Around the Tubes: 10/26/2018

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 The Lost Tapes, Ariana Grande, The Avett Brothers, Van Morrison, Summer Walker, White Lies, Ne-Yo, and streaming on Turner.

- Smithsonian Channel’s hit series The Lost Tapes returns this fall with all new episodes, transporting viewers back in time to relive iconic moments in American history. From the chaos of the 2002 sniper shootings in Washington, D.C. and catastrophic super tornado outbreak of 1974 to the harrowing and heroic Apollo 13 mission, The Lost Tapes retells these unforgettable stories solely through contemporary footage, audio recordings and news reports. The effect is like channel-surfing through history – live, as it happens. As viewers experience the story break, rare and never-before-broadcast materials, seen exclusively in the series, add new depth and dimension to the screaming headlines, capturing the mood and instant reactions of Americans who found themselves, suddenly, a part of history. Beginning with the previously announced TET OFFENSIVE episode on Sunday, November 18, The Lost Tapes continues airing new installments on Sundays at 9:00 on Smithsonian Channel.

- Multiplatinum, record-breaking superstar Ariana Grande announces the first leg of The Sweetener World Tour. American Express Card Members can purchase tickets before the general public beginning Thursday, November 1 at 10am local time through Saturday, November 3 at 10pm local time. Get Sweetener HERE.

- The Avett Brothers took the stage on Late Night with Seth Meyers to debut a new soon to be released song “Roses and Sacrifice.” Watch HERE. The Grammy-nominated band is set to headline the Concert for Hurricane Florence Relief at Minges Coliseum in Greenville, NC on Tuesday November 13th. The Avett Brothers recently released their Red Rocks dates (July 5-7) for 2019, see full tour dates HERE.

- Van Morrison releases a new track - Got To Go Where The Love Is – on all digital platforms today (25th October 2018). Listen to Got To Go Where The Love Is here.

- Critically acclaimed Atlanta songstress Summer Walker releases her full-length debut, Last Day of Summer [LVRN/Interscope Records]. Get it HERE. She preceded the album with the buzzing singles “CPR”which racked up nearly 8 million Spotify streams and “Girls Need Love” with over 5.4 million Spotify streams. The music video for the latter eclipsed 3 million YouTube Views in under a month and surpassed 4 million to date.

- Following news of their forthcoming album Five, today White Lies are pleased to share new track "Believe It" alongside its lyric video. Watch it HERE. To be released on February 1, 2019 through [PIAS] Recordings, Five sees the trio return following its predecessor, 2016’s Friends, while marking the tenth anniversary since their inception.

- Tune in Friday, October 26 at 9:00p ET/PT to watch the broadcast premiere of the concert special
“NE-YO” on AT&T* AUDIENCE Network via DIRECTV Ch 239, AT&T U-verse Ch 1114. The show will also be available streaming on-demand through DIRECTV NOW and WatchTV.

- What's streaming in November on tntdrama.com, the TNT App, tbs.com and the TBS App:
Step Brothers: Streaming 11/1 - 11/30
The DUFF: Streaming 11/1 - 11/30
My Best Friend's Wedding : Streaming 11/1 - 11/30
Sully: Streaming 11/12 - 12/11
Jurassic Park: Streaming 11/1 - 11/15
The Hunger Games saga: Streaming 11/1 - 11/30

Previewing Ray Donovan: Season 6

Last season of Ray Donovan ended with Ray being led up to the top of a ten story building by his dead wife Abby and then jumped off the building into the Hudson River. And since that was the last season of Ray Donovan and not the final season, Ray miraculously survived. And naturally the new season starts with Ray punching the cop who fished him out. And then becomes friends with him. Even shacks up with the guy as he stays in New York.

Ray’s retirement, vacation, whatever you call it does not last long. Susan Sarandon is back and is looking for Ray’s particular set of skills when her preferred mayoral candidate runs into some problems and Ray needs so quid pro quo. And Ray thought the entertainment business can be rough, what until he dives into politics.

The rest of the Donovan clan is mostly scattered at the start of the season. Bridget is still in New York with the sick boyfriend with the bad hair who does not seem that sick anymore. And Terry is still training boxers in the Big Apple. The other brothers are still currently on the West Coast, Bunchy is in child court after that robbery from last season while Daryl is in the blackplotation business producing Micky’s movie and things is getting weird. Micky starts the season back in prison, but seemingly has come up with maybe the dumbest way to get release. And poor Conner, completely MIA in the first episode sans the credits.

Ray Donovan airs Sundays at 9:00 on Showtime.

Previewing The Guest Book: Season Two

The first season of The Guest Book was an interesting take on the anthology trend that has been going on. It was an episodic anthology when new main characters would check into a country inn while a recurring cast of characters would go about their lives in the background. That was until the final episode which was all about those townsfolk.

Season two follows that same template except now the rental is a beach house run by a pregnant couple turning his mother’s place into something they can make money on as they save up for a wedding and the birth of their child. Well, what the father thinks is his child; the mother crashed a party at the beach house that is at the heart of one of the episodes and may have done something that could question the paternity of the child.

