Around the Tubes: 1/16/15

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 12 Monkeys, VH1 + Papa John’s® Super Bowl Blitz: A Concert for the Troops, Purina Pro Plan Incredible Dog Challenge National Finals, Bob Marley, The Slap, King of the Nerds, Saturday Night Live, Wild Australia, as well as Syfy and Showtime news.

- Watch the first 9 minutes of the new Syfy time travel show, 12 Monkeys! Tune-In for the series premiere tonight at 9:00 followed by a new season of Helix.


- VH1 announced its official kickoff to Super Bowl weekend with a special concert salute to the armed forces at Luke Air Force Base in Glendale, AZ. This year VH1 and Papa John’s® are teaming up to bring Fall Out Boy and Charli XCX to headline the VH1 + Papa John’s® Super Bowl Blitz: A Concert for the Troops with host Nick Lachey. The concert will kick off live on Friday, January 30th at 9:00 on VH1.

- The Purina Pro Plan Incredible Dog Challenge National Finals will be airing nationally on Saturday, January 17 from 3:00-4:00pm on NBC. This year’s broadcast features Inde, a 2-year-old Belgian Malinois, breaking the Diving Dog World Record with a jump of 33 feet 10 inches!!!

- Bob Marley’s 70th birthday year (2015) will include a variety of releases and events to commemorate the legend, his work and iconic impact. Over the course of the year, his legacy will be remembered by new releases of rare and unreleased material as well as fan favorite deluxe editions of his most memorable work. The first release will be available on February 17. Bob Marley and the Wailers – Easy Skanking in Boston '78, features two historic live shows from Boston’s Music Hall, June 8, 1978. This new and unreleased performance is from the Marley family giving unprecedented access for the first time to their personal material from their private collections and their vaults. The album will be available on blu-ray/cd combo pack as well as dvd/cd and standalone cd versions. Additional newly created animated material will also be a part of this release, marking the first time the family has incorporated this technology into any official Marley releases.


- The Slap premieres February 12 at 8:00, part of the all-new NBC Thursday night.


- As nerds everywhere eagerly await the return of the ultimate geeky competition series King of the Nerds, TBS and Twitch are teaming up for a special sneak preview event to be held at Twitch's San Francisco headquarters on Friday, Jan. 16. King of the Nerds hosts and executive producers Curtis Armstrong and Robert Carradine will be on-hand for the event, which will feature a sneak peek screening of the first episode of season 3 and a chat session with the hosts to take place live on Twitch. Top Twitch influencers Marcus "djWHEAT" Graham and Jon Carnage are set to moderate the event, which will mark Twitch's first-ever live television viewing party. Fans will be able to watch the fun live on Twitch.tv/twitch on today, at 6:00.

- VH1 Classic celebrates the 40th anniversary of the longest-running sketch comedy show in history by bringing fans 40 years of SNL in one place: The SNL Rewind: 2015 – 1975 Mega-Marathon beginning Wednesday, January 28th and wrapping on Sunday, February 15th. Fans can relive the best moments (or binge on all the ones you missed) of SNL history with 19 days of back-to-back SNL episodes in this 433-hour SNL marathon -- the longest ever mounted for a single series on television ever.

- his year, when the weather is too cold to bare, grab the kids and park yourselves in your family room for an amazing once-in-a-lifetime getaway to sunny Wild Australia premiering Sunday, Feb. 15, 2015, at 9:00 on Nat Geo WILD. Warm beaches, gorgeous rain forests and deserts that are surprisingly full of life: this is the Australia you haven’t seen. Nat Geo WILD features a four-hour journey across the continent to reveal not only the beauty of the land, but also the amazing wildlife that makes Australia a heaven for animal lovers.

- Syfy today announced it is developing a one-hour drama series about a futuristic prison society, 51st State, from Fox 21 Television Studios. Oscar nominee Craig Borten (Dallas Buyers Club), who sold the pitch to Syfy, will write the pilot. Peter Chernin (Dawn of the Planet of the Apes), Katherine Pope (New Girl) and Borten will serve as executive producers. As 51st State unfolds, the United States, confronting a prison population stretched to the limit, purchases Greenland and converts it into a frontier prison colony with male and female convicts incarcerated together. Promised conditional freedom, the inmates are driven to the edge of their humanity when that promise, along with others, is broken. Struggling to seize control and exact revenge, reluctant heroes emerge -- but what exactly are they fighting for?

