Around the Tubes: January 30, 2021

  

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 Women in Blue, City on a Hill, The Mamas & The Papas, Paris Jackson, The Weeknd, The Peter Frampton Band, The Muppet Show, Cut Throat City, Laugh In, Supervillain: The Making of Tekashi 6ix9ine.

- Filmed from 2017-2020, WOMEN IN BLUE follows Minneapolis’ first female police chief Janeé Harteau, as she works to reform the Minneapolis Police Department by getting rid of bad cops, retraining the rest, diversifying the ranks and promoting women—who statistically use less force than their male counterparts—into every rank of leadership. The film focuses on four women in Harteau’s department, each trying to redefine what it means to protect and serve. After a high-profile, officer-involved shooting forces Chief Harteau to resign, the new, male chief selects only men as his top brass. The women left behind continue to fight to police differently and to rebuild community trust.  WOMEN IN BLUE will broadcast on PBS television series Independent Lens series on Monday, February 8, 2021

- SHOWTIME will premiere the second season of its one-hour drama series CITY ON A HILL, starring Golden Globe winner and Emmy^® nominee Kevin Bacon and Screen Actors Guild^® award winner Aldis Hodge, on Sunday, March 28 at 10 p.m. ET/PT. Beginning April 18, the series will move to 9 p.m. ET/PT. Additionally, SHOWTIME has released the official key art for season two, which will consist of eight one-hour episodes.
- On January 29, Geffen/UMe is set to release The Mamas & The Papas' If You Can Believe Your Eyes And Ears on black vinyl. Also, the album will be available on opaque yellow vinyl exclusively at uDiscover Music and Sound of Vinyl. Considered one of the best pop-rock albums of all time, the 12-song 1966 debut showcases the exquisite pop sensibilities and impeccable harmonies of Cass Elliot, Denny Doherty, John Phillips and Michelle Phillips. Reaching No. 1 on the Billboard album charts within months of release and spending more than 100 weeks on the chart, the Lou Adler-produced gem opens with the No. 1 hit "Monday, Monday" and includes "California Dreamin'," which hit No. 4 on the Billboard singles chart. Preorder here: https://TheMamasAndThePapas.lnk.to/IfYouCanBelieveVinyl.
- 22-year-old singer, songwriter, actress, model and activist Paris Jackson releases the official “eyelids” video – watch HERE. The song features vocals from Manchester Orchestra’s Andy Hull, who co-wrote and produced the track, as well as Jackson’s first full-length album, wilted, out now – listen HERE. The video was directed and edited by Phillip Lopez (Selena Gomez, Kygo, Avicii, Lauv) and executive produced by Tara Razavi (Justin Bieber, Tyler, the Creator, G-Eazy & Bebe Rexha).
- Gravity defying artist The Weeknd and XO/Republic Records have announced a special project curated specifically for his upcoming Pepsi Super Bowl LV Halftime Show appearance. Given the vast mainstream audience of the Super Bowl, The Highlights album is a way to present some of The Weeknd’s most notable works in one place.  While this isn’t a “Greatest Hits” album it does provide a new listener a rich foray into some of the iconic artist’s best and favorite work. The project is available on February 5^th, pre-order HERE.
- Frampton Forgets the Words, the new studio album by The Peter Frampton Band, will be released April 23 via UMe. The album features instrumental tributes to some of Frampton’s favorite songs and is the follow up to his 2007 Grammy Award-winning instrumental album, Fingerprints. The first track to be revealed is their take on Radiohead’s “Reckoner,” alongside a video—watch/share HERE.  Frampton Forgets the Words was co-produced by Frampton and Chuck Ainlay and was  recorded/mixed at Frampton’s own Studio Phenix in Nashville. With his infamous 1954 Les Paul Phenix—which was lost in a plane crash in 1980 and recovered more than 30 years later —  Frampton brings virtuosic guitar playing to songs by David Bowie, George Harrison, Stevie Wonder, Lenny Kravitz and more. See track listing below.
- The long wait for Muppet fans is almost over! “The Muppet Show,” Jim Henson’s iconic variety series that started it all, will begin streaming Friday, February 19 exclusively on Disney+. In addition for the first three seasons, fans will be able to enjoy seasons 4 and 5, which have never previously been released on home entertainment.  Originally premiering in 1976, some of Hollywood’s brightest stars stopped by “The Muppet Show” for unforgettable comedy and chaos including Crystal Gayle, Steve Martin, Elton John, Liza Minnelli, Alice Cooper, Julie Andrews, Bernadette Peters, Diana Ross, Gladys Knight, Gene Kelly, and Mark Hammill.
-  CUT THROAT CITY, the “ambitious, messy, sprawling and bullet-riddled crime epic” (Richard Roeper, Chicago Sun-Times), set in the Crescent City, has topped the Netflix charts hours after its debut on Netflix. The film, the third effort from recording artist, composer and rapper RZA, was released last summer to critical and audience acclaim and is mounting a dark horse, renegade #FYC Awards campaign to support the Netflix streaming of the film.  Opening on a gritty graphic novel animation, CUT THROAT CITY finds four boyhood friends return to NOLA’s Lower Ninth Ward in the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina. As FEMA fails to provide aid to their wracked community, they reluctantly turn to a local gangster for help. When that job goes horribly awry, they must outrun–and outsmart—a system rife with corruption and filled with both malevolent and colorful characters.
- This February, the TV DVD archivists at Time Life are making ROWAN & MARTIN’S LAUGH-IN: THE COMPLETE SERIES available at retail for the very first time for classic TV aficionados and comedy lovers alike. The ultimate completist’s set, this handsomely packaged collection is comprised of 37 DVDs featuring all 140 remastered episodes from the series award-winning, groundbreaking six-year run. Included are 89 episodes never-before-released on ANY format, along with exclusive bonuses such as the rare pilot episode (September 9, 1967), the 25^th Anniversary cast reunion and more.
- SHOWTIME announced today that the provocative docu-series SUPERVILLAIN: THE MAKING OF TEKASHI 6IX9INE, profiling hip-hop artist Tekashi 6ix9ine’s epic rise to notoriety and spectacular fall to convicted criminal, will premiere on Sunday, February 21 at 10 p.m. ET/PT. New episodes will debut on-air every Sunday through March 7, while the entire series will release for on-demand streaming or download on SHOWTIME and across all SHOWTIME partner platforms on February 21.  In the three-part series, director Karam Gill (Ice Cold, G-Funk) examines manufactured celebrity through the lens of 6ix9ine’s controversial artistry, personal demons and mastery of social media, as a reflection of our times and the complicity of culture today. The series is narrated by Giancarlo Esposito (Better Call Saul, The Mandalorian). SUPERVILLAIN is produced by Imagine Documentaries, Rolling Stone and Lightbox. Brian Grazer executive produces with Justin Wilkes and Sara Bernstein of Imagine Documentaries, Gus Wenner of Rolling Stone, Jonathan Chinn and Simon Chinn of Lightbox, journalist Stephen Witt and Peter J. Scalettar.  To watch and share the trailer, visit: https://youtu.be/rKeH1THBBEU.

