Friday, January 12, 2018

Around the Tubes: 1/12/2017




I have gotten a plethora of cool press releases have been flooding my inbox recently that you may find interesting. This post will include blurbs on The Looming Tower, Snowpiercer, American Dad!, Final Space, The Last O.G., The Numbers on Grandpa’s Arm, John Hiatt, 2018 FIFA World Cup™, I’m Dying Up Here, Marvel’s Runaways, Future Man, Full Frontal with Samantha Bee, Snoop Dogg Presents The Joker’s Wild, Drop the Mic, and Cover Story: Meghan Markle – The Prince and the Game Show Model.

- Check out the official trailer for Hulu's Original Limited Series The Looming Tower. The Looming Tower will premiere Wednesday, February 28 only on Hulu. Thank you!


- Turner's TNT has given a series greenlight to Snowpiercer, a futuristic thriller based on the acclaimed movie of the same name. The series stars Oscar® winner Jennifer Connelly (A Beautiful Mind), Tony Award® and Grammy® Award winner Daveed Diggs (Hamilton, Black-ish), Mickey Sumner (American Made), Susan Park (Ghostbusters), Benjamin Haigh (The Conjuring 2), Sasha Frolova (The Interestings), Katie McGuinness (Dirty Filthy Love), Alison Wright (The Accountant), Annalise Basso (Bedtime Stories), Sam Otto (Jellyfish), Roberto Urbina (Narcos), Sheila Vand (Argo) and Tony Award® winner and Grammy® nominee Lena Hall (All My Children).

- TBS gets animated on Monday nights starting with American Dad! returning to TBS on February 12th at 10:00 with 22 new episodes. In addition, the network has ordered two more seasons of the top-rated animated hit American Dad!. The series premiered on the FOX broadcasting network in 2005 before moving to TBS in 2014. Since then, it has been a key performer for the network, ranked as one of 2017’s top 10 cable comedies. American Dad! centers on super patriotic CIA agent Stan Smith (voiced by Seth MacFarlane) and the misadventures of his unconventional family in Langley Falls, Va. The irreverent, satirical, award-winning animated comedy is created by Seth MacFarlane, Mike Barker and Matt Weitzman, executive-produced by co-showrunner Brian Boyle along with creators MacFarlane and Weitzman. Then, on Monday, February 26th, TBS will debut the new animated intergalactic space saga Final Space on at 10:30 immediately following American Dad! for an hour-long animation block.


- Comedy superstar and multiple Emmy® nominee Tracy Morgan returns to television with TBS starring in The Last O.G., a new comedy series that he executive produces alongside creator and executive producer Jordan Peele. TBS, which currently dominates as the number one television’s #1 comedy network, adds the new Morgan/Peele series to this year’s slate of programming to continue its solid and successful run of well- received original series. Beginning April 3, episodes will air Tuesdays at 10:30.

- When 10-year-old Elliott asks his 90-year-old great-grandfather, Jack, about the number tattooed on his arm, he sparks an intimate conversation about Jack’s life that spans happy memories of childhood in Poland, the loss of his family, surviving Auschwitz, and finding a new life in America. Directed and produced by Emmy® winner Amy Schatz, the short film The Numbers on Grandpa’s Arm weaves in haunting historical footage and hand-painted animation to tell a heartbreaking story of Jewish life in Eastern Europe before and during the Holocaust. The film, presented by HBO with the Museum of Jewish Heritage – A Living Memorial to the Holocaust, debuts Saturday, JAN. 27 (6:00-6:20 pm ET/PT), International Holocaust Remembrance Day, exclusively on HBO. The film will also be available on HBO On Demand, HBO NOW, HBO GO and affiliate portals.


