Around the Tubes: August 2, 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 Veronica Mars, Ariana Grande, Social House, James Bay, Quentin Tarantino, Catch 21, Sid and Judy, and Derek Smalls.

- Hey Marshmallows…The wait is over! Television’s favorite super-sleuth is back, and on a mission to save Neptune! Discover more secrets, snooping, and seduction like you have never seen before as Warner Bros. Home Entertainment releases Veronica Mars (2019): The Complete First Season on DVD October 22, 2019. Veronica Mars (2019): The Complete First Season contains all 8 edge-of-your-seat episodes from the first season along with exhilarating extra content including the Veronica Mars at Comic Con 2019 bonus feature! The DVD is priced to own at $24.98 SRP ($30.99 in Canada). Veronica Mars (2019): The Complete First Season will also be available to own on Digital via purchase from digital retailers (available on August 19th in the U.S.). Veronica Mars (2019): The Complete First Season will be available on Blu-rayTM courtesy of Warner Archive Collection. The Blu-rayTM release includes all bonus features on the DVD and is also arriving October 22, 2019. Warner Archive Blu-ray releases are found at wb.com/warnerarchive and your favorite online retailer.

- Multiplatinum, record-breaking superstar Ariana Grande and buzzing LA singer, songwriter and producer duo Social House release their new song “boyfriend” via Schoolboy Records/Republic Records. The video, also out now, made its broadcast premiere on MTV Live, mtvU and the iconic Times Square Viacom billboard, and it will also air on MTV’s Fresh Out Fridays and TRL.

- English singer-songwriter James Bay has released an Amazon Original cover version of The Shirelles’s song “Will You Still Love Me Tomorrow,” only available to stream and purchase on Amazon Music. Listen to James Bay’s “Will You Still Love Me Tomorrow [Amazon Original]” only on Amazon Music

- Discogs was granted an exclusive interview with Oscar-winning filmmaker Quentin Tarantino to discuss his new film Once Upon A Time In Hollywood and his very special approach to the film’s soundtrack. While Tarantino might be best known for his filmography — Pulp Fiction, Reservoir Dogs, Kill Bill, and Inglorious Basterds — his discography is crafted with equal intention and precision. He’s a music fan, and it shows. Speaking about the soundtrack, Tarantino said, "I’ve long been saying that I have a modus operandi where when I’m thinking about a movie, I go into my record room, and I start looking for music for the film. And that’s kind of how I’ve been doing it from the beginning...That wasn’t the case on this one.”

- This August, Revry premieres fabulous, star-studded Original Series and Original Films live on its free Pluto Channel 649. On Sunday, August 18th at 7pm(pst) / 10pm(est) binge on your favorite RUPAUL DRAG RACE icons backstage and on tour in the fascinating new documentary film, THE QUEENS, starring Alaska Thunderf*ck, Sharon Needles, Jinkx Monsoon and Katya! Then jump into the bizarre and titillating underground world of MISS ROSEWOOD at 9pm(pst) / 12am(est) about the legendary extreme performance artist and trans advocate.
Sunday, August 25th at 5pm(pst) / 8pm(est) step into the brave new worlds of seven young Generation Z heroes in the inspiring documentary feature ROOM TO GROW. Then enjoy Oscar Nominated actress, Laura Linney, premiering in the hysterical, new dark comedy series SINK SANK SUNK at 7pm (pst) / 10pm (est) about an isolated young man who loses his mother but finds himself, love and community through synchronized swimming. Turn up the beats every Saturday night at 7pm(pst) / 10pm(est) in August with a new episode of the Revry Original Series MUSIC OUT LOUD featuring diverse genres of dazzling music videos by the most talented queer indie music artists today…a feast for the senses. All showings will have encore viewings and will be available on Revry.tv thereafter.

- Game Show Network, the leader in game shows and competitive entertainment, has announced Alfonso Ribeiro (“Americas Funniest Videos”) has returned as host of its Catch 21 reboot. Witney Carson (“Dancing with the Stars”) joins as card dealer, reuniting the former dance partners in a game show first. The half-hour series is anticipated to premiere in Fall 2019.

