nickfthilton.bsky.social
Nick Hilton
@nickfthilton.bsky.social
1.3K followers 330 following 750 posts
Chief TV Critic: @theindependent Podcaster in Chief: @podotpods Other "chief" roles: tbc
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nickfthilton.bsky.social
Nick Hilton @nickfthilton.bsky.social · Dec 4
I have a newsletter – Future Proof – where I write bitter musings about digital media, from podcasts and YouTube to movies and TV. Basically every post is free and harmless, and I like seeing the subscriber ticker going up: so please sign up!
Future Proof | Nick Hilton | Substack
100% Undiluted Media Futurology. Click to read Future Proof, by Nick Hilton, a Substack publication with hundreds of subscribers.
futureproofnews.substack.com
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Reposted by Nick Hilton
theipaper.com
The i Paper @theipaper.com · 12h
Opinion | In his commitment to creating a show that puts clickbait and ad sales ahead of public service, he is teaching the rest of the media an important lesson. The great fear is that they learn something from it

🖋 @nickfthilton.bsky.social

Read more: trib.al/JbsdMhl
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Nick Hilton @nickfthilton.bsky.social · 13h
Is Celebrity Traitors the most anticipated launch on British TV ever? I'm trying to think of another new show that arrived with such pre-release hype...
nickfthilton.bsky.social
Nick Hilton @nickfthilton.bsky.social · 14h
I didn't write the headline, but, yeah, I certainly don't think Steven Bartlett is a force for good in podcasting.
Diary of a CEO's Steven Bartlett is everything wrong with podcasting
An episode featuring Louis Tomlinson will be screened in cinemas tonight. As ever, clicks and cash seem to trump good-quality content
inews.co.uk
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Nick Hilton @nickfthilton.bsky.social · 1d
It’s almost like the media thinks ‘Taylor Swift’ is quite an effective keyword…
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Nick Hilton @nickfthilton.bsky.social · 1d
I don’t think I’ve seen a critical cycle work as quickly as it has with The Life of a Showgirl: immediate fawning praise followed, swiftly, by a vicious backlash. And now “actually, it’s kind of good” reappraisal. All within a week! We might manage to repeat the cycle again by the end of the month…
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Nick Hilton @nickfthilton.bsky.social · 1d
A newsletter on the idea that The Free Press was somehow worth $150m.
The Not-so Free Press: how profit and polarisation became unhealthy bedfellows
Bari Weiss has sold The Free Press for a rumoured $150m – wow.
open.substack.com
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Nick Hilton @nickfthilton.bsky.social · 3d
Happy 25th birthday to Gilmore Girls: a fantasy of America that’s infinitely preferable to the real thing.
Gilmore Girls at 25: Why we love Lorelai and Rory more than ever
A quarter of a century after it arrived on screens, ‘Gilmore Girls’ is more popular than ever, writes Nick Hilton. It’s hardly surprising that the show has thrived – it depicts a liberal, accepting, c...
www.independent.co.uk
nickfthilton.bsky.social
Nick Hilton @nickfthilton.bsky.social · 4d
I went out of my way to watch Monster: the Ed Gein Story yesterday (it is, I think, the worst of the Monsters) and write about how televisual horror is evolving into something all too literal.
Netflix’s Ed Gein drama shows how our appetite for horror has changed
With the latest edition of his ‘Monster’ series, the showrunner leans, yet again, into his icky instincts and leaves nothing to the imagination, writes Nick Hilton
www.independent.co.uk
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Nick Hilton @nickfthilton.bsky.social · 5d
The moment, last night, when Movers & Shakers won Gold in the Impact category at the British Podcast Awards. A great recognition for a long, hard year of campaigning, and thankfully @rorycj.bsky.social was on hand to collect the award.
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Nick Hilton @nickfthilton.bsky.social · 6d
To be fair to Tyler Cowen, I suspect AI is going to significantly increase the global supply of virgins. His utopia is coming.
laurajedeed.bsky.social
Laura Jedeed @laurajedeed.bsky.social · 6d
I'm sorry: "if I wish to see a virgin on-screen"?
My Favorite Actress Is Not Human Tilly Norwood doesn’t need a hairstylist, has no regrettable posts, and if you wish to see a virgin on-screen, this is one of your better chances. That’s because she’s AI. A picture of some AI girl standing on an AI landscape with an AI monster behind her. I'm gonna be so real: she looks about 14 By Tyler Cowen
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Nick Hilton @nickfthilton.bsky.social · 6d
Not going to review the new Hamlet at the National (thankfully…) but I will review the bloke who tapped me on the shoulder in the interval and said “sorry if you have some sort of condition but your head is moving a lot”. My review of him? Two thumbs down!
