The Best One Yet - 💌 “Love is Late” — Netflix’s biggest apology. Phantom of the Opera’s finale. Earnings Season’s surprise.

Episode Date: April 18, 2023

Netflix stock fell 2% because it messed up the live episode of “Love is Blind” — Here’s the 3 things Netflix should do to fix it. The Phantom of the Opera musical just had its final show, but Broadway is a lesson for us about how we consume content. And earnings season has kicked off — But Wall Street already predicted last year what will happen. $NFLX $SPYWant merch, a shoutout, or got TheBestFactYet? Go to: www.tboypod.comFollow The Best One Yet on Instagram, Twitter, and Tiktok: @tboypodAnd now watch us on YoutubeLearn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

This is Nick. This is Jack. It's Tuesday, T-boy, Tuesday, April 18th. And today's pod is the best one yet. It's a T-Boy. It's a T-Boy, but quick, FYI, it is Tax Day. Yes, it is. Yetis, Jack and I are not accountants,

but we're pretty sure that you probably owe someone money right now. Unless you're getting a refund, which would be great. That'd be fantastic. Pause the pod, call Carol from accounting and then come back and push play. She'll get you every time. Jack, first story. What do we got today, man? On Sunday night, Netflix had a live stream reunion of the steamy reality dating show, Love is Blind.

But one problem. They forgot to press record, Jack. Netflix ghosted us all on our couches on Sunday night. And the stock fell 2%. For our second story, the big quarterly earning season kicks off this week. But Wall Street already predicted exactly what's going to happen. And our third and final story is the Phantom of the Opera. The longest running music.

in all of Broadway history has come to an end. The Phantom has a lesson for all of us about TikTok. But before we hit that wonderful mix. Just a wonderful mix of stories for Tuesday. I love this mix. Here's the big question you're asking tonight. You're asking yourselves burritos or bolognese. Is it Taco Tuesday?

Or Jack, is it Tortolini Tuesday? The buddies get this. The research firm Data Central studied 40,000 restaurant menus to determine what is America's favorite cuisine. And they discovered that Latin and Mexican food has overtaken Italian for the very first time. That's right. Tex-Mex tamale has beaten out Torino Tagli Italis. Cheese pizza is losing to the Chimichanga.

Now, Yetis, Italian has been the number one cuisine in the United States for a century. We jumped in T-boy style. Look at the statistics. Rigatoni has been on top since World War I. But Data Essential's report shows that millennials are the first. first generation to prefer Mexican cuisine to Italian cuisine. And we're seeing it in the numbers. What do we got, Jack? What's the most ordered cocktail in America right now?

Jack, it's the margarita. What's the most requested flavor in America right now? It's spicy and cheesy like an enchilada. Now, Nick, the flags of Mexico and Italy, they are similar, we should point out. I'm looking at red, I'm looking at white, I'm looking at green with a little thing in the middle, Jack. But a farfalli, it ain't the same as a fajita. Hey, primavera, it ain't no plantain, man. Yeah, it's Latin. American and Hispanic influence keeps growing in the U.S. And honestly, it looks like the menus are with it. So for T-Boy Tuesday, we want to hear from you.

Tonight, are you doing olive oil or chalula? Is it calamari or carnitas? Is it Alfredo or Alpasteur? Hit us up at T-Boy pot and let us know. What should they let us know, Jack? Let us know if you're having Italian tonight or Mexican. Some guacamole gabagool. What's in our three stories?

song two boys from the northeast met in the dorm they had an idea to cause a cultural storm it's the best one yet but the best is a norm jack nick that's it i don't even think they need to practice 50% that's a fat tip tea boy city on your at list if you know you know cause we're ready to go we can't wait no more so just start the show start the show for our first story netflix reports earnings later today but all the attention right now is on one thing It's on Netflix's debacle because it tried its second ever live stream of The Love is Blind and it didn't happen. Oh, Yaddies. The worst feeling in the world. What is it, Jack? If you stand someone up on a date. Don't do that. That's not a misdemeanor dating violation.

That's a felony. Has that ever happened to you? Thankfully, no. I once with a friend, we invited a girl to go to a movie with us in seventh grade and she didn't show. Oh, you got stood up. Yeah, but I don't know. We never heard from her again. so it may have been just a pre-cell phone thing.

But you got double the popcorn for yourself. It was like more of a play date now that I think about it, Jack. Netflix yetis just did the corporate equivalent of a standing up on a date. And what is that, Jack? Netflix ghosted Netflix nation on Sunday night. On Sunday, it was supposed to be Netflix's second ever live stream of any kind of show. So to sprinkle on context, Netflix doesn't do live. No, they don't. No, they don't.

