Around the Tubes: April 13, 2019

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 Black Hole Hunters, Meg Mac, Ladies Night, Noah Kahan, Anna of the North, Our Cartoon President, XY Chelsea, Dark Forces, and Hulu spring/summer premiere dates.

- Smithsonian Channel is putting viewers in the passenger seat of the journey towards a cutting-edge outer space discovery. On the heels of today’s groundbreaking scientific announcement, the network will air a new one-hour documentary following a team of international scientists as they attempt to document the first-ever image of a black hole. Black Hole Hunters premieres Friday, April 12 at 9 PM ET/PT on Smithsonian Channel.

- Meg Mac is thrilled to unveil her new single, ‘I'm Not Coming Back’. Using beautiful harmonies interwoven with an anthemic drum beat, the song explores the idea of letting go of someone who is only around when they need you.

- Rap and R&B royalty holds court with the BET premiere of Ladies Night, starring Salt-N-Pepa (SNP), DJ Spinderella and SWV. With a legacy spanning over three decades, Salt-N-Pepa has landed their biggest career accomplishment to-date, a Las Vegas residency. While simultaneously preparing for their opportunity of a lifetime, the trio has made the ambitious decision to launch the Ladies Night national tour in collaboration with SWV. The stakes are high and reputations are on the line as everyone scrambles to meet expectations and deadlines. We follow along as individual personalities, group egos, personal conflicts and professional obligations all take center stage to discover whether or not the ladies can push it to greatness together. Tune in for the action-packed, drama-filled season of Ladies Night starting Tuesday, April 30 at 10:00 PM ET/PT on BET and BET HER.

- Noah Kahan announces his highly anticipated debut album, Busyhead, will be released this summer on June 14th. In celebration of the release, Noah will be heading out on The Busyhead Tour across North America this fall, returning to headline larger venues coming off of a 2018 sold out tour. The tour kicks off at Granada Theater in Dallas on September 19th and includes dates in New York, Los Angeles, Boston, Chicago, Nashville, San Francisco and more. See the full list of dates below. Album pre-order and ticket on-sale will be available this Friday, April 12th at 10AM local time at noahkahan.com.

- Anna of the North today premieres a brand new track and accompanying video for "Used To Be", the second song to come from her forthcoming record, due for release in the Fall. Having sold out worldwide shows and amassed over 150 million streams so far, Anna is also embarking on her first North American headline tour later this month.

- Showtime will premiere the second season of its animated comedy series Our Cartoon President on Sunday, May 12 at 8 p.m. ET/PT, and will feature an animated appearance from Queer Eye’s Jonathan Van Ness. Additionally, Showtime has released the official key art and trailer for season two, which will consist of 10 half-hour episodes. To watch and share the trailer for the second season of Our Cartoon President, head over to YouTube.

- Showtime released a first-look trailer for XY Chelsea, which will have its world premiere at the Tribeca Film Festival on Wednesday, May 1. Directed by Tim Travers Hawkins, produced by Pulse Films and executive produced by Academy Award® winner Laura Poitras (RISK, Citizenfour), XY Chelsea tells the historic story of whistle-blower Chelsea Manning, whose 35-year sentence in a maximum security prison was commuted by President Obama in 2017. Shot over two years and featuring exclusive interviews and behind-the-scenes verité with Manning, the film begins on the momentous day in May of that year when she leaves prison and follows her through her journey of discovery, while also examining her place in the conversation on national security and the fight of the transgender community for rights and visibility. XY Chelsea will premiere on SHOWTIME on Friday, June 7 at 9 p.m. ET/PT. Manning was arrested again in March of this year and remains in custody after refusing to testify in front of a grand jury investigating WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange, who was arrested in London on Thursday. To watch the trailer, go to YouTube.

- Lexicon today announced that they have cast Orlando Jones (American Gods) to topline Dark Forces, the third film from director Anthony O’Brien (THE TIMBER) who will direct from a screenplay jointly written by Lexicon co-founders, producers Mark Mathias Sayre (WATERLILY JAGUAR; DOE; THE CLEARING, DOUBTING THOMAS) & Justin Foia (POINT DEFIANCE). Dark Forces is a horror film that pays homage to its many sub-genres: “While recovering from brain surgery at a rehabilitation center, acclaimed monster movie director Jerry Graves (Jones) becomes haunted by the ghastly creatures and grisly scenes of his own horror films.”

- Coming to Hulu later this spring and into the summer:
Ramy, all episodes April 19
Into the Dark: All That We Destroy (Mother's Day), premieres May 3
Catch-22, all episodes May 17
Ask Dr. Ruth, premieres June 1
The Weekly, season 1, premieres June 2 on FX, June 3 on Hulu (weekly)
The Handmaid's Tale, Season 3, premieres June 5 (weekly)
Into the Dark: They Come Knocking (Father's Day), premieres June 7
Into the Dark: Culture Shock (Independence Day), premieres July 4
Harlots, Season 3, premieres July 10 (weekly)
Veronica Mars, season 4, all episodes July 26
Four Weddings and a Funeral, season 1 premieres July 31 (weekly)