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Nick Hilton @nickfthilton.bsky.social · 6d
Better availability in London 😎
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Nick Hilton @nickfthilton.bsky.social · 6d
I think Didsbury is their last remaining Manchester cinema. Amazingly, it seems like 2/3 of the seats have already been booked...
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Nick Hilton @nickfthilton.bsky.social · 6d
He's definitely pivoted massively away from business stuff. But will 1D stans really fill a cinema in Didsbury in order to hear a 2-hour interview with Louis Tomlinson (not even Harry!) a day early??
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Nick Hilton @nickfthilton.bsky.social · 6d
A journalistic bridge too far...
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Nick Hilton @nickfthilton.bsky.social · 6d
Genuinely fascinated by this. It will be released as a podcast 𝓉𝒽𝑒 𝓃𝑒𝓍𝓉 𝒹𝒶𝓎. You are paying £15 to spend 120 minutes(!!!) watching a podcast that will be on YouTube 𝓉𝒽𝑒 𝓃𝑒𝓍𝓉 𝒹𝒶𝓎.
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Nick Hilton @nickfthilton.bsky.social · 6d
Who are the people paying £15 to go to their local Cineworld to watch the latest episode of Diary of a CEO with... Louis Tomlinson from One Direction? Like, what demographic could this possibly be catering to?
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Nick Hilton @nickfthilton.bsky.social · 7d
Have other podcast people noticed a huge increase in obviously AI-generated guest suggestion emails in the past few weeks? If so, is this the result of some new, bullshit AI tool? Or has there been a new data leak?
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Nick Hilton @nickfthilton.bsky.social · 7d
Anyway, more on the Tilly Norwood nonsense, via my Substack.
AI vs Stardust: are film's A-listers safe from digital replacement?
A Tale of Two AIs: Tilly Norwood and Maya Lanez
open.substack.com
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Nick Hilton @nickfthilton.bsky.social · 7d
(For this piece, I interview an Oscar-winning VFX developer, now working in AI, who noted that we're probably still 5 years from being able to properly composite AI into non-AI shots. At the moment, that's an impenetrable barrier to utilising "AI actors").
Inside the life of an extra, and how they might all get killed off by AI
As the BBC comedy ‘Extras’ turns 20, Nick Hilton looks at the quirks of a job that has been integral to the TV and film industry, and the threat it’s faced with today
www.independent.co.uk
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Nick Hilton @nickfthilton.bsky.social · 7d
The acting community is generating a lot of noise about this, complete non-story, of an AI actress. This is a PR gimmick, not a real threat to their jobs. But when have the acting establishment ever shown any solidarity with their technical colleagues who are already losing jobs to AI?
Hollywood celebrities outraged over new 'AI actor' Tilly Norwood
The AI actress is apparently in talks with Hollywood talent agencies to represent her on the big screen.
www.bbc.co.uk
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Nick Hilton @nickfthilton.bsky.social · 9d
No comment – obviously – on the person making these comments, but I do wonder how many people have experienced the sheer volume or density of misogyny that Emma Watson has experienced since she was a literal child. I think the insinuation that she is some unworldly naïf is a touch unfair.
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Nick Hilton @nickfthilton.bsky.social · 9d
Acting isn't threatened by AI because – and I hate to say it – you can't fuck an AI. Whereas rotoscopers? Compositors? Extras? They're the creative industries professions who are genuinely imperilled by the current direction of traffic.
AI vs Stardust: are film's A-listers safe from digital replacement?
A Tale of Two AIs: Tilly Norwood and Maya Lanez
open.substack.com
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Nick Hilton @nickfthilton.bsky.social · 9d
Some thoughts on the lighting of TV. Essentially: there are so many variables that filmmakers can't control with TV, that it makes it hard to be tricksy with light. Better to err on the side of caution with the great, democratic art form.
Let there be light: Why modern TV shows are so often too dark to see
Nick Hilton digs into why telly seems to be so gloomy, and argues that realism should not be placed above the needs of viewers
www.independent.co.uk
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Nick Hilton @nickfthilton.bsky.social · 11d
The Antisociety
If we move together, we go further. But we seem to have forgotten that.
medium.com