They do TV shows and movies that you can watch any time on demand. Exactly. But they decided in March to try out live for the first time with a Chris Rock stand-up comedy special. And then they said, hey, on Sunday, we're going to do this again. We're going to do a live streaming episode of our reunion special for Love is Blind. Love is Blind. The reality dating show where you wear a Halloween mask over your head and you don't see the person you're dating with. No, actually, it's not the, that's not the one with the mask.

This is the one, Jack, where you're in separate rooms and you only speak to the other people. So you've only heard their voice. But then they propose to you after you make a connection and you get married to someone you've never seen. Why would you propose to someone you've never seen? Because Nick Lachay is the host and he told you to do it, Jack. You get a million dollars if you proposed to them without having seen them? You're going to have to ask Tiffany as long as she doesn't fall asleep. Well, yet, they tried to bring all the contestants of that show back into a room,

turn on the cameras, and broadcast it live to anyone watching Netflix. But then Netflix glitched. There was an error message on the screen for hours. We couldn't watch the show. Netflix screwed this up, but then even worse, they tried to gaslight us. Yeah, they told us it was your internet that needed to be fixed. Netflix was down, but the air message said, check your internet and try again. Yeah, and his Twitter lit up.

Jack and I jumped in T-boy style to watch the show. The situation got so bad that Netflix's stock fell 3% on Monday when the market opened. Netflix is based in Silicon Valley. Not a good look for a tech company to fail to put on live stream. NBC's Peacock is laughing right now. So investors and viewers were upset about the same thing. Netflix broke the core rule of romance. The core rule of romance.

You can't over promise and then under-delivered. But Netflix over-promised and then under-delivered. But then they did it again. They over-promised and under-delivered twice on Sunday night. Netflix effed up its F-up Jack. When the show wasn't on, like an airline, Netflix tweeted out that there was a delay. But they said the delay would only last 15 minutes. Just 15 minutes.

Yeah, right, United Airlines. Naturally, Netflix extended the delay about three more times until finally canceling the whole program. Yetis, it's a little reminder that for all their tech ability, Netflix can't do what cable can. They can't do live. So, Jack, what's the takeaway for our buddies over at Netflix? When you're wrong, people, follow these three rules to make it right. Yeties in business and parenting in life, there are frameworks for how to deal with challenging situations. Now, when you've heard someone, there's three steps you can make to set it right.

And here they are. First, you got to acknowledge and apologize ASAP. At the end of the night on Sunday, Netflix did apologize. Sincerely, in a tweet, they're like, this is our fault. We'll try not to do it again. After the apology comes step to the splurge. You have to show that you're sorry, not just say that you're sorry. For example, here's how Netflix could show that they're sorry.

Here's how they could splurge. Yet these, Netflix has data on everyone. who tried to watch on Sunday night. It could spoil those disappointed customers with a treat. Let's say one million people tried to watch the show. Netflix could give them one month free, and that would cost Netflix just $10 million. It could make good with those disappointed customers

by spending just 0.1% of its quarterly revenue. Which leads to the third step to make something right. Forgive yourself. Forgive yourself. You apologize for it. You splurge to make up for it. Now you got to move. move on. It's up for the customers to decide if they'll ever forgive Netflix for this.

But Netflix must forgive itself, or else Netflix will be too afraid to ever do live again. Yeties, when you're wrong people, follow three rules to make it right. Netflix is one step down. It's got two more to go. For our second story, it's earnings season. And Wall Street expects not just bad earnings, but a new thing that we call an earnings recession. An earnings recession, which is about shrinking profits. It sounds bad, but it's not. it actually says something good about the stock market. Okay, Yetis.

NHL playoffs begin. NBA playoffs just started. Wall Street earnings season? Kind of playoffs for profits. Yeah, it is. And that also just began, too. Every day this month, major U.S. companies are going to publish PR releases describing how the past three months went.

Yes, Wall Street wants to know. How was January through March? How was your spring? How was your winter? Well, last week, we got the big banks kicking off earnings season. J.P. Morgan, City Bank, Wells Far. This week, we got some. some tech companies getting into earnings.

Netflix announces earnings. Tesla announces earnings. And then next week, we're getting the fun stuff. We're getting the big tech earnings. The trillion-dollar companies. We're talking to jam stocks. Just Apple and Microsoft. And Jack, how are expectations looking for this earning season?

Not good. No. For the second straight quarter, profits in the S&P 500 is expected to fall from last year. Yeties, if you whip out your own whiteboard and add up the profits from the 500 biggest companies in the United States. What are you going to see, Jack? The profits of those 500 companies are expected to decline by 6% compared to last year. And now here's what Jack and I found fascinating about this story. The reason that those profits are going to decline for the first time in a few years is because we're all splurging less. It's our fault. Yeah. It's not you.

