Around the Tubes: May 25, 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 Taylor Swift, The L Word: Generation Q, Smithsonian Time Capsule: Beyond Stonewall, Arrow, The Flash, Tiffany, micki maverick, Ginesse, The Battle of Normandy: 85 Days in Hell, Detainee 001, Little Fires Everywhere, and Untitled Mary Laws Project.

- Taylor Swift made a playlist on Apple Music called Playlist by ME! 🎉 Swift tells Apple Music: "'Maybe a hundred bad days made a hundred good stories, a hundred good stories make me interesting art parties' - the lyrics of AJR's '100 Bad Days' pretty much sum it up. Everything that happens to us is just part of a story we'll tell someday. These songs are the soundtrack to my story at the moment. I love this playlist for kitchen dance parties, long drives home, sun-soaked reflection, or aggressive bopping. All songs have been loved and appreciated by ME!"

- Showtime has announced the official title of its highly anticipated sequel – The L Word: Generation Q, which will debut this fall on Showtime. Marja-Lewis Ryan (The Four-Faced Liar, 6 Balloons) serves as showrunner and is executive producing with original series creator Ilene Chaiken and original series stars Jennifer Beals, Katherine Moennig and Leisha Hailey. Kristen Campo also serves as executive producer. The series is slated to begin production on eight new episodes in Los Angeles this summer. The pilot is directed by Steph Green who also serves as executive producer on the episode.


- On June 28, 1969, a routine police raid of a gay bar in New York City turned into a violent conflict that ignited protests lasting for days. The Stonewall Inn Uprising is celebrated by many as the birth of the modern LGBTQ+ rights movement. But the history of gay life in America extends far before and after Stonewall. Using commentary from LGBTQ+ allies and icons (including Matthew Shepard’s parents, Stonewall eyewitness participant Mark Segal and Gene Robinson, the first openly gay priest to be consecrated a bishop by the Episcopal Church) and expert perspectives from Smithsonian curators, new documentary Smithsonian Time Capsule: Beyond Stonewall tells the story of the LGBTQ+ community in America through an exploration of rare artifacts in the Smithsonian collections, predominantly from the National Museum of American History. Smithsonian Time Capsule: Beyond Stonewall premieres Monday, June 24 at 8 PM ET/PT on Smithsonian Channel.

- Get ready for nonstop action from start to finish when Warner Bros. Home Entertainment releases Arrow: The Complete Seventh Season on Blu-ray and DVD August 20, 2019. Both sets contain all 22 action-packed episodes from the seventh season, plus the show’s 2018 Comic-Con Panel, a crossover featurette, deleted scenes, a gag reel and more! All three DC Crossover: Elseworlds episodes will be available only for fans who purchase the Blu-ray set. The Complete Seventh Season is priced to own at $39.99 SRP for the DVD ($51.99 in Canada) and $44.98 SRP for the Blu-ray ($52.99 in Canada), which includes a Digital Copy (U.S. only). Both sets have an order due date of July 16, 2019. Arrow: The Complete Seventh Season is also available to own on Digital via purchase from digital retailers.

- Just in time for the sixth season premiere of the highest-rated series on The CW, you will be bolting into stores to pick up The Flash: The Complete Fifth Season as Warner Bros. Home Entertainment releases the Blu-ray and DVD on August 27, 2019. Fans will be able to speed-watch all 22 electrifying episodes from the fifth season, plus the show’s 2018 Comic-Con Panel, three featurettes, deleted scenes, a gag reel and more! All three DC Crossover: Elseworlds episodes will be available only for fans who purchase the Blu-ray set. The Flash: The Complete Fifth Season is priced to own at $39.99 SRP for the DVD ($51.99 in Canada) and $44.98 SRP for the Blu-ray ($52.99 in Canada), which includes a Digital Copy (available in the U.S.). Both sets have an order due date of July 23, 2019. The Flash: The Complete Fifth Season is also available to own on Digital via purchase from digital retailers.

- Tiffany’s new music video for her newest single, Beautiful, from her latest album ‘Pieces of Me’ premiered, May 23rd, 2019 exclusively on Billboard.com at 11a.m. EST. This new single delivers Tiffany’s iconic chart topping vocals layered over a colorful and vibrant music video shot in Brighton, U.K. In her new single, Tiffany delivers a vibrant rock-pop single which is reminiscent of other female classic pop rock artists like the Go-Go’s. Tiffany’s notable tone takes on a new sound in this electrifying and unexpected rock track. Unafraid to take a risk, Tiffany shows her fans an authentic and different side of herself as an artist. Stepping aside from her ‘80’s pop legacy, she dives into music that has been in her heart for a long time. Beautiful is a culmination of rock and pop while combining Tiffany’s powerhouse vocals, original songwriting, and production skills.