57 Channels and Only This Is On: January 24, 2021

 

Your Honor:  So the judge was able to get a reprieve from the gangster by saying he could get his son off by preceding over his murder case.  Um, so now that he is not, why doesn’t the gangster just kill him?  Were the cops pulling over the black lady judge their bidding?  We already know the gangster has the cops in his back pocket when they kidnapped the kid he originally thought killed his son and interrogated him before he was even booked.

 

Zoey’s Extraordinary Playlist:  Meh, after Zoey sang the song to start the episode, I thought we were going to get another full episode of just her singing, which was my favorite episode of the first season.  But she still heard other people sing and just kept singing the same song over again.  I wonder if they are saving a full glitchy episode for later this season even though this seemed like the perfect time as the stress of her dad dying and stress from her new job overwhelmed her.

 

The Challenge: Double Agents:  Um, I thought T.J. hated quitters.  I wonder if his speech was at the behest of some producer who wanted this to be a teaching moment on mental health or if that actually came from the heart from a guy who loves seeing contestants fall from very high heights into water.  But seems right that right after being reinstated, Smashley goes right back out in her very next chance to be sent into elimination.

 

Wandavision:  I am quickly realizing a weekly half hour mystery box show may not be the best idea.  These decade parodies are already getting tiresome.  Making it worse is that I think most people can already guess the mystery: Wanda broke mentally, created a sitcom world where she and Vision can live happily ever after and S.W.O.R.D. agents, like the black lady, are trying to break her out of it.  But all will be forgiven if next episode one of the twins grows up to be a young Republican and the episode after that the other twin gets sent to live with his auntie and uncle in Bel-Aire.

 

The Blacklist:  Um, why does the FBI have easily available bombs that they can check out?  That is not something I want our intelligence agency on hand.  And is car bomb the best idea Lizzie came up with to kill Red?  Even worse, when that plan failed she thought, well, I still have this bomb, might as well use it to sneak into the hospital where Red was admitted.  Seriously, why not inject him with something if you are that close that you can plant a bomb on his hospital bed?  That was just some Bond villain level of stupidity.