Actually, it is you. Jack, it's you and it's me and it's everyone listening. We've all decided in the past year or so, I'm going to get a small, Not that double-digit latte I got a couple years ago. Besties, in the past three years, companies could jack up prices on us. And honestly, we just kept preying those high prices. It didn't matter. We all complained about the economy, but we kept splurging like the economy was a part ipso facto.

That led to record profits in 2021 and parts of last year, too. But now as consumers, we're pausing. Wait a second. Wait a second here, blue bottle. $12 for a latte with regular milk? $12? dollars? How did I end up paying? I'll just take a small regular drip coffee. Dahlene, that's all I need. Dahlene, small regular to go. Us consumers have decided to say no every once in a while. And that has

squeezed corporate profits. So, Jack, if this earning season goes as planned, we could see two straight quarters of shrinking corporate profits. That's right. In two straight quarters of profit declines, that's called an earnings recession. Yeah, yeties, we don't have an economic recession, but we could be facing an earnings recession. Really sad time on Wall Street. Except for Dahlia. So, Jack, what's the takeaway for our buddies over in the economy? This year's earnings recession shows the stock markets were right.

Look, Yeties, we know what you're thinking. Sometimes stock markets feel just emotional and arbitrary. In the short term, that can be true. But in the long term, it's not. Because in the long run, stock prices are driven by one thing and one thing only, that company's price. Corporate profits are the one thing that drive stock prices in the long term, and here's proof that that's true. Last year in the United States, stocks fell by 19% because investors predicted profitability would decline.

Yes, Wall Street knew that inflation and high interest rates would hurt profits for all the companies, and they were right. So this year's earnings season is expected to be bad, but stock markets, they already knew it. We may be in an earnings recession right now, and stock markets knew it was coming. And now award from our sponsor, Robin Hood. The last few years, your money's been on a ride. In 2021, the stock market boomed. In 2022, interest rates boomed. But whether your money's in the stock market or chilling in a savings account, you always

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Roundup services are provided by RHY. You must have a brokerage account with RHF in order to utilize investment features. All investments involve risk. Robin Hood Financial LLC, member SIPC. For our third and final story, Phantom of the Opera, it just hosted its final show on Broadway. The end of Phantom's record run. reveals an insight on how we consume content today. Yeah, it is when someone plays an organ.

You pay attention. Phantom of the Opera, longest running show in Broadway history, 35 straight years, man. The organ is definitely the heaviest of the musical instruments. You don't want to get into the way of an organ. By the way, this show, Nick, their first show ever in New York City was the week you were born. Like the week week, right?

January 1988. It was the first time they had a show. It's like, I'm 35 years old, but I'm one phantom old, is what you're telling me. Jack. Yeah, like a lift, there's a phantom now. Full disclosure, neither of us have actually seen the show. In the meantime, Yetis, here's the story. Basically, Phantom of the Opera is about a guy with half a face. Would you say that, Jack? I think his face got burned in a fire. And he hides in a Paris Opera House kind of lusting after this one soprano named Christine. It's got beauty and the beast vibes. It's not like stomp. Let's put it that way. It's got hunchback of Notre Dame vibes, too.

This used to be a theme with Parisian plots, Jack. This is not a common tale, but it is a compelling one. And it is a beast of a production. Yeah. It took 125 actors, crew members, and orchestra members to put on the show. And guess what? They did it 13,891 times in those 35 years. And is this show, Phantom of the Opera survived September 11th.

The financial crisis. COVID, alternate side parking. But it's done. Over. It's over. The last show was right before Love is Blind. didn't premiere on Netflix. Exactly, Jack. Now, yet he's the way Jack and I see it, stories can be told by the numbers. And Jack, what are the numbers for Phantom of the Opera? In the 35 years of this

production, they've made $1.3 billion in ticket sales just on Broadway and another $6 billion worldwide. But here's the deal, besties. Inflation, it hit egg prices and it hit costume prices and it hit set prices too. After Phantom of the Opera reopened post-pandemic, it cost a million dollars a week to produce. And in most weeks, they did. break even. Now, let's sprinkle on a little more context here. Jack, what would you say about the theater industry when it comes to profits? It's tough to turn a profit. Only 20% of musicals do. Yeah, we've said it before. Broadway, it is the riskiest venture in all of business. But it's strange to talk about Phantom shutting down, because in December, we told you on

this show that December 2022 was a record month for Broadway in all of its history. Jack, we were talking about the Lion King. Lion King became the first musical to make $4 million in a single week. It was Timon's best performance ever. And last year, Broadway brought in more people than all of the New York City pro sports teams combined. So it sounds like Broadway's never been bred.

