Cordkillers 599: No, Seriously: What is TV?

YouTube is eating more of the entertainment pie, Google TV and Netflix are filling screens with vertical clips, and AI tools are creeping into the TV interface itself. Meanwhile, Narnia gets a theatrical window, The Boys heads to theaters, and the Oscars try to draw a human-shaped line around AI.

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Supply Run

YouTube’s viewing time helped drive a 10.7% jump in Q1 ad sales, while the platform reportedly generated more than $60 billion in revenue in 2025, making it one of entertainment’s biggest money machines.
variety.com

Google TV will soon put YouTube Shorts directly on the home page, pushing vertical video further into the traditional living-room TV experience.
engadget.com

Google TV is also adding Gemini-powered voice tools for editing images and creating videos, because apparently your TV now wants to be a production suite.
thurrott.com

Netflix is testing a TikTok-style vertical video feed in its mobile app, featuring short clips from series, films, and specials that can lead viewers into the full title.
techcrunch.com

Search Party

Netflix delayed Greta Gerwig’s Narnia: The Magician’s Nephew from Thanksgiving 2026 to February 12, 2027, with a 45-day theatrical window before it streams on Netflix on April 2.
techcrunch.com

The Boys fifth and final season will get a theatrical event, with finale screenings set for May 19 in 4DX theaters.
variety.com

A new trailer is out for Christopher Nolan’s The Odyssey, starring Matt Damon, Tom Holland, Anne Hathaway, Robert Pattinson, Zendaya, Lupita Nyong’o, Charlize Theron, Mia Goth, Benny Safdie, Jon Bernthal, and John Leguizamo.
deadline.com

The first teaser for Ted Lasso season 4 confirms the show returns August 5.
deadline.com

Andy Serkis says Viggo Mortensen is “thrilled” with Jamie Dornan being recast as Aragorn in The Hunt for Gollum.
variety.com

Nielsen data says U.S. viewers watched 33 billion minutes of Star Wars content across linear TV and streaming in 2025, with the films making up the largest share and A New Hope leading the pack.
variety.com

Buried Treasure

Brian recommends the Knight Rider: Declassified trailer.
youtube.com

Tom recommends the Kentucky Derby, where Golden Tempo’s comeback win drew an estimated record 24.4 million viewers across NBC’s coverage.
reuters.com

Got something we should be on the lookout for? Email cordkillers@gmail.com.

Scanning the Horizon

The Academy announced new Oscar rules requiring acting nominations to go only to roles performed by humans with consent, while screenplays must be human-authored; AI tools remain eligible in areas like VFX, sound, and editing.
thenextweb.com

Roku reported strong first-quarter results, with overall revenue up 22% and advertising revenue up 27%.
deadline.com

Roku’s $3-a-month streaming service Howdy reportedly reached 1 million subscribers, according to Antenna.
techcrunch.com

The CW struck new streaming partnerships that will put its sports programming on ESPN’s app and its entertainment programming on The Roku Channel.
deadline.com

Paramount+ added about 700,000 subscribers in Q1, while direct-to-consumer revenue rose 11%.
variety.com

Chatter

Nicky M. writes in about watching lots of shorts, especially Chinese short dramas, movie reviews, reactions, and news clips that lead to longer versions or full stories. They also pitch a YouTube multiview idea where the main screen plays a movie from Movies Anywhere or YouTube, while smaller synced windows show supported reaction creators.

Sean Finnerty notes that Agent Coulson’s MCU characterization was inspired not by a comic book appearance, but by Clark Gregg’s work as FBI Special Agent Michael Casper on The West Wing.

Bill near Athens, Georgia asks about crossover episodes the hosts wish had happened, citing a Bosch/Lincoln Lawyer crossover and the almost-made X-Files/Picket Fences crossover.

Ryu Planeswalker says they want streaming services to let them build a personalized TV network from favorite shows and YouTube series, playing episodes randomly but still keeping each series in order.

Sean Finnerty compares the large-scale rebellion of Andor with the more intimate Mars colony rebellion in For All Mankind, finding Andor more inspiring but For All Mankind more practical and plausible.

Boss Norm from Visalia reacts to the previous YouTube multiview discussion, laughing that the feature received more analysis than it probably has anywhere else and predicting it will go nowhere.