Around the Tubes: 1/19/2018

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 Hulu, Eddie Griffin: Undeniable, The Lost Tapes: Malcolm X, CONAN, and Late Night with Seth Myers.

- This week at the Television Critics Association Winter Press Tour, Hulu announced: Hulu officially confirms a new order for Catch-22 Limited Series Event from George Clooney, Paramount Television and Anonymous Content. ER makes its streaming debut on Hulu today in a new deal with Warner Bros. Domestic Television Distribution. All 331 episodes are now streaming. The Handmaid’s Tale S2 will premiere on April 25th with two new episodes. Hulu picks up March of The Penguins 2: The Next Step to Hulu Documentary slate. Hulu adds a second installment of National Treasure – titled Kiri – to the Hulu Originals slate. All four parts will premiere on April 4th. Fourth and final season of Casual will premiere on July 31st.

- Celebrating his 30-year anniversary in comedy, veteran comedian Eddie Griffin takes to the stage in the hilarious new special Eddie Griffin: Undeniable, premiering on Showtime on Friday, February 9 at 10:00 on-air, on demand and over the internet. Filmed at the Berklee Performing Arts Center in Boston, Massachusetts, Griffin offers his prolific and entertaining point of view on the state of the world, tackling politics, racism, relationships, religion and humanity as a whole. Ultimately reflecting on his long-standing career, he pays tribute to close friends and late comedians Charlie Murphy, Bernie Mac, Dick Gregory and Richard Pryor (among others) with flawless impersonations. With his quick wit and animated delivery, Griffin does not mince words in this comedy event.


- A historic voice in the 1960s civil rights movement, Malcolm X was and continues to be a fascinating yet controversial figure. During his life, he gave voice to the anger and frustration that African Americans experienced during the tumultuous 1950s and 60s in the United States, gaining a reputation for his fiery rhetoric and spellbinding speeches. THE LOST TAPES: MALCOLM X relives the pivotal years of this trailblazing activist using rarely seen footage and audio tapes, including never-before-seen footage of Nation of Islam rallies and recordings made at the Audubon Ballroom on the day of his assassination. The Lost Tapes: Malcolm X premieres Monday, February 26 at 8:00 on Smithsonian Channel.

- TBS’ CONAN will travel internationally for the eighth time in three years for CONAN Without Borders: Haiti, a primetime special premiering Saturday, January 27 at 10:00 on TBS. After hearing President Trump’s disparaging remarks about Haiti, O’Brien immediately decided to announce his intentions to visit the island nation. On January 14, he tweeted “Still reeling from @realDonaldTrump’s very negative Yelp review of Haiti, which means I’ll love it. Headed to Haiti later this week to explore and make some new friends. Stay tuned for my report.”

- Jillian Jacqueline: “Reasons” on Late Night with Seth Myers:

2018 Winter Music Preview

It is the usual ho hum nothing too much to get excited about winter music preview. The most interesting artists are all listed in the TBA section which probably means we will not actually get any new music from them until summer. Then I read an article with Dr. Dre saying Detox is not entirely dead. To catch people up, after releasing 2001 in 1999, Dre started working on Detox, which he claimed to be his last album. And it kept being pushed back. Even Guns 'n Roses managed to release Chinese Democracy first. Then Dre popped up in a Dr. Pepper commercial in 2009 (ironically the same brand that said every person in America would get a free can if Chinese Democracy came out the previous year; granted I never got my free can because the website was down and have not Dr. Pepper since out of spite) making everyone think this was the start of the Detox campaign. Kush was then release the following to general meh. Same with I Need a Doctor the next year. And once again Detox was shelved. Word then broke that Dre was releasing music inspired by the biopic Straight Outta Compton in 2015, except that was all new music and not Detox. And it seemed Detox was dead. Until last week when Dre dropped by a Golden State Warrior practice and an ESPN reporter asked if Detox is permanently shelved to which the producer replied, "I’m working on a couple songs right now. We’ll see." We have been waiting for Detox fifteen years now, and there is a chance we will hear it someday. Sure it may not be until after he is dead and his next of kin needs more money, but someday. Never give up hope. But here are that we will definitely (probably) get to hear this year. Click on the album name to pre-order on Amazon and the artist's name to go to their iTunes page.


