Friday, June 20, 2014

Around the Tubes: 6/20/14



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 Legends, Wilfred, Cold Justice, Love Thy Neighbor, Sullivan and Son, Mainland, The Bridge, Kidnapped for Christ, Aerial America: Alaska, Quincy Jones, Skin Wars, Idiot Test, Roadies, and Syfy casting.

- TNT’s new series The Last Ship premieres Sunday and I am guessing the show will be inundated with adds for their next show Legends coming in August. The latest trailer just premiered on the internets and it looks like a prequel to Liam Neeson’s Taken where we see just how he got his “skills” and puts them in action for what they were meant for with Ned Stark subbing in for Neeson. I would have no problem if that is what the show turns out to be.



- Wilfred is moving and he’s taking an extra X with him. The boys are back Wed, June 25th on FXX.


- TNT's fascinating real-life crime series Cold Justice is back on the case with brand new episodes beginning tonight, at 9:00. The series follows former prosecutor Kelly Siegler and former crime-scene investigator Yolanda McClary as they travel to small towns around the country in order to help local law enforcement look into murder cases that have lingered for years without answers or closure. TNT's summer run of Cold Justice will include Justice Served, a special episode created in response to fan requests for case updates. Hosted by John Walsh (America's Most Wanted) and set to air Friday, July 18, Justice Served will look back at the remarkable results achieved by investigators on the show.

- OWN: Oprah Winfrey Network’s popular comedy series Love Thy Neighbor from Tyler Perry will return with all-new episodes on Wednesday, June 25 at 9:00. As the new summer premiere episodes unfold, Linda struggles with her feelings for Will and her growing attraction for Phillip. However, when Linda catches Will in a lie she begins to question his true character. Tired of being the good girl who always gets hurt, Linda decides to throw all caution to the wind and follow her heart…with some very unexpected consequences.

- Pittsburgh's favorite family-owned watering hole is open for business, and the bar regulars are back for another round of laughs as TBS's original sitcom Sullivan & Son returns for its third season, beginning with back-to-back episodes on Tuesday, June 24, at 10:00. As season 3 of Sullivan & Son opens, the marriage of Susan and Jason (guest star Ken Jeong) faces a big test when Jason realizes that he’s never fully pleased his wife in bed. Jason then learns that Owen (aka "The Big O") gave Susan the Big O in high school. Meanwhile, Jack and Hank lead separate sides in a Civil War reenactment, and Hank is determined to win and "change history."

- Mainland began with an eclectic record collection, 4 New York City transplants and a cavernous rehearsal studio underneath the Manhattan Bridge, culminating in a spontaneous recording session with Jim Eno of Spoon. Mainland show their raucous merit with their 2nd EP, Shiner, produced by Eno at his Public Hi-Fi studio in Austin, Texas. A gritty and erratic collection of scuzzed out indie-rock, Shiner idles somewhere between the vintage sensibilities of The Pixies, and the carefree aesthetics of The Drums. It's a genre they've affectionately coined as "puke-up punk," and it's a term that couldn't be more perfect. Check out Leave the Lights On below:


- Seeing the unseen. A new threat crosses The Bridge July 9th at 10:00 on FX.


- On Thursday, July 10th at 7:30 Showtime will premiere Kidnapped for Christ, a powerful, award-winning documentary that chronicles the shocking truth behind Escuela Caribe, a controversial Christian behavior modification program in the Dominican Republic for “troubled” U.S. teenagers. Initially hoping to document the positive effects a boarding school like this could have on struggling youth, evangelical filmmaker Kate Logan is granted unprecedented access and allowed to live on campus for the summer. Once there, Logan’s eyes are opened to the truth beneath the sunny façade of this remote reform school—kids being taken by force in the middle of the night, rumors of physical abuse, and staff imposing arbitrary and degrading punishments on the young students—and encounters students who change her life.

- Soar across the dizzying heights of Mount McKinley. Swoop down on the glimmering seas surrounding Kodiak Island. Hover above stunning aqua-blue melt ponds on the world’s largest glacier and crawl across the barren landscape left behind by the biggest volcanic eruption of the 20th century, as the most expansive aerial series in U.S. television history takes flight on a stunning journey across our nation’s largest state: Alaska. In a special extended back-to-back two-hour programming block, Smithsonian Channel celebrates the last great frontier, taking flight in Aerial America: Alaska, premiering Sunday, July 6 at 8:00 and 9:00.

- Quincy Jones is coming to Turner Classic Movies (TCM) this month as part of an all-night tribute to the entertainment legend. Jones will join TCM host Robert Osborne on Monday, June 30, for a night of films featuring scores composed by Jones. The evening is scheduled to kick off at 8:00 with Jones' debut film as a composer, The Pawnbroker (1965), starring Rod Steiger. Also included in the lineup are The Slender Thread (1965), starring Sidney Poitier and Anne Bancroft; In the Heat of the Night (1967), the Best Picture Oscar® winner starring Steiger and Poitier; The Italian Job (1969), starring Michael Caine; and $ (Dollars) (1971), starring Warren Beatty and Goldie Hawn.

- GSN, the leader in game shows and competitive entertainment, announced this week the premiere dates for its two new original summer series, Skin Wars, on Wednesday August 6 at 9:00 and Idiot Test, on Tuesday, August 12 at 8:00. Skin Wars, hosted by actress Rebecca Romijn (X-Men) is an eight-episode, hour-long competition show that seeks to find the most talented and versatile body painters in the country. Judges in the series include legendary entertainer RuPaul and body painting icons Craig Tracy and Robin Slonina. Idiot Test, hosted by comedian Ben Gleib and based on the highly popular app games, gives two pairs of contestants the opportunity to face off in several rounds of rapid-fire questions whose answers any "idiot" should know: Every question involves a fun, colorful and often whimsical scene that tests observation and attention to detail as much it tests general knowledge. Contestants play the game on a giant touch screen in the center of the set.

- Showtime has given a pilot production order to Roadies, a comedy that follows the day-to-day life of a successful rock tour as seen through the eyes of music’s unsung background players – the crew members who help get the show on the road. Cameron Crowe, who won an Oscar® for brilliantly chronicling the highs and lows of rock and roll life as witnessed by a Rolling Stone magazine cub reporter in his semi-autobiographical film Almost Famous, wrote and will direct the one-hour pilot (for a potential half-hour series).

- Syfy’s fan-favorite series Haven will get a new resident when Laura Mennell (Alphas, The Watchmen) joins the cast in a recurring role playing Dr. Erin Reid, a brilliant and beautiful epidemiologist from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) who fears the town of Haven is on the verge of a deadly viral outbreak. Filming for the series’ 26-episode fifth season is currently underway on location in Halifax, Nova Scotia. In other Syfy casting news, they also announced the cast of Z Nation, an all-new zombie series set to debut in the fall. From production company The Asylum (Sharknado), the 13-episode action-horror series depicts the epic struggle to save humanity after a zombie apocalypse. Harold Perrineau (Oz, Lost) Tom Everett Scott (Southland, Beauty and the Beast), DJ Qualls (Supernatural), Michael Welch (Twilight trilogy) and Kellita Smith (The Bernie Mac Show) have joined the ensemble drama, currently in production in Spokane, WA.

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