Around the Tubes: 7/22/16

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 Veep, Temple of the Dog, Wicked Tuna, Cesar and Son, Black And White, KT Tunstall, Civil Twilight, A Season with Florida State Football, and Window Warriors.

- All hail to the VEEP! As the political environment heats up leading into the upcoming conventions, HBO Home Entertainment looks to lighten the climate with the Digital HD release of this year's Emmy nominee for "Outstanding Comedy Series", Veep: The Complete Fifth Season (along with 16 additional nominations). Do our presumptive nominees have anything on President Selina Meyer? Watch and find out when every episode (and some great bonus features) are released to all leading digital platforms now.

- Temple of the Dog — the Seattle supergroup featuring Soundgarden’s Chris Cornell, Pearl Jam’s Jeff Ament, Stone Gossard, and Mike McCready, and drummer Matt Cameron (who plays drums with both Soundgarden and Pearl Jam) — has reunited and will tour for the first time ever since forming in 1990. The band will play five cities, Philadelphia, New York, San Francisco, Los Angeles, and Seattle, in November. A special ticket pre-sale for fans signed up to the Ten Club, Soundgarden, and Chris Cornell email lists begins immediately and runs through July 27th. Tickets will go on sale to the general public at 12:00 PM local time on Friday the 29th. $1.50 from each ticket sold will benefit the Chris and Vicky Cornell Foundation and an additional $1.50 will benefit Pearl Jam’s Vitalogy Foundation. On September 30th UMe will release a special Temple of the Dog 25th anniversary reissue collection of their landmark album, newly mixed by Brendan O’Brien. The collection will be available in four configurations, including a four disc Super Deluxe, a double LP, a two CD Deluxe, and a single CD. Physical pre-orders are available today along with a detailed list of the contents of each configuration HERE.

- On the heels of the fifth season of its hit series Wicked Tuna, National Geographic Channel once again pits Gloucester’s finest against the best Southern fishermen, in the third season of the exciting spinoff series Wicked Tuna: Outer Banks, premiering Monday, July 25, at 9:00. It was an exceptional year in Gloucester, Massachusetts, with many captains bringing in record hauls for one of the most profitable seasons in recent memory. Now, winter has descended upon New England, and the prized bluefin tuna have migrated south to the Outer Banks of North Carolina, known as the “Graveyard of the Atlantic.” Three of Gloucester’s top captains are following the fish and trying their luck against a fleet of the South’s best fishermen. It’s a risky gamble — the Outer Banks is a notoriously dangerous fishing spot, where the potential for earnings is offset by the challenges these waters pose. And in addition to the unpredictable, treacherous conditions, the Gloucester captains will have to contend with competition from experienced locals who will stop at nothing to beat them to the catch.

- Nat Geo WILD announced today that world-famous dog behaviorist Cesar Millan (@cesarmillan) and his son Andre Millan are road-tripping across America in search of dogs and their humans who need help and want to share their story in Nat Geo WILD’s new series Cesar and Son [wt]. From canine heroes to unsolvable pooch problems to issues affecting local dog communities, no pup is off limits as the Millans hit the road to help you. Visit cesarandson.com to apply.

- A&E Network’s new original comedy series, Black And White is a provocative weekly in-studio show that tackles the third rail of both comedy and politics: race. Hosted by Christian Finnegan and Sherrod Small, this new series covers the biggest headlines sweeping the nation through the fresh and hilarious points of views of these comedians and longtime friends. Black And White premieres Wednesday, July 27 at 10:30 on A&E.

- KT Tunstall returns with an explosive 11 track collection of songs on her fifth studio album KIN to be released September 9th on Caroline Records. The album will be available for pre-order at all participating retailers, here.
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Civil Twilight, originally from South Africa, and now Nashville based, are living proof of what happens when you stop worrying about being the chosen one and make music built on both the roots that grew you and the love that keeps you thriving every day. Civil Twilight debut ethereal acoustic album Story of an Immigrant streaming via Billboard
available July 15, 2016 via Wind-up Records.



