Around the Tubes: 8/12/16

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 Triumph’s Summer Election Special 2016, Cypress Hill: Live from Austin, Three Days of Terrorr: The Charlie Hebdo Attacks, Martha & Snoop’s Dinner Party, Sully erna, MTV Video Music Awards, and The Affair.

- In Triumph’s Summer Election Special 2016, Triumph makes his return to the Presidential campaign trail, covering delegates, protesters, and the major players as they descend on Cleveland and Philadelphia for the Republican and Democratic conventions, respectively. Triumph has already made headlines conducting a live show directly behind Wolf Blitzer’s panel and commandeering a Westboro Baptist Church demonstration.


- Tune in to the AUDIENCE Network special Cypress Hill: Live from Austin airing Friday, August 12, at 9:00 PM ET/PT on DIRECTV Ch 239/U-verse Ch 1114. The electrifying rooftop performance and interview with the iconic, multi-platinum, hip-hop group was filmed live this past March in Austin, TX. Cypress Hill is currently on a worldwide tour celebrating the 25th Anniversary of the band's self-titled debut album (released August 13, 1991).

- Three Days of Terrorr: The Charlie Hebdo Attacks (debuting Sept. 19 on HBO) is a searing account of the January 2015 terror attacks on Paris which combined the last attack in Europe by Al-Qaeda and the first attack in Europe inspired by ISIS, following the militant group’s self-proclamation in June 2014. The horrific events began on January 7, 2015, when two brothers – members of Al-Qaeda in Yemen – stormed the Paris offices of the satiric weekly Charlie Hebdo, killing 11 people and injuring 11 others before also killing a French police officer. As a massive manhunt for the elusive killers was mounted, an additional 5 people were murdered and 11 wounded over the next two days, which included a harrowing stand-off between police and a gunman, pledging allegiance to ISIS, holding hostages at a kosher supermarket. With unprecedented investigative depth, including exclusive access to hostages, survivors, police, paramilitaries, and intelligence findings and evidence, as well as never before seen footage and photographs, Emmy®-nominated filmmaker Dan Reed (HBO’s “Terror at the Mall”) highlights the courage and resilience of Parisian police and citizens in the face of mass murder.

- VH1, in partnership with Sequential Brands Group, MERRY JANE and 495 Productions, this week announced a new weekly series featuring Martha Stewart and Snoop Dogg teaming together to throw a dinner party that will be the hottest ticket in town. Each will invite celebrity friends over for a half-baked evening of cocktails, cooking, conversation, and fun where nothing is off limits. Martha & Snoop’s Dinner Party (working title) will premiere this Fall on VH1.

- Sully Erna--founder, vocalist, guitarist and songwriter for the multi-platinum rock band Godsmack--will release a new solo album Hometown Life Friday, September 30 via BMG. Composed by SULLY on piano and acoustic guitar and produced in his New Hampshire studio, HOMETOWN LIFE offers a departure from the tribal, world music feel and experimentation on 2010's Avalon; the new album's 10 songs are more accessible, sonically and musically precise.

- The MTV Video Music Awards will bestow Rihanna with its highest honor, the “Michael Jackson Video Vanguard Award,” for her decade-long impact on music, pop culture, fashion, film and philanthropy. Rihanna will perform during the ceremony LIVE from New York’s iconic Madison Square Garden on Sunday, August 28 at 9:00.

- BAFTA and César Award-nominated Irène Jacob, often called the preeminent French actress of her generation, has joined the season three cast of the Golden Globe®-winning Showtime® drama series The Affair in a major season-long arc. Jacob will play Juliette Le Gall, a new love interest of Noah's (Dominic West), running from her own secrets, who helps him process a trauma from his past and understand himself a little better. Season three is currently in production in New York, and will premiere on Sunday, November 20th at 10:00 on Showtime.

57 Channels and Only This Is On: 8/7/16

MTV Classic: A couple years ago VH1, in honor of MTV’s anniversary they devoted an entire weekend to the channel’s history with classic episodes of its shows and a couple documentaries. It was a great watch and made me think that is what VH1 Classic should be. And how about running full episodes of Yo! MTV Raps, Headbangers Ball, and 120 Minutes instead of random blocks of music videos in the morning. But then VH1 Classic went back to its rock heavy schedule and random movies that have nothing to do with music after the weekend was over.