- Syfy announced yesterday that Jim Uhls (Fight Club, Semper Fi, Jumper) has signed on to adapt Robert Charles Wilson’s Hugo Award novel, Spin, into a six hour miniseries. The widely acclaimed novel centers on a young scientist trying to save humanity from the impending apocalypse of a mysterious, impenetrable cloud that has enveloped the entire Earth, blacking out the stars.

- Syfy and The Asylum yesterday announced that the original Sharknado survivors will return for the most epic shark attack yet! Ian Ziering and Tara Reid will reunite for the global pop culture sensation Sharknado 3, reprising their roles as Fin and April, respectively.

- Here are some headlines coming out of Showtime this week:
Golden Globe® winner KYLE MACLACHLAN RETURNS AS FBI AGENT DALE COOPER ON TWIN PEAKS ON SHOWTIME®
SHOWTIME® GETS “HAPPYISH” ON APRIL 26
HIT SHOWTIME® COMEDY SERIES SHAMELESS GETS SIXTH SEASON PICK-UP
THE FINAL SEASON OF NURSE JACKIE AND THE RETURN OF HIT SERIES PENNY DREADFUL TO DEBUT THIS SPRING ON SHOWTIME®
RAPPER/ACTOR COLSON BAKER (AKA MACHINE GUN KELLY) ROUNDS OUT THE CAST OF THE NEW SHOWTIME® PILOT ROADIES