- In a stellar career that spans half a century, John Hiatt has built a massive collection of recordings that's been an ongoing source of inspiration for fans, critics and other artists. Hiatt's catalog encompasses more than 22 studio albums, including several acknowledged classics. But the veteran singer-songwriter’s 1987 album Bring the Family and its 1988 follow-up Slow Turning have earned special status, and remain beloved cornerstones of the veteran artist's prestigious body of work. On January 26, A&M Records/UMe will celebrate these high-water marks of Hiatt’s and their 30th anniversaries with newly remastered vinyl editions, making them available on vinyl for the first time since their original release. The long out-of-print records will be pressed on high-quality 180-gram black vinyl, along with a special limited-edition colored vinyl variant of each. Bring the Family will be released on clear with grey smoke 180-gram vinyl, while Slow Turning will be on translucent red 180-gram vinyl. The colored vinyl editions, limited to 500 each, will be available exclusively at Sound of Vinyl and on Hiatt’s upcoming tour.

- Smithsonian Channel roars into the New Year with season two of the fast-paced, high-octane series, Supercar Superbuild. Eight all-new hour-long episodes delve deep into the creation and design of some of the world’s greatest automobile makers: Alfa Romeo, Rolls Royce, Jaguar, Porsche, Audi and more. It probes what makes each machine’s mechanical prowess stand out, and it checks under the hood to learn what contributes to the high performance and artistry of these engineering marvels. The Jaguar F-Type SVR charges from 0 to 60 miles per hour in just under four seconds and rages to a top speed of 200 mph. More than 97 yards of aluminum welds make up an Audi R8’s frame. The sporty Rolls Royce Wraith, complete with exotic wood and sumptuous leather, is valued at upwards of $275,000. These are just some of the stunning automobiles featured on an all-new season of Supercar Superbuild, premiering Sunday, January 21 at 9:00 on Smithsonian Channel.

- FOX Sports, the exclusive English-language home of the 2018 FIFA World Cup™, kicks off the year announcing new Snapchat and Twitter agreements for the global event. The relationships will provide dynamic opportunities tailored to each respective social media platform and its wide, growing audience. “These exciting collaborations with Twitter and Snapchat mark a major opportunity to leverage the world’s greatest sports moment and our talent beyond the TV screen,” says Alexis Ginas, SVP of Cross-Platform Solutions, FOX Sports. “Alongside our FOX Sports-owned properties, they’ll help amplify this summer’s incredible live events programming – 64 matches total at the FIFA World Cup. We’ll immerse fans in the ‘beautiful game’ even further through our experts and fun, creative content from Moscow.”

- Emmy-winning actor and comedian Brad Garrett (Everybody Loves Raymond) will guest star in the Showtime drama series I’m Dying Up Here in a season-long arc. Garrett will play comedy legend Roy Martin, who arrives on the scene at Goldie’s and drops bombs and wisdom on the club’s comics. Goldie (Melissa Leo) lures him into a business partnership as she schemes to expand her empire. Created and executive produced by Dave Flebotte and executive produced by Golden Globe® winner Jim Carrey and Michael Aguilar, the fictional I’M DYING UP HERE explores L.A.’s famed ’70s stand-up comedy scene. The second season will premiere on Sunday, May 6 at 10:00.

- Hulu announced Marvel’s Runaways and Future Man have been renewed for second seasons.

- Television’s fastest growing late night show and ad supported television’s #1 late night show among young adults has been renewed for two new seasons by TBS. The Emmy Award-winning Full Frontal with Samantha Bee will return Wednesday, February 7 in its usual timeslot at 10:30.

- Turner’s TBS has renewed the hit unscripted series’ Snoop Dogg Presents The Joker’s Wild and Drop the Mic for second seasons. The network re-launched its unscripted business in 2017 with the re-imagined, classic game show reboot and the celebrity-led rap battle competition. They soon emerged as the top two unscripted cable comedies in 2017, reaching an average of 2.5M viewers per episode across TBS’s linear, VOD, and digital platforms and have earned over 200 million social and Youtube views to date. Drop the Mic climbed digital audience score rankings week over week, holding the #1 spot three weeks in a row, based on all prime-time comedies that aired new episodes.

