Around the Tubes: November 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 High Fidelity, Back to Life, Mallrat, Killing Eve, BENEE, Charlie’s Angels (Original Motion Picture Soundtrack), Emilia Clarke, and Common Knowledge.

- A departure from Nick Hornby’s 1995 novel and beloved 2000 film, Hulu’s High Fidelity centers on Rob (Zoë Kravitz, who also serves as an executive producer), a female record store owner in the rapidly gentrified neighborhood of Crown Heights, Brooklyn who revisits past relationships through music and pop culture, while trying to get over her one true love. All 10 episodes of the romantic dramedy launch Friday, February 14, only on Hulu. High Fidelity also stars Da’Vine Joy Randolph, David H. Holmes, Jake Lacy, and Kingsley Ben-Adir. The series is developed for television by writers Veronica West & Sarah Kucserka. West and Kucserka executive produce alongside Midnight Radio’s Josh Appelbaum, André Nemec, Jeff Pinkner, and Scott Rosenberg as well as Nick Hornby and Jeff Reiner. Jesse Peretz will direct and executive produce the pilot. Midnight Radio’s Adrienne Erickson will serve as producer. The series is produced by ABC Signature Studios, part of Disney Television Studios.

- Showtime will release all six episodes of the new series Back to Life to its subscribers at midnight on Sunday, November 10 prior to its on-air debut that night at 10 p.m. ET/PT. The episodes will be available for on-demand streaming or download on the Showtime and Showtime Anytime® apps, as well as for viewing via Showtime On Demand. Back to Life will debut on air with back to back episodes and continue with two new episodes every Sunday at 10 p.m. ET/PT.

- Mallrat’s arrival has been nothing short of extraordinary. From the sleepy town of Brisbane, Australia, the 21-year-old has cemented herself as a "woman revolutionizing pop" [Paper Magazine] . With refreshingly honest observations of day-to-day life layered over saccharine melodies, there's a slow-burning restlessness in her sound that is impossible to ignore. With a colossal mind, attitude and voice, Mallrat takes the stage at The Late Late Show with James Corden to perform lead single, "Charlie" off of the EP Driving Music EP. Named after her golden labrador retriever, Charlie, Mallrat's wistful vocals are stacked against shimmering textures of pop. WATCH JAMES CORDEN PERFORMANCE HERE.

- Heavenly Recordings and Sid Gentle Films will release the original soundtracks for Killing Eve Seasons 1 and 2 on December 13th, 2019. In the US the product will be available for download on December 13th, 2019 and physically on January, 10th, 2020. “You have to tick every box for a piece of music to work in cinema or TV,” says DJ turned film composer David Holmes. “It can’t just almost work: it has to slot in perfectly.” As post-episode surges towards song-seeking app Shazam testify, Holmes and music supervisor Catherine Grieves left no box unmarked with their BAFTA-winning music for Seasons 1 and 2 of BBC America’s Killing Eve. Adapted from Luke Jennings’ Codename Villanelle novellas by lead-writers Phoebe Waller-Bridge (S1) and Emerald Fennell(S2), the Emmy-winning spy series has established itself as a swaggering, slippery, playful and punchy thriller of cat/mouse obsession like no other. And it comes with killer soundtracks to match, modern classics of pick’n’mix curation cut from the cloth of cinematic style but tailored with a moody, mischievous vivacity of their own.

- Averaging nearly 2 million monthly listeners on Spotify and receiving critical acclaim, buzzing 19-year-old indie pop phenomenon BENEE shares a brand-new single entitled “Monsta” and announces the release of her upcoming STELLA & STEVE EP out November 15th. Check out “Monsta” HERE.

- Republic Records and Sony Pictures Entertainment release the year’s biggest and most-anticipated album, Charlie’s Angels (Original Motion Picture Soundtrack). Check out Charlie’s Angels (Original Motion Picture Soundtrack) HERE. The blockbuster record features the runaway smash “Don’t Call Me Angel (Charlie’s Angel)” by Ariana Grande, Miley Cyrus, and Lana Del Rey, “Pantera” by Anitta, and “How It’s Done” by Kash Doll, Kim Petras, ALMA, and Stefflon Don. Additionally, it boasts a total of five new songs from co-executive producer and Grammy®-winner Ariana Grande. These include another triple threat anthem “Bad To You” featuring Normani and Nicki Minaj, “Nobody” with the legendary Chaka Khan, and “Got Her Own” with Victoria Monét as well as Grande’s own solo song “How I Look On You.” The soundtrack also spans tracks from Danielle Bradbery, M-22, Arlissa, and Kiana Ledé as well as the unparalleled Donna Summer.

- Daenerys vs. Varys: Emilia Clarke Reveals Conleth Hill's Coffee Cup-gate Confession from The Tonight Show.


- Starting now, fans of Game Show Network’s popular knowledge-based game show Common Knowledge will be able to test their knowledge with the Common Knowledge Skill For Alexa. Like the TV show, the skill features those practical, everyday questions that everyone should know, such as: what should you do when you have a fever? Or, how can you tell if a watermelon is ripe?

