Friday, October 18, 2013

Around the Tubes: 10/18/13



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 African Americans: Many Rivers to Cross with Henry Louis Gates, Life According to Sam, Treme, Nicole Atkins, Heroes of Cosplay, Beast of the Bering Sea, On the Menu, Modern Family, and Holidaze.

- This fall, noted Harvard scholar Henry Louis Gates, Jr. recounts the full trajectory of African-American history in his groundbreaking new six-part series The African Americans: Many Rivers to Cross with Henry Louis Gates, Jr. premiering Tuesdays, October 22, 29 – November 5, 12, 19 and 26, 2013, 8:00 on PBS (check local listings). Written and presented by Professor Gates, the six-hour series explores the evolution of the African-American people, as well as the multiplicity of cultural institutions, political strategies, and religious and social perspectives they developed — forging their own history, culture and society against unimaginable odds. Commencing with the origins of slavery in Africa, the series moves through five centuries of remarkable historic events right up to the present — when America is led by a black president, yet remains a nation deeply divided by race. This Tuesday is The Black Atlantic which explores the truly global experiences that created the African-American people. Beginning a full century before the first documented “20-and-odd” slaves who arrived at Jamestown, Virginia, the episode portrays the earliest Africans, both slave and free, who arrived on these shores. But the transatlantic slave trade would soon become a vast empire connecting three continents. Through stories of individuals caught in its web, like a 10-year-old girl named Priscilla who was transported from Sierra Leone to South Carolina in the mid-18th century, we trace the emergence of plantation slavery in the American South. The late 18th century saw a global explosion of freedom movements, and The Black Atlantic examines what that Era of Revolutions — American, French and Haitian — would mean for African Americans and for slavery in America.

- In 1998, Dr. Leslie Gordon and Dr. Scott Berns learned that their two-year-old son, Sam, had progeria, a progressive aging disorder so rare that fewer than 250 children in the world had it at the time. Little was known about the disease, and all children with progeria died of heart attack or stroke at an average age of 13. Told there was no treatment or cure, they refused to accept that as the final verdict. Directed and produced by Sean Fine and Andrea Nix Fine (the Oscar®-winning Inocente), Life According to Sam chronicles one courageous family’s relentless pursuit of a treatment and a cure, even as his parents empower their son to enjoy his life to the fullest. Life According to Sam debuts Monday at 9:00, exclusively on HBO.

- Treme is returning to HBO for its forth and final season in December but you can check out the first teaser below:


- Psychedelic folk-rocker Nicole Atkins has announced a PledgeMusic campaign in support of her upcoming album, Slow Phaser. The New Jersey born Atkins is known for her big voice, introspective lyrics, expansive arrangements, and has drawn frequent comparisons to musical legends Roy Orbison and Nick Cave. Atkins chose PledgeMusic's direct-to-fan platform to share the record making experience with her fans. Pledge your support now at pledgemusic.com.

- If you have been enjoying Heroes of Cosplay on Syfy, you are in luck because they have added an additional six episode to its first season. New episodes will air in 2014.

- Sharknado star Cassie Scerbo will return to Syfy to battle sea vampires in the new Original Movie Beast of the Bering Sea, premiering Saturday, November 9 at 9:00. In Beast of the Bering Sea, Scerbo and Jonathan Lipnicki (Jerry Maguire) play a sister and brother team prospecting for gold, who accidentally disturb a colony of blood-sucking amphibious predators (sea vampires) in an underwater cave. Kevin Dobson (Knots Landing) co-stars in this production.

- TNT has greenlit the new series On the Menu (working title), television's first cooking show ever to give viewers the chance to taste the winning dish after every episode. The network has ordered 10 episodes of the series, which is slated to launch in 2014. What's the one thing missing in every cooking show on television? Viewers don't get to taste the food…until now. On the Menu is the first cooking competition show ever to give viewers at home the chance to taste the dishes they see on screen. Each episode of On the Menu will center on a different American food business – ranging from restaurant chains and stadium concession stands to amusement parks and cruise lines. Passionate home cooks, working in conjunction with professional chefs, will be challenged to create the business' next signature menu item. The winning dish will immediately go on the menu, giving viewers at home the chance to go try the dish the very next day.

- Need some more Modern Family? Check out this behinds the scenes video:


- It is never too early to plan your Christmas television watching itinerary, and this winter Jennie Garth (Beverly Hills, 90210) and Cameron Mathison (Dancing with the Stars) prove you can go home again, in the all new ABC Family original movie Holidaze, premiering Sunday, December 8 at 8:00. The movie airs as part of ABC Family’s annual 25 Days of Christmas programming event. Mary Kay Place (Big Love) also stars.

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