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Today's Edition...

The Business of Television: Why Hollywood imploded

South Park: Creators rescued their favorite restaurant

Snake yoga: Would you feel Zen at this California studio?

TV Executive Ken Basin Explains Why Hollywood Imploded

In Ken Basin's 2018 book The Business of Television, the executive producer shared everything he'd learned from a career at Paramount Television Studios, Sony Pictures Television, and Amazon Studios. And then everything collapsed.

Streaming overtook cable, but it hasn't been the financial lifeboat that Hollywood had hoped for. Basin, who recently updated his book for a second edition, told b. why rushing into apps backfired for many studios and what can be salvaged from the old playbook.

b.: Why have so many studios struggled to adapt to the streaming model?

Basin: A lot of what I saw these last 10 years was the studios trying to copy the better-funded streamers. … Content doesn't necessarily have to be profitable on its own at Amazon. … Content doesn't have to be profitable at Apple. …

… What the studios did, more than hold onto their old ways, was … start trying to get as big as possible on the assumption that scale was the key to survival … without a real vision of how it was supposed to work or what was supposed to come next. That really doesn't amount to a vision.

The same was true of a lot of M&A activity … to get big because Netflix had gotten so big and because Amazon and Apple were so impossibly huge, but these mergers were not executed from a place of strategic vision. … So what you end up with is layoffs, layoffs, and more layoffs.

b.: With 12 different streaming services, people are questioning whether they're getting their money's worth.

Basin: I actually am a believer in bundling. … Most would say the golden age of TV is over, with shows not as exciting as they were seven years ago. That's partly because content is programmed for mass audiences. You think about the cable bundle … yeah, there weren't necessarily a ton of people watching Ovation — the network about opera programming — and maybe Animal Planet only ever got a certain number of viewers. But there were people who were really excited about that content and valued its existence. That content can't necessarily exist in an entirely unbundled world.

b.: If you had to suggest one bold move that could shake things up, what would it be?

Basin: Think about Netflix's early landmark original series: House of Cards, Daredevil, Narcos, and 13 Reasons Why. Their final episodes were released in 2018, 2018, 2017, and 2020, meaning they will be fully exclusive to Netflix until 2028, 2027, and 2030. I don't believe there's anyone left who is keeping their Netflix subscription solely because it's the only place to find those shows. …

… I think people have treated exclusivity as an unalloyed good without engaging a real cost-benefit analysis. … Windowing is this broader category of … making it available in different media at different times, and usually that means broadening the access to the content and lowering the cost of acquiring it over time. … That's one of the oldest business models of TV or content of any kind, which seems to have largely been walked away from in the last 10 years. That can and should make a big comeback.

The Business of Television is available now

Read our full Q&A with Ken Basin at business.com

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South Park Creators Save Their Favorite Restaurant in ¡Casa Bonita Mi Amor!

(Source: Paramount+)

In the documentary ¡Casa Bonita Mi Amor!, now streaming on Paramount+, we learn that Colorado kids Trey Parker and Matt Stone didn't originally dream of animating a crass-yet-beloved TV series; they dreamed of owning local hot spot Casa Bonita, the kitschy, amusement park-esque Mexican restaurant with a 30-foot plaster waterfall and animatronics.

When the iconic attraction closed seemingly forever in 2020, the duo stepped in and achieved their childhood dream … with a mere $40 million.

But as most restaurateurs will tell you, running an establishment is not all dreamy. As seen in the doc, Parker and Stone learn that voicing Stan, Kyle, Cartman, and Kenny doesn't exclude them from kitchen renovations, licensing and permitting, employee training, and gnarly HVAC rehab. Along the way, the newbie owners navigate these perils on their way to profitability.

But more importantly, they discover why people stay in the restaurant biz despite its challenges. As Parker puts it, "Any savvy businessperson would say, 'Get out, now!' But that's not the point."

Stretch With Snakes at This California Yoga Studio

(Source: LXRYOGA)

Nama-"stay" very still.

In yoga, snake pose usually involves laying on your stomach and lifting your chest, but one business takes it literally. At LXRYOGA in Costa Mesa, California, real pythons wrap around you while you try to find your Zen.

It's the first snake yoga studio, say husband-and-wife owners Huy and Tess Cao.

LXRYOGA began as a normal studio five years ago, but this past summer, the Caos' eight pet snakes started earning their keep. Class includes some essential Snake Handling 101. According to Tess, approximately 80 percent of participants have never held one before and need to overcome their fear through movement and breath. Talk about breaking a sweat.

Luckily, these snakes are ball pythons — a nonvenomous species. Nevertheless, students are advised not to make any fast, sudden moments, nor to approach the snakes from above like a predator. (You don't want to be mistaken for a hawk mid-yoga.)

All of this might sound like your personal nightmare, but Tess assures us many participants leave wanting a snake of their own.