57 Channels and Only This Is On: 8/18/2018

Claws: So they arrested Desna at the end of an episode and made me assume the cops were going to use her to flip the Russians, but the cops made her look like the bat ig fish, only for the cops to pull the reveal this week that they were using Desna to get to the Russians. But where exactly was the cops when all murder was going down? Shouldn’t they set up shop next door? But that was a plenty shocking ending. But who shot Virginia? Uncle Daddy? The Haitians? The Russians? But they really did not killer her, right? She is the best part of the show.
You can download Claws on iTunes.

The Affair: Wait a second, has the Fiona Apple theme song been a huge spoiler this whole time. Hearing it an episode after we learned Alison died just seemed to tie everything together. “I have only one thing to do and that's be the wave that I am and then sink back into the ocean,” is just eerier now. Then we had the weird two parts both being Alison. The show typically has had two sometime wildly different narratives. Does this confirm than Alison is the unreliable narrator? Granted just this season Noah and Helen had different telling of events. Maybe the second act is always the truth versions of events. But surprisingly we did get confirmation that Ben did kill Alison (assuming that the second act is reliable). So is next season going to be Noah and Cole teaming up to find the truth? I would actually be happy if Noah and Cole team up My Two Dad style to raise Joanie.

Sharp Objects: Amma is still on top of my suspect list and her drug filled episode just solidified that even more, but the cheerleader has vaulted into second on the list. She cares way too much about getting into Camille’s article. And the “baby killer” comment, does everyone know that she has an abortion? Could they be referring to the girl?

Fear the Walking Dead: Does one really need to make their own Scrabble game in the zombie apocalypse? It just seems like you could go down to the local Target and find a copy or two.
You can download Fear the Walking Dead on iTunes.

The Challenge: Final Reckoning: When they announced this new voting format I really hated it because I assumed everyone would just vote for who they thought was the weakest team in case they got picked to go in against them. Except half the teams are even bigger cowards than I gave them credit for because half the teams admitted to burning their vote. Though it will be extremely funny if they all burned their vote on the same team, sending that team in for an epic backfire.
You can download The Challenge: Final Reckoning on iTunes.

Harlots: The season started with Quigley in a jail cell and here we are at the end and Margaret is in the same jail cell. Except Margaret could not wiggle out her charge yet still left the prison alive. Just how long does it take someone to die by hanging? Then there was the other big reveal of the episode in that Emily Lacey lied about being pregnant. I had a feeling that it might be the case. And now she is picking up more clients to see that her lie becomes true. We end the episode with Margaret being sent away which begs the question how long before she finds herself back to London. I have to think her return will be important to the downfall of Quigley.
You can stream Harlots on Hulu.

Castle Rock: Oh, hey, Henry has a kid. Who knew? I believe that was the first time his birth parents were mentioned. What happened there? So it was weird when kid Molly killed Henry’s dad, or at least that is what it looked like, I was not sure how reliable the perspective was at the time. But Molly claims that Henry killed his dead through Molly? Wait, what? So when Henry disappeared, did he go inside Molly? But I have to say the mysterious guy is less scary the more he talks. Though if a bird dropped out of the sky for the second time this week, who else is at that psychiatric hospital? Or is this one of those Stephan King Easter Eggs that will not be explained. What better be explained next episode is what he did in the house this week. Who’s blood with that and what exactly happened to Henry’s mom and where was his son during all this?
You can stream Castle Rock on Hulu.

Around the Tubes: 8/17/2018

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 JEOPARDY!, Toto, Greta Van Fleet, Joseph Angel, Secrets, SafeWord, The Alienist, America Says, Scream, and Hulu Fall Premiere Dates.

- After 35 years in syndication, JEOPARDY! - the most honored quiz show in television history – makes its streaming debut now on Hulu. To celebrate the premiere, Hulu has curated 60 episodes of some of JEOPARDY!’s flagship special events, including a TOURNAMENT OF CHAMPIONS, a COLLEGE CHAMPIONSHIP, a KIDS WEEK, as well as some of the show’s fan-favorite contestants throughout its history.


- Toto have released their personal interpretation of Weezer’s “Hash Pipe”. The smoking rendition of the song is a direct response to the run-away success being witnessed globally for Weezer’s covers of the hits “Africa” and “Rosanna.” Toto’s rendition is available HERE. Toto is currently touring North America in support of the band’s recent release 40 Trips Around The Sun. For more details keep an eye on totoofficial.com.

- With the band’s new single “When The Curtain Falls" already Top 10 at Rock Radio and nearly eight-million streams to its credit, Greta Van Fleet presents the companion music video, a performance piece that finds the band in an esoteric foreign landscape filled with mystical symbolism, celestial events and otherworldly psychedelia. Filmed in Southern California and conceived and directed by acclaimed visual effects artist Benjamin Kutsko (“The Curious Case of Benjamin Button,” “Iron Man”), you can check out the video here!

- Rising artist and multiplatinum songwriter Joseph Angel shares his debut single “Shame” via Republic Records—listen here. “Shame” is the debut song from the vocalist, songwriter and producer, who is known for penning Rihanna’s triple-platinum smash “Love On The Brain” from ANTI, among many other chart-topping hits.