- Showtime Documentary Films recently announced it will premiere the new documentary Sid and Judy from director Stephen Kijak (STONES IN EXILE, WE ARE X), producer Diane Becker and Academy Award® winning producer John Battsek (ERIC CLAPTON: LIFE IN 12 BARS, LISTEN TO ME MARLON) on Friday, October 18 at 8 p.m. ET/PT. Narrated by Emmy® winner Jon Hamm (Mad Men) and Academy Award nominee Jennifer Jason Leigh (PATRICK MELROSE), SID & JUDY explores the dramatic career and personal struggles of the talented and tragically short-lived entertainer Judy Garland through rare concert footage, never-heard-before voice recordings and personal photos. The film premiered at the Frameline Festival in San Francisco in June and will screen at Outfest Los Angeles on Saturday, July 27 at the iconic Ford Theater in Hollywood.

- This November, Derek Smalls, former lead bass player of the band formerly known as Spinal Tap hits the road. Accompanied by a panoply of special guests, the bottom force of the fabled heavy metal band will play a whistle-stop series of concerts along the West Coast of the US and Canada. The Lukewarm Water Live! tour will kick off at the The Wiltern in Los Angeles on November 6 to be followed with performances at Moore Theatre, Seattle on November 9, The Vogue Theatre Vancouver on November 11 and finish at The Warfield Theatre San Francisco on November 14. Each performance will feature Smalls in concert accompanied live by an all-star band as well as a full symphony orchestra and other special guests live via satellite.

Previewing Into the Dark: School Spirit

When Hulu announced the monthly anthology series Into the Dark with each installment being based on a holiday from those four weeks, the themes seemed easy to predict. And here we are at the penultimate installment and with the exception of March, they were. Of course with the announcement, my mind was searching for what they possibly could do for March. The only thing listing in my calendar was a Muslim holiday. There were also lesser acknowledged holidays like Grandparents day which would have been my bet. Instead, Into the Dark went with something that is not really a holiday and is something that is not celebrated on a universal day, and sometimes does not even happen in August: the first day of school.

The previous ten chapters covered many different sub-genres of horror, but the latest installment, School Spirit, final delves into probably the most popular: the slasher flick. But this is a new millennium, post-#MeToo slasher flick, not the type from the heyday of the eighties. So despite the opening scene involving two teen boys planting a webcam in the women’s locker room the day before classes start, but one claim claims he is “not gonna be a pervert about it.” But he becomes the first victim before and of the girls have their first gym class. There is also no clichéd have sex then die scene, the closest thing is a guy gets slashed while waiting for someone to show up and have sex with him.

Not only is the sex tamed down, the gore is pretty watered down. Some of the deaths happen just as the camera cuts away, while the camera instead focuses on the blood running down the floor. The kills that are shown are not the particularly scary. There are actually more scares in Hulu’s teen skewing horror show Light as a Feather than in School Spirit.

School Spirits takes place at a school named Helbrook, which, you know, pretty cool name for a horror film. After our introductory kill, we are then taken to the first Saturday detention of the year where the usual suspects are already gotten in some sort of problem, but things get interesting when the Ivy-bound student of the year also joins them. But this is the perfect setting for a slasher flick, the setting is big but space with a limited amount of potential victims, just five students and the vice principal. Actually that was kind of the premise of another Hulu horror show targeted at teenagers, Freakish.

One of the delinquents tells the story of the school being haunted of a teacher who died and haunts the halls getting revenges on the type of bad kids who sent her to an early grave. And of course then they start getting picked off one by one. The twist at the end is actually surprising and well done, unfortunately the watered down content that precedes it just puts a damper on the whole episode.

Into the Dark Power Ranking
1. The Body (October)
2. Culture Shock (July)
3. All That We Destroy (May)
4. Down (February)
5. New Year, New You (January)
6. School Spirt (August)
7. Pooka! (December)
8. I’m Just Forking with You (April)
9. They Come Knocking (June)
10. Treehouse (March)
11. Flesh and Bone (November)

Into the Dark: School Spirit premieres tomorrow on Hulu.

