Around the Tubes: 11/2/2018

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 Penny Dreadful: City of Angels, Beastie Boys, Full Frontal with Samantha Bee, Maggie Lindemann, Sigrid, America's Mississippi, Shut up and Dribble, Our Cartoon President: Election Special 2018, Four Weddings and a Funeral, Looking for Alaska, and Common Knowledge.

- Showtime has announced the next chapter of the Penny Dreadful saga with Penny Dreadful: City of Angels. John Logan, creator, writer and executive producer of the Emmy nominated series Penny Dreadful, will continue in those same roles. Joining him as an executive producer will be Michael Aguilar (Kidding). Production is expected to begin in 2019. The announcement was made today by Gary Levine, President of Programming, Showtime Networks Inc.

- Beastie Boys' Adam Yauch Played a 15-Year-Long Prank on Ad-Rock:


- Ahead of the midterm elections on Tuesday, November 6, Full Frontal with Samantha Bee will air a bonus episode on Monday, November 5 covering local political races to make one final plea to viewers to please, for the love of God, vote. On Wednesday, November 7, the show will unpack the results of the elections and air footage taken at the polls. Both episodes will air on TBS at 10:30.

- After over 700 million career streams to date, rising alterna-pop icon Maggie Lindemann takes a refreshingly new personal approach with her new track ‘Human’. Maggie’s gift for elegantly crafted modernist pop remains in check, as does her ability to write melodic hooks which immediately embed themselves in the memory. But as the chorus sinks in (“I wish I was human, I wish that I could see shit like you do, where it’s sunny all the time but it’s useless, and if you saw through my eyes you’d understand why”), it’s clear that she’s exploring her personal challenges with mental health struggles.


- New video ‘Sucker Punch’ cements the Norwegian star Sigrid’s rise to pop prominence. Directed by AB/CD/CD the video is a confident, spontaneous, authentic pop-tastic visual.


- Smithsonian Channel turns its lens on the mighty Mississippi, a leviathan that carves through the American landscape and shapes the nation like no other river, in a new, visually stunning three-part series, America's Mississippi. Connecting the east to the west, the country to the city and America to the world, this iconic river supports and challenges both humans and animals – beginning as a mere trickle, beating through the heartland and becoming a wild force as it drives south toward the Gulf of Mexico. Filmed in ultra-high definition to reveal the true beauty of the river, the series captures the extraordinary abundance and diversity of wildlife that lives along North America’s greatest waterway. America's Mississippi premieres Wednesday, December 5 at 8:00 on Smithsonian Channel.

- Narrated by acclaimed sports journalist and commentator Jemele Hill, the highly-anticipated three-part documentary series Shut up and Dribble is a powerful inside look at the changing role of NBA athletes through the lens of our shifting cultural and political environment. Hill is among one of the many luminaries featured in the documentary that includes former NBA players, executives, sports journalists and pop-culture icons. Shut up and Dribble is directed by Gotham Chopra and executive produced by LeBron James, Maverick Carter and Chopra.


- Just ahead of one of the most consequential midterm elections of our time, the Showtime animated series OUR CARTOON PRESIDENT takes a look at the political field in an expanded election special on Sunday, November 4 at 10:30 on Showtime. Our Cartoon President: Election Special 2018 focuses on Cartoon Trump’s deepening concerns about what he fears is a coming Democratic “Blue Wave” and his possible impeachment.

- Hulu announced that Jessica Williams, Nikesh Patel, Rebecca Rittenhouse and John Reynolds have been cast in the upcoming limited romantic comedy series Four Weddings and a Funeral.

- As announced by John Green via twitter, Hulu is excited to confirm that our leads for Looking for Alaska have been cast – Kristine Froseth as ‘Alaska Young’ and Charlie Plummer as ‘Miles Halter.’

- Game Show Network, the leader in game shows and competitive entertainment, has added Joey Fatone (*NSYNC, “My Big Fat Greek Wedding”) as host of its new knowledge-based game show, Common Knowledge. The new half-hour series will premiere January 14 at 5:30 p.m. ET and will air Monday through Friday.

57 Channels and Only This Is On: 10/28/2018

Supergirl: Ugg, they are really going to lay on the illegal aliens are the actual aliens allegory pretty thick this season aren’t they. And as an old white dude, I am kind of offended how old white dudes are portrayed this season on the show. C’mon, we are not all alien (illegal or actual) hating people.
Supergirl on iTunes.

Shameless: Wait, crazy Peg Bundy is a shrink herself? I guess it takes one to help one, maybe? But poor Fiona, she seemed to finally get her stuff together, only for everything to completely fall apart right before she is about to leave the show. I wonder if she will end up going out the way it almost happened back in season one in that she does run away with Steve in her final scene. And is Lwna really that oblibious that Supergirl showed up seconds after Kara left?

The Walking Dead: Okay preacher guy, when you’re crazy girlfriend asks if you are with her or will you report her, maybe not admit you are going to tell Rick.
You can download The Walking Dead on iTunes.

The Last Ship: They have killed off a bunch of cast members in this final season and those all of them survived this episode (except for that one dude’s leg), did they really need to kill that child that helped the Americans? But how very Red Reddington of the Florida traitor. What shadiness does she have up her sleeve? But c’mon, military, be smarter, you had to know the ambulance was a scam all along. I sniffed it out from the moment they arrived.
You can download The Last Ship on iTunes.

You: So Joe is really going to be okay with Beck breaking up with him? Is he just going to start obsessing over that new chick? Well, at least he was able to last more than a minute the first time with her.
You can download You on iTunes.

Manifest: So is the kid going to be some sort of messiah? First he just happens to find the Jamaican dude by when he claims was a feeling, no voices or visions like everyone else. And then he is apparently the only person in the plane to see the weird lights. So what is his connection, did he do this or did some other force (aliens) do it because of him?
You can download Manifest on iTunes.

The Challenge: Final Reckoning: The producers really do have a floating scale when it comes to giving people the boot. I was a bit surprised when it was not even discussed Sylvia head-butted Marie and after giving Cory a deserved boot, how did Tony not go with him? Putting your arm around someone tightly and asking multiple times, “are we gonna fight” seems like grounds for being sent home. Also, that had to be the lamest trivia challenge ever. Two wrong answers I think? Just too many Challenge related questions. Trivia should be common knowledge questions.
You can download The Challenge: Final Reckoning on iTunes.

Survivor: David vs. Goliath: Oh my goodness, Angelina asking Natalie multiple times for her jacket after being blindsided is the greatest moment on the show since Andrea told Zeke he sucked at this game. I am not sure if she was being sincere or trolling her, but either way it was awesome.
You can download Survivor: David vs. Goliath on iTunes.

Superstore: Weird that the day after Megyn Kelly suggested that blackface is fine if done out of respect, and a day before her show was canceled for those comments, this show had the exact same discussion. And the anti-blackface side was only doing that so they could win the costume contest.
You can download Superstore on iTunes.

The Good Place: Did we really need to leave Jacksonville so soon? They could have spent the whole season trying to save the souls of Donkey Doug, Pillboi, or even Blake Bortles and I would have been perfectly fine with that.
The Good Place on iTunes.

Blindspot: So Jane explained the syringe that Kurt caught her with as what she wants to kill herself with. Um, Kurt, you are a moron. Are you not a little suspicious that she already had the poison in a syringe and not keeping it in a vile until it was time. But I really like these Patterson-centric episodes where we only get glimpses of the mission which is clearly done to keep costs down but are always well done.
You can download Blindspot on iTunes.