Last Week
Phases - Caroline Pennell
Encore - Anderson East

Tomorrow
Ruins - First Aid Kit
Primal Heart - Kimbra
M A N I A - Fall Out Boy
Between Two Shores - Glen Hansard
I can feel you creep into my private life - Tune-Yards
Fleetwood Mac (Deluxe) - Fleetwood Mac

January 26
The Snake King - Rick Springfield
The Brown Tape - Ghostface Killah and Apollo Brown

February 2
Strawberry Moon - Amy Vachal
Walk Between Worlds - Simple Minds

February 9
Sleepwalkers - Brian Fallon
Always Ascending - Franz Ferdinand
Black Panther: The Album

February 16
See You Around - I'm With Her
Uncle, Duke and The Chief - Born Ruffians
By the Way, I Forgive You - Brandi Carlile

February 23
Nation of Two - Vance Joy

March 2
Everything Was Beautiful, and Nothing Hurt - Moby
A Productive Cough - Titus Andronicus
You're Not Alone - Andrew W.K.
All Nerve - The Breeders

March 9
Both Sides of the Sky - Jimi Hendrix

March 16
I'll Be Your Girl - The Decemberists

March 23
Castles - Lissie
Ivory - Gin Wigmore
Beasts of Burgundy - Squirrel Nut Zippers

TBA
Golden Hour - Kacey Musgraves
Boarding House Reach - Jack White
Music for Cars - The 1975
Masochism - Sky Ferreira
Forever - Phife Dawg
Stanger Songs - Ingrid Michaelson
Ariana Grande
Bruce Springsteen
Butthole Surfers
Carly Rae Jepsen
Dave Matthews Band
Frank Ocean
Gnarls Barkley
Gorillaz
Kanye West
Paul McCartney
Selena Gomez
Vampire Weekend

And of course, this could be the year we hear Detox.

Previewing The Path: Season Three

When the second season of The Path premiered, it was the marquee show on Hulu. And heavy is head that wears the crown. Hulu just seemed to be getting by as Netflix racked up all the awards, even Amazon Prime, which did not even seem to be trying much until it recently bought the rights to Lord of the Rings had Transparent. But since then, Hulu has premiered three great shows, Harlots, Future Man, and The Handmaid’s Tale, the latter of which swept last year’s Emmys including outstanding Drama Series, beating out three Netflix shows. So now that the crown has been passed, expectations has been lowered, we can now enjoy The Path as simply the fourth best show on Hulu (and maybe going lower with multiple promising new shows premiering in 2018).

When the second season finished with Eddie leading a group of rejected Meyerist into the compound after performing a legitimate miracle, I thought this season would be a fight between Eddie and Carl for control of the moment. I was wrong. After another miracle in the opening moments, we get a six month fast forward and Carl is out. Dude bounced to Florida with his wife and baby and is being bankrolled by a former professional athlete and hoping to start his own moment down south which to me kind of sounds like a Pyramid Scheme.

Back in the tristate area, Eddie is trying to be the nicer and kinder cult leader and as his son tells him, “You are trying so hard not to be a cult leader; you forgot to be a leader.” Pretty profound for a teenager. That is where Freida Pinto (Slumdog Millionaire) comes in as the Meyerist new Oxford educated publicist who worked for Greenpeace Breitbart oxford educated which means the only green she cares about is the shade of George Washington’s skin. Granted the most ruthless thing she does in the first two episodes is threaten ICE on an illegal alien.  Then things get interesting in episode three which makes her motives even more murky.

Then there is Sarah who is still caught in the middle. She does not really care for the nicer Meyerist movement under Eddie and even though Cal still believes in some of the more hard core pillars of the faith, he is hundreds of miles away… at least for now. I have a feeling he will find his way back to New York before the end of season three.

