FIRST LOOK
http://www.eonline.com/news
ON TELEVISION (TUESDAY 10/27/26)
DISNEY: Zombies: The Re-Animated Series, Season 2 (Premiere) at 6pm
HBO: Kordell Stewart: Slash & Burn (Premiere) at 9pm
ID: Toxic: What Happened in the Haight House? (Premiere) at 9pm
NETFLIX: The One About Matthew Perry (Premiere)
PBS: In Pursuit: Lessons of American Leadership (Premiere)
SHUDDER: The Boulet Brothers’ Dragula, Season 7 (Premiere)
VICE: Everybody Hates (Premiere) at 9pm
Time to pay up. SAG-AFTRA (Screen Actors Guild–American Federation of Television and Radio Artists) is reckoning with the decline in membership related to the domestic decline in TV and movie production.
-In addition to production drop-off, Hollywood talent is contending with meager compensation. Less than 1% of the guild’s members can expect to receive a payout related to the negotiations struck between SAG-AFTRA, the Writers Guild of America and the Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers following the writers’ and actors’ strikes in 2023. As part of the negotiations, actors should receive bonuses for streaming productions that are deemed particularly successful.
-The problem is the success bonus has a high threshold that is difficult to meet. Plus, the guilds have spent the past couple of years figuring out how to properly implement the agreements. Which means actors have spent a long time waiting for their checks – and only a small proportion of SAG-AFTRA members stand to benefit. For example, the guild expects to distribute roughly $1.5 million to approximately 700 actors who worked on high-budget streaming projects in 2024. (For reference, SAG-AFTRA has more than 160,000 members.)
-Making matters worse are expected changes to the union’s health care plan. In other words, it’s only getting more difficult for actors to make a living doing their art.
-And at this point, many actors have just about had it. Last week, Drake Bell denounced the union after he found out his union-contracted income did not qualify him to use the guild’s health insurance. He cautioned his audience to avoid joining the acting profession – and he’s certainly not the only actor to call out SAG-AFTRA for steepening care coverage prices.
–The Takeaway: Acting is becoming a less lucrative profession. As studios and streamers invest less in content development – and media consolidation further reduces the number of production studios pumping out new titles – insufficient compensation and limited opportunities threaten to keep chipping away at the number of working actors behind television entertainment as we know it today.
(Source: Cynopsis)
Instagram is trying to be TV – because at this point, who isn’t? The social platform announced Monday it is testing a new feature – aptly named “Features” – allowing users to view longer-form videos and podcasts on the social media platform.
-As part of the new trial, Instagram launched horizontal videos up to 90 minutes long with select creators in the US. The platform has already been testing the feature in Brazil and plans to expand it to include tens of thousands of US creators.
-The new Instagram product is aimed at podcasters, comedians and other creators who monetize longer-form content across their social following.
–How does it work? When platform users view a vertical clip of a longer video via Instagram Reels, they can click to view the full-length video in horizontal format without having to leave the app.
-To start, the new viewing feature is available on mobile, but the goal is to expand it to Instagram for TV, a smart TV app that Meta launched in December 2025 to allow viewers to watch longer Instagram videos and live streams using the big screen on the wall. (Although that wasn’t the first time Instagram tried to stand up a TV app to rival YouTube.)
–The Takeaway: Instagram’s move reflects recent efforts among other social media platforms to compete with YouTube by hosting user-generated content in both long and short form. Considering that YouTube dominates TV and video watch time, it makes sense that other platforms are trying to copy a few pages from its playbook.
(Source: Cynopsis)
Buy now, pick yourself up later. Skydance is offering employees a voluntary buyout ahead of more expected layoffs. The media conglomerate’s headcount cuts are designed to help it save $6 billion as it continues merging Paramount and Warner Bros. Discovery teams, tech and assets after closing the $110 billion deal.
-The details of the imminent belt-tightening are still a mystery, but Skydance says it should also affect “non-labor” costs, such as its real estate footprint.
-In addition to what Skydance calls its Voluntary Buyout Program, the company also announced a new mandate obligating employees to come into the office five days a week.
–Déjà vu? If that move sounds familiar, it’s because it hasn’t been that long since NBCUniversal told employees they can accept a severance package instead of coming into the office more often. It’s likely that Skydance’s new programs and incentives are also part of an effort to ensure employees who remain with the company are the ones most likely to jibe with the new culture and structure.
(Source: Cynopsis)
Apple TV dropped a sneak peek at “Nocturne,” a new crime drama starring Emmy Award-winning Stephen Graham (“Peaky Blinders”). The series premieres Oct. 30.
(Source: Cynopsis)
Prime Video released an official trailer and key art for “Terrell & T.O.,” a documentary chronicling the career of NFL trailblazer Terrell Owens. The documentary premieres Nov. 5.
(Source: Cynopsis)
Welcome to the manosphere. Hulu announced a true-crime docuseries called “Get Huge: Looksmaxxing to Death” exploring how an understanding of masculinity in the modern influencer age results in a series of risky behavior and death. The three-part docuseries premieres Nov. 10.
(Source: Cynopsis)
TLC unveiled a trailer for its upcoming documentary “The Mad Pooper” – yes, you read that correctly – exploring the investigations spurred by a woman inexplicably dropping unwanted presents on residential lawns across Colorado Springs nearly a decade ago. The special premieres Nov. 19.
(Source: Cynopsis)
A brand-new “Baywatch” series will premiere on Fox Jan. 6. The cast includes Hassie Harrison (“Yellowstone”), Shay Mitchell (“Pretty Little Liars”) and Brooks Nader (“Dancing With the Stars”), among other new and returning cast members.
(Source: Cynopsis)
MGM+ has greenlit “The Black Tapes,” a supernatural horror investigation show based on the podcast series of the same name hosted by Terry Miles and Paul Bae. The TV series features Emmy Award nominee Nikolaj Coster-Waldau (“Game of Thrones”) and is slated to begin production in Vancouver in January 2027.
(Source: Cynopsis)
Award-winning actor Amy Madigan (“Carnivàle,” “Grey’s Anatomy”) is joining the cast of “Ascent,” a new thriller series coming to Paramount+. Madigan will star alongside award-winning actor and series executive producer Viola Davis (“How to Get Away With Murder”). The show is slated to begin production in Los Angeles next year.
(Source: Cynopsis)
Eric Bauza, the Emmy Award-winning Canadian voice actor, died Sunday at 46, his family announced. Bauza is especially well known for his voice acting roles as “Looney Tunes” characters Bugs Bunny and Daffy Duck. Bauza’s other voice-acting credits include “Avatar: The Last Airbender” and “Rick and Morty.”
(Source: Cynopsis)
Actor and producer Alan Dysert died at 75 on Friday, his wife announced. Dysert is particularly well known for his role as Sean Cudahy in the ‘70s soap opera “All My Children.”
(Source: Cynopsis)
Actor Walter Koenig died at 90 on Monday, his talent agent announced. Koenig was best known for playing the character Ensign Pavel Chekov in the “Star Trek” series franchise.
(Source: Cynopsis)
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