Hamilton's living in its best life. Exactly, Jack. Book of Mormon is Mormoning better than Alan. I love this crescendo. Keep rolling with it, man. So why is the longest running show? 35 years of phantoming. Why are they not making money? Why are they shutting down?

Jack, you hear that? That's the orchestra telling us the time for a takeaway. So, Jack, what's the takeaway for our buddies over at Phantom of the Opera? Today's Broadway reflects the atomization of context. Yeties, here's how a New York Times reviewer put it. 35 years ago, when Phantom came to Broadway, it was created for wide appeal to reach a mass audience. It was one completely unrelatable story, but it was a fabulous story that appealed to a lot of people. But here's the deal.

That doesn't work much anymore. because tech has trained us to demand more specific, more personalized content. Your TikTok feed, your Netflix shows, your Spotify playlist, they're all personalized just for you. And that has trained us to crave shows that are more specific, more identity based on Broadway. So what's working today is the Tina Turner musical, which is just about Tina's music. But what won the Tony for Best Musical last year? It was Strange Loop, a musical about a black queer writer. Our content diets have become atomized. That is changing Broadway.

That is why Broadway just had its best year, but its oldest show is closing. At the young age of one Nick. Jack, can you whip up the takeaways for us for T-Boy Tuesday? Netflix was unable to live stream their Love is Blind special on Sunday night. Netflix apologized, but now they have to splurge to make up for it and then forgive themselves. For our second story, earnings overall for the S&P 500 are expected to fall by 6%. We think it may be an earnings recession, and stock markets already reflect that. And our third and final story is the phantom of the opera.

They just put on their final show after 35 years. Today's Broadway shows reflect the atomization of content. Now, time for the best fact yet. This one sent in by John Carilla from lovely Austin, Texas. There's a certain species of shrimp that you don't want to call a shrimp. No, no, you do not want to mess with this shrimp, man. There's a species called the Pistol. shrimp that can create a sonic boom underwater.

To sprinkle on more context here, this is a tiny shrimp only a few centimeters long, and yet it has an incredibly powerful claw. It uses those claws to snap its pincers together to a speed of 62 miles per hour. Okay, underwater, that loud sound sounds like a gunshot, and it kills the shrimp's prey. The shrimp does it to kill animals, but it also messes with submarines. Not kidding. Yeah. The pistol shrimp, small animal.

Big sound. Yetis, you look fantastic for T-Boy Tuesday, but Jack, I gotta ask you, are you having tortillas or are you having tortellano? Alfredo or Alpestore. Your choice, Yiddis, hit us up at T-Boy Pot. We want to know what you're doing. You're doing the Mexican? You're doing the Italian.

Or some kind of hybrid. Just remember, guacamole gabagool is always extra. Nick and I, we'll see you tomorrow. Can't wait. Before we go, a shout out to Yeti's Jen Samuat and Dan Berger, who both ordered T-Boy merch for each other accidentally, which is fantastic. Their lines got crossed? The lines got crossed, yeah.

And congratulations to Sinai Gibbs, who just got their learners perfect for driving in California. And Thomas Hicks has got a big week, just got a new accounting job down in Georgia. On tax day. And congratulations to Megan and Jim Hoff, who just had their fourth child, Hawkinshoff. And April, Al-Fielaire is turning 25 and celebrating that birthday, down in Vegas. Happy birthday to Matilda Kitka in Los Angeles, California. And Adam Max, happy birthday down in Birmingham, Alabama. Happy birthday to Brian Wilde in Boston. And a happy birthday to Katha Gutobu over in Washington, D.C. And happy 11th birthday to Ollie Woodward on the

way to school in Batavia, Illinois. Celebrate that way. This is Jack. I own stock of Netflix and Nick and I both on stock of Spotify, Robin Hood, and ETFs of the S&P 500. And now, A word from our sponsor, Robin Hood. We've all got that friend who's part of Ian crowd. They've gotten in at the restaurant and get hooked up with the best table. Robin Hood's cash card, it can give you the same VIP field. It gives you access to 90,000 fee-free ATM. That's a hookup.

It gives you cash back when you spend on participating brands. That's a hookup. And it's got 24-7 phone support. That's a hookup. The Robin Hood cash card is your new hookup, your guy on the inside. If you're not spending with Robin Hood yet to get started, go to robin hood.com slash T-B-O-Y. Spending account offered through Robin Hood Money, NMLS-190968. The cash card is issued by Sutton Bank, member FDIC, pursuant to a license by MasterC,

certain limitations apply. All investments involve risk. Robin Hood Financial LLC, member SIPC. That was great. That was really great. Dude, that was an amazing story. That was fantastic. Oh my God, the alternate side parking.