- Showwtime Sports will chronicle Florida State University’s quest for the 2016 College Football National Championship with the all-access documentary series A Season with Florida State Football. The second installment of the groundbreaking series brings viewers behind the scenes and into the lives of the Seminoles with weekly 30-minute episodes throughout the 2016 season. The series premieres on Tuesday, Sept. 6 at 10:00 on Showtime, just one day after the Seminoles’ season opener against the Ole Miss Rebels (University of Mississippi) on Labor Day.

- GSN, the leader in game shows and competitive entertainment, has added actress Garcelle Beauvais (“Hollywood Today Live,” “Spider-Man: Homecoming”) as host of their new skill-based competition series Window Warriors. Window Warriors lifts the curtain on the intensely competitive and theatrical world of visual merchandising. This new series brings the worlds of art and commerce together as the country’s most talented window designers are challenged to conceive jaw-dropping displays each week. From the festive, to the luxurious, to the latest advances in digital effects and sound technology, these artists will push their creativity to the limits in the hopes of winning a $100,000 grand prize, in addition to a feature in a retail design magazine, a one-year contract to design displays for a premiere mall developer, and a career-changing opportunity to design a holiday display at a major department store.

I Want My Music Television: 7/18/2016

Good Girls (from the "Ghostbusters" Original Motion Picture Soundtrack) - Elle King


Before I get to this actual video, let me first mention another song off the Ghostbuster Soundtrack that was released that hasn’t gotten a video yet: Fall Out Boy’s version of the classic theme is just pure hot trash. Instantly a contender to challenge Panda as Worst Song of 2016 (though I have managed to not hear it yet, just based on the title MILF $ by Fergie is also in the discussion). Wisely Elle King went with an original and did not try covering another song from the film (actually is there another song from the film?) but I cannot say the video made me all that excited for the new film, but hey, it was not as bad as the first trailer they released.


Somebody Else – The 1975


Yeah, I will admit it took me forty seconds before I had to skip ahead, what a completely useless preamble to a music video. But isn't this the fifth single that failed to hit from The 1975? There was a big marketing blitz when the album dropped but none of the songs really had much of a dent on pop culture so far this year.


(Expletive Deleted) With Myself - Banks


I am on a neverending search for new music but the last couple years it has been far and few in-between with new acts maybe having one great song and everything else on their album being mediocre at best. Banks was maybe the last new artist to put together a solid debut landing five songs on my Best Songs of 2014. But I am just not feeling her new song that much. And the hairless version of herself is just freaking me out.


I Forgive It All - Mudcrutch


Well that was kind of depressing. Yet director Sean Penn’s anger issues still crept in at the end of the Mudcrutch (AKA Tom Petty’s band before The Heartbreakers) video.

57 Channels and Only This Is On: 7/17/16

Ray Donovan: Oh Bridget that was harsh, especially with the fake Boston accent. And of course Conner was just oblivious to the whole thing complaining gun shots ruining his television show. Why are the sons on anti-hero show always the most worthless and incompetent? And just how many times has Terry sat alone in the center of his gym with a gun? Well at least he had company this time around.

Roadies: It was clear by showing up and sitting next to fake Lindsey Buckingham on Saturday Night Live that the real Lindsey Buckingham had a sense of humor, but who really knew just how funny he was? Just the reaction shot of him with Rainn Wilson were great. Speaking of whom, I wonder if Rainn’s character was based on anyone in particular and this was Cameron Crowe’s revenge against some bad reviews.

Murder in the First: Kind of a weird start to the season, in the first episode, Hildy gets a dire diagnosis, but then in the second, they were just like, oops, we were looking at someone else’s records. Then Terry kills what looks to be an unarmed black man, how topical, but again, another false alarm, the perp’s gun fell out of his waist in the chase. Two storylines that looked like they could have been season long arcs that the writers were just, um, nevermind.
You can download Murder in the First on iTunes.

BrainDead: Sure I laughed at the cat CAT scan. Which begs the question what do those bugs do to cats? It clearly makes humans more partisan. And are these bug controlling their humans or just heightening already existing views? The head dive makes it seem like the former. But does that make the bugs partisan or are they just taking over the already held beliefs in the human. At any rate, those previously on segments are just gold.
You can download BrainDead on Amazon Instant Video, free with a Prime membership.