- indie alt-pop artist micki maverick makes her debut with the release of the new single "HE/ART," the first track from her forthcoming EP due out later this summer. micki maverick is the moniker for Dylan Neil, an LA-native who uses music as a way to navigate life as a young gay female in an ever-evolving society. In an exclusive with Grimy Goods, she shared "HE/ART is really a complete look into my life, my past, and my insecurities. Society expects perfection, but that standard is completely unattainable. Not everything in life can be fixed, some things remain broken. And that's what I believe should be the new standard: broken pieces that form something new, something more beautiful."

- Multi-dimensional artist Ginesse (Cait Fairbanks) returns today with a new track "The Inbetween." Out alongside the track is the vibrant music video, choreographed by icon Marguerite Derricks (Heathers: the musical). The video was completed in one shot and showcases Ginesse's breathy falsetto alongside pastel suits and killer choreography. Left of center singer Ginesse has already made quite a name for herself in the acting realm with her Emmy-nominated performance on The Young and the Restless and is now set to solidify herself as an inspiring household name. "This song was kind of a turning point for me as an artist," explains the singer/songwriter. She expands "We finished the song in only a few hours and it just felt right...I let go of my expectations for how the song should go and how my life was going at the moment and I started to feel very present and happier in general."

- Smithsonian Channel will commemorate the 75th anniversary of the Battle of Normandy with a new documentary that uses unseen and rare images to give an intimate account of the battle that freed Europe from Nazi rule. One of the world’s foremost experts on World War II archives, Dominique Forget, has identified over 100 hours of previously unseen archival footage, including 20 hours from the battle itself, to reveal the Allies’ struggle to liberate Europe. The Battle of Normandy: 85 Days in Hell premieres Thursday, June 6 at 8 p.m. ET/PT on Smithsonian Channel.

- As John Walker Lindh is released from prison, Showtime Documentary Films today announced the production of Detainee 001, from Emmy® winning director Greg Barker (The Final Year, Sergio, Manhunt, Legion of Brothers). The film, which has been in production since 2017, gives the definitive account of Lindh’s story with never-before-revealed details from his legal case and unpacks challenging truths and shifting allegiances behind one of the most compelling and unresolved mysteries of the post-9/11 age. Lindh’s case set a precedent for how Americans caught up in the War on Terror were prosecuted, and the film examines how American military and justice systems have grappled with the two decades since his detention.

- Hulu’s highly anticipated upcoming (8-episode) limited series, Little Fires Everywhere, announces Joshua Jackson as a series regular. Joshua Jackson will play ‘Bill Richardson’ A Shaker Heights attorney who hails from modest means, Bill is the perfectly-suited counterweight to his energetic and strong-willed wife, Elena. But when Bill agrees to represent their friends in a fiery custody battle, the couple begin to fight about more than just their challenging youngest daughter, Izzy. Based on Celeste Ng’s 2017 bestseller, Little Fires Everywhere follows the intertwined fates of the picture-perfect Richardson family and an enigmatic mother and daughter who upend their lives. The story explores the weight of secrets, the nature of art and identity, the ferocious pull of motherhood – and the danger in believing that following the rules can avert disaster.

- Hulu has ordered “Untitled Mary Laws Project” (WT), an anthology series based on “North American Lake Monsters,” a collection of stories by Nathan Ballingrud, to series. The first season will consist of 8 episodes. Logline: Through encounters with Gothic beasts, including fallen angels and werewolves, broken people are driven to desperate acts in an attempt to repair their lives, ultimately showing there is a thin line between man and beast. Based on the short stories from Nathan Ballingrud’s collection. The series is created, written and executive produced by Mary Laws (“Preacher,” “Blueberry Toast,” “The Neon Demon”) and executive produced by Lucan Toh (“An Evening with Beverly Luff Linn,” “Under the Shadow”) and Babak Anvari (“Under the Shadow”) who will also direct. The series is produced by Annapurna Television.

