Jason Snell and a rotating group of experts break down the present and future of television.

Navigation

Links

Support this show

Join for $7/month Join for $70/year
Get Downstream+ and don't miss a segment!

Get in touch

Submit Feedback

Latest Episodes

#14: Quintessential Identity Crisis

April 5th, 2022 · 83 minutes

Apple TV+ wins Best Picture, "Our Flag Means Death" is... a hit?, why being the fan of a baseball team is going to bring you pain, "Obi-Wan" takes on "Stranger Things" directly, and Jason subscribed to CNN+... for science!

#13: The South Park Equation

March 22nd, 2022 · 76 minutes

Is Wall Street souring on the streaming wars? Is Netflix coming for your shared passwords? Both issues are way more complicated than they might seem.

#12: Why? It's Batman.

March 8th, 2022 · 73 minutes

Disney inevitably embraces advertising, NBC inevitably takes its ball and goes home, and The Batman inevitably forces a discussion about the future of theatrical releases.

#11: Paramount's Paramount

February 22nd, 2022 · 67 minutes

ViacomCBS changes its name, Peacock weathers the Super Bowl storm, the Disney brand continues to evolve, the culture of binge-dropping begins to fade away, Netflix is Doing Just Fine, and your letters!

#10: C Against C

February 8th, 2022 · 68 minutes

The future of CNN+ is called into question, the Oscars recognize streaming services of all kinds, and did Peacock finally get the Olympics right?

#9: Little Crown Jewel

January 25th, 2022 · 61 minutes

Netflix's latest quarterly report makes us wonder: Is it a tech company or an entertainment company? Julia experiences live sports streaming success--and failure. HBO Max takes a victory lap. And why does Showtime still exist? Plus, your letters!

#8: Everyone's Talking About Bruno

January 11th, 2022 · 67 minutes

It's a new year! Disney has moved another Pixar movie out of theaters and onto Disney+. Why "Don't Look Up" was the perfect movie for Netflix. "Yellowstone" is a legitimate hit and yet nobody is truly happy about it.

#7: The All-Letters Edition

December 28th, 2021 · 37 minutes

Jason and Julia are off for the holiday, but before they left, they took time to record this special episode featuring answers to listener letters! (Only two-thirds of the letters are from people named David.)

#6: All Four Quadrants

December 15th, 2021 · 55 minutes

We dig into why CNN+ has to exist, even though it doesn't make a lot of sense. Also, the strange divisions between what's on HBO and what's on HBO Max, we talk a surprising amount about The CW (again), and Netflix has... a blog?

#5: The Netflix Connected Universe

December 1st, 2021 · 67 minutes

Diving into Netflix's brand new global and regional top 10 lists, and all the things they tell us about the global streaming giant. Also, ViacomCBS corrects its Star Trek mistake, and why Netflix is bad at movies.