Around the Tubes: 7/6/2018

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 I Am the Night, The Challenge: Final Reckoning, Sideswiped, Bob Marley, The Band, Jeff Lynne’s ELO: Wembley or Bust, The Score, POV, Claws, Animal Kingdom, and Sportsball.

- TNT has released the official trailer for the new limited series I Am the Night (formerly titled One Day She'll Darken) from executive producer and director Patty Jenkins (Wonder Woman, Monster). The newest installment in a thrilling collection of limited series called the TNT Suspense Collection™, the series stars Chris Pine, who also is an executive producer. The talented roster joining Pine includes India Eisley, Jefferson Mays, Leland Orser, Yul Vazquez, Dylan Smith, Golden Brooks, Justin Cornwell, Jay Paulson and Connie Nielsen.


- Below is the latest super tease for this upcoming season of MTV’s The Challenge: Final Reckoning, set to premiere on Tuesday, July 10th at 9PM ET.


- YouTube Premium premieres the official trailer for its new original dating comedy series, Sideswiped, a multi-generational comedy about relationships - both romantic and familial. Based on a true story from Carly Craig, this eight-episode comedy series about dating in the digital age will debut on YouTube Premium July 25, 2018.​ A lifetime of saying no has left “Olivia” single and miserable on her 35th birthday. This workaholic verging on a breakdown vows to plunge into the hellish world of Tinder by dating all 252 of her matches. She is spurred on by her sister “Jayne” - a young married woman experiencing a seven-year itch. The sisters are joined by their recently widowed mother, “Mary,” who is now also a part of the online dating scene.


- On August 24, The Marley Family, Island Records, and UMe will collectively proclaim the sun is shining in celebration of 40 years of Kaya, Bob Marley & The Wailers’ historic March 1978 release. This most special anniversary edition will feature Stephen “Ragga” Marley’s exciting and vibrant new “Kaya 40” mixes of all ten tracks from the original album alongside its original mixes in 2CD and 180-gram 2LP configurations. (The digital version will be a standalone release of Stephen’s mixes only.) The album will also be available as a limited edition 180-gram 2LP green vinyl version exclusively at BobMarley.com.

- On July 1, 1968, The Band’s landmark debut album, Music from Big Pink, seemed to spring from nowhere and everywhere. Drawing from the American roots music panoply of country, blues, R&B, gospel, soul, rockabilly, the honking tenor sax tradition, hymns, funeral dirges, brass band music, folk, and rock ‘n’ roll, The Band forged a timeless new style that forever changed the course of popular music. Fifty years later, the mythology surrounding Music from Big Pink lives on through the evocative storytelling of its songs including “The Weight,” “This Wheel’s On Fire,” “Tears of Rage,” and “To Kingdom Come,” its enigmatic cover art painted by Bob Dylan, the salmon-colored upstate New York house – ‘Big Pink’ – where The Band wrote the songs, and in myriad descendant legends carried forth since the album’s stunning arrival. On August 31, Capitol/UMe will release Music From Big Pink in newly remixed and expanded 50th Anniversary Edition packages, including a Super Deluxe CD/Blu-ray/2LP/7-inch vinyl box set with a hardbound book; 1CD, digital, 180-gram 2LP black vinyl, and limited edition 180-gram 2LP pink vinyl packages. All the Anniversary Edition configurations feature a new stereo mix for the album, produced by Bob Clearmountain from the original four-track analog masters, achieving a striking clarity and incorporating some previously unreleased chatter from the studio sessions. The 50th Anniversary Edition's CD, digital, and box set configurations also include five outtakes and alternate recordings from the 'Big Pink' sessions and a previously unrelesed a cappella version of "I Shall Be Released."


- The concert documentary, Jeff Lynne’s ELO: Wembley or Bust, will make its U.S. television premiere on Showtime on Friday, July 27 at 9:00 on-air, on demand and over the internet. Celebrating Lynne’s enduring and ongoing musical legacy, director Paul Dugdale documents Lynne's ELO performance in England’s famed Wembley Stadium in front of a sold-out crowd of 60,000 fans.


- One of 2018’s hottest breakthrough acts, LA rock band The Score – Eddie Anthony and Edan Dover – release “Glory” last week via Republic Records. Get it HERE. The Score recently supported Echosmith on a successful cross country run. They’ve become synonymous with high-energy and hypnotic live shows powered by a string of smashes, including the red hot single “Unstoppable.”

- In “one of the most dangerous places on earth," where the Taliban maintains a substantial presence, a young woman faces obstacles to pursuing a seemingly simple passion: sports. Born and raised in Pakistan’s mountainous tribal region of Waziristan, Maria Toorpakai emerged to become the country’s top female squash player and one of the top 50 in the world. Yet she has had to hide her talents from the Taliban, which is strongly—and violently—opposed to women in sports. From a young age, she disguised herself as a boy, going by the name Genghis Khan, so she could play, only to eventually be plagued by death threats from the radical group.Directed by Erin Heidenreich, The War to Be Her premiered at the 2016 Toronto International Film Festival and makes its national broadcast on the PBS documentary series POV and pov.org on Monday, July 23 at 10 p.m. POV is American television’s longest-running documentary series now in its 31st season.