New episodes of The Path are released on Hulu every Wednesday with the first three episodes up now.

I Want My Music Television: 1/16/2018

End Game - Taylor Swift featuring Ed Sheeran and Future


I have said it before, but let me say it again: I miss the old Taylor Swift. Seriously, why is she making a nineties rap video? Now that I think of it, is Reputation Swift’s attempt at a hip-hop album? She needs to go back to making folk pop.


Reasons - Jillian Jacqueline


Taylor may not be doing the country pop thing anymore, but newcomer Jillian Jacqueline is filling that void very nicely with a stellar EP she released last year, the best to combine country and old school pop music since Swift's heyday at the start of this decade. Bonus points for the Wes Anderson inspired music video.


Fireworks - First Aid Kit


Oh my, eighties hair on the ladies of First Aid Kit. Though the Farrah Fawcett wave is kind of a cheat. If you are doing eighties hair, you have to go full bad perm. Although this begs the question, did they have bad Jersey mall hair in the eighties in Sweden?


Finesse (Remix) - Bruno Mars featuring Cardi B


Okay let’s move up one decade with the new Bruno Mars video. Unfortunately he brought Cardi B with him. Goodness those vertical color stripe shirts are horrible. I had about five. But it did get me to go down an In Living Color YouTube rabbit hole.

57 Channels and Only This Is On: 1/14/2018

Shameless: Maybe not as Shameless as digging up your dead wife’s coffin, but oh my goodness, Frank punched a little girl. Oh Carl, you do not get down on one knew for a promise ring. Amateur.

Marvel’s Runaways: The Runaways finally ran away! Quite literally, in slow motion during the last frames of the season. Granted they are still in Los Angeles so they did not run very far. Are they just going to live on the streets next season? And was that who the black father calling, issuing an Amber Alert? Seems a bit harsh way to get your son back home. Sure the Pride has a detective in their back pocket.
You can stream episodes of Marvel's Runaways on Hulu.

The Challenge: Vendettas: It is amazing how everyone still lets Johnny run everything, the other two just going with putting in Bananas’ vendetta into elimination. Sure Cory did not help much by spreading not particurly good lies about Brad. Speaking of Banana’s, does his win of Champs vs. Pro count as breaking his curse of screwing Sarah out of money? Or does winning a micro season for charity not count?
You can download The Challenge: Vendettas on iTunes.

The Blacklist: C’mon, Red does not have anyone following Liz? That is two near death experiences since coming out of her coma.
You can download The Blacklist on iTunes.

Vikings: Kind of a cheap fake out with Ivar saying he was not going to fight and renounces his threat to kill Lagatha then when he comes back from the commercial break he throws water into his brother’s face and vows again to kill Lagatha. But I guess it was better to do that at a commercial break instead of at the end of an episode. And then we have yet another person who saves the Bishop. He did seem to glance at Lagatha before he died, I am not sure if that really happened or I am misinterpreting the editing. But I am surprised no one we knew died. I thought for sure when they started showing Bjorn’s wife and son fighting, two characters we have barely seen up do that point, at the very least one of them was not going to make it out of the battle alive.
You can download Vikings on iTunes.

Knightfall: After all the creepy uncle stuff, I finally googled and found out he was not the real uncle to the princess, just an advisor to the King. But who exactly is his “uncle” who I thought was Godfrey when he first revealed himself.
You can download Knightfall on iTunes.

Blindspot: Obviously Weller did not kill Jane’s kid; the bigger question is why Kurt said that. So apparently he shot her and left there to die. What? How about going back Kurt? Whatever happened to no man left behind?
You can download Blindspot on iTunes.

Marvel’s Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D.: Everyone is back together! (Well except for May.) So it is time to split up again. But who was the old chick at the end? It has to be the little girl that draws the future right? The bird is probably the key but my memory is not that good to remember a little girl I think we have only seen twice.
You can download Marvel's Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. on iTunes.