57 Channels and Only This Is On: 6/10/2017

Gotham: So much death. Granted death tends not to stick for very long. Given her I have died before, I know this is a different death, I guess that was the end Fish Mooney. Butch will likely also stay dead, or undead being the better description because Cyrus Gold is the original name of Solomon Grundy. Then there was The Riddler, being frozen in ice typically will kill someone but in comic work, you can thaw him out unharmed. The biggest question mark is Barbara. They have been teasing her as Harley Quinn since being captured by the serial killer two(?) seasons ago so that can be Harley’s origin story, except electrocution seems kind of dead dead. But again we are dealing with comic book logic.
You can download Gotham on iTunes.

The Challenge: Champs vs. Pros: Wait, the gay dude can bring his boyfriend to the elimination but no AJ Lee? Booooooooooooooooooooo. That is some hetrophobic crap right there.
You can download The Challenge: Invasion of the Champions on iTunes.

The Handmaid’s Tale: Wait, so Handmaids do not stay with the families after they are done breastfeeding? I guess you do not want attachments growing, but I was thinking they may want to have siblings that were fully related instead of having a brood of half siblings. But poor Jenine, she actually gets sent to a family that seemed to be one of the nicer rapist only to they try to kill herself and fail. I am just glad they kind of showed us how Moria got the package to Ofred because I was really puzzled there for a couple seconds. Though it is still unclear how she got into Gilliad and the package to a sympathizer in the meat shop.
You can stream The Handmaid's Tale on Hulu.

Around the Tubes: 6/9/2017

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 The Putin Interviews, Claws, Family Feud, POV, First Ladies Revealed, Survivorman and Son: Mongolia, Monster Hunt, Snowpiercer, Escape at Dannemora, and Weekend Blast with Ed Lover and Monie Love.

- Showtime Documentary Films has released a new extended clip from Oliver Stone’s unprecedented conversations with Vladimir Putin, The Putin Interviews. The clip is pulled from hour four of the special, which features Stone’s most recent discussion with the Russian president this past February, following the U.S. presidential elections. In the newly released clip, Putin offers his opinion of his former Cold War foe, Senator John McCain, that sheds light on how Putin views today's global affairs in a historical context. Additionally, a new video for The Putin Interviews was released that features a behind-the-scenes look and interview with Stone, about the making of the television special.


- Turner's TNT has announced that the premiere episode of its new drama Claws will stream on Twitter following the series' launch on TNT. Set in a Central Florida nail salon and featuring an ensemble cast headed by Niecy Nash (Getting On, The Soul Man), Claws is slated to premiere Sunday, June 11, at 9:00 across TNT's platforms. Twitter will then stream an encore of the premiere episode at 10 pm. (ET), marking the platform's first ever streaming of a basic cable drama. Fans on Twitter in the United States will be able to access the stream and a curated timeline of show-related Tweets by going to claws.twitter.com, as well as via the @ClawsTNT Twitter handle.

- All next week (6/12-6/16), GSN will feature episodes of Family Feud where the contestants at some point left Steve Harvey utterly speechless. Tune in each night at 7pm ET (6pm central) to catch the contestants and answers that dumbfounded the otherwise talkative host

- The year is 2015. Syria’s brutal civil war has been ravaging the country since the government responded with force to civil protests during the Arab Spring in 2011. Regime, Kurdish, ISIS and rebel forces all occupy various parts of the city of Aleppo in northwestern Syria. A volunteer group called the White Helmets provides emergency services to traumatized residents in the rebel-occupied areas of the city. A crucial part of their efforts is rescuing survivors: After air attacks reduce buildings to rubble, the men of the White Helmets dig through the debris and pull survivors to safety. They are nothing short of heroes. The White Helmets are the subject of Last Men in Aleppo (airing July 10, 2017 on POV), the searing documentary directed by Feras Fayyad that won the World Documentary Grand Jury Prize at the 2017 Sundance Film Festival. The film has its national broadcast premiere on July 10 at 10 p.m. (check local listings) on the PBS documentary series POV (Point of View). POV is American television’s longest-running independent documentary series, now in its 30th season. Last Men in Aleppo is the final film in this season’s special series highlighting the Syrian conflict and refugee crisis.