- Game Show Network’s one-hour documentary special Cover Story: Meghan Markle – The Prince and the Game Show Model, premiering on January 21st at 7:00, will detail Meghan Markle’s story from modest beginnings in the San Fernando Valley of Los Angeles, to “Deal or No Deal” model, to hit-show actress, to humanitarian, and finally as Harry’s bride-to-be. And before the show, catch a marathon of Meghan’s Deal Or No Deal episodes from 9 am to 3 pm ET also on GSN.

Sunday, January 07, 2018

57 Channels and Only This Is On: 1/7/2018




Shameless: Why was there so much walking between the car and the Canadian border? Seems like it would be easier to cross.

SMILF: So Bridget tries to entrap her creepy father, when it turns out not to be him, the girls end up having a dance party instead. I guess that is a pretty appropriate finale to the season.

Lucifer: Remember when South Park ended on a cliffhanger on who Cartman’s father was, then came back from a break (on April Fool’s Day) with a Terrence and Howard special and promptly went back on break. I was reminded of that this week when, after the show revealed Superman was in fact Cain, the first murder, leaving us wonder what it all means. But instead of answering that, we get a flashback episode. And then no show next week. Or the week after that. Meh.
You can download Lucifer on iTunes.

The Gifted: Oh my goodness, the triplets are so great. Give them and the Hellfire Club a spin off. Or just make them the focal point of this show.
You can download The Gifted on iTunes.

Marvel’s Runaways: Wait, mom did not know daughter was an alien? Jonah has to be her father, right, he is an alien too? Then why did dad sell her out, it is because of the healing gloves? And why are him and Jonah letting the kids into the construction site when they have to know they were trying to shut it down? Unless Jonah needs them, or at least one of them, there for some reason. And the parent too, which is why he just told them when he has apparently known for a while the kids knew. But here we are with one episode left and the Runaways have not actually runaway yet. All were got was some lame meta joke about naming their group that.
You can stream episodes of Marvel's Runaways on Hulu.

The Challenge: Vendettas: My biggest take away from the Vendetta’s premiere: what a massive downgrade Brad. Seriously, how do go from one of the top five most attractive cast members to someone who may not even be in the top one hundred? Seriously dude, you just embarrassed yourself on national television. That was like Hugh Grant stuff right there. I really those two did not have any children. Then my biggest takeaway from Champs vs. Stars: wait, we still have one more week (at least) after this?
You can download The Challenge: Vendettas on iTunes.

The X-Files: Usually the “Previously On” segment are really helpful for shows, but I came away from this one more confused. And only got more confused as the show went on. So what was the last season finale, a vision of the future? Meh, the Chris Carter written episodes are so bad, he just needs to hand the show over to someone else.
You can download The X-Files on iTunes.

The Blacklist: C’mon, did they really have to kill the dog? I mean, yeah the mailman dying was sad too. Also, was leaving Agnes with Scottie a wise decision. Sure none of her grandparents are what I would consider trustworthy, but she really is not much of an upgrade from Red.
You can download The Blacklist on iTunes.

Vikings: I guess you cannot blame Bjorn for high talking it out of Arabia, but that was my favorite part of this season, just somewhere new. Of course we still have Loki’s (presumably) Iceland adventure where it looks like he may be inventing socialism. But back in Kattegard Bjorn was quick to find someone new (and that princess sure was kinky) but even quicker was his half-brother moving in on his other wife. That relationship and many other will make it interesting on how the whole invasion will pan out. Harold’s queen is really the only one to truly show their card as to whose side they are really on.
You can download Vikings on iTunes.

Knightfall: Well that was a pretty elaborate way to get out of a wedding. Nice that the brother also tried to kill the king while he was at it, too bad the Templars messed that plan up.
You can download Knightfall on iTunes.

The Good Place: Oh no, what is to happen to the Real Eleanor? Hopefully she escapes her cocoon soon. But are all the demons gone from the neighborhood now? But doesn’t that mean the neighborhood will be gone soon.
You can download The Good Place on iTunes.

Marvel’s Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D.: So Fitz shot the button to wall them off from the Kree, but couldn’t the Kree just re-push the button and go after them? And how thin skinned are the Kree if they can be cut with a butter knife?
You can download Marvel's Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. on iTunes.