- TNT has renewed two of its core, powerful dramas – Animal Kingdom and Claws – following their impressive summer premieres. The two-night, two-telecast season three launch of Animal Kingdom combined for 4.3M Total Viewers and 2.0M 18-49 viewers so far, the premiere airing alone generating 978K 18-49 in Live +7. The season two premiere of Claws drew 1.3MM 18-49 in Live +7, +38% higher than last year’s series debut. Season two is now tracking +9% ahead of season one, ranks among the top 5 cable dramas this year, and is currently posting the largest YOY growth among all returning cable dramas.

- Rooster Teeth, the entertainment and media company behind some of the biggest online series in history, today announced the return of Sportsball, a weekly video podcast for sports fans who don’t take themselves too seriously, featuring no-holds-barred interviews, special guests and free-flowing-no-shits-given conversations on the latest sports news. Sportsball relaunches July 16 with new co-host Mia Khalifa who joins Rooster Teeth’s resident sports enthusiast and former ESPN radio host, Tyler Coe.

I Want My Music Television: 7/2/1018

The Space Program - A Tribe Called Quest


One thing I have wonder is why pretty much every song ever is on every streaming site but pretty much every television show and movie are exclusive to those streaming site? Unfortunately music sites are have dabbled with exclusivity for a couple years so which is kind of stupid. Seriously, The Carters, I am not signing up for Tidal just to listen to your album when 99.9% of all other music I can find on Spotify. Then earlier this year Apple Music relaunched their video section with some exclusive music videos most notably an Alison Brie starring Beck video and an eight minute video from A Tribe Called Quest. Which begs the question do people who even subscribe to Apple Music watch music videos there instead of YouTube? Month later the Tribe video has finally hit YouTube and thankfully Apple has not commished many videos since.


If You Know You Know - Pusha T


So the month of G.O.O.D. music is over and this Pusha T song is easily the best song of the five albums, maybe the only actual good song.


Ape(shirt) - The Carters


As for the other little early promoted album that came out recently, I still have not listened to the joint The Carter album because I have no desire to sign up for Tidal, and if this is the best song like many have said, I am not missing much. Beyonce the rapper is kind of horrible.


Gold Rush - Death Cab for Cutie


I was a little disappointed that Richard Ashcroft did not show up in the latest Death Cab for Cutie music video.

57 Channels and Only This Is On: 7/1/2018

Claws: Things are getting super weird. First they start with a fifties sitcom (right after the Brady Bunch homage last week). Then Desna’s boyfriend starts seductively feeding strawberries to his mother. Then the bizarre courtroom show of Jenn vs. Bryce. Jenn gets drunk in a way I would have never thought of. Oh and I just noticed the portrait of Bryce and Jenn in their bedroom which is… interesting.
You can download Claws on iTunes.

I’m Dying Up Here: Mocking Muhammad Ali has to be the dumbest thing Bill has ever done and he has done some really dumb things. But the stuff with Goldie and her daughter got really deep. So the daughter picks the sleaziest old dude as the guy she lost her virginity to. And then when Goldie almost kills him, Amanda just so happens to confess the only guy she had sex with is now dead. Pretty convenient which makes me wonder if she is telling the truth or not.

The Bold Type: For a prude who has only slept with now five guys and has had many super moral stands, it is weird how anti-religious Jane is. Sure, how her mom died is reasonable to turn her back on the church, but she does (mosty) seems to live by its rules.
You can download The Bold Type on iTunes.

The Handmaid’s Tale: I wonder why Offred did not run at the beginning. Was it just because she had just seen her daughter and realize she did not want to abandon her again? Was it because she was pregnant? Did she fear getting caught again? Then what about the Waterford’s visit maker her want to run? And are garage doors really that tough? And I think that is the first time I ever heard anyone call Mr. Waterford Fred. But is he and his wife really that stupid to not look for footprints in the snow? So what now? Offred is stuck in the middle of nowhere with no transportation and a new baby.
You can stream The Handmaid’s Tale on Hulu.

Marvel’s Cloak and Dagger: What a lame basketball game. So after seeing how horrible the lives of opposing team’s players are, Cloak (presumably) bricks the final shot. And yet, though the referee was clearly trying to throw the game, he does not even blow the whistle on the play. But Dagger is clearly becoming the star of the show as she is finally able to harness her abilities and then exploiting them for her own personal gains. And then pushing Cloak over the guardrail hoping it would trigger his powers was the best part of the show yet.

But the big reveal was that Cloak’s brother’s buddy is in cahoots with the officer that killed the brother. Huh? And it seemed like the friend knew the cop killed the brother. So were they working together back then? Did the friend learn of the murder later? And I wonder if Cloak’s storyline with his brother’s killer will end up tying in with Dagger looking into Roxxon.
You can download Marvel's Cloak and Dagger on iTunes.