- First Ladies have played a key role in branding their husbands’ presidencies and have each left their own mark on history. Smithsonian Channel’s new series, First Ladies Revealed, examines some of the most prominent and remarkable women – trailblazers, style icons, diplomats, war heroes, and global superstars. From Dolley Madison, Eleanor Roosevelt and Jackie Kennedy to Nancy Reagan, Hillary Clinton, Michelle Obama and more, the series tells the stories of some of the women who left their indelible mark on the White House and the nation. Smithsonian Channel reveals their challenges and celebrates their achievements, going beyond their public lives to tell their private stories. The series premieres Sunday, July 2 at 9:00.

- During his last expedition to Mongolia, survival expert Les Stroud was almost killed in an automobile accident. A year later, he returns there with his son Logan, now 19, and with a mind of his own and strength of character earned by beating cancer. If they're going to survive a week in remote Mongolia with no water, shelter, food or fire, they're going to have to work together. The task might be easier said than done when youth tests experience and stubbornness proves to be a genetic trait. Survivorman and Son: Mongolia kicks off Father’s Day weekend on Friday, June 16 at 10:00.

- Monster Hunt, China's highest-grossing movie of all time until just recently, is coming to DVD via FilmRise and MVD Enterttainment Group on June 13th.

- Turner's TNT has cast Jennifer Connelly, who earned an Oscar® for her performance in A Beautiful Mind, to star in the network's drama pilot Snowpiercer. She joins Tony Award® winner Daveed Diggs (Hamilton, Black-ish) in the futuristic thriller, which will be directed by Scott Derrickson (Doctor Strange). Based on the acclaimed movie of the same name, Snowpiercer is a co-production of Tomorrow Studios and Turner's Studio T, along with CJ Entertainment. The project is being executive-produced by writer-showrunner Josh Friedman (Avatar 4, Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles); director Scott Derrickson; Tomorrow Studios' Marty Adelstein (Aquarius, Prison Break, Teen Wolf) and Becky Clements (Good Behavior, Aquarius, Last Man Standing); and the original film's Bong Joon Ho, Park Chan-wook, Lee Tae-hun and Dooho Choi.

- SHOWTIME has given a production order to Escape at Dannemora, a new eight-hour limited series starring Academy Award® winners Benicio del Toro (Traffic) and Patricia Arquette (Boyhood), and Golden Globe nominee Paul Dano (Love & Mercy, There Will Be Blood). Emmy® winner Ben Stiller will executive produce and direct all eight episodes. The limited series is based on the stranger-than-fiction account of a prison break in upstate New York in the summer of 2015, which spawned a massive manhunt for two convicted murderers who were aided in their escape by a married female prison employee with whom they both became sexually entangled. Production will begin later this year at the actual locations in upstate New York. Escape at Dannemora is the network’s next high-profile limited series, on the heels of the launch of the new TWIN PEAKS, which generated a record number of streaming service signups for SHOWTIME. The announcement was made today by David Nevins, President and CEO, Showtime Networks Inc.

- Having already kicked off “Weekend Blast with Ed Lover and Monie Love” (Saturday’s 7am-9am) this past weekend, Long Island’s party station Party 105.3FM is getting ready to premiere their brand new “Fresh, Fly, and Funny” weekday drive-time show hosted by none other than the hip hop legends themselves! The Ed Lover Show will bring not only classic hip hop music and celebrity interviews from the hottest artists and influencers of of today, but features that connect with a generation of urban trendsetters, as well as giving listeners a chance to give their own input through daily segments and contests!