57 Channels and Only This Is On: May 19, 2019

Supergirl: That ending made no sense, Red Daughter just leaves to be killed by Lex off screen and then Supergirl somehow is about to pull sunlight out of nowhere in the dead of night when she is too hurt to move? Then I did not think I could dislike quirky Braniac 5 more, but super serious Braniac 5 does that. Although if The Dreamer gets banished from the show because of what he did, I will be fine with that. But is Lena actually more evil than her mother? Her mother did say she loved her daughter with some anti-lying thing but Lena did really poison her mother to make sure she helped.
Supergirl on iTunes.

Killing Eve: So I found it weird for Eve to team up with the French assassin but the ending this week was downright confusing. So the French assassin hits the dude with a book and leaves and then starts stalking two chicks at night. I feel like I missed something.
You can download Killing Eve on iTunes.

Billions: I thought when Bonnie turned down telling Taylor she was in the super-secret fund; I thought she was going to go there and be a mole. Kind of petty to take that meeting just to have Axe tell Taylor off face to facetime. That pettiness is going to bring Axe down one of these days. Well, probably not because the show is built on pettiness.

Good Girls: I know these are amateurs but c’mon, if you are going to break into someone’s apartment, at least have a look out so you do not get caught. And I know throwing the body away did not work, but burying a body in the backyard seems like a pretty bad idea too. Especially if you are not sure if it is the right body or not.
You can download Good Girls on iTunes

The Chi: Emmitt’s council of baby mamas need their own television show. But it surprising that a standardized test gets stolen, Kevin scores well above average and the teacher thinks he is just a genius.

Survivor: Edge of Extinction: I thought the idea of someone who was booted out fourth would make for a horrible show, except the guy voted out third ended up winning. Yep, half of the final four was made up players who were voted out in the first four votes. And they just handed Chris the win because he got to hang out with the jury for a month with nothing better to do and talk about the game without any real consequence, got put back in the game with a ton of dirt from the jury (Victoria can win, Lauren has an Idol, Gavin and Julie are goats), and Idol in his bag, and we learn after the show that he actually also was given letters from the jury to the remaining player. People have been given some unfair advantages in the past, but the overwhelming amount of advantages that Chris receive was just absurd. This should go down as the worst season of Survivor ever.
You can download Survivor: Edge of Extinction on iTunes.

Pretty Little Liars: The Perfectionists: Dead girl shot British dude? Did not see that coming. But what is British dude hiding? Is he really the killer? Was he just involved but did not do it? Is this all a red herring and his secret not tied to anything? Since it took a bunch of seasons for the original show to tell up who A really was, I am guessing there is a shoe or two to drop. Maybe Cece killed the dude. It would make about as much sense as Cece turning out to be A.
You can download Pretty Little Liars: The Perfectionists on iTunes.

The Challenge: War of World: TJ not kidding this being the most grueling final ever: running and biking six miles in the desert seems extremely brutal. Kind of hard to watch. At least they did not make them eat anything gross… yet.
You can download The Challenge: War of Worlds on iTunes.

Marvel’s Cloak and Dagger: When the season started I assumed Mayhem was some sort of Jekyll and Hyde situation. Except it turned out she was split into two spate people. But is she now Jekyll and Hyde. Mayhem certainly implied the good cop half was now in there but was not to being presplit cop. And what happened at the end, did Dagger’s mom OD? Did record playing guy make her take those pills by playing her album? We never see a body so did record playing guy take Dagger’s mom?
You can download Marvel's Cloak and Dagger on iTunes.

Doom Patrol: I did not think we were going to get a weirder power than the one Beard Hunter had, and then Flex Mentallo flexed and made everyone, um, really happy for a about a minute. Alrighty. But what exactly happened to Beard Hunter. He swallowed Niles essence, went down some weird staircase, and the next we see him he is on Danny the Street, giving up on hunting beards. But we are in for a loaded finale, they need to explain to us just how Niles was involved in creating all those superheroes and then they have to bring down Mr. Nobody.

The Blacklist: So the president was not trying to assassinate himself, just making it look like a failed assassination plot gone wrong. That makes much more sense than trying to kill himself. Then after all this time we get to finally see Lizzy’s mom… who promptly stabs Red and stuffs him in a van. Um, okay, that is going to need some explaining. I am guessing that momma thinks if Red can find her the Russians can too.
You can download The Blacklist on iTunes.

Marvel’s Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D.: I hope we do not get a bunch of close misses of FitzSimmons because that will be a bore. But not-Coulson has to be an alternative Universe version, right?
You can download Marvel's Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. on iTunes.