So I got slightly excited when I heard they were rebranding VH1 Classic as MTV Classic bringing back classic shows from the channel’s history. The lauch started off well enough with an Unplugged marathon but I have been less than enthused since. Sure they show the occasional Beavis and Butt-Head, but so far they have been all episodes from the recent reboot and none from the nineties. And is any one setting their DVR for midnight airings of Run’s House? C’mon, where is Remote Control. And still no one is taking my advice to show genre specif shows in their entirety, instead we are still getting random videos in the morning. Really not the best start when the first one I saw was Vertical Horizon’s Everything You Want. Even worse, the first time I came across Yo! Hip Hop Hits, they were showing a video by Xscape, a fifth rate nineties girl group (featuring the future Mrs. T.I.) who are neither hip hop nor classic. Le sigh.

Ray Donovan: Did we really need to start off the episode with some dude pleasuring himself to a chick playing Cat’s Cradle? And just when you thought that was gong to be the most graphic part of the episode, a minute later we get to watch s full body cavity search. And then a couple minutes after that Conner pulls out some lubricant? Then after everything he went through with the Russians to get Belikov out of jail, he kills him over the Cat’s Cradle chick. That is probably not going to go over well.

Preacher: What the frack was that? Was that meant to not be coherent and meant to be a complete mess? How does an episode like that even make it to air?
You can download Preacher on iTunes.

Roadies: In the beginning I thought it was a wise choice to keep the band in the background and focus on the titular characters (and definitely we should never hear any of their songs because the worst part of these scripted music shows is they are supposed to be superstars but their songs are mediocre at best), but after Janine went HAM on the lead singer, the band instantly became extremely interesting. I actually want to see more of Janine as she writes her tell all and Chris’s reaction to all the revelations. And just how does Bill not get fired for sleeping with the lead singer’s girlfriend even if I took place a decade or so ago?

The John Mellencamp cameo made me wonder just where do some of these celebrity cameo stories come from. Did Cameron Crowe ask them for the personal stories like the one about the hundred year old grandmother that could fit in the show? Are they strictly written for the show? Are they stories Crowe has heard and asked the celebrities if he can use it on the show?

BrainDead: I figured Laurel would find a way to get the bugs out of her head before they push out half her brain, but I thought she would simply go to the refrigerator and put some bacon on her ear. Instead we got maybe the most entertaining segment on television this year.
You can download BrainDead on Amazon Instant Video, free with a Prime membership.

Pretty Little Liars: Seriously promo monkeys, we are already to the countdown portaon of the season. I get annoyed with the “one more episode until the (insert hyperbolic adverb here) finale” promo but four more episodes is a bit much. Sad thing is, that is most of what I remember from this episode. Um, Alison got attacked by someone and it turned out to not be her dead fiancée who is still in the ground. It probably was not Sara who ended up dead. Um, evil(er) twin maybe?
You can download Pretty Little Liars on iTunes.

Mr. Robot: Well at least we did not start with a cute flashback this week. And good news for anyone who was wondering what Angela’s douchebag ex-boyfriend was up to. Otherwise, meh.
You can download Mr. Robot on iTunes.

Tyrant: Oh hey Barry, you are really doing that days after your daughter died and hours after your wife checked herself into a mental institution? Cold.
You can download Tyrant on iTunes.

The Challenge: Rivals III: What a horrible ending to a horrible season. What a completely douche thing to do even by Johnny Banana’s standards. At least he cannot possibly get another invitation back after that and even so, how is he not sent into whatever they are calling the elimination round every time? What is worse was the whole point thing was kind of shady; I never really got the standing on the log checkpoint, and making things worse it was worth two points. Why not just stay on the log and refuse to leave?
You can download The Challenge: Rivals III on iTunes.

2016 Rio Olympics Opening Ceremonies: Not a very good sign for these games that I fell asleep somewhere around the M’s during the parade of nations. I am ready to call it the worse opening ceremonies of my lifetime. I know Pele was sick, but how was the biggest name at the ceremony Giselle? Was there really no one more important from Brazil? I was ready for Camilla from The Challenge or Abi-Maria from Survivor to pop up.