app we’ve been looking for?
• Xbox One snags Epix streaming app
  –Movie app Epix is now available on Xbox One. It was already out on Xbox 360, PlayStation 3, PlayStation 4, Roku, Android and iOS devices and available through Sling TV. Do you care?
• Google reportedly turning Web game into TV show
  –Google is developing a TV show with Mummy producer Soctt Daniel Co.— based on its game Ingress, which involves visiting real world landmarks and capturing via a smartphone app. Is tehre a reason they shouldn’t do this?
• YouTube starts testing silky smooth, ultra HD video quality
  –TechCrunch spotted a playlist six YouTube videos that are both 60fps and 4K. Does this silky-smooth High-Res playback excite you yet?
• Comcast Says It’s Not Talking to Apple About Apple TV, Because Apple Hasn’t Asked
  –Comcast attorney Francis Buono wrote to the FCC: “Not only has NBCUniversal not ‘withheld’ programming from Apple’s new venture, Apple has not even approached NBCUniversal with such a request.” Why would that be?
• Hulu Japan tops one million subscribers
  –Hulu Japan now has more than one million subscribers, who have collectively viewed more than 360 million hours of video since the service first launched in 2011. Should we move to Japan?

Under Surveillance

• The X-Files’ Revival: David Duchovny & Gillian Anderson to Reprise Roles on Fox
  –The X-Files with David Duchovny and Gillian Anderson as Mulder and Scully will return for a 6 episodes story arc. Production with Chris Carter at the help will begin this summer. 
• Steven Spielberg will direct the Ready Player One movie
  –Steven Spielberg has signed on to direct the movie adaptation of Ernie Cline’s Ready Player One. Zak Penn (X-Men 2, Incredible Hulk) wrote the most recent draft for Warner Bros. 
• Fear the Walking Dead’ in ominous first trailer for zombie spin-off
  –The Walking Dead spinoff set in LA will be called “Fear the Walking Dead” Trailer premiered during the Walking Dead season finale last night. 
• Brian: Wrestling isn’t wrestling, Better Call Saul, Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt (through ep 9),  The Walking Dead 13, 14, 15, Going Clear
• Tom: Better Call Saul (Ep. 8), The Flash, Once Upon a Time, Arrow, The Walking Dead finale, Going Clear

Dispatches from the Front

Hey guys! As someone who runs a website that produces a lot of local shows (http://trianglelife.tv) I think Meerkat and Periscope are total game changers. We now have the ability to do interviews, cover concerts and other live events with a mere cellphone! Who needs a tricaster, satellite hookup, and other expensive equipment? And don’t forget what this means for events like the Ferguson riots and the Arab Spring.

I’d like to hear your thoughts on the legal issues surrounding this technology. It’s fine if my friend let’s me live stream his band’s concert at a bar downtown, but what if I go to a Metallica concert or a pro wrestling event? There was a lot of talk last year about people’s rights to record the police during an arrest and the cops’ right to seize and access the phone to get the video off it. All that’s a moot point if the video is being streamed live on Twitter.

To your knowledge, how do the laws stand now and where do you think they will go in the future?

Thanks for a great show!

Bob.

• Here’s a great article from 2009 about just these issues.

 

Thanks for the great show. I thought I’ll let you know about my cord cutting experience here in Saudi Arabia. Just to clarify something, in Saudi we didn’t have cable until about 3 years ago with the two fiber providers started providing such a service. We rely on satellite tv, there are almost 300+ free channels and a couple of paid networks. I was able to stop using all of them. I currently have only internet and Netflix, for Netflix I am using a service called UnoTelly that acts as proxy to mask my connection as if I was in the USA or any other Netflix country. I also occasionally use iTunes and YouTube. My main box is an AppleTV after my WD Live device broke down. I just bought a Roku 3 and got Amazon Prime so will see how that works out. Being in a country where Torrenting in common and no one really cares I do use it a lot. Mainly for CBS, HBO stuff and Movies. I am trying to be all legal but its difficult here as there are hardly any legal services in Saudi at the moment. I am looking into seeing if I can get sling TV or might just wait for the Apple rumored service.

