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 Telenovela, Flight Before Christmas, The Hateful Eight Soundtrack, The Santa Barbara International Film Festival, In Performance: Christmas Under the Stars, Miraculous™, Newtown, Austin City Limits, Major Crimes, Rizzoli & Isles, Outside Television, Gigolos, TruTV, and You're the Worst.
- Eva Longoria (Desperate Housewives) stars in Telenovala, a big, fun and flashy half-hour comedy as Ana Sofia, the star of a popular Spanish language soap opera. One problem, she doesn't speak any Spanish. Other problems? Ana must manage a new boss, jealous castmates and high-maintenance best friends - and that's all before her ex-husband is hired as her new on-screen love interest. Just like a real telenovela, this comedy is full of all kinds of drama, including love, hate, life and even death! Despite all the chaos, this telenovela's cast and crew is a family... or, at least, they try to be.
- Flight Before Christmas, Saturday at 8:00 on Lifetime. Synopsis: Excited to take the next step in their relationship and move in with her boyfriend, Stephanie is crushed when he drops the bombshell that he wants to break up. Faced with spending the holidays heartbroken and homeless, she decides to fly home to Connecticut. On a red-eye the day before Christmas, Stephanie finds herself seated next to Michael, who is planning to propose to his college girlfriend. The two get off to a rocky start but things get even worse when the pilot announces that a huge, unexpected snowstorm is crossing the country. Their flight is diverted to a small town in Montana where Stephanie snags the last available room at the town’s bed and breakfast. Despite their differences, she offers to share the room with Michael and try their best to get along.
- Quentin Tarantino and Decca Records today announced the release of Quentin Tarantino's The Hateful Eight original motion picture soundtrack. The soundtrack will be available for purchase on CD, vinyl, and at digital retail worldwide via Decca Records on December 18, 2015. Third Man Records will also release an exclusive vinyl edition of the soundtrack in the United States. The Double 180 gram LP will include a tri-fold reversible jacket with a soft touch finish, 60"x12" poster, 36"x12" poster, and 12-page booklet insert with stills from the film. The Hateful Eight film will be released on December 25, 2015 screening exclusively in glorious Ultra Panavision 70 mm film and will open wide on January 8, 2016. Pre-order links for Quentin Tarantino's The Hateful Eight Original Motion Picture Soundtrack can be found below:
Decca
Third Man Records
- The Santa Barbara International Film Festival is proud to present the 2016 Outstanding Performers of the Year award to both Brie Larson and Saoirse Ronan on Monday February 8, SBIFF Executive Director Roger Durling announced today. This is the first time the award will be given to two honorees. Both Larson and Ronan had previously been awarded the festival’s Virtuoso Award, in 2014 and 2010 respectively. The duo will be celebrated for their remarkable performances in Room and Brooklyn. The 2016 festival is the 31st year of the festival, which will run February 3 to February 13, 2016. For more information, and to purchase tickets, festival passes and packages, please visit sbiff.org.
- With the Christmas season in full swing, prepare to tune in, this Sunday, with the whole family as Gentri -the Gentleman's Trio- join 13-year old Lexi Mae Walker for a celebration of Christmas music and the true meaning of Christmas. Filmed on location at an old Jerusalem replica set, the one-hour special, In Performance: Christmas Under the Stars, airs on Sunday, December 6 at 5pm MT/7pm ET on BYUtv, and also features The Snow College Chamber Orchestra, The Snow College Cadence Chamber Choir, The American Heritage Youth Chorus, and other musical guests.
- On Sunday, December 6 at noon ET/PT, Nickelodeon will broadcast the premiere episode of the all-new 3D CGI-animated, action-sitcom series, Miraculous™. The 26-episode series, which will air every Sunday at noon ET/PT, is owned and produced by ZAG, under its “Zag Heroez” umbrella. The series tells the story of a charismatic girl who transforms into a courageous, vivacious superhero named Ladybug and saves the day to restore happiness and peace for the citizens of Paris. While making its first appearance in the U.S. this December, Miraculous™ has already debuted in France and Korea, attaining consistent number one ratings across all kids shows week over week. Series premieres will continue to roll-out globally, in 120+ markets worldwide over the next three months.
