Around the Tubes: 2/5/16

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 Full Frontal with Samantha Bee, Those Who Can't, Sports Illustrated Swimsuit 2016 Revealed, Family Feud, The Lineup, Sun Studio Sessions, Alaska Aircraft Investigations, Penny Dreadful, and the Swon Brothers.

- Samantha Bee just couldn't let the Iowa caucuses pass by without adding her own take. So check out some special video segments at youtube.com/fullfrontalsamb. And be sure to tune in to the series premiere of Full Frontal with Samantha Bee, airing Monday, Feb. 8, at 10:30, only on TBS.

- Those Who Can't, truTV's first venture into full-length scripted comedy, premieres Thursday, Feb. 11 at 10:30 with two back-to-back episodes. The 10 episode, half-hour series follows three trouble-making teachers, played by show creators and executive producers Adam Cayton-Holland, Andrew Orvedahl and Ben Roy of the Denver-based comedy troupe The Grawlix. More inept than the kids they teach, they’re out to beat the system as they struggle to survive each day on their own terms. Starring alongside them is Maria Thayer (Eagleheart) the school librarian with an insuppressible passion for life. Beginning February 1, fans can get a sneak peek of two episodes of the series at truTV.com. The series premiere is also available now on iTunes and Video on Demand.

- Sports Illustrated, a Time Inc. media property, IMG and TNT are teaming up for Sports Illustrated Swimsuit 2016 Revealed, a first-of-its-kind broadcast event that will culminate with the unveiling of the 2016 Sports Illustrated Swimsuit cover model. Actor, comedian and recording artist Nick Cannon and The Librarians star and Skin Wars host Rebecca Romijn are set to lead the festivities, which will celebrate the amazing women in this year’s edition, including Nina Agdal, Irina Shayk, Chrissy Teigen, Gigi Hadid, Emily DiDonato, Erin Heatherton, Chanel Iman and more. Sports Illustrated Swimsuit 2016 Revealed will air Saturday, Feb. 13, at 10:30 p.m. (ET) / 7:30 p.m. (PT) dur ing NBA All-Star Weekend on TNT, following the network's coverage of State Farm NBA All-Star Saturday Night.

- GSN, the leader in game shows and competitive entertainment, will present a five-hour marathon of romance-themed episodes of the iconic game show Family Feud, hosted by Steve Harvey, on Valentine’s Day, Sunday, February 14, from 6:00-11:00pm.

- Fuse, a national television network for the fast-growing, multicultural and Latino audience, today announced The Lineup, a new unscripted series showcasing the music that influences the everyday lives of some of the biggest names in sports. The series premieres Saturday, February 27, 2016 at 9:00, but viewers will get a sneak peek at The Lineup on Saturday, February 6 at 9:00.

- Nashville-based singer-songwriter Tony Lucca is set to appear on the season 7 premiere of Sun Studio Sessions, the show that features performances recorded at the legendary studio in Memphis, TN. Lucca’s episode will begin airing Saturday, February 6, 2016, at 10 p.m. on WKNO (PBS Ch.10) in Memphis, TN. Fans should check local listings for subsequent airings; “Sun Studio Sessions” appears on PBS stations across the country. After being on the show’s radar for a while, Lucca shot the six-song solo performance last year (including the songs “Anchored,” “Delilah,” “Old Girl,” “Smoke ’Em,” “Sparrow,” and “Sweat It Out”). After living in the Music City and honing his songwriting craft, recording, and writing in town for years now, Tony Lucca has the energy and spirit of Nashville coursing through his veins, so the session in Memphis is a perfect fit for him.

- Alaska is more dependent on airplanes than any other state in the country. But with that dependence comes danger: during the summer, Alaska faces an average of one plane crash every day. The region’s plane accidents range from the historic crash that claimed the life of Senator Ted Stevens to the single-engine plane that crashed into an office building in downtown Anchorage in 2015. The new Smithsonian Channel series, Alaska Aircraft Incestigations, goes behind-the-scenes with unprecedented access to the National Transportation Safety Board’s (NTSB) Alaska “Go Team.” For the first time, The NTSB has allowed a television crew to follow its Alaska unit as it investigates the more than 125 crashes that occur in the state every year. The series, comprised of six hour-long episodes, premieres Sunday, March 13 at 9:00.

- The hit Showtime drama series Penny Dreadful is heading to Spain to shoot select episodes for its third season. Shooting in the city of Almería in the Andalusia region, the episodes will follow Ethan (Josh Hartnett), Sir Malcolm (Timothy Dalton), new series regular Kaetenay (Wes Studi) and Hecate (guest star Sarah Greene) as they battle dark forces in the 1800s American West. The new season will premiere on Sunday, May 1st at 10:00 on-air, on demand and over the internet.