Hope this gives you an idea and keep up the good work

Turki

 

 

 

Longtime viewer, second time writer. My number came up and I am currently a Nielsen panel member in Chicago. It infuriates me to no end that nothing I watch via my Apple Tvs gets Nielsen credit. Not sure what to do with my anger except channel it your way in hopes some thing will change Nielsen corporate practices

As I’m sure you can guess, I’m not meant to reveal to anyone my status as a panel member, so please do feel free to cite anything you wish but please keep my name confidential 

Anonymous

 

 

 

Hi Brian and Tom: In general, I agree with Tom’s assessment that Kimmy Schmidt is two things at once: a great show and something that Brian just isn’t into.

Brian, I’m not going to tell you that you should like something you don’t, but please don’t say it’s a bad show just because you don’t like it. There are many shows on TV that I can tell are good but I just don’t like them.

What I do take issue with is that you’re mad at a show for doing what it’s trying to do, and telling it that it should do something else. I notice that you do this often and it’s the only thing that’s ever bugged me about your opinions on various media properties. You’re always saying “this show shouldn’t be about/doing this, it should be ____.” Well, maybe it doesn’t want to be ____. You really should judge the show for what it’s trying to be/do, not what you want it to. And if you don’t like what it’s trying to do, then maybe it’s not for you.

What I will say, Brian, is that Kimmy Schmidt might be doing more than you’re giving it credit for (particularly after watching three episodes). This article from the New Yorker does a great job at looking at the darker side of the show that’s hidden under the extreme bubbly exterior. It brought up some things that made me – someone who already loved the show as a comedy – think about it on a different level, and gave me a greater appreciation for what it’s trying to do.

In the end, I agree with Tom. Maybe you just don’t like shows like this. But again, it bothers me if you say it’s not good just because you don’t like it.

Matt from Sterling, VA

ps- personally, I laughed through all of the episodes and found one or two gut-busters in each.

 

 

 

Hey Tom and Brian,

Just some thoughts about The Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt. My goal isn’t to change Brian’s mind and get him to love it, but I think even he has to admit that NBC screwed up big time by not picking up the show and letting Netflix get it.

NBC recently announced that they are going to launch paid subscription internet streaming channels, and that the first offering would be a comedy channel. In promoting it they touted such great NBC comedy hits as The Tonight Show with Jimmy Fallon, SNL, and … that’s about it. For a channel with such a great history of great sitcoms it seems like a huge mistake to not even be able to name a current hit sitcom. I think this shows why broadcast networks are in serious trouble. It appears they’re paying “so much” attention to cord cutting and potential internet distribution they’re forgetting the other half of the equation: shows that people actually want to watch.

Keep up the good work,
Your Boss Ben

PS – your thoughts and opinions on the matter are in no way tied to any potential future raises 😉

 

 

I think you guys with your fancy unity remotes are forgetting how great the CEC functionality is on the PS3. This means that you can have one box, hooked up to one tv, using one remote acting as your game system, tv, netflix, hulu, twitch box, music streaming box. This could be the death of the universal remote.

John W

 

Hello Brian & Tom, I wanted to send a message to let you know about something interesting I noticed while listening to your last show. While Tom & Anthony were trying to activate all my toys, I found myself suddenly panicking thinking I was going to need to tell everything to disregard. To my surprise, my Amazon Echo did not activate when Tom kept saying “Alexa”. I then proceeded to run my own experiment and rewind the podcast a few times to see if it was a fluke. My echo never awoke. I then asked Alexa for the weather and it immediately responded. I tried three more times to get Tom’s voice via the podcast to wake up my Echo to no avail. My assumption is the Echo is learning my voice and distinguishes between me (a legit query) and some podcast. Perhaps the next generation of voice interaction Anthony was asking for is closer than we all think!
Thanks for all you do and for the great show. Be well

Gunnar

 

Links
patreon.com/cordkillers
Dog House Systems Cordkiller box