- Archaeologists investigating a site in Iraq destroyed by ISIS have discovered a 2,700-year-old temple that reveals new insights into one of the Bible’s most famous stories, “Jonah and the Whale.” That’s just one of the revelations explored in the new season of Smithsonian Channel’s popular series Secrets, which follows the world’s leading archaeologists as they use modern technologies to solve some of history’s oldest riddles. A mysterious tomb from the final days of the Vikings, a forgotten princess of Egypt and the true origin of King Solomon’s mines are among other startling finds revealed in season five of Secrets, which premieres Monday, September 24 at 8:00 on Smithsonian Channel.

- MTV’s highly anticipated series SafeWord, returns for a second season on Friday, August 24th at 11PM ET/PT with celebrity captains Michael B. Jordan and Steelo Brim, with cameos by Tiffany Haddish and Issa Rae. On MTV’s “SafeWord,” stakes are high when a pair of close celebrity friends act as “captains” of their respective “teams” and go head-to-head in hilarious games and social media challenges that push them out of their comfort zone.

- TNT has ordered The Angel of Darkness, a new limited series based on the sequel to best-selling author Caleb Carr’s The Alienist. A huge critical and ratings success, The Alienist is 2018’s #1 new cable series in 18-49, having reached more than 50 million people across multiple platforms. It also earned six Emmy® Award nominations, including Outstanding Limited Series. The Alienist’s lead cast including Daniel Brühl (Rush), Luke Evans (The Girl on the Train) and Dakota Fanning (American Pastoral) will return for The Angel of Darkness in an all-new storyline.

- Game Show Network, the leader in game shows and competitive entertainment, announced today its original hit series America Says, hosted by John Michael Higgins, will return for a 95-episode second season. The announcement comes on the heels of a successful premiere season, which has seen the show build over its lead-in by +26%, while also performing over +40% above YTD time period average among our core W25-54 demo.

- MTV, together with Queen Latifah’s Flavor Unit Entertainment, today announced that Academy Award and Golden Globe nominee, Grammy Award®-winning artist and philanthropist, Mary J. Blige, will appear in MTV’s Scream later this year. She joins the previously announced all-star cast including Keke Palmer, Tyler Posey, Tyga, Giorgia Whigham, Jessica Sula, RJ Cyler, C.J. Wallace and Giullian Yao Gioiello. The news comes as the network just closed four consecutive quarters of YoY prime ratings growth – its best streak in seven years- and ranks as the fastest growing network in prime among Top 40 networks across all of television.

- Hulu's Fall 2018 Programming Slate Premiere Dates (click links for trailers):
Minding the Gap (documentary): August 17
Crime + Punishment (documentary): August 24
Safe Harbour (Season 1): All Episodes, August 24
I Love You, America with Sarah Silverman (New Episodes): September 6
The First (Season 1): All Episodes, September 14
Into the Dark (Year-round Event Series): The Body: October 5; Flesh and Blood: November 2
Light as a Feather (Season 1): All Episodes, October 12
Marvel's Runaways (Season 2): All Episodes, December 21

57 Channels and Only This Is On: 8/12/2018

Claws: Well that was an, um, interesting way to end the penultimate episode before what is presumably explosive final episode. We will get to finally see what side the Russians are on. And I only have to guess Desna has a contingency plan know that she knows her future husband owns all that property.
You can download Claws on iTunes.

The Affair: Well, that was shocking. When they said Alison was dead, my initial cynic television watcher was it really was not her. But then Noah identified the body. Although I have a sinking suspicion that we do not know the whole story. We do have two episodes left so it seems safe to assume we will get Alison’s perspective of her last days. But is it going to be next week or the finale. Do we even need a conclusion to the Helen and Vic storyline?

Sharp Objects: Well we knew she cut herself, but that was a lot of scars on Camille, some I wonder how exactly was she able to contort her body into making. But nothing changed this week to made me question my prediction that Amma had something to do with the murders.

Harlots: So Lucy has shacked up with a killer and is not at all fazed by the news. Oh, and he is in cahoots with Liv Tyler’s brother. Battle lines are being redrawn. But that is not the worst news for Margaret Wells, her plan to unseat Quigley completely unraveled. But hey, at least she got one daughter back. Although she may not be with her daughter long after confessing to murder. Did she do that just to get Lord Fallon arrested? Lucy cannot take the fall if her mom already confessed.
You can stream Harlots on Hulu.

Castle Rock: Oh wow, they let the nameless inmate out. And he noticeably did not shake the lawyer’s hand so clearly just a touch can make people go insane. And maybe even less than a touch because it seemed by the just the presence caused that family to get very aggressive with each other. But he does seem to like high places, kind of reminds me of the mascot from what think was the first episode. So Tessa Altman talks about how all this weird stuff happened in this town before she was born and it presumably stopped when the warden first took the inmate, which we now know Pangborn knew about, and now things are getting weird again. But how long until we know what exactly is going on. Sure the inmate told Pangborn that he is not the Devil but of course the greatest trick the Devil ever pulled was to make people think he doesn’t exist.
You can stream Castle Rock on Hulu.