I Want My Music Television: 6/5/2017

Run - Foo Fighters


Foo Fighters playing an old folks home as old people is pretty hilarious. Well up to the point of the old chick flashing.


Un(expletive deleted) the World - Prophets of Rage


What struck me during the new video from Prophets of Rage was where are the rebel rousers of today. The nineties had Rage Against the Machine, Public Enemy and many others but nobody seems to rage very hard against the machine these day other than the occasional strongly worded tweet.


Mount Kushmore – Snoop Dogg featuring Redman, Method Man, and B-Real


Oh my goodness, a song with Snoop Dogg,
edman, Method Man, and B-Real may have been the greatest track of 1995. Now, meh. And that has to be the worst Trump impression ever.


Wall of Glass – Liam Gallagher


It seems like I have been talking a lot this year about mediocre music from artists who had they heyday two decades ago (including everyone in this post). Liam Gallagher’s first solo track may be the most mediocre. I wonder if Oasis is going a Creedence Clearwater Revival situation where you assume they will reconcile eventually up until the point one of them dies. But unlike John Folgerty, neither of the Gallagher bothers have released anything worth caring about apart.

Previewing I'm Dying Up Here

One of the main reasons Studio 60 on the Sunset Strip failed was too many complained that the fake Saturday Night Live show’s skits just were not funny. And that seems to hinder most shows focusing on the entertainment industry. Nashville in seasons years has yet to produce a hit in the real world as big as they pretend they are on the show. I thought Showtime solved this problem last year with Roadies where we never actually got to hear any new material from this stadium filling band, instead leaving the musical moments to their numerous real life opening acts. The only problem was that show was a rare one and done season for the premium network.

Roadies crossed my mind many times while watching Showtime’s latest offering I’m Dying Up Here. Granted this time the medium of the characters are stand up comedians and it takes place in the seventies. This new show also tries to solve the entertainment industry show problem by making these comic amateurs trying to make it in Los Angeles (when Johnny Carson moved The Tonight Show to Burbank in 1972, all the stand-up comics moved out there too). The title of this show even comes from the phrase acknowledging that the comic is not doing a good job.

So do not expect much from the stand up on the show, it is certainly not on the level of a Showtime stand up special. The first set we see even starts out with an abortion joke. And really the hardest I laughed in the first episode was when a hooker takes the wallet off an unconscious guy. And since this is the seventies and not the overly PC current day, there are plenty of sexist and racist joke helped that the cast includes a token woman comic (Ari Graynor, Bad Teacher), a token black comic (Erik Griffin, Workaholics), and a token Hispanic comic (Al Madrigal, Gary Unmarried). Homosexuals should probably happy they are not represented on the show. And that this is the seventies, the decades public hair grooming is on full display during the first two episodes.

Melissa Leo (Treme) is the club owner and kingmaker, you are not getting on Carson without here. There are even a couple of white guys in the cast including Andrew Santino (Mixology) and Stephen Guarino (Dr. Ken). Then there are the newbies who just moved to the city thinking it would be easy like Clark Duke (Hot Tub Time Machine 2), Michael Angarano (Will and Grace), and RJ Clyer (Power Rangers). It should also be noted that I’m Dying Up Here may have the single worse title sequence ever.

Since The Tonight Show is the pinnacle for these young comics, Johnny does show up a couple times (albeit in the form of Dylan Baker) as well as Richard Pryor while two character take a trip to the very seventies game show Let’s Make a Deal. But the eye winks to the time period are not overpowering, what the show really is is a sad look at what many think is a funny profession. These comics have wives, have gotten back from Vietnam, deal with the death of ex-boyfriends, go to AA meeting just to have a crowd, and have to slum it with some really bad day job just for that preverbal shot. Sure not every one of their jokes when they are on stage lands, some may not even supposed to, but it is when they walk out of the spotlight when the show really begins.

I‘m Dying Up Here airs Sundays at 10:00 on Showtime.