- Filmed over the course of nearly three years, the film-makers use unique access and never before heard testimonies to tell a story of the aftermath of the deadliest mass shooting of schoolchildren in American history. Newtown documents a traumatized community fractured by grief and driven toward a sense of purpose. Joining the ranks of a growing club to which no one wants to belong, a cast of characters interconnect to weave an intimate story of community resilience. The film will have a national broadcast on PBS in 2016. It will also be screened at additional film festivals, followed by a theatrical release, community and school screenings nationwide along with educational, international and digital distribution.
- The landmark television music series Austin City Limits (ACL) announces the second half of Season 41, with seven brand-new shows to begin airing in January 2016 as part of the program’s fourteen-episode season. ACL has featured some of the most iconic performances in live music for over four decades, and continues with an ever more diverse line-up showcasing the most original and relevant music of today. The program returns on Saturday, January 2nd at 8:00, ringing in the new year with a new installment featuring the return of powerhouse rockers Alabama Shakes and the debut of soul revivalists Vintage Trouble. ACL airs weekly on PBS stations nationwide (check local listings for times) and full episodes are made available online for a limited time at video.pbs.org/ immediately following the initial broadcast. The show's official hashtag is #acltv. Here is the full lineup:
January 2 Alabama Shakes / Vintage Trouble
January 9 Kendrick Lamar
January 16 Ryan Adams / Shakey Graves
January 23 Angélique Kidjo
January 30 Sleater-Kinney / Heartless Bastards
February 6 Leon Bridges / Nathaniel Rateliff & The Night Sweats
February 13 Tedeschi Trucks Band
- Television's favorite detectives will be back on the case in February as TNT presents
all-new episodes of the hit series Major Crimes and Rizzoli & Isles. Major Crimes is set to kick off its winter episodes on Monday, Feb. 15, at 9:00, with Mary McDonnell, G.W. Bailey and Tony Denison leading the exceptional ensemble cast. The following day, Angie Harmon and Sasha Alexander will return in Rizzoli & Isles, which will start its winter run Tuesday, Feb. 16, with back-to-back episodes beginning at 9:00.
- Outside Television, America’s only television network for people who share a deep passion for the active, adventure lifestyle, is expanding its reach today as it launches on Sony PlayStation Vue. PlayStation Vue is a new cloud-based TV service bringing subscribers live television, movies and sports through the PlayStation platform. With this launch, Outside Television will be available on the Vue platform in New York, Chicago, Los Angeles, Philadelphia, San Francisco, Dallas, and Miami markets. Outside Television is available nationwide through various providers including DISH Network, Comcast XFINITY, Cox Communications, RCN, The National Cable Television Cooperative, CenturyLink PRISM TV and Google Fiber.
- The boys are back in town! The sexy Showtimes unscripted series Gigolos returns with eight half-hour episodes on Thursday, March 17th at 11:00. The Gigolos are heading back to Las Vegas to spotlight the sultry, salacious antics of fan favorites: Nick, Brace, Vin, Ash and Bradley (and Guerin, their booker). For a sneak peek at the new season, go to YouTube.
- Placing an even bigger bet on the scripted arena, truTV has ordered a second season of its first scripted series Those Who Can’t three months in advance of the show’s launch – an unprecedented move for the network. In addition, truTV has also ordered two pilots and a pilot script from several established comedic talents, including Dean Lorey (Arrested Development, The Crazy Ones), comedian Tom Segura and also Melissa Hunter (Adult Wednesday Addams). This flurry of scripted activity comes as truTV celebrates momentum on the first anniversary of its “Way More Fun” branding.
- FXX has ordered a third season of the critically-acclaimed comedy You’re the Worst from Creator and Executive Producer Stephen Falk, who has reached an overall deal to develop and produce projects for FX Networks and FX Productions, it was announced today by Nick Grad and Eric Schrier, Presidents of Original Programming for FX Networks and FX Productions. The third season of You’re the Worst will air on FXX in summer 2016. The multi-year overall deal will enable Falk to write, develop and produce television projects for FX Networks and FX Productions.