The 50 Best Music Videos of 2014

1. Girl in a Country Song - Maddie and Tae


2. Just One of the Guys - Jenny Lewis


3. My Song 5 - Haim featuring A$AP Ferg


4. Sweatpants - Childish Gambino featuring Problem


5. Word Crimes - "Weird Al" Yankovic


6. Our Time - Lily Allen

7. I Blame Myself - Sky Ferreira

8. Foil - "Weird Al" Yankovic

9. Blank Space - Taylor Swift

10. URL Badman - Lily Allen

11. Tacky - "Weird Al" Yankovic

12. The Writing's on the Wall - OK Go

13. Water Fountain - tUnE - yArDs

14. Break the Rules - Charli XCX

15. Air Balloon - Lily Allen

16. If I Could Change Your Mind - Haim

17. Yellow Flicka Beat - Lorde

18. Uptown Funk - Mark Ronson featuring Bruno Mars

19. Shesszus - Lily Allen

20. I Wanna Get Better - Bleachers

21. Magic - Coldplay

22. Talk (Expletive Deleted), Get Shot - Body Count

23. Something Bad - Miranda Lambert featuring Carrie Underwood

24. Ain't It Fun - Paramore

25. Girls Chase Boys - Ingrid Michaelson

26. Fever - The Black Keys

27. Desire - Meg Myers

28. Stay Awhile - She and Him

29. Shake it Off - Taylor Swift

30. Sing - Ed Sheeran

31. Make You Better - The Demberists

32. Let Her Down Easy - George Michael

33. Paris - Magic Man

34. Fancy - Iggy Azalea featuring Charli XCX

35. Katie Queen of Tennessee - The Apache Relay

36. Mission Statement - “Weird Al" Yankovic

37. The Walker - Fitz and the Tantrums

38. Think Out Loud - Ed Sheeran

39. Understand - The Roots featuring Dice Raw and Greg Porn

40. A Sky Full of Stars - Coldplay

41. Do You - Spoon

42. Habits (Stay High) - Tove Lo

43. Guilty All the Same - Linkin Park featuring Rakim

44. High Ball Stepper - Jack White

45. Don't - Ed Sheeran

46. Back to the Shack - Weezer

47. All Washed Out - Edward Sharpe and the Magnetic Zeros

48. Heart Is a Drum - Beck

49. Headphones - Matt Nathanson featuring LoLo

50. Hayloft - Nickel Creek

The 40 Worst Songs of 2014

1. Anaconda - Nicki Minaj

2. All About That Bass - Meghan Trainor

3. Turn Down For What - DJ Snake and Lil' Jon

4. Loyal - Chris Brown featuring Lil Wayne and Tyga

5. Summer - Calvin Harris

6. BO$$ - Fifth Harmony

7. Black Widow - Iggy Azelea featuring Rita Ora

8. #SELFIE - The Chainsmokers

9. No Mediocre - T.I. featuring Iggy Azalea

10. Booty - Jennifer Lopez featuring Iggy Azalea

11. Ew! - Jimmy Fallon featuring will.i.am

12. Tuesday - I Love Makonnen featuring Drake

13. Really Don't Care - Demi Lovato featuring Cher Lloyd

14. La La La - Naughty Boy featuring Sam Smith

15. Achy Breaky 2 - Buck 22 and Billy Ray Cyrus

16. I Luh Ya Papi - Jennfer Lopez featuring French Montana

17. Birthday - Katy Perry

18. I Don't (Expletive Deleted With You - Big Sean featuring E-40

19. Lips Are Movin - Meghan Trainor

20. Chains - Nick Jonas

21. Don't Panic - French Montana

22. Hideaway - Keiza

23. G.U.Y. - Lady Gaga

24. Hello Kitty - Avril Lavigne

25. Drunk On a Plane - Dierks Bentley

26. Mmm Yeah - Austin Mahone featuring Pitbull

27. Maps - Maroon 5

28. Secrets - Mary Lambert

29. Love Runs Out - One Republic

30. Let It Go - Demi Lovato

31. I Mean It - G-Eazy featuring Remo

32. Sledgehammer - Fifth Harmony

33. This Is How We Roll - Florida Georgia Line featuring Luke Bryan

34. Shower - Becky G

35. Main Chick - Kid Ink featuring Chris Brown

36. Trumpets - Jason Derulo

37. Wild Wild Love - Pitbull featuring G.R.L.

38. This Is How We Do - Katy Perry

39. Blame - Calvin Harris featuring John Newman

40. Beg For It - Iggy Azalea featuring MØ

Previewing Shameless: Season Five

It seems like every season of Shameless I think to myself, they cannot possibly get any more, well, shameless, but they always seem to out do themselves each season. In season three, they gave Frank cancer and followed that up by having his liver shut down the following season. The rest of the Gallagher clan did not fair any better. Fiona lost her cushy cup job by sleeping with her boss/boyfriend’s brother and celebrated by leaving out her cocaine for Liam to get into, landing her in jail. Lip struggled as the small fish in the big pond of college by survived by finding a sugar momma. Ian went AWOL and started to show symptoms of bi-polar like his mother. Carl found the female version of him and was left brokenhearted while Debbie started hanging out with an older boy who was the one rare gentleman on the show. Granted he mostly kept his hands to himself to stay out of jail. Oh yeah, and Jimmy, who we were lead to believe was going to Davy Jones Locker, popped up at the end of the season out front of the Gallagher homestead with a new lady friend.

After a season of agony, Frank finally got a new liver, a new wife, and a new daughter while Fiona got out of jail and found a new job as a waitress. Spring is in the air as the fifth season starts. Sammi (who has been promoted to the opening credits; Mandy Milkovich gets demoted to recurring while another regular looks like they will not be around much this season either) has moved next to Sheila’s house. Despite still healing, Frank quickly goes back on his grind working on something in the basement, yes you will learn what it is by the end of the episode (the episode “Milk of the Gods” will give you a hint) but you will definitely want to stick around to the end of episode three to see just how successful the enterprise is.

Meanwhile Fiona has assimilated herself well into her new job by the time we catch up with her. Though we know Jimmy is still alive and around (I believe Fiona just thinks he abandoned her at the end of season three) she has some new prospects, neither of them seem very healthy for her. Lip is on his first summer break from college and finds himself caught between his old life on the South Side and one with his sugar momma while Ian is in marital bliss living with Micky and his Russian bride.

The younger Gallagher kids Carl and Debbie are in a battle to see who can lose their virginity first. Next door, Kev and V are adjusting to their new lives as parents of twin girls. But then again, all they have to do is to keep them out of their cocaine stash to do a better job than Fiona.


But this is Shameless and the reason to tune in is to see how they top themselves and this season there are some major haircuts, lots of breastfeeding, Frank spends Father’s Day with the father of his former liver’s owner, date rape, a marriage, someone loses their home, lesbian have moved in to gentrify the area, and much more. As for the most shameless moment of the first couple episodes features Frank and an child amputee. But I no longer think that the writers will find something even more shameless later in the season.

Shameless airs Sundays at 9:00 on Showtime.