The delivery guy and prostitute back as well as the musicians who end the episodes as they both have descended the mountain looking to start new lives. Michael Rappaport, the OCD guy from the first season, also rents the new property and also ruins Total Eclipse of the Heart in the process. There are also a couple more surprise returns later in the season. There are plenty of new renters this season including Will Arnett, Pete Davidson, You’re the Worst’s Kether Donahue.

Michael Kenneth Williams also pops up in a very weird role for an episode. And the show has just gotten weirder. The seasons set the tone with a guy who, despite on vacation at the beach, does not take off his virtual reality helmet in a storyline that has a very shocking ending. The season even ventures out of the guest house quite frequently as they even go to India via a customer support call from someone at the beach house and anyone who has been put on hold will laugh and be extremely frustrated at the same time. I cannot even explain where they go in the season finale. If you like the weirdness of the first season, things are only getting weirder in season two.

The Guest Book airs Tuesdays at 10:00 on TBS with back to back episodes premiering tonight.

57 Channels and Only This Is On: 10/21/2018

Supergirl: Oh, hey, The Real Eleanor! Well, fork. They killed her off already. Shirtballs. And is it too late to have Saturn Girl be the token Legionnaire to stay behind because Braniac 5 may actually be more annoying than Toyman Jr.?
Supergirl on iTunes.

Shameless: Peg Bundy? Monica Geller? Danny Tanner? What nineties era sitcom star will be on next, Uerkel? But is that it for Ian? The actor announced he was leaving the show too. Seriously, can people just leave without announcing iy first? Once it is announced it is just a long slog until they are off the show. At least Ian just announced last week so it was not a long wait. Assuming he just rides off into the sunset with Micky. Kind of sad that is his big love. Is Jimmy going to come back for Fiona to take her away for her to leave?

Fear the Walking Dead: Is the preacher really going to hook up with the creepy Trash Lady? And what happened to his eye? I remember he was really sick last season, but I do not remember anything happening to his eye.
You can download Fear the Walking Dead on iTunes.

The Last Ship: Wait, the lesbian traitor is really an American mother of one from Orlando? I just assumed she was an ambiguous Latina who could pass as Caucasian. Being an actual turncoat makes her a much more compelling character. So just how and when was she turned? And I know in the post-pandemic world, they might be low on soldiers, but how do you not keep eyes on that house. At least pay a local.
You can download The Last Ship on iTunes.

You: So the Pretty Little Liar gets her head bashed in with a rock last week and looks none worse the wear the next day? Oh, but she is apparently dead now? It was quite absurd that Joe tossed the rock not far away from the body last week and I does not seem like anyone bother to canvas more than two feet from the attack, but c’mon, Joe had to have left plenty of DNA at the house, including a forking jar of urine. But Joe hallucinating his ex-girlfriend is giving me the sinking suspicion that the big twist at the end of the season will be that Joe was hallucinating some, if not all of what happened this season.
You can download You on iTunes.

Manifest: So now they passengers can see inanimate objects instead of just hearing voices tell them to do things? Meh.
You can download Manifest on iTunes.

The Challenge: Final Reckoning: Yeah, I laughed pretty hardily at Natalie in the ball pit. Big old shocker she actually won. Even bigger shocker Zach got the boot for medical reason. Always sucks when someone leaves for medical reasons. But had he stupidly not voluntarily put himself into that elimination that injured him, he would still be in the game uninjured.
You can download The Challenge: Final Reckoning on iTunes.

Survivor: David vs. Goliath: So we got a brand new advantage, the Idol Nullifier where someone can play it and would wipe out the Idol that is played. But only if they play it for someone who actually plays their Idol. I will be quite shocked if this actually gets played correctly.

Then at Tribal you had the battle of the dumb moves. First you get the Black Dude David with the Idol who decides to try to get the Tribe to vote out the other David so he would not have to play the Idol even though he would still be in the minority for any future Tribals with this group. I never understand the hold on the Idol for later strategy. If you think there is more than ten percent chance you are going home, play it now. Then tomorrow, go out and look for another one. I am too lazy to do the research, but I am pretty sure more people have been booted with an Idol in their pocket than have played one correctly. In Survivor you should worry about getting to tomorrow and then worry about tomorrow then.

But Black David was bailed out by the White Dude Goliath who had a dumber move of his own when he decided to turn on his majority for what appeared to me for no apparent reason. So now he is in the minority and why would anyone trust him? It is just amazing to me how whenever these Tribe swaps happen that the majority seemed to vote one of their own more often than the easy vote. I would be interested to go back and see how many of these early Tribe Swap turncoats actually make it very far. I would be shocked to see either of these two morons in the finals. I would be surprised if either get to the merge.
You can download Survivor: David vs. Goliath on iTunes.

The Good Place: Isn’t Michael telling the group about The Good Place point system kind of a backdoor to still get them in? Since they know about the points, any points they accumulate would be void, but now they think there is no way to get to The Good Place, actually they can get those points for doing good because they are doing it out of the goodness of their hearts, not because it will get them moral deserts of an decent afterlife. Right? I think I hurt my brain coming up with that theory. But hey, of course Jason has his own infectious disease named after him in Jacksonville.
The Good Place on iTunes.

Blindspot: Oh no, Jane got caught with a syringe. Oh wait, the promo for next week sees the team working together with no tension. I guess she is easily able to explain this like she did taking photos of Patterson’s board. I really need to stop watching promos.
You can download Blindspot on iTunes.