Pretty Little Liars: What a horrible plan. Some dude ran in front of you when you were following him when he kidnapped your friend, which is a legitimate excuse to the police. Instead they come uup with an elaborate plan of leaving his phone on a train (which Spencer ended up being too drunk to do) and burn the car that hit him which would have been extremely conspicuous, at Mona knew a guy who does not ask questions.
You can download Pretty Little Liars on iTunes.

Casual: I did not see the episode title was “Threesome” until after the episode ended. The teenagers were obvious (is it horrible of me to think he may be faking), but the more interesting part of the episode were the emotional threesomes, Valerie is stuck between the two guys, one who is pushing hard and the other who is drunk texting random emojis. Then Alex is not even in a threesome, it is more of a foursome with his crazy ex, her fiancé (possibily ex, that will be one weird working environment if he finds out about them; although they seemed to figure out about him and the secritary) and their pathological assistant.
You can watch Casual on Hulu.

Mr. Robot: What a weird way to start the season, Tyrell was completely absent from the marketing of the second season except being named dropped by President Obama leading me to wonder his involvement in the second. Then he was the first person we see in season two, of course never to be seen again in the double episode premiere. One thing I went back and forth on all first season was: is Tyrell real? That opening scene made me lean back to the delusion side. Then when Elliot asked Mr. Robot where Tyrell is, it reinforced that theory as if when they are not out and about, all of Elliot’s personas are hanging out in his head like Inside Out.

But then Tyrell’s picture was plastered on an episode of Nancy Grace (natch) which pulled me back to the real person side and that maybe the reason Elliot ask Mr. Robot about Tyrell because Elliot knew Tyrell was in the game room, then Mr. Robot took over and when Elliot took over again, Tyrell was missing. I did come up with another theory in that Tyrell is both real and fake. When Elliot meets Tyrell in the Pilot, Elliot decide he is going to be his patsy and to best set him up as the fall guy had to become him and who we saw ever since was Elliot’s delusion. The flaw in that is where does the pregnant wife come from, could she be another delusion?

Speaking of patsies, RIP Gideon. I was surprised he even showed up again and of course he will not again. Though I was unclear what the other guy’s motive was: revenge, fame, hired by Evil Corp to make Gideon the fall guy? Poor Gideon, the ultimate wrong guy wrong time. But really the most interesting part of the first two episode was Elliot saying that we, the audience probably does not trust him the way he does not trust him. Very true, I am beginning to believe less and less of what my eyes see on this show. I am just hoping this does not lead to some sort of St. Elsewhere finale (where the audience learned the whole show was taking place in the mind of an autistic kid) and everything we have seen was taking place in kid Elliot’s mind who is really laying in a coma from the time his father pushed him out a window.
You can download Mr. Robot on iTunes.

The Challenge: Rivals III: Another meh challenge (okay, Vince belly flopping was somewhat entertaining), even the Jungles were stupid too this week. What ever happened to the physical challenge where teams go head to head, almost every challenge this season teams have been taking turns. But at least we got a “Greatest Moments” episode this week. Granted it was basically twenty-five minutes of waiting for the CT using Johnny as a backpack. Weird that they completely ignored all the fighting or the time Julie almost killed Veronica. I guess it was not surprising that the avoided the time Tonya emptied Beth’s luggage into the pool considering the things that happened behind the scenes with here.
You can download The Challenge: Rivals III on iTunes.

Tyrant: These types of family drama follow a familiar format; the older daughter gets a storyline (for better or worse) while the younger brother just stays in the background. This show kind of flipped that, well both children are mostly worthless, but every once and a while the son does something to remind you, oh yeah, he is a gay homosexual, but really never push that storyline very far. After three seasons, they finally gave the daughter something to do in being captured. I am with Barry, you cannot trade the daughter for the wife, they would likely just kill both, really, the obvious answer is to get the American general exactly what he wants and have them send in Seal Team 6 to rescue the daughter.
You can download Tyrant on iTunes.

Sex&Drugs&Rock&Roll: Networks got interesting with their On Demand channels. NBC made the most noise by releasing the entire season of Aquarius after its series premiere. What I found more interesting was FX released uncensored version of this show on its On Demand channel. But much like NBC who did not air drop Aquarius this season, for some reason did not upload uncensored episode leaving me to wonder just what Denis Leary is saying whenever the audio when silent. Hurumph.
You can download Sex&Drugs&Rock&Roll on iTunes.