Around the Tubes: 1/5/2018

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 COVER STORY: The Press Your Luck Scandal, The Coronation, The Alienist, and The Circus.

- Hulu, Amblin Television and Warner Bros. Animation today announced a new deal to create and premiere a brand-new version of the iconic family friendly cartoon franchise Animaniacs. Under the two-season straight-to-series order, Steven Spielberg will return as executive producer of the series, with Sam Register, President, Warner Bros. Animation and Warner Digital Series, and Amblin Television Co-Presidents Justin Falvey and Darryl Frank also serving as executive producers. The series marks the first Hulu Original made for families, and with the legacy of these beloved characters, is intended to provide a co-viewing opportunity and experience for families to enjoy together. New episodes are set to premiere on the premium streaming service in 2020.

- Game Show Network, the leader in game shows and competitive entertainment, announced today the premiere of its new documentary special, COVER STORY: The Press Your Luck Scandal, premiering Sunday, January 14 at 7:00. Additionally, the original scandalous Press Your Luck episodes featured in the special will air following the show at 8 and 8:30 pm ET. The COVER STORY special will explore the story of Michael Larson, an air conditioning repairman from Ohio who cracked the game board algorithm and walked away with over $110,000 in cash and prizes. There was a one-in-six chance that each spin he took would erase his winnings, but Larson managed to evade the dreaded Whammy and accumulate the record breaking amount. Audiences went wild, but game show producers wanted to know how he did it. Had he cheated? Or did he simply outsmart the smartest minds in Hollywood?

- In partnership with the BBC and Australian Broadcasting Corporation (ABC), Smithsonian Channel shares the compelling story of the Crown Jewels and the ancient ceremony for which they are used in The Coronation. On June 2, 1953, after 16 months of planning, The Queen set out from Buckingham Palace to be crowned at Westminster Abbey, in a ceremony that was watched by millions of people throughout the world. A ceremony dating back more than a thousand years was to herald the dawn of a new Elizabethan age. As part of the film, to mark the 65th anniversary of Her Majesty The Queen's Coronation, The Queen shares memories of the ceremony, as well as that of her father King George VI in 1937. The special airs in the U.S. exclusively on Smithsonian Channel on January 14 at 8:00.

- The Paley Center for Media in Beverly Hills will take visitors inside the opulent Gilded Age of the new TNT series, The Alienist, through multiple costume creations, photography, illustrations, and more from award-winning costume designer Michael Kaplan, the visionary behind the Star Wars sequel trilogy, Blade Runner, Fight Club and Flashdance.
Visitors will have the exclusive opportunity to preview the series’ costumes and other artifacts before its TNT debut on January 22. An unflinching psychological thriller amidst the underbelly of New York City’s “Gilded Age,” The Alienist follows Laszlo Kreizler (Daniel Brühl, Rush), a brilliant and obsessive “Alienist” in the controversial new field of treating mental pathologies, who holds the key to hunting down a never-before-seen ritualistic killer murdering young boys. Based on the award-winning, fan-favorite novel by Caleb Carr, with standout performances from Luke Evans (The Girl on the Train) and Dakota Fanning (American Pastoral), The Alienist is a gripping, turn-of-the-century murder mystery like none other: the story of the emergence of the world’s most powerful city that will stop at nothing to bury its darkest secrets.

- Showtime has ordered a third season of the groundbreaking political documentary series The Circus, returning on April 15 at 8:00 on Showtime, with a run of new episodes to air in the spring and another in the fall. Hosted by John Heilemann (NBC/MSNBC, Game Change,), Mark McKinnon, and Alex Wagner (CBS News and The Atlantic), who joins the show as a permanent host this season, The Circus will continue to provide viewers with the same fast-paced, real-time, backstage perspective and eye-catching production qualities for which the show has been celebrated. In the year ahead, the series will explore the stories behind the headlines and pull back the curtain on the behind-the-scenes drama unfolding in Washington and across the country in the run-up to the most consequential mid-term elections in our lifetimes.