- In the year since their self-titled debut release, Oklahoma duo The Swon Brothers have racked up hundreds of shows, written with many of Nashville’s top tunesmiths, and connected with thousands of fans across the globe, and their latest EP, Timeless is a great reflection of the growth and experiences that have shaped them since they first started their musical journey years ago. The new collection provides a glimpse into the boys’ more soulful side with a sound that truly mirrors where they are musically at this moment in time, and they are eager to deliver this new crop of tunes to fans as they embark on the Carrie Underwood tour for 40-plus dates opening for the female vocal powerhouse and their longtime friend.

I Want My Music Television: 2/3/16

Hymn for the Weekend - Coldplay featuring Beyonce


Didn't Coldplay already do the weird colored sand thing in a previous music video, or am I thinking of someone else that did that? But anyway. I am not really liking the happy Coldplay of their latest record. Yeah I know there last one was super depressing but they really did not need to swing the pendulum so far in the other direction.

Wide Open - The Chemical Brothers featuring Beck


The Chemical Brothers have always done some pretty creative music videos and add the mysterious disappearing dancer to that list.Simple but really visually effective.

Lose It - Oh Wonder


I do not know if the whole new Oh Wonder video was staged or these were actually reactions but I really hope it was the latter. I just feel bad for whoever had to clean up the confetti after every audition.

FloriDada - Animal Collective


The new Animal Collective music video is pretty freaky, I would not expect anything less from them.

57 Channels and Only This Is On: 1/31/16

Galavant: I was a bit skeptical when the titular character ended the last with a sword through his chest, but since it led to this week's death song and dance sequence and a zombie inspire version of Grease, I am glad it happened.
You can download Galavant on iTunes.

Shameless: I wonder what the over / under of new Gallagher's there will be by the start of next season. As adamant as Fiona is, I think two babies next year may actually be more entertaining despite babies ruining many of shows in the history of television. And I actually kind of want to download The F Word.

Billions: I wonder what was going on during that twenty dollar bill scene. Was Chuck really trying to do the right thing by paying for that guys ice cream or was he just rubbing it in the guys face. As a guy who is so calculating that he even wears a flag pin while getting his children ice cream I thought it was the latter and he had to know that was going to happen (maybe not the ice cream cone to the back but at least the guy who find it condescending. But after the talk with his wife I wonder if that was really Chuck's attempt at being human.

The X-Files: The best (and most depressing) part of the first episode was when Mulder creepily said he would not have forgotten meeting the hot chick only for her to mention they met when she was a child and back to Mulder realizing he (and the audience who watched the first time around) is really old. But did we meet her back in the nineties on the show? And who was the old guy he met with later, did we meet him before too? I get he was the guy who did the alien autopsy, but when Mulder said their talked a decade ago, that would be after the show ended. There was that horrible movie that came out eight years ago but I do not remember that having anything to do with aliens.

But one thing that I realized while Jeff Winger was doing his worst Glenn Beck impersonation was that I no longer want to believe. All these conspiracy theories were fun in my youth, but now that the internet is populated with so many of these wackadoos, it is hard not to roll their eyes at everything they say.
You can download The X-Files on iTunes.

Supergirl: They laid the Nazi allegory on a little too thick. And by a little, I mean way too hard. And if the best Kara can do is Cat's kind of douchy kid, maybe she should have went with the Toyman's kid.
You can download Supergirl on iTunes.

Lucifer: There was a time when layers, cops, and doctors were simultaneously the most watched television shows and the most hated professions in the country. Now it seems hard to launch a show with them in the lead unless Dick Wolfe slaps a Chicago in front of them (coming this fall: Chicago Law!). So they have to get creative to be successful like bringing in weird consultants. The Blacklist has the FBI aided by someone on their Most Wanted list, Blindspot has an amnesiac covered with tattoos; but Lucifer has them all beat by having Satan as an LAPD consultant... who consults an topless B-movie actress turned cop solve cases. Alrighty. Well this should be interesting.
You can download Lucifer on iTunes.

Pretty Little Liars : Holy Hermy the Hermaphrodite sighting! Which begs the question what was the actor doing during the finale because he would have made much more sense as Charles than CeCe. But maybe he is the next A who looks may be lurking around near the end of the episode. Though my favorite part of the episode was either Hanna's ring tone or that she eats concentrated orange juice right out of the can.
You can download Pretty Little Liars on iTunes

Marvel's Agent Carter: I not the biggest fan of meta jokes but if you do them, you really should spread them out. Having Peggy call movies based on comic books silly was enough, but having Jarvis later in the episode saying he fears the thought of being a disembodied voice for all of eternity was a bit much in the same episode. Other than that, pretty entertaining episode with an actress sucking some dude into the palm of her hand... literally. Where did that guy go, is he now in limbo with the black scientist, another dimension, or just dead?
You can download Marvel's Agent Carter on iTunes.

The Challenge: Battle of the Bloodlines: That challenge really favored the girls who just dominated, well until it came to monkey-bars and puzzles. And is that puzzle really that hard? Survivor does it all the time but it looks from the television screen not to look too hard.
You can downloadThe Challenge: Battle of the Bloodlines on iTunes.