Previewing Into the Dark: Pilgrim

The first season of Into the Dark started off with what ended as the best of the bunch. Unfortunately the very next installment ended up being the worst. The second season started out with another strong Halloween tale but thankfully the follow up is a vast improvement over last November’s offering.

Pilgrim features a modern family that hires an acting troupe to reenact the first Thanksgiving so they can celebrate like they used to when everyone was unplugged. If you have seen any Into the Dark installments before, you know things go horribly wrong. Yes the new “pilgrims” take their roles a little too serious, never breaking character even though they show up days early to prepare

Of course the black daughter is not having any of this and sets out to discover what is up with these weirdos. Unfortunately we never know what exactly is going on with the new pilgrims other than maybe it may be because of a wishbone wish. Though it definitely is never explained why the family is eating a full turkey days before Thanksgiving.

Still the episode is funny in parts. Sure I am not sure it was supposed to be funny, but I did laugh quite frequently. Most of the laughing happened at the end when things just completely come off the rails. Even though it is a vast improvement on last Thanksgiving episode, I cannot help but coming away with thinking there is a much better pilgrims taking Thanksgiving too serious story that could have been explored.

Into the Dark Season Two Power Ranking:

1. Uncanny Annie (October)
2. Pilgrim (November)

Into the Dark: Pilgrim premieres tomorrow on Hulu.

57 Channels and Only This Is On: October 27, 2019

Watchmen: So I take it, the old black dude at the end next to Don Johnson at the end was the young black kid escaping Tulsa at the beginning of the episode. But I found most of the premiere (aside from the awesome Oklahoma performance) pretty boring and confusing… so basically just like every other show ad film Damon Lindelof has been a part of.

The Walking Dead: So the gay dude has an Evil Dead arm now? Cool. But I forgot how many surrogate kids Carol had and they all died. Although I think she killed two of them because they were kind of psychopaths. Ugg, this show has been on way too long. I barely remember most of it at this point.

The Affair: I found it interesting that last week we got Whitney’s wedding prep through Noah’s eye but it was even more surprising that when Noah’s scandal broke, it was though Helen and Whitney’s eyes. Whitney’s act was partiularlly heartbreaking once I realized the douche she used to date was kind of her father and with her new guy she kind of turned into her mother. She has looked so beaten down this season I am beginning worry she will not make it to the end.

Mr. Robot: The annoying dude who was the only bad part of the first season is back? Oh joy. And White Rose listening to Culture Club was a bit gratuitous.
You can download Mr. Robot: on iTunes.

Wu-Tang: An American Saga: So the show just ends with Ghostface and RZA after they shot and robbed a crazy dude? For this whole time I was thinking this was a limited series, but I went back to the press release and it does call it just a series so I guess there can be more. So was RZA really robbed of his tapes and shot the dude to get them back? I do not remember that being in the Showtime doc. Nor do I remember Ghostface knocking up his sister. I kind of want to check his Wikipedia to see if Shuri is listed as one of his baby mama though we do not really know yet if she keeps the baby. If the show does get a second season, I hope they start calling themselves by the Wu names, I am still not entirely sure which ones are GZA, Inspechtah Deck, Cappadonna are or is they even included U-God yet.
You can watch Wu-Tang: An American Saga on Hulu.

Castle Rock: So is Annie crazy and she never killed the dude or is she crazy because she is seeing the dead guy? Or is there possibly a third option, she did kill him and he is back somehow? That is where I am leaning. But the one thing that bothers me with that theory, what happened to the big hole at the construction site? Did no one notice it? Did whatever revived the nephew fill it up?
You can watch Castle Rock on Hulu.

Survivor: Island of Idols: I got excited when they said there would be no Island of Idols this week, but unfortunately they seem to increase the amount of useless commentary from Sandra and Rob at Tribal Council this week.
You can download Survivor: Island of the Idols on iTunes.

The Challenge: War of the Worlds 2: Is Jordon really that stupid? Dude survived being murdered by Turbo earlier this season but them continued to goad him this week. At some point, Turbo is going to get through those security guards and murder Jordan and I will feel as sorry for him as I would someone who poked a bear one too many times.
You can download The Challenge: War of the Worlds 2 on iTunes.

The Good Place: Poor Jason, gets his heart ripped out by learning Blake Bortles gets traded. Later learns he was replaced by a Super Bowl winning quarterback only to find out he broke his clavicle. I do wonder if they will be able to work in Gardner Minchew II at all this season (the broken clavicle thing seemed to be added late). Although maybe because of Jeremy Blermiey, Jason may gets to get a Jaguar’s Super Bowl win in his afterlifetime.
You can download The Good Place on iTunes.

Titans: So where was Rose when all of this was going? Was she off at college? Did she learn about her father and bolted without bothering to tell her father? Is she even the daughter of Deathstroke’s wife? Does Deathstroke have side pieces? Did Jericho and the wife just not know about her which is why she was not even brought up?