57 Channels and Only This Is On: July 28, 2019

Veronica Mars: Episode 1: I really do not like when television shows drop all at once. As soon as Veronica Mars was erased there were though pieces on the shocking finale when I had not even gotten though one episode. And I am not entirely sure what Hulu is doing with their release schedule, sometimes it is weekly, and sometimes it is all at once. The Handmaid’s Tale and Harlots are currently being released weekly, and then Veronica Mars, Light as a Feather, and Four Weddings and a Funeral coming Friday are all at once. Then the Wu-Tang show is weekly. Then they just announced all their fall shows, Looking for Alaska, Dollface, Reprisal, and Runaways will be all at once. I guess I can understand the teen skewing shows going all at once, but shouldn’t the adult shows be weekly? I really hate asking people what episode they are on in hope of discussing what I just watch.

I also like talking about shows, dissecting every episode. When these seasons are release all at once, I usually post about them once and that it is. But I really like talking about Veronica Mars so I do plan about talking about what I watch that week (probably one or two episodes, I want to savor instead of binging and then probably forgetting I even watch the next week. As I did above, I will clearly state what episodes I am talking about.

The start of the season was a bit slow for me. Ronnie in love is usually boring and in-between season Logan somehow went from the obligatory psychotic jackass to kind of a wet blanket. Of course I have always been team DeputyDetective Leo. At least it picked up with the bombing. Here is my prediction: the hotel owner did it so his daughter could get the insurance money.
You can watch Veronica Mars on Hulu.

Big Little Lies: Well that was a weird season. I spend the whole time we were heading to a big showdown between Reece’s husbands but they do not even run into each other for the past two episodes. And after Adam Scott gets propositioned, he wants to renew his vows. And then we end the season (series?) with the Monterey Five walking arm and arm into the police station presumably all willing to admit to perjury. At least we got an epic courtroom scene to start off the episode. But yes, I would definitely watch a potential third season.

Claws: Oh wow, they killed the lady cop. But does that not just prove everything the candidate said? He talks about his gay sister and then exposes the governor’s Asian mob ties and a day later the girlfriend gets murdered. Even if she just “disappears” that looks bad. The national media would descend on that more than if a senate candidate got caught hanging out with teenage girls.
You can download Claws on iTunes.

City on a Hill: The worst part of these season long mystery shows, there always seems to be an episode where one of the cops takes an entire episode looking for their kid. Thankfully we just got an abridged version her. But what was that all about? Was the snitch intentionally trying to let Kevin Bacon he can get to him too, or just doing it to hurt him?

Fear the Walking Dead: So the zombies exposed to radiation may not be as deadly as the scientist lead everyone to believe? Alrighty. Maybe the actress is in a contract dispute and they are getting to sign a low ball deal, if not her character dis a slow and painful death..
You can download Fear the Walking Dead on iTunes.

The Handmaid’s Tale: Well, it has been a while since June has been ritualistically raped. At least they did not show it this time. But I am still wondering what Serena is up to. Is she really trying to get “her” baby back or does she have an alternative motive. She ended last season getting her finger cut off and letting June leave with the baby. Does she regret letting her go or is she still bitter for the finger and is going to screw Fred and Gilliad as a whole by the end of the season?
You can watch The The Handmaid’s Tale on Hulu.

Harlots: Wait, did they really just kill off Charlotte Wells? She is kind of the biggest name on the show. I know television characters have survived much worse but there is not much people in England a couple of centuries could do when you crack open your skull and have that much blood start to pool.
You can watch Harlots on Hulu.

Krpton: Did we really need a Doomsday origin story? Probably not. But I am a bit surprised they have not resurrected Lyta yet.
You can download Krypton on iTunes.

Swamp Thing: Okay, I am not entirely sure what is going on with the Blue Devil. It does not help that all his killing happen off screen. But I am not entirely sure what his power is. Does he just burn people with his touch?

Marvel’s Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D.: So they really are going to turn Not-Coulsen into Kind Of Now Coulsen by the end of the season? Yeah that whole thing is kind of confusing.
